Awkward Returns

[Khan]

 

But, Lord, just imagine HIS Paul with Melanie Smith's Emily.

 

I blame Frank Valentini for that travesty.  IIRC, Erika Slezak said, had she known about AE's return, she would have finagled (sp?) her schedule to include more Tina/Viki scenes.

[Forever8]

Not to mention her being outsmarted by Tess of all people ... 

[Khan]

 

It seems like that whole, final, miserable period of GL was all about disgusting relationships: Jonathan and Tammy, Daisy and Grady, Josh and Cassie, Jeffrey and Reva, Gus and Harley, Mallet and Marina, ALAN-MICHAEL and Marina....  Even Matt and Dinah's hookup when Dinah was suffering from brain damage came across as being tawdry for all the wrong reasons.  And the irony is that it was all under the watch of an EP who, I swear, once lived with a bunch of nuns in the Alps and went by the name "Maria."

Edited January 3, 2021 by Khan

[amybrickwallace]

 

Ouch.

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[Fevuh]

And none of it was worse than 15 years of Liam, Steffy, and Hope on B&B or crying Katie to get that Emmy. 

[Taoboi]

I liked Princess Tina's return. Well, her reintroduction scene. But yeah, Mendorra and then being outwitted by Tess was meh. I liked that they course corrected, but felt they took much too long to do so and then, she was GONE.

 

But I do love that given how long fans waited to see her and RC's love for her that he was able to get her back before the show ended and BACK WITH CORD. 

 

*swoons*

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Taoboi

[Vee]

I don't think Andrea's return to OLTL was awkward. I thought the stories failed her in the first run and were subject to the insane budgeting and scheduling dark magic Frank practiced, but once you put her with her nieces or later Viki and Howarth's Todd, especially in her second run in 2011, she was gold. (I know Frons evidently ordered her gone in '08 as well)

[DRW50]

Nola's 1995 return to GL. I suppose Peter Simon's apparent refusal to be paired with her may not have helped, but this whole return was just poorly put together in every way, from angering the character's fans by having Quint as a cheater, to making her a mix of harridan and dumb comic relief. It didn't help that Lisa Brown's personal problems and the decade she spent playing the perpetually depressed, broken Iva meant that she could not play the character of Nola in the way many would have wanted. 

 

Not even getting into the Buzz story, or the depressing fantasies, including the one where she gunned down Quint.

 

Michael Tylo also did not have the same spark, although his return was beyond thankless. Just as Quint and Nola seemed to have a bit of their spark back, Tylo was abruptly fired, without even getting a goodbye scene. 

 

I know Lisa wasn't thrilled with the way that the show was being produced by the time of her 2009 return, but Nola at least felt more like her old self in those brief appearances. 

[Paul Raven]

Maybe this topic should be re-titled Disappointing returns...

 

How about Robert Gentry as Ed Bauer on GL. The actor who really claimed Ed as an adult character in the 60's and went on to become a veteran soap hopper who was popular on AMC AND they even had flashback 60's footage to let newer viewers know of his heritage in this legacy role. 

What was presented was a trickle of appearances where Ed was pretty much supporting. He could have been used to spearhead a Bauer renaissance.

[Marco Dane]

Dixie and the Pancakes... SMH AMC

[Dr Neil Curtis]

To me it felt like she was playing Rebecca Hotchkiss from Passions in some moments. 

[ReddFoxx]

Exactly. Tina was a bit humorous in her 80s run, but the writers turned her into Rebecca in that return. It was as if they knew nothing about Tina.

[soapfan770]

That’s a good one. I remember liking Gentry’s Ed a whole lot more especially coming off Simon’s last two years as a sourpuss between drinking on Halloween 1994 to Ed telling Michelle she could not date her “cousin” J.  That said the show wasted Gentry’s time. The Bauer/Blue family feud was some good stuff yet Ed was barely used even though he was in the center of it all. Gentry & Tina Sloan had good chemistry and I remember Michelle being a tad bewildered  that Ed developed close relations with Lillian again but the show never followed up. Ed was diminished after a few months and soon appeared less than Meta to give advice. Gentry only lasted a year, and his Ed was mysteriously shipped off without any fanfare with the excuse being Ed was drinking again due to Michelle’s involvement with the Santos. 

[Khan]

Here's another one: GL's Amanda Spaulding.  Not only did she return years younger, but she also came back to Springfield with a past as the "Malibu Madam," something which would have been totally out of character for Kathleen Cullen's version of the character.

[cassadine1991]

And them having her be Alan’s SISTER not his daughter