Jump to content

Characters that ATE their Soaps


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Courtney started with JFP and McTavish (after a lot of other aborted plans to do a sister story for Sonny under other writers), named like so many other characters she created, for Jill's daughter. But Frons and I believe Pratt fell in love with her for Jason. Guza couldn't be bothered and once he had the chance to dump her - with the arrival of Kelly Monaco, who became the new female lead priority for Frons besides Braun's Carly - he sidelined her with Jax and Nikolas in C-story and then killed her off. I think Pratt also took off around the same time, or close to it.

JFP remained the official EP on paper until 2011 or so IIRC, but I believe Guza came back with creative control superceding hers in 2002, and got a producer credit of his own when he returned. He had learned from his fights with Wendy Riche, and Jill was reduced to his line producer and facilitator due to her disastrous one-year creative reign with Megan. I couldn't think of a better fate for her, personally, after what she did to so many shows. It is not a coincidence that the one time Guza was out of the building in the 2000s, during the WGA strike in '08, Jill instantly launched frontburner story for all of her old FOJs like Rick Hearst, as though she was back at GL in 1994.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 153
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

At AW she lost power before she was ushered out of the building. She tried to get Frankie's gruesome onscreen murder by Fax Neuman, serial killer, changed to a more soapy attack, offscreen so maybe she could be "un-deaded" but she didn't have the power to make it happen. Margaret DePriest had more power than she & wanted the death to be clearly conclusive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

IIRC, too, Courtney came along at a time when it seemed like JFP and McTavish were just handing out free long-lost half-siblings to everyone.  There was Courtney, and Kristina (who was actually quite popular, I think) and at least one other that I'm forgetting atm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Kristina was sadly pretty unpopular, and she was smoked less than a year later IIRC. I liked Jaime Ray Newman in the role a lot, but they gave her the kiss of death pairing with Alexis' ex Ned, who she was also far too young for - she should've been with Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Kristina was popular with the wrong people. Her initial story/introduction was pretty unpopular but once they got away from that and paired her with Ned and let JRN bring some personality to the part she became pretty popular I thought. I liked her anyway and was sad to see her go. Kristina was one of the few characters on the show at the time who wasn't a completely dour malcontent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't recall Kristina being popular, but I think the way she was killed off was unpopular.  I think pairing her with Ned so soon after Alexis was a poor choice for the character.  I never thought Kristina was very well developed, but I actually thought she would have been better with Jax than Skye was.

 

She got killed off in an explosion set by Luis Alcazar meant for Sonny while she was going to tell Sonny Alexis was pregnant with his baby.  My favorite Alexis scene ever is her screaming and throwing the ashes at Sonny at the funeral.  It was such a good speech!

Lol!  I just said pairing her with Ned was unpopular.  Her introduction was weird.  Jax went to find a presumed dead Brenda when IR left the show and came back with Alexis's never before heard of sister lol.  Random.

JRN did have a likable screen presence.  Listen, I don't think she was popular, but I think there were some really unpopular actresses that had more hate at the time (Angel, the Sarah recast, the Maxie recast, etc.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

At least, that was my impression at the time, from reading message boards and such.  Like @Darn said, her introduction was unpopular, but I think Kristina (and JRN) grew on people (or some people, anyway, lol).  I'm actually surprised to learn that wasn't the case, lol.

Ah.  That makes sense.  Thanks, @carolineg.

I especially loved it when Alexis told Sonny that while her family, the Cassadines, were staging deadly vendettas, his ancestors were still working for them in the fields with the other peasants.  That. Stang.

Edited by Khan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

All I can say is I remember being one of the only people who liked her online in 2001-2002. It was a hard road and I wasn't shocked when Guza killed her off. I don't remember anyone liking her with Ned. I don't know why Jill did that.

She was definitely more liked than any of them, but yeah, all the Jill/Megan female additions were roundly lumped together and that unfortunately included Kristina. Only Courtney and Skye were spared and tbh Skye shouldn't have been because the way Skye arrogantly kept pushing herself into the Qs and calling Edward "Grandfather" within 3 minutes was very, very annoying. I like Robin Christopher but I don't think Skye on contract (or as a Q) ever worked. Her place on the show only worked when she came in and out much later on to fùck with people, which she should still be doing.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'm probably wrong about her popularity with Ned. But I don't remember much about Ned. I just know I liked her! And I was upset that they killed her off, even if it did lead to the last truly great scene on the show. I don't know how they wrote all of that and still have Sonny pulling the same sh!t 20 years later.

I just watched her first scenes with Alexis and they brought her on what looks like the day after Chloe died. That's kind of twisted.

Please register in order to view this content

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think it was violently killing off a character that didn't need to be killed in mob violence that was unpopular.  She was an innocent bystander with only peripheral ties to Sonny/Jason/et all.   It was all very senseless and just a plot point to move the Sonny/Alexis baby saga forward.  

Don't get me started on Skye and being a Q-something later retconned so she could be paired with Ned!!  I think part of the reason Skye survived was because they needed an obstacle for Jax/Brenda.  Which is a shame because they moved Jax/Skye at lightning speed to accommodate VM's return and Skye/Jax weren't half bad.  They just weren't anywhere near an organic place to get married at the time.  I think RC and Skye are popular and Skye perhaps seemed popular on GH, but she was never a good fit really.  

Interesting.  Chloe is another really senseless death. It's so odd Jax was involved.  I don't understand exactly how Jax's quest to find non dead Brenda led to Alexis's sister and I don't think the show it explains it that well.  Jax was like, "nope, didn't find Brenda, but found this instead".  I never really understood Jax's weird forays into Cassadine stories.  I didn't realize Ned was still with Alexis at the time Kristina appeared. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I've been over Chloe before, but I'll just say again that I really liked Chloe, even in the forced pairing with Jax, and hated her death. She even worked in that weird pairing with Stefan.

The Jax/Kristina/Angel stuff under JFP/Megan made absolutely no sense. He was shoehorned back into the show (with an embarrassing low-budget Mission: Impossible-esque entrance) and it was obvious they had no real plan for the character immediately. They would test him with Kristina and Angel and both were horribly embarrassing. Then Guza was stuck with him, and that lasted for many years until they finally paired him with Laura's Carly. I still liked Jax until Ingo went full Trump, but there's no denying he had no purpose for many years until becoming Carly's man.

Don't get me started on Luke and Skye. Ugh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I forgot Jax was involved with Angel as well.  That is a character GH really tried to make happen and was tied to quite a few people for no reason.  I wouldn't say she ate the show, but McTavish and JFP sure wanted to make her work.  2001 was such an odd year for the show, but it was solidly back by 2002.

I think Jax still had story consistently.  He went from Skye to Brenda to Sam to Courtney to Carly without much lull in between.   I don't think any story between Brenda to Carly was good, but he had a solid B story almost always.  I think half the reason Guza kept him around though is because he loved playing the Sonny vs. Jax/whatever woman angle.  And Ingo was popular enough to stay at the time.  Jax just never got a full characterization beyond 'white knight'.

Luke/Skye were very odd.  I don't remember hating them just wondering how it came to be. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Especially children who much more likable characters and are played by better actors 

      Please register in order to view this content

      It’s a worse idea than her wanting to become a doctor Well, some of us Italians do prefer trumpets and saxophones over strings  
    • As requested by @P.J. the 1976 summary from Daytime Serial Newsletter. This was the Dobsons. I will be posting it in parts, as it quite lengthy. The Guiding Light premiered forty years ago on radio and now, after successfully having moved to television in the mid-fifties, it continues to chronicle the lives of the Bauer family of Springfield. Bertha (Bert) Bauer, the matriarch and guiding. force behind the family,has proved to be a source of strength and good counsel to all her friends and acquaintances as well as her own sons.  Michael, her older son, an attorney, recently married Leslie, who was formerly married to his brother,Ed, with whom she has a son, Freddie. Michael’s daughter Hope has always felt close to Leslie, but a recent conflict with Mike over her relationship with an older college professor has strained Hope’s relations with her father. Ed married Holly Norris last year but has just learned from her that their infant —daughter, Christina, is not his child but Roger Thorpe’s. Roger, who is deeply in love with nurse Peggy Fletcher, hopes the truth about Christina can be concealed, as he fears he could lose Peggy for good. Holly’s mother, Barbara, has recently married Roger’s father Adam and has no idea of the truth about Christina. Drs. Sara McIntyre and Joe Werner find their marriage is better than ever since orphaned T.J. became their foster child, and they are relieved that he is not the missing son of Cedars patient Ann Jeffers, who is searching for the child her estranged husband took out of town when she ran off with another man. Nurse Rita Stapleton, newly arrived in Springfield, aware of Ed’s personal upheaval, is solicitously offering him friendship and a shoulder to lean on. Dr. Ed Bauer has stunned the Bauer family by separating from his wife, Holly, soon after the recovery of their infant daughter, Christina, from pneumonia. Holly, exhausted by the baby’s illness and her own growing guilt feelings, has confessed to Ed that Christina is Roger Thorpe’s child, not his. Ed, learning that Peggy Fletcher has accepted Roger’s proposal,tells Roger to tell Peggy the truth before he does. Rita Stapleton, R.N., is taken aback when she meets Peggy’s fiancé, as she knew Roger when he worked in the oil fields in Texas. At the time, Rita was private nurse to wealthy oilman Mr. Granger. Roger, under pressure from Ed, realizes he can’t marry Peggy without telling her the whole truth. Somehow finding the courage, he tells her everything and begs for her forgiveness. As he feared, Peggy, stunned, breaks their engagement. Despite Ed’s later assurances that his own marriage was shaky before Roger, Peggy can’t forgive him; there’s no trust left. Holly, who has filed for divorce, goes to Peggy, explaining that she cared for Roger more than he ever cared for her, that she knew Roger loved Peggy from the moment he met her and became a better person for just knowing her. She assures Peggy that there has been nothing between them for a long time now. Leslie Bauer has returned to college to add personal fulfillment to her life as a housewife and mother. Her husband, attorney Mike Bauer, has undertaken a search for Ann Jeffers’s son Jimmy, whom she abandoned when she ran off with another man years ago. Jimmy’s father, Spence Jeffers, was a quick tempered drunk who cheated on Ann repeatedly. Mike offers Ann a job in his office, to help her meet the costs of the investigation. Spence and Jimmy’s trail seems to end in Alaska. Mike seems to resent Leslie’s involvement with school, and she is upset by his long hours and absences on the Jeffers case. Ann, realizing Leslie’s feelings, apologizes to her for causing Mike’s absences and tells Leslie how lucky she is to be married to a man like Mike.  Ed, unable to do neurosurgery after being wounded in the arm last year, decides to go ahead with highrisk nerve-root-resection surgery, despite the fifty-percent chance of total paralysis. In the operating room, Dr. Steve Jackson finds an excessive amount of scar tissue and refuses to continue the surgery, fearing that healthy nerve roots could be severed accidentally. Dr. Jackson closes, over young Dr. Tim Ryan’s objections, and later tells Tim his arrogance is becoming a detriment to his medical career at Cedars Hospital. Ed’s friends and family are upset at his reaction to this disappointment. His assignment as Chief of Staff wasn’t as fulfilling as surgery, and he now realizes that will no longer be part of his life. Rita Stapleton tries to cheer Ed by bringing groceries and consolation, but Ed’s depression isn’t lifting. His mother, Bert. Bauer,fears that Ed, a former alcoholic, may start drinking again. |  When Roger tells Peggy he’s leaving Springfield —for the sake of everyone he has hurt, Peggy, realizing also the suffering of her son Billy, who had grown to love Roger, tells Roger that even though it hurts to know about Christina, it hurts more to be without him. They agree to try again and plan to marry immediately. Barbara Thorpe, Holly’s mother, stumbles upon a manuscript written by her son Andy and, putting the pieces together, realizes that the story of a young woman whose child is not her husband’s is about Holly. Holly makes her mother promise not to tell anyone, which puts a tremendous strain upon her, as Barbara is married to Roger’s father, Adam Thorpe. Barbara is unable to tell Adam why she’s suddenly suffering migraine headaches and constant depression. | Despite Rita’s increasing attempts to reach him, Ed continues to sink further into his depression, until finally she tells him he isn’t half the man she thought —he was. Stunned into taking a good look at what he’s become, Ed admits he’s destroying himself and shows up the next morning at his office ready for work. Dr. Tim Ryan has become annoyed at the number of dates Rita has broken to be with Ed, and upon learning he’s up for chief resident, he rushes to share the news with her, only to find she’s entertaining Ed for dinner. Tim leaves angrily but later returns to apologize and propose marriage to Rita. She politely turns him down and suggests they no longer see each other, for his sake. Tim bitterly accuses her of using him. Under pressure from Adam to explain her strange depression, Barbara finally tells Adam the whole story.She informs him that Roger and Peggy are not welcome in her home. Home from his honeymoon, Roger learns from his father that Barbara knows the truth and has told him. Roger can tell his father only that he regrets what happened and he is a changed man now. He hopes his father can one day forgive him. Adam later tells Barbara she’s put the entire blame on Roger and hasn’t considered Holly’s guilt in the matter, adding, “I can accept the truth, why can’t you?” Feeling that it’s best for everyone involved, Roger prepares to resign as manager at the Metro Restaurant and take Billy and Peggy out of town. Peggy bolsters his confidence by telling him they’ll stay and fight this out together. Tim, upset by Rita’s attitude and rejection, is letting his emotions affect his work. When Ed, unaware that Rita is the reason, warns Tim that his recent lack of efficiency may lose him the senior resident appointment, Tim smarts at his rival’s being his superior. Tim takes stock of the situation and resolves to put personal problems aside and concentrate on his career. More to come...
    • @Tisy-Lish Seems like the bulk of 76 was the Schneiders who I don't believe ever headwrote another soap. I think the Labine/Mayer structured the show well in the time they were there and succeding headwriters used that to their advantage but then began chipping away with their own characters/story. @Franko glad you're enjoying delving into unfamiliar territory And now Part 2.... When a missing person’s report on Ben goes out, the Connecticut state police respond with their unconscious John Doe. When Ben awakens after brain surgery he calls for Betsy, angering Arlene, who gets drunk and goes to tell Meg the truth. Meg’s housekeeper, Carrie Lovett, who is Arlene’s mother (she had no idea of ‘Arlene’s involvement with Ben when she took this job), manages to prevent Arlene from seeing Meg. Ben, still hazy from anesthesia, tells Betsy how sorry he is for the way he’s treated her. Betsy, misunderstanding, assumes he means the gambling. Diana is still feeling sorry for herself, despite Jamie’s efforts to convince her that they can have a full life with children by adoption. When he informs her that his divorce is almost final and they can plan their wedding, Diana refuses to acknowledge that she has any future at all. Arlene, drunk and despondent, starts a letter to Ben in which she refers to herself as his “real wife.” Ray finds it and takes it to Jamie, threatening to give it to Betsy unless Jamie gets his client, Meg, off Ray’s back. Jamie has already warned Meg that Slater is no small-time hood; he has big money and power behind him. Arlene, confronted by Jamie, insists she meant “first wife,” but Jamie gives her seven days to produce a divorce decree or he’ll prove her and Ben guilty of attempting to defraud Meg. Ben, learning this, orders her to get a quickie Haiti decree, but she refuses, reminding Ben that he has told her sometimes he feels happy being married to Betsy and expecting a child. Arlene refuses to be dumped. Ray comes to Ben’s aid with a phony divorce decree. Ben takes it to Jamie for verification while Ray tells Meg that Ben needed false divorce papers from Arlene. Meg confronts her son and agrees to help him out of this mess. She plans to expedite his divorce from Arlene and convince Betsy to renew her marriage vows on their anniversary. Learning that Rick has known about Arlene and Ben’s marriage since the beginning, Meg withdraws her support from their planned ski resort. Rick realizes his dreams have just gone down the drain but can’t fault Meg’s motive. Arlene decides she needs money now to get Ben out of town and sets out to blackmail Meg. Ben, realizing that the only thing left to do is to run away with Arlene, leaves a letter for Betsy explaining why he married her but that he later fell in love with her. At the edge of town, however, he realizes he can’t go through with it. He tells Arlene he loves Betsy and wants to be there with her when their child is born, and he gets out of the car and calls a cab. Arlene, furious, races back to Meg’s house, where she tells Betsy the whole story. Betsy, disbelieving her, rushes to her bedroom, where she finds Ben’s letter confirming everything Arlene just told her. In shock, Betsy calls her brother, Dr. Tom Crawford, to come right away. Ben arrives and is truthful with Betsy, who no longer wants anything to do with him. Realizing that Meg stands in the way of his being a man, Ben moves out. Betsy is unmoved when Ben and Arlene’s divorce comes through; she won’t expose herself to that kind of hurt again. When Meg cajoles her to live with her until her grandchild is born, Betsy tells Meg that in the eyes of the court this isn’t her grandchild and she’ll never allow her child to be corrupted by Meg’s money, as Ben was. Meg, full of self-pity gets drunk and manages to get Rick drunk when she tells him Skyler Mountain is out. She then reminds him of how their relationship used to be and renews his passions, now affected by liquor. After they spend the night together, Meg decides to go ahead with the Skyler Mountain project after all. Rick makes it clear, however, that he still loves Cal and his relationship with Meg will be strictly business. Betsy continues to refuse to see Ben and is determined to be self-supporting. When she inadvertently mentions Ben’s letter to Bruce Sterling, the mayor of Rosehill, he has to turn it over to the district attorney. Meg is furious upon discovering that her own brother in law is the one who found the evidence against Ben. Dr. Joe Cusack is quite concerned about a teenaged alcoholic patient at the clinic, Lynn Henderson, who is determined not to be helped. She tries a sob story on Vanessa Sterling, but Cal, Van’s niece, overhears and warns Lynn not to put the bite on her friends and relatives. So Lynn, who refuses to heed Joe’s warning that alcohol has so destroyed her stomach lining that she could die from another binge, steals money from Van’s fund-raising folder and takes off. She later turns up at Van’s to apologize for stealing charity money and explains she was the ugly daughter of a beautiful mother and grew up feeling unloved. Van persuades Joe to let Lynn stay with her instead of returning to the halfway house she hates. Bruce, Van’s husband, sees Lynn as another of Van’s strays and asks Lynn not to take advantage of Van. Cal. is concerned to learn Rick will again be involve in business with Meg. He assures her it will be okay and that Meg is his last chance to fulfill his dream of making it big. When Meg overhears Cal telling Ben that she and Rick are engaged, Meg tries to tell Cal that Rick’s not the marrying kind and she’s wrong for him. Seeing that Cal is serious and Rick apparently is too, Meg threatens to tell Cal everything, including their most recent intimacy, if Rick doesn’t call it off immediately; she gives him twenty-four hours. Rick, for Cal’s own good, he feels, tells her he’s not the monogamous kind and she’d be better off without him. Cal, knowing she really loves him, refuses to let  go easily. So. he uses Cal’s knowledge of the fact that his son Hank dearly wants his parents to reconcile and tells Cal he and Barbara are planning to try again, for the boy’s sake. But Cal later runs into Hank and mentions that he must be glad his mother’s coming home. Hank has no knowledge of this and is confused. Rick, therefore, has to tell the child he used this as an excuse to get out of marrying Cal. But Hank, miserable at having his hopes raised and dashed, spills this to Cal when she tries to cheer him up. He tells her it was all a lie. Jamie warns Rick that his Skylar Mountain contract with Meg has so many contingencies that if anything happens, he’ll be holding the financial bag. But Rick, wanting this success badly, signs the papers, and Meg releases the money.
    • I genuinely in my 20 year history of watching Days can’t recall a single Bo and Phillip scene though I’m assuming there had to be one or two? Phillip was always much more presented as Lucas’ brother due to Kate’s involvement in their love lives and closer age post SORAS. I will say my favorite thing about PR though is he made Bo the only Kiriakis to actually pronounce it like Victor/John Aniston despite Papa Brady obviously being the dad he was associated with.
    • OK 1976 GL coming up   As none of those shows aired in 1976...
    • Thank you, @Paul Raven! I chose Love of Life because it's a show I don't have a lot of familiarity with, so I thought it would be interesting to look at this period with a more or less unspoiled view.
    • 40 years ago this summer.  To me this is the GOAT CBS daytime promo and the yardstick to which all CBS daytime promos are measured.

      Please register in order to view this content

       
    • That would be a good plot point to add more tension to the situation.
    • Some hot sports guys from tennis and football.

      Please register in order to view this content

       

      Please register in order to view this content

    • Checked. Favorite New Couple & they beat out AW Cindy & Grant and ATWT Peter Parros & Lauren Martin
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy