Amped-Up Comebacks

[Noel]

How about Anthony Herrera's return as James Stenbeck on As The World Turns in 1986?

[Contessa Donatella]

Hello, Barbara?

[Spoon]

How about Eileen Fulton's Lisa tripping over her dead husband in her return to ATWT.

[j swift]

Correct me if I'm wrong (which I might be) but I would nominate Marco Dane's 1992 return to GH.

Although, Gerald Anthony won an emmy on a strong initial story pairing with Tracy.  I recall an unseemly story where Marco was going to abscond with the funds from Lucy Coe's annual Nurse's Ball AIDS fundraiser.  It seemed irresponsible to take an event that meant to be GH's annual public service episode and pervert it with the story about stealing charitable funds.  (Here's where I am uncertain, if Marco wanted to steal the money, or was that someone else's scam?)

I would further argue that the Marco who showed up in Port Charles possessed all of the worst parts of the character that were derived from other's writers trying to make him a comedic figure.  Certainly, Marco had a wacky side, but he was so much more complex during his relationships with Karen and Katrina.  So, to write him as essentially a buffoon, or side kick to Luke and Sonny, robbed the 1992 audience of what made the character so revolutionary in the first place.

Edited October 11, 2022 by j swift

[victoria foxton]

Marco was pretty much Tracy's sidekick. Marco was long gone by the time the Nurses Ball started. 

[j swift]

Not to go off topic, but am I correct that someone tried to scam the Nurse's Ball charity?  I don't remember how that whole story got resolved

What I do remember is that Marco was involved with Sonny during his strip club days and that there had been no character development, or call back to prior events, in his treatment of Karen Wexler versus his treatment of Tina

Edited October 11, 2022 by j swift

[Franko]

I should have been clearer with my intent with this thread. I intended it to be about actors who noticably overacted (or to be charitable, added extra flourishes) upon their returns. There's been some good examples throughout the thread, but your mentioning Marco stands out because Gerald Anthony was specifically called out by Michael Logan in 1992. Something along the lines of Gerald's talent being undeniable, but that this time around, he was coming across as subtle as Jackie Gleason.

[SFK]

How are we defining amped up?

re: Robin Strasser, whose mid-‘90s Dorian is perhaps my all-time favorite portrait of a soap character from the acting to the look… I noticed that she was suddenly inexplicably playing to the cheap seats and I did not care for it. On her hotline, she mentioned that she NEVER watched herself but did end up catching herself on the air and felt like she was underplaying, not doing enough. Dommage. That’s when she started amping it up and the character was never the same.

[Paul Raven]

Michelle Stafford in her current go round as Phyllis.

Those acting tics were always there but she amped it up x1000 in recent years,

[will81]

Brenda Dickson - Although on her intial return to Y&R she was mostly the same with some over the top moments, as time went on she started overplaying more and more and by her last year it was ridiculous. The definition of playing to the cheap seats. 

 

[Vee]

@DRW50has mentioned this lately, but I've talked about it a lot as well. As Robin has said more than once, her forced exit by JFP rattled her terribly and made her intent on 'upping her game'. I heard that and it made a lot of sense to me re: what had happened to her work while the show was still on the air. I think the exile hurt her a lot and I personally don't think she ever recovered performance-wise; I think she felt she always had to go to the limit or very big most of the time in order to prove her worth to the show and the network.

OTT Robin Strasser is still great, of course. I would never begrudge her coming back. But yes, I think she had less and less quiet moments and stillness once she returned in 2003.

[Taoboi]

I admit I am curious about amped up as well when we mean amped comebacks. Does it mean that we are referencing returns that are just as good as the first run or just returns where they came with a lot of thunder regardless of how it turned out.

 

Because for the former, I naturally have to mention Vanessa Marcil's as Brenda to GH the first time. And how well done I remember it being and how it touched on so many people in her short period. Of course, I could also mention her third return (and the advertising surrounding it) for the latter.

 

Or something like Sydney Penny's Julia's return to AMC. That got some good advertising from what I recall as well...coming back to find Noah's killer.

 

And speaking of Michelle Stafford...her return as a tech whiz, Jack's new love interest, and behind the Jabot Glow by Jabot, mentoring young vixen Brittany. 

 

I love that someone already mentioned it, but H#LL TO THE YES to Eileen Davidson's first return to DAYS...a decade in the making...like VM's Brenda on GH...and that lived up to the potential from the moment, her head tilted upward in that hat right up until her destroyed wedding (honorable mention to the stopped first wedding) to Brady leading to where it should lead...a final showdown with Marlena. 

 

And H#LL TO THE YES PART 2 on Eileen Davidson's return to Y&R. I was not even watching when she was Ashley in her first run. But I knew of it, saw the remsemblance with BE, and knew her from DAYS. So when she came out of the shadows to Rafael...it was kinda of a wink to the gothic-ness of Kristen Dimera, but her presence of elegance was also apparent for who Ashley is. I was in awe. 

 

I also lived for Princess Tina on OLTL...even if the road to her getting to have scenes with the people she should have scenes (and Cord) was a long road to get to, but never toooo boring...but worth it for me. 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Taoboi

[Franko]

This one, but you gave some great examples in the other direction.

[Taoboi]

Thank you. I was not sure.

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[carolineg]

I was going to say Vanessa's first return as well, but I wasn't sure if it counted.  I am not sure Vanessa amped up anything as far as her acting, but definitely her style, presence, and overall writing helped as well.  But I would definitely say she lived up to her own hype in that run.