Watching early 2000s All My Children, I think Jamie got the short end of the stick in favor of JR, and Jamie was just as much of a legacy character as him.

Sticking with AMC, Charlie Brent. The show could never settle on who it wanted him to be and finally just gave up and wrote him out for good.

Tad's arrival probably threw a bit of a wrench on Charlie's development, as a teenage/young adult Charlie might have had some of the stories that Tad had if Tad had never existed. Charles Van Eman's version of Charlie seemed like an attempt to fill the void left by Tad during MEK's absence.

Well casting Christopher Lawford as Charlie didn't help. He was way too old.

Y&R is leading the pack here.

Reed Hellstrom, Scott Grainger, Fen Baldwin, Moses Winters, Charlie & Mattie Ashby, Noah Newman, Faith Newman, Allie Nguyen have all been SORASED to represent the next generation of core characters and all were written off.

Steve Olson, Days. I'm still wondering just what went wrong in 1972 to abandon him and opt for SORASing Mike Horton and David Banning, which would cause a massive ripple effect and imbalance.

Devaluing Steve had the largest effect, but we can't also forget his female contemporary, Sandy Horton.

Y&R’s insistence on Nick/Sharon/Victoria/Phyllis etc never properly maturing into new types of story has hindered at least 2 generations of legacy characters.

Doug Marland, looking to the future gave Don Hughes a daughter Christina in 1986.By the 2000's she would have been available to step up to the plate to continue the Hughes legacy, but TPTB were more interested in creating new characters.

The same thing occurred earlier when Don's stepson Teddy'Ryder' Hughes was brought on but then dropped and forgotten when new writers/producers took over.

Meanwhile the Stewart family had Annie's  quads waiting in the wings but they never appeared.

8 hours ago, Franko said:

Steve Olson, Days. I'm still wondering just what went wrong in 1972 to abandon him and opt for SORASing Mike Horton and David Banning, which would cause a massive ripple effect and imbalance.

Devaluing Steve had the largest effect, but we can't also forget his female contemporary, Sandy Horton.

Well, Steve's last appearance was in freaking 1979. And Stephen Schnetzer played him!

Being gone so damned long, the show should/could beg Schnetzer to come back - with a family in tow - or recast with said family and put a bit more focus on some Horton relatives. Steve would have a LOT to catch up upon with sister Julie, half-sister Hope, and his various nieces, nephews, and cousins, etc.

Guiding Light: Marah Lewis really should have been played more in the mid-2000's, but her existance was definitely backgrounded, due to the arrival of Tom Pelphrey's Jonathan. Kimberly J. Brown's return in 2006 really should have been the start of Marah's permanent return to Springfield, and really becoming the product of her parents; instead, the story was still for Jonathan. And I do believe in 2009, with the voided casting of Martha Madison, that Marah really would have been a character worth having on the canvas. Even Shayne Lewis was undervalued, despite the brilliance of Jeff Branson.

On 11/26/2023 at 4:12 PM, detroitpiston said:

Y&R’s insistence on Nick/Sharon/Victoria/Phyllis etc never properly maturing into new types of story has hindered at least 2 generations of legacy characters.

Preach the truth!! I don’t care that Morrow still looks good for being almost 50 years old, he basically stole all of Noah’s stories these past 15 years. I’m just tired of him the most for that reason…

2 minutes ago, YRfan23 said:

Preach the truth!! I don’t care that Morrow still looks good for being almost 50 years old, he basically stole all of Noah’s stories these past 15 years. I’m just tired of him the most for that reason…

He's been a frat boy his entire run. He hasn't shown any growth as a character and that goes for Victoria too.

Just now, Soapsuds said:

He's been a frat boy his entire run. He hasn't shown any growth as a character and that goes for Victoria too.

He did try in the 90s/early 2000s (he was and never will be believable as a businessman)  but it’s been ever since “Phick” became a thing he’s just gotten worst and worst. 

atwt:

chris hughes should have been the ultimate legecy character.

but the combination of multiple recasts, inconsistent storylines — his ongoing conflicts with his father made absolutely no sense — made that impossible. 

5 minutes ago, YRfan23 said:

He did try in the 90s/early 2000s (he was and never will be believable as a businessman)  but it’s been ever since “Phick” became a thing he’s just gotten worst and worst. 

He reminds me a lot of Lily from ATWT who also refused to be Lucinda heir. Lily didn't grow until Heather took over and became the business women Lucinda wanted her to be. She stopped being this soft flower and her thornes came out.

6 minutes ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

atwt:

chris hughes should have been the ultimate legecy character.

but the combination of multiple recasts, inconsistent storylines — his ongoing conflicts with his father made absolutely no sense — made that impossible. 

Chris was a goofball no matter who played him. Surprising because he was Bob and Kim son.

The problem with Nick is that he was aged way too quickly. I think Nick was only really 6 when he was aged to 16 and as usual the actor was older. Then he was married off quickly. It was all too fast and so he went into a holding pattern until the actor and character sort of became the same age..

Nick was born in 89 which should make him about 35 now. Nick was been portrayed as in his 30's for years.

7 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Nick was born in 89 which should make him about 35 now. Nick was been portrayed as in his 30's for years.

The same could apply to Victoria. Born in 1982 so 41 in real time but came across as in the 30s for years.

AW

Mike and Marianne Randolph - SORASED in the mid 70's. Mike was gone by 79, Marianne a couple of years later.

SFT

Gary Walton. Stu's grandson. Never returned after leaving in 79.

GL

Hope Bauer. Written off in 84, Never returned despite her son being on the show for years after.