Characters Without a Fanbase

[Darn]

Youtube recommended to me an old General Hospital promo featuring the Brenda, Jax and Skye love triangle. Which reminded yet again that Skye Chandler was a lead character over a nearly 30 year span on All My Children, One Life to Live and GH.

And I can not recall any sort of widespread interest from fans in her or her antics. I never felt any clamoring to see more of her or people shaking their fist when her story was at lull. She was largely just...there. To interlope and trade witty one-liners with whatever woman she hated that week.

Yet ABC found her interesting to keep her around across multiple shows and regimes.

Can we think of other characters that were in lead story for a long time yet never seemed to have any sort of fanbase? They kinda just did their thing and we all said "Sure!".

BTW don't come for me Skye/Robin Christopher fans. I know there are tens of you! I get it! But that doesn't compare to Brenda's millions, alright?

[Faulkner]

Maybe all 10 of her fans had multiple accounts on MediaDomain because I remember folks getting the vapors every time with every breath RC made, especially in her OLTL days. Her stans were out of control, and she was catnip for Brenda haters among GH viewers.

I know we disagree on Devon (I love Bryton and think he’s enormously gifted and richly deserving of his two Emmys), but I don’t think he has a fan base on his own, aside from the temporary magic he had Mishael’s Hilary. I don’t think it’s BJ’s fault. The writing for him has been uniquely terrible (either absolutely boring or ridiculous) even during a sorry era for soaps. A lot of black characters have been poorly served by this genre, of course. Look at how Nate is being received, and it’s no wonder.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Faulkner

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, as someone who hear a lot of chatter about people who used to be on our screens who are not now, I will say that she is very very often asked about. I have at the ready pictures of her & Matt together, of them with one of their children & picture of her with Dano in Disney parades. All of these pictures are frankly old but they mollify the crowd chanting "Robin Christopher back on GH"! 

[Darn]

I knew this would turn into "Omg actually people LOVE Skye!"

Please. Let's not lie to ourselves. I'm comparing her to actual popular characters like Bo and Hope, Victoria Lord, Lily Snyder, Mac Cory, etc.

I think Bryton is an uninspiring actor playing a character with no purpose. I have never liked him. And frankly the show doesn't like him or Devon either but they're stuck with him.

[dragonflies]

What about once popular character's who've basically lost their fanbase

 

I can think of a few: Ryan Lavery, Liam Spencer for example

[DRW50]

I was a big fan of Carrie Genzel's Skye, if that counts.

If Robin had stayed on AMC I think I might have connected more with her Skye, but she never felt natural to OLTL or GH to me. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by DRW50

[Contessa Donatella]

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Really? 

[dragonflies]

Yeah Cameron Mathison even once acknowledged it when AMC was still on the air, he said Ryan lost a lot of fans

[Contessa Donatella]

No. I didn't realize he ever had any. 

[dragonflies]

oh LMAO 

[Jeff]

Heather Tom as Katie on The Bold and Beautiful.  I mean Heather is, with no argument, a name in the daytime community and enormously talented.  People seem to miss her as Victoria on Y&R.  But as Katie, she doesn't seem to have much of a fanbase, I mean I could be wrong.  It's been awhile since HT had a meaty storyline, and when she did, I would applaud her for her scenes as I saw fit.  But basically she would do her thing, earn her next Emmy nomination, and I'm like "Okay...Next?"

[Contessa Donatella]

I thought I read that she is really enjoying directing. But, given how talented she is, she doesn't seem to have a fan base, it's true. 

[Faulkner]

Very few characters would meet the threshold of Mac Cory or Victoria Lord. I don’t think RC’s Skye fits the brief (saying this as someone who couldn’t stand her), although I think her stans quieted down quite a bit over her GH run. I feel like this board is one of the few where I didn’t see as much clamoring. Her fans were unhinged in some cases. 

Aside from Devon (agree to disagree on BJ), I think HT’s Katie fits. I was just thinking that, 50 years in the future, someone stumbling upon whatever records we have of the Daytime Emmys would think HT’s Katie Logan was this major popular character on B&B, and she’s barely a blip on the show, even when they used her more back in the day.

 

[Darn]

Then let's say someone like Tea Delgado, is that an okay example? She's not Marlena Evans but she certainly had a fanbase.

Maybe I run in the wrong circles where apparently people were salivating over the misadventures of Skye Chandler. I'm serious when I say that since the moment she showed up on OLTL I have seen nothing but groans at her existence. The general consensus was, to me, "Why is she here?" which turned into "Why is she still here?" .

Heather Tom has a fanbase and the soap community clearly loves her. It's Katie, the character, who doesn't seem to have any fans.

[Soaplovers]

When he was with Gillian..he did.  I think once she was written out of the show..people gradually grew disillusioned with him.