Awkward Returns

[KMan101]

 

THIS

 

I was so let down with her return then. And of course Frons' awful ass wanted her gone. Sigh.

 

I'm glad they course corrected later, as stated by others.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

So this was the "model Paul" that everyone has been speaking of, lol.

 

I don't think I got to see but a handful of episodes, if that, the entire 1996, with being crazy busy with school and then having an intense internship that summer.

I tried to watch this episode yesterday but quickly got bored.

[SoapDope]

Y&R: I felt the 2003 return of Snapper & Greg was a bit off. James Houghton (Greg) came across as sarcastic and catty and William Gray Espy seemed to go through the motions. When Jamie Lynn Bauer returned the first time. They had her getting divorced from a character we did not care about and they de-clawed her. She was whining how she wished she had married Victor years earlier etc...stroking Eric Braeden's ego. 

[Chris B]

The Jamie Lyn Bauer return I’ll always be disappointed by because it was our last chance to get the Brooks family properly revived and it was terrible. They disregarded all of her history except the thing with Victor. Sticking her with that husband made no sense. Even back then they could’ve brought back Brooks or if you want to focus on Victor, then truly have them get back together. This is truly and forever will be one of the most odd returns I’ve ever seen. Especially when you consider the people writing wrote that character originally. 

[StevieM]

DAYS: The return of Diana Colville was beyond preposterous.  She was a genuine heroine and he turned her into a murderer who was obsessed with a man she broke up with 30 years earlier.  And it was her choice, he wasn't looking to part with her.

 

I'll give RC credit for having her say "hello Roman" in her first scene with John.  For the most part DAYS has been bad about having people who left during the era of Roman II, and came back after he was John, not acknowledge the change. (Although I guess you could argue that Steve and Hope had amnesia when they first reconnected with Salem, and by the time they recovered their memories they knew the whole story).  But I don't think too many other writers would have realized how important it was for her to call him Roman in that first scene.

 

Also, Angelica's return was a total waste, and how it limits Jack's story, in less you want to say she is somehow alive.  But this was Jack's family, and I hate that they brought her back without him.  I also hate that after MA/Jack fans spent years lobbying for his rape of Kayla to be re-acknowledged they finally did it when he was off the show.

 

GH: That recast of Lois Cerullo (around 2006) didn't go over so well IMO.  I wish the show had taken another shot at Ned & Lois at some point, and I wish they had taken another shot at Rena Sofer.  If Rena ever leaves B&B I would love to see her back on GH.

 

Passions: I don't know if you can count someone who was never on the show before as "returning," but we waited a long time to finally meet Martin Fitzgerald, and that really fell flat.

 

Santa Barbara: the return of Keith Timmons.

 

OLTL: I also felt like Tina was coming across more like Rebecca from Passions.  But I liked how they incorporated her connection with David into the story, even though AE's version had no history with him.  It was clever how they just missed each other, and were never on screen together, but were still in each other's shadows, so to speak.  If they could have gotten Andrea long-term it would have been interesting to see Tina and David in a long-term storyline. 

[Soaplovers]

OLTL:  Tina's return in 2008 started with promise.  She had a good rapport with Cain, her saying Cord into of Cain's name, and her airport scene with Vicki was great.  After she got back to Llanview...not so good.  

            Her 2011 return was Tina, not Rebecca Hotchkiss.  

 

Days:  diana was bad cause of a miscast (when she could have been Anjelica)...but the scene when she came across Marlena for the 1st time was nice.  She was one of the few in 1988 that believed Marlena was still alive.  

 

GL: mike Bauer in 1997 was a walk on role, Ed Bauer coming back in 1996 and later 2002/3.

 

B & B: Jake Mcclaine...he was popular in 1990 to 1992...with history with Felicia and Donna...but was mostly a walk on..except one time when Donna staged a make out session with him to convince Eric to break up with her.

[carolineg]

 

These both probably fall under disappointing more than awkward but Maria and Julia Santos on AMC.  For Maria, the show made her Maureen for far too long and Eva La Rue didn't have the same chemistry with the cast and was stuck with Aiden for so long.  Even Edmund and Maria fell flat and she basically just left town after 3 years of boringness.

Julia was even worse.  Raising Kathy, dating Jamie, flirting with Jack.  It was all weird.  Only to kill her off.  They could have at least have had her take that nurse job she was supposed to instead of killing her.

Most of it was writing, but it was awkward for me that two characters that were so popular in the 90's didn't really have a place on AMC in the 2000's and the magic was gone.

[Taoboi]

I said that a few pages back. Same.

 

And I've sure Eva got a 'she returns' promo just like Sydney Penny got. So to see how they were misused was just so surprising to me. 

[carolineg]

 

Just saw that.  Julia did get a goodbye scene with Kathy and Dixie I believe.   Was Noah so tied to Julia's popularity that she couldn't make it on her own or get a decent story.  I love SP, but maybe?

 

Eva did get a lot of promotion, but it was a couple of months before Vanessa returned to GH and I think her return got a lot of unfavorable comparisons in the press.  And any buzz EL/Maria had was lost to a bigger return on ABC.  I am not saying it was wrong, but I think it was slightly unfair and skewed my views in Maria's return as well.  It would have been better for Maria to leave for some reason to protect her children and Edmund instead of creating an unpopular alter ego.

[Taoboi]

While it would have been nice to see Noah again, was the actor over at Y&R at that point as Damon or on that sci-fi show with Kevin Sorbo? In any case, I still think he had bad blood there at the time as well. 

 

Yeah, I vaguely remember a good-bye with Kathy. But I feel like they did not close out her character correctly at all otherwise. Julia was the feisty girl who got raped and redeemed on AMC if I remember correctly. And it was not until she got with Noah and they became a supercouple (with the Cinderella wedding) that she was popular though so perhaps. I would have to rewatch it now with older eyes, but I just felt as a fan that they never used her enough. And totally disliked that when she died was when her story was getting interesting.

 

Wow. I never knew. But to be fair I was excited about VM. 

 

 

[carolineg]

 

I don't know if everyone correlates the two returns that way, but I think it was a few weeks or a month after Eva starting airing between Vanessa's announced return and the soap press completely moved on and so did the ABC promos.  And the return was better so everyone forgot about Maria collectively, but probably not the AMC only viewers.  I feel like if Eva returned a year earlier or a year later it may have gone over better because I just remember a lot of soaps mags pitting the returns as Best vs. Worst in year end reviews and stuff.

Maria's return was still bad, but they were literally dedicating SOAPNET marathons to Brenda's greatness (totally fair) and nothing to Maria after August 2002.  I mean I have a SOW from 2003 that has a 6 page layout dedicated to Brenda's wardrobe (again totally fair in 2003-she got her jeans at Abercrombie in a 00 lol) and an article panning Maria's return in the same issue.  I was really excited about ELR's return but I was like Vanessa's returning?  Bye AMC, GH is calling my name lol.  The writing for Maria was crap, but I feel in this case more buzz would have helped a mediocre story along.

[Paul Raven]

Julies's return to Days in 1990.

It was great to have Susan Seaforth Hayes back but to have Julie now a single lady with no respect paid to Doug/Julie tarnished that a bit. 

[carolineg]

 

Didn't she have a weird relationship with that young doctor, Chip?  I liked Victor/Julie's vibe at the time.

[Paul Raven]

Susan talks about her 1990 return,

We Love Soaps: Then Al Rabin contacted Susan in late 1989 to hire her back.
Susan Seaforth Hayes:  And they never explained what had happened with Doug and Julie.  [They said] “Don’t ask.  Don’t ask.” 

We Love Soaps: So when you did ask you were told...
Susan Seaforth Hayes:  “We’re not going to mention it, we’re not going to address it.”  And they never did.  One had to carry around the idea that something awful had happened. 

We Love Soaps: There was a huge amount of fanfare and publicity about your return in 1990.
Susan Seaforth Hayes:  And I had a lot to do then.  I was fairly busy.  Then by the time we came back together in another era in the '90s, the Vivian character was on the map, and you could not have two strong, interesting, funny women at the same time.  I lost ground there.  I began to wonder if it was how I looked.  I never had much to chew on for many years. 

We Love Soaps: Your first year back in 1990 you were central in one of fan's most favorite stories of all time.
Susan Seaforth Hayes:  The Cruise Of Deception.  That was a lot of fun. 

We Love Soaps: That introduced a romance for Julie and Victor, and then nothing.  What happened?
Susan Seaforth Hayes:  I couldn’t stand working with anybody besides Bill.  I didn’t throw myself into that for sure.  That was short sided.  I don’t know.  Then I certainly had the feeling I was being let go for looking bad.  For aging.
Bill Hayes:  I don’t believe that.
Susan Seaforth Hayes:  That was mentioned.  By a lady producer.  “You have to do something about your hair.” When they start talking about doing something about your “hair,” then you know what they are REALLY saying.  They want you to do something about everything. I was pink-slipped again. 
 

[Taoboi]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! at 'Vanessa's returning? BYE.'

 

But now that you mention it...I DO remember an article where they pitted their returns again each other. 

 

And mmmmmm...those Brenda marathons. How I miss SOAPNET.