Back from the dead - The good, the bad, & the ugly

[kalbir]

Could we say that it was the combination of Roger's return and Robert Calhoun becoming EP that ushered in GL's early 1990s golden era?

[asafi]

Victor's death and return on 1993 was a great story in Y&R. 

Hope's return on 1994 was great in DOOL. 

[titan1978]

Oh I think you could absolutely credit Calhoun and what the writers at the time did with Roger and the whole show after that initial return with that golden era.

It is funny, we watch these shows and put up with a lot of crap.  But even when one of these back from the dead stories isn’t good, sometimes the outcome of having the character back all can be forgiven for how we got there- AMC with Jesse and Roger on GL being prime examples.

Edited January 28, 2023 by titan1978

[Faulkner]

BFTD stories have damaged soaps (particularly DAYS) for reasons we’ve discussed (like making death feel less significant, since you know it can be reversed on a whim), but I give them a pass when they’re used to undo a past regime’s mistakes. Like I’d totally have forgiven Y&R if they brought Hillary back from the dead (I know Mishael didn’t feel like playing her again). I didn’t love Dixie’s return on AMC, but I was glad the “death by poisoned peanut butter pancakes” debacle was undone. Same with Will on DAYS, even though his return ended up being lame.

[Mitch64]

John Dixon faking his death to frame James Stenbeck...but unfortunately his love obsession, Dee Stewart was put on trial for it.  It was not the shows best era as the Dobson's had stripped the show of its base (Wagner quit, McLaughlin was on recurring and the Hughes were obscured) but it was a good fun plot (if you overlooked the fact that Dee was being charged with no corpse being produced.) Margo and Tom broke off because of it, even as she was preggers with his kid and John revealing himself in court was a great soap moment!  The only problem was that Dee was being played by Vicki Dawson who was a weak recast.

[NothinButAttitude]

I don't think it gets no better than Roger. As you pointed out, it rocked the entire canvas for years to come. Holly was greatly affected as she was conflicted for her love for Roger, yet feeling re-victimized and haunted by his return. Blake had her father back but still dealt with daddy issues, which trickled down into her chaotic relationships. Roger did tons of damage to the Spauldings (Alex, Alan, Alan Michael, Phillip, Nick), their surrogate family (Vanessa & Henry), and anyone else in their orbit (Fletcher & Beth). The man Ed hated the most was walking free, but Maureen (his beloved wife) didn't have the same venom for Roger. The Lewises would be sucked into the vortex of Roger with Mindy falling in bed with him. It would recur somewhat again when Roger's scion, Hart, bedded Dylan's girl, Julie. And poor Gilly would constantly be wedged in between the twisted games of Roger and Holly. 

Soap writers should literally have to study Roger's return if they are going to bring someone "back from the dead." The character needs to literally shake the canvas to the core and have a strong story arc too. 

[soapfan770]

There’s been some great Back from the dead stories already mentioned i.e. Roger on GL, Victor on Y&R, Hope on Days, Kathleen and Carl on AW etc. Macy on B&B had a good story until they killed her off again. I think where it gets muddled is it either happens too much I.e. Days’s deaths or James Stenbeck on ATWT. Or lazily using it was a bad plot device for an already horrible storyline, like Jack on ATWT or Malcolm and Sharon on Y&R.

 

[Paul Raven]

There's BFTD where the actor leaves the show and so the character is killed off an, as viewers in the know about BTS happenings, we are never sure if that death will stick eg  Hope Days

Or when it happens as a plot device -the character is presumed dead but they are still on the show and for whatever reason living elsewhere for a time eg Victor Y&R

Days is the worst culprit but it reflects the kind of storytelling Days employs - brainwashing, possession etc

Shortcuts that provide plot without having to write character motivations.

[Vee]

To add on to that, in terms of reveals sometimes less can be more. I am sure they did more in dialogue and exposition to explain away who Roger and Holly are at the time to new viewers, and I think the initial reveal scene of Roger to the townsfolk at Phillip and Blake's wedding is great, but this is very artful (timestamped below):

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Yes, the jump cuts on the faces are slightly dated but they do it all with great music, Garrett and Zaslow's faces, and flashbacks with absolutely no dialogue over the music. It all tells the story by itself.

[NothinButAttitude]

Ooo, @Vee! Thank you for this clip. Now I am about to venture down a Roger/Holly rabbit hole again. God... Even though they were so wrong morally, I loved them together. 

[Vee]

This is just a partial episode, so maybe there was more dialogue before or Holly monologued to him while he was unconscious, but another neat bit is that it seems as though the first words they say to each other after however many years are very simple:

Holly: Why?

Roger: Our daughter.

And that's it! No long expository dialogue. Holly leaves the room. That's enough. They don't need to give the audience a speech about who they are to each other when they would already know all that about themselves and wouldn't talk that way together, the info can be filled in via other scenes or other characters.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Vee

[BetterForgotten]

Edit - wrong chain

 

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by BetterForgotten

[j swift]

I have to nominate the 2012 return of AJ Quartermaine.  AJ should be the center of GH, but it seems like difficulties with casting,characterization, and the lack of a successful romantic pairing never allowed him to become an audience favorite.

I am always going to be opposed to a return from the dead of a character that we saw die on screen, with a funeral, because it always requires a ridiculous amount of exposition to justify the logic.  In this case, Monica declared her son dead, then he miraculously gasped (off-screen) and she and Stephan Lars resuscitated him and put him into hiding for seven years to evade the consequences of kidnapping his children.

Only to return for the awful Pickle-lila storyline.  A prototypical Ron C plot where he thinks it is clever to recall one piece of soap history and turn it into a plot.  This junk was such trash that it was also used to support The Chew which was the replacement for the other soap that Carlavatti tanked; OLTL.

And then, within eighteen months, he was killed off again by Sonny who, of course, never paid for his crime.

Edited January 30, 2023 by j swift

[Vee]

A.J. was a welcomed return by the fans and Sean Kanan had always been popular in the role. It was the show that let him down by getting hung up on rebuilding roles for the OLTL 3 when the chemistry between Kanan and Laura Wright was smoking hot and welcomed by fans. The bigger issue still was FV/RC clearly souring on Kanan behind the scenes and openly letting it influence the scripts including having Tracy regularly mock his weight.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Vee

[Dion]

I remember someone on here once saying that BFTD stories were partially inspired by stories of men MIA in wars coming back and indeed both Days and AMC did stories like that with Tommy Horton (though he'd never appeared on screen before) and Phil Brent respectively. GH too actually with Rick Webber but like Tommy Horton it was his introductory story so doesn't really "count" in terms of your question.

Phil Brewer was the first BFTD story of a previously established character on GH in 1971, and Tom Baldwin, also in 1976. I'm not sure if there were any others prior to Laura's dramatic return in 1983.