Characters that ATE their Soaps

[Darn]

I'm not sure they were actually, their interaction seems more friendly than anything.

And yeah Jax bringing Kristina into Alexis' life feels off because she never even told him the details of what happened, she explains all of that to Kristina in the next clip. Weird plot point!

[Vee]

I would. And it was a disaster and is a big part of what got Megan fired, Jill deposed and Guza brought back. They deserved it!

Yes, Jax had story, technically, but it was all third-tier shít with characters Guza didn't care about. It was 1-2 day a week stuff. Once Brenda left that was his role until Laura Wright, and even when Brenda was back he was played as the do-gooder third wheel in her life vs. Sonny and Jason. Yes, Brenda still loved him but the focus was not on him in that material at all IMO.

There was also that lull between stories where they just said 'oh, he's seeing hookers.' What? They wouldn't do that to a leading man they cared about (other than Luke, which was a different story). It was like Billy Warlock's A.J.'s years on the show - he had romances, but would anyone say they cared about him? Much of 2000s Jax was just demeaned and an afterthought, with the recurring exception of his time with Carly.

I think Luke/Skye happened because they were struggling to find something to do with Luke at the time to ground him, and Jill eagerly stepped into the vacuum with one of her favorite FOJs of all time: Robin Christopher. In this instance her favoritism served their needs. But once they hit on pairing him with Jane Elliot that went out the window, as it should have.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Vee

[carolineg]

You are probably right re: Ned/Alexis.  Ned just called her sweetheart in one of the scenes so I assumed they were still together.  

I remember that lull of 'oh he's so sad he's seeing a bunch of hookers" stuff lol.  It was directly after he dumped Skye then Brenda at her wedding and tried to pay her to leave town. It was when his popularity was already taking major hits, so, sure, let's have him now start seeing sex workers as well.  That's what we all want in a romantic lead!  I see what you're saying though in regards to his other stories.  I do think the show made a HUGE effort with him and Sam and when that tanked he moved more to the background. 

I guess I just never considered Jax a lead like Sonny or Jason or Luke.  He was only a lead when he was paired with women that were major leads.  Jax never really stood on his own with his own stories of much worth.  

Skye was truly a character that had some of the most random romances on Gh and so many!  Jax, Luis Alcazar, Luke, Ric, Ned, Lorenzo Alcazar, Coleman!.  JFP was trying to make something stick.

I can add a character that ate the show on GH-The Balkan.  He didn't appear until 4 months into Brenda's run, but I can safely say he was named dropped 10000 times by all characters before they even found an actor or even came up with a vague idea for a plot.  I don't think I have ever heard a name mentioned by more people in every situation on a soap lol

[Vee]

More like that's all they cared to give her. JFP had very little control after Guza returned, AFAIK. That's why Skye was left to various B-C characters after Luke (and after Alcazar was downgraded to placate Maurice).

Edited May 6, 2022 by Vee

[carolineg]

But I would argue did she deserve much more?  Skye wasn't ever a good fit on GH, she didn't exude a lot of warmth or romantic chemistry, and she was lucky she even got those opportunities.  RC seems lovely.  She's very pretty, does good work as a schemer, is a great actress and plays well off women as an adversary.  She's just not leading lady material, IMO.  She got many, many chances to make something work.  I am not arguing others haven't, but they really tried with Skye until they didn't. 

[Khan]

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Skye wasn't a good fit on GH or with the Quartermaines.  I can't believe it took all three shows - AMC, OLTL and GH - to retcon her origins and I still can't make heads-or-tails out of any of it, lol.

[AlexGrimaldi]

YR: Gloria and Jeffrey in 2007 and in 2008 

GL: Can San Cristobel be considered a character? That Island really ATE GL from 1999 to 2002. It really diminished Springfield and what GL was about. 

 

[Khan]

Claire Labine tried her best, though, to make it make sense with the rest of the show.  But, yeah, between San Cristobel and the Santos family, all traces of the GL that I loved and remembered had disappeared.

[carolineg]

I think Skye fit on AMC fine, but the weird parade on all soaps only to land on GH was a poor choice.  If they were going to do this weird experiment across all ABC soaps they should have chosen characters that had a stronger fan base. The idea of Linda dano/Rae running across states and soap towns to find her daughter and the father of her daughter is just not a good plan. The idea is interesting, but the execution was not.

I don't know I still stand by RC being a strong supporting actress, but never a lead.  

[Vee]

Of course not! I was thrilled to see her in the weeds lol.

[carolineg]

Damn!  Can you @Khan and I unite in our anti-Skye feelings?  I always thought RC/Skye was loved everywhere and deserved all the stories and all the emmys and was wasted on every show from what I heard online.  She's very good, but she's not the be all and end of soaps and was given a lot of oppurtunity to be.   

Edited May 6, 2022 by carolineg

[Vee]

I vocally resented Skye's presence on GH at MBTV/TWOP for many, many years lol

[carolineg]

I wish I knew you back then when everyone was like poor, poor Skye.  She had a decent trajectory going with the Brenda returns story until she became completely unlikeable and actually evil.  But I will always love this

The amount of words skye uses to call Brenda a whore is fantastic!!

[Khan]

Listen, there is a part of me that will NEVER forgive Skye for almost killing Cindy and Scott Chandler (in a house she set on fire while a member of a hate group) on AMC OR for faking both a coma and paralysis to hold onto Tom Cudahy.  AFAIC, the heffa could drink herself into the grave and I wouldn't so much as bat an eyelash, lol.

Agree.  They could have used Susan Lucci or Genie Francis (with or without Anthony Geary).  Heck, they could've used even Erika Slezak, Robin Strasser (even though she'd been on AMC before in a different role) or Jane Elliot (same problem as Strasser and Francis, but the precedent was there w/ her appearing as Tracy on THE CITY).

Same here.  I swear there are even folks who preferred her over Alicia Coppola as Lorna on AW, which boggles my mind to no end.

[Darn]

Agreed. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who considers Jax a true lead. Outside of his romantic interests did he even have a story of his own? And if he hadn't had a kid with Carly I think he would have been forgotten about outside of a Brenda mention 10 years ago.

I've always thought they purposely chose characters who were disposable. They couldn't bare to have actual popular characters off their show of origin for as long as they had Rae and Skye.

I like Linda Dano but that experiment was just bizarre looking back, especially knowing how youth obsessed ABC had become at that point, plus she was the star of the lowest rated soap. Her Q score must have been phenomenal.

Edited May 6, 2022 by Darn