ALL: Couples you are surprised never reconciled for good

[titan1978]

Tony has expressed no interest in playing Luke and Laura again.  Which is funny, because he refused to be Luke again unless Genie came back too as Laura during the early 90’s return.

In his defense, she did leave him stranded a couple of times there (not that she didn’t have reasons to leave).

I truthfully didn’t notice his anti-Luke/Laura thing until he was paired with Tracy and the Ethan stuff.  That was when he publicly went all in on Luke never had any character growth that we all saw onscreen.  And I love Tracy and even thought the initial story where he was scamming her was fun.  But long term it didn’t work for me because Tony needs someone firmly grounded to keep him from overacting.

I also think that there is rich material to play with both of them where they actually address their relationship, the depth of their emotions, and Laura comes from a place of strength instead of being a basket case.

[amybrickwallace]

Here's another one - Lily and Holden.

[Kane]

AMC: Edmund and Maria. For the years between her "death" and return it seemed like the show's main reason for keeping him was the possibility of luring Eva LaRue back, and by the time they both left for good in 2005 he was murdered while plotting against her and Zack and then she packed up the kids and moved away.

AMC: Noah and Julia. As much as I like Sydney Penny, she was wasted in her return and it would have been better to just let Noah and Julia live happily ever after in witness protection.

[Taoboi]

I agree with what others have said about Luis and Sheridan.

 

I didn't watch much PASSIONS, but I knew that was (along with Thresa/Ethan) one of their money couples. So I was shocked that they never reunited when the show ended because I remember them having great chemistry. 

 

Not that it has ended, but I would like to add Liason to this as well. So much potential. So much toying with even so much that they toyed with it under a recast that would never be (and allegedly are toying with again if the GH discussion thread is saying it right). But now...smh.

 

It goes without saying...I will be SHOCKED if if GH gets cancelled/ends, that Sonny is not riding off somewhere with Brenda. SHOCKED. 

Both of these.

 

Poor, Poor Julia...one of my favorite AMC characters...

[Vee]

It came up here not long ago, but there was a lot of less than great behavior in the past by both parties including in the mid-late '90s. It's not all Tony's fault in that era, and I can see why he'd harbor ill feelings. But the thing is, even after those incidents he was still incredibly loyal to Genie on and offscreen and to the pairing until about the mid-2000s. That's when he began allowing Guza to completely mutilate the character, IMO out of a resentment towards the legacy that had eaten his career, and he became more and more contrarian about it. I think also he had tried to combine so many characters and types he'd wanted to play into his conception of Bill Eckert in the early '90s, and when Bill flopped he took it very personally. I think he basically allowed them to reverse-engineer Luke into Bill II starting about 15 years ago.

I agree that Laura and his family life is a place of strength Luke has denied himself for years. That is the angle I'd take with it as part of a larger adventure storyline. But at this point I don't think that story could be told unless maybe you killed Luke at the end of it. There's a slim chance Tony would agree to play that, I guess. (I also think Laura needs a better all-new love interest because while I love Kevin they just don't work together, but that's another story.)

Edited December 24, 2021 by Vee

[Khan]

ICAM.  Kevin and Laura just don't work for me either.

[amybrickwallace]

Does anyone know why GH never reunited Kevin and Lucy?

[Planet Soap]

GH : Luke & Laura were severley shat upon. I cannot understand Tony Geary's resistance to the insanely popular pairing that launched him into the soap stratosphere.

GH Robert & Ana: I'm surprised the show hasn't really flirted with a Robert & Ana reunion especially since they surprisingly killed of Duke, a classic charachter.

Y&R: Nick and Sharon are really still not together after 2 failed wedding attempts! As much as Nick and Sharon were pushed as a supercouple, they've just been broken up and split apart too many times for me to care. Have they ever had a longer-term stable period of happiness? --side note: It's amazing that they Victor and Nikki didn't get remarried for 10 years (88-98) only for that remarriage to be considered invalid with the legit knot tying occuring four years later.

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by ironlion

[FrenchBug82]

What makes it obvious that there was a weird BTS reason for Luis/Sheridan is that they also started writing Sheridan as a horrible person, which she had not been until then, presumably not just to keep them apart but poison the character so profoundly that the audience wouldn't want them together. One of the most blatant examples of pettiness directed at an actor*ress in the writing that I ever saw. And agree that I'd like to know the story.

As for Nick/Sharon, they would be the endgame if the show were to end. But as an ongoing story, they definitely need a long time apart. We know Morrow prefers to work with MS anyway AND that they both recognize that being part of a supercouple is limiting and it is better for the characters to work with others. But I suspect they will be back together at some point so it is premature to include them here imo.

It is probably safer to think of shows that are done.

John/Sharlene on AW is definitely one that makes me sad because it is rare that I root for a "normal" couple and it would have been easy to reunite them off-screen even after Forsythe left. Their last bittersweet scene outside of the hospital was actually written very mature and realistically - in the real world they would indeed not get back together - but still emotionally I wanted them together in the end.

I'd also add Billy/Allison on Melrose Place. It would have been so easy to add a line in the finale about it.

[carolineg]

100%.  I would have taken a mention of them being together on the reboot, but I think they kept mentioning Alison was an alcoholic in Atlanta.  

With Luis/Sheridan was there a backstage issue with MW?  One ever made public?  It is strange on such a short lived soap that they didn't end up together since they were popular and both actors were there.  I am surprised MW never popped up on another soap tbh.

[FrenchBug82]

That's always been my assumption. Now whether the issue was between her and the producers or between her and GG has always been the mystery for me.
I remember very very vague rumors that MW/GG had hooked up and GG's wife had turned it into a Melissa Reeves situation (either they don't work together or you need to quit) but that's very VERY thinly sourced gossip.
 

I refuse to treat the reboot as canon. That unnecessary cruel line about Alison being one of the reasons.

[Vee]

They were writing lines about Alison being a lonely drunk in Atlanta even during the final seasons of the original show, lol. I was sure they would have Billy leave to be with her, but instead they used Alison's drunken faxes from out of town as a plot point at the end of Season 6 to make Sam scheme against Billy and Jennifer. So Alison is just hanging out there, and Courtney didn't even get to cameo as a drunk barfly in the final episode like she wanted.

Edited January 3, 2022 by Vee

[carolineg]

GG's wife seemed a little looney.  Dirty Soap was mentioned in the Days thread and I remember his wife going OTT nuts about his love scenes.  I just thought she was trying to audition for a soap role via that reality show because I kept thinking GG has been on soaps for years lady!  Love scenes are new to you?

I don't think I ever heard the affair rumor, but perhaps they did have a falling out.  I would venture to say it was between MW and the producers because Sheridan really took a hit, not the couple as much.

The Melrose reboot was awful.  Did everyone just hate Courtney Thorne-Smith and Alison?   She always got such a bad edit long after she was offscreen.  It's not like Andrew Shue came back so I am not sure what the harm was in giving them a happy ending lol.

Oh I remember.  I remember thinking it was so disrespectful for the character.  How many Billy/Alyssa Milano fans were there?   It would have been perfectly acceptable for him to leave and go to Alison off screen.  Why am I not remember Alison's drunken season 6 faxes?  What was that about?

IIRC correctly Courtney did still agree to a cameo but actually got sick and couldn't film that day.  At least that's what I read years ago.

[Vee]

I thought either Aaron or Fox didn't want it because she was already a big 'serious' star on Ally and they felt it was brand contamination. I may be wrong.

I don't think the mention of Alison on the reboot was personal to Courtney (who I love) because tbh they gave virtually every old character who appeared a dark, cynical fate - all of them turned out to have grown into purely careerist vipers out for themselves, all of them had some angle they were trying to play against the new cast because their own fortunes had gone south. Which I suppose is true to Melrose's characters and to L.A. to a point, but it's not what I wanted to see for Jane, Jo, etc. years later.

I may have misphrased it, it's been so long. IIRC, Amanda was receiving either phone calls or faxes from Alison drunk and struggling in Atlanta. Sam overheard this and schemed to get revenge on Billy and Jennifer, and I believe she faked messages from Alison to Billy asking him to come be with her. She was found out, Billy and Jenn stayed together, etc. Alison's fate was never mentioned again.

I always assumed it was personal from JER.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Vee

[carolineg]

Hmmm...your scenario sounds more plausible in regards to Alison/CTS.  I always thought it was odd she was so sick she couldn't do a cameo, but I swear CTS was the one who said it herself.  Maybe to save face for everyone involved.  It's weird they aired Melrose and Ally back to back and I thought they actually used Courtney's Melrose past to advertise Ally at first though.  Anyhow, CTS always talks fondly about MP and does all the reunions so I am sure it's no big deal.

I remember it being established that Alison was drunk in Atlanta and talking to Amanda, but I was fuzzy on the details.  To this day, even when I try to re-watch I never make it past Season 5 and probably never will.

Makes sense MW might have had a falling out with JER.  I still can't believe Days never even tried to snap her up to work with GG again.  Maybe it is an issue between the two of them as well.  More likely, Days just thinks Rafe is awesome as is and needs no help.