Charachters/Actors That Never Had A Good Romantic Lead

[Planet Soap]

Name a charachter or actor who you never bought in a romantic pairing (or) several romantic pairings.

B&B: I never cared for any of Stephanie's romantic pairings outside of Eric. She seemed too tough of a charachter to be in a relationship.

Y&R: Eileen Davidson's Ashley or Peter Bergman's Jack never really sold it in any of their relationships. The only couple pairing of Jack's I can say I cared about was Nikki. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by ironlion

[kalbir]

Victor/Ashley worked in ED's original run because Bill Bell saw that EB was a match for ED's acting style. All of Ashley's pairings before Victor tanked because ED's acting style overshadowed the other actors.

I have never found PB believable as a romantic leading man. Nikki and TL's Jack had a co-conspirator with benefits thing going on but PB's Jack being in love with Nikki didn't work for me.

 

[carolineg]

This is an interesting topic.  I think there are a lot of characters that never have a good romantic lead either because they get so many love interests that it's hard to believe they have a soulmate or they just don't spark with anyone.   

Some of the biggest ones for me are-

Brady on Days-I think Chloe is the closest to his soulmate, but EM's Brady has had a ton of failed/forgotten pairings

Rafe on Days-Besides Sami is anyone Rafe dated memorable?

Kate on Days-She has probably had more pairings than anyone on Days in the last 30 years and none really stick out.

Skye on GH/OLTL/AMC-they really gave her all the pairings and most of her romantic interests were very different and she had no rhyme or reason for liking them.  Skye had no discernible type which made her own personality quite muddled.

Michael on GH-I don't know if I have ever seen a young male lead on a soap strikeout with so many love interests.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Billy Warlock as AJ on GH. I mean he didn’t worked well as AJ anyway but his pairings felt forced.

GH has a actress that had so many beautiful pairings and chemistry with everyone: Rebecca Herbst as Liz! But the only pairing that just won’t work is with ME as Finn. Which I find weird coz on paper this seems like a pairing that would be suited but somehow it won’t happen. I mean ME had great pairings and showed that he can create chemistry with co-stars. I still wonder what’s the issue here.

Thorsten K.! He has no chemistry with anyone on B&B if u ask me. 
 

don’t come  for me but the Cane-actor didn’t had any chemistry with the Lily actress and I can’t believe they from Y&R kept holding on to them for like forever. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by AMCOLTLLover

[Taoboi]

I feel like Y&R Ashley rules this thread. 

[Planet Soap]

Brenda Epperson was great with Brad and decent with Victor. The blade pairing is what I need to look more into. Eileen & Shari's Ashley's on the other hand...

Y&R Jess Walton's Jill. Outside of John and Rex did she sizzle with anyone? Manye that young glo by jabot producer guy, I forget his name.

Edited March 11, 2023 by ironlion

[Taoboi]

Good point. But how long has it been outside of Victor the last 20 years...and Victor is more for Nikki? We discuss constantly here how hard it is to find the right lead for Eileen's Ashley for sure.

 

I felt like JW's Hill has had good matches. Warton for laughs for sure but it was a strong case of opposite attracts. And she had strong chemistry with Tucker #1. And Yes, I would say the same for The GBJ Tech...before the recast. 

[soapfan770]

As for Ashley I did feel both BE and ED worked well with Brad, but the show wasted it and the. waited too long to seize the opportunity to make it happen and once Brad & Ashley were together we got dumb stuff like an affair with Olivia and the blanket obsession. I mean did Ashley really need to lose another kid?

These are pretty good Days choices. EM Brady was best with Nicole IMO, but there was a time when Brady had an annual tradition where it seems his love interest either ended up dead or in the cases like Theresa completely forgotten.

Rafe hasn’t been interesting at all since 2013, the last time he was with Sami.

I think Kate’s best long term pairing was with Stefano, but her short term pairings with John and EJ were good. Looking back it’s weird that Kate became the town welcome wagon, had a brief triangle with Chelsea over Daniel, slept with Jake etc. 

[carolineg]

I took into consideration the fact Brady does have two pairings that are pretty popular (Chloe, Nicole), but both characters have more memorable pairings with others (Phillip, Eric) plus the show has pushed Brady/Kristen as soulmates for awhile as well.  Overall, Brady has had more forgettable romances than good ones.

Same with Rafe.  Sami and Rafe were pretty good, but no one considers that Sami's best pairing.

As far as Kate, I always considered her and Victor as her main pairing, but that's been over for so long.  I think Kate/John were good as well, but that pairing has been almost scrubbed from existence lol.

[soapfan770]

@carolineg Lol I had to stop and think about Sami and her pairings….I have to believe Sami is the daytime record holder for having the highest amount of interrupted/non-weddings. Out of the doezens of attempts, I recall only two went without some drama

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[Cruising Soaps]

I thought Jess Walton was perfect with Tristan Rogers- Colin

[carolineg]

You are probably correct.  Days more than any other show loves a wedding, interrupted or not lol.  Sami just takes after her mother who loves a good old fashioned wedding to the same man dozens of times lol.  

[Planet Soap]

So soap writers ever think, "it's enough for them to date, marriage is unnecessary?" lol.

Edited March 12, 2023 by ironlion

[dragonflies]

Lol he had chemistry with Rena, Linsey, Denise. He and Krista have some amazing chemistry

 

Just not with the person Brad Bell forces on us: KKL 

Edited March 12, 2023 by dragonflies

[soapfan770]

LOL. Let me see if I have this right for Sami:

1996: Quickie marriage to Austin to get a kidnapped Will back.

1997: Attempts to marry Austin but is exposed for lying about Will’s paternity 

1998: Attempts to marry Franco, but Franco is exposed for cheating and ends up dead

2002: Attempts to marry Austin, exposed for lying about Lucas hitting Will

2003: Marries Brandon but exposed for changing around paternity results 

2005: Attempts to marry Lucas, but then Kate and Eugenia drug Sami and set her up to make it look like she slept with Brandon. Attempts to marry Lucas a second time but is exposed as Stan

2006: Attempts to marry Austin, but is blackmailed by EJ not to and also learns Austin is cheating 

2007: Successfully marries Lucas with no drama at the wedding, but then later is forced to divorce him and marry EJ, who is shot at their wedding 

2010: Marries EJ but then learns about his involvement in Sydney’s kidnapping and shoots EJ in the head

2011: Marries Rafe with no drama at the wedding 

2014: Marries EJ but EJ is arrested at the end of the wedding, also Sami forced Abby to be her maid of honor after exposing Abby and EJ’s affair 

2022: Attempts to marry Lucas but then learns Lucas was behind her kidnapping.