ALL: Which back-from-the-dead characters should have stayed dead?

[AMCOLTLLover]

John Black on Days..

[All My Shadows]

Yes. And any supervillain type character that shows end up using as a crutch - REGARDLESS OF POPULARITY - such as James, Stefano, Mitch, etc.

[Lye-C]

Hilary on Y&R died offscreen yet they created Amanda instead. 

[Khan]

I agree.  Supervillains should have died off (and stayed dead) a long time ago.

[vetsoapfan]

In general, I am not a fan of back-from-the-dead stories. They weaken the impact of the original deaths, and ultimately (if a show uses this hackneyed plot device over and over) just become predictable, unrealistic and ridiculous. DAYS is the prime offender in this regard.

When hack writers go on a killing rampage and slaughter multiple beloved characters, however, the egregious and sophomoric writing mistakes must be rectified. If not, the stability of the show itself would be crippled further. Atrocious writing is bad enough, but losing the characters whom the audience is invested in the most would be fatal. History shows us that viewers do not take kindly to the combination of bad writing AND the loss of many fan favorites.

All this to say: sometimes reviving "dead" characters is the lesser of two evils on soaps, and should be done even if it's a stretch.  It would be significantly worse and audience-alienating to let writing blunders stand. This is particularly true when the original death/murder plots were done purely for shock value, and were badly executed to begin with.

[DramatistDreamer]

This is what I have been complaining about for years. These shows need to be very very thoughtful about who they kill off. Killing off a character, especially a relatively young character, or a matriarch/patriarch because the actor is leaving or even in some cases, simply wants some time off, is so foolhardy.
There are other ways to create dramatic impact, or temporarily take a character off the canvas without killing them. And more times than not, it is a momentary story plot that yields a bit of buzz then proceeds to create more problems down the line. Honestly, if the writers wrote for everyone in earnest, instead of concentrating on a few, they wouldn’t be reduced to so many drastic storyline maneuvers.

[Lye-C]

Which soap did the first “back from the dead” story?

[Paul Raven]

Depends on your definition- either a character believed to be dead that we never saw onscreen or a character that 'died' onscreen .

Secret Storm had an ex husband return from the dead in the 50's but we had never seen that character.

Love of Life killed off 'Paul Raven' in the 50's and the character came back in the early 70's.

[te.]

See Allison just walking off on Peyton Place into the unknown, or Stella Chernak leaving town as a disgraced woman.

[DramatistDreamer]

It would be good if these writers could do something like that, but with a more modern twist.
Today’s soap writers don’t seem to do mysterious very well. They beat us over the head with stereotypical imagery, like characters in terrible disguises and call that mystery.

[te.]

I liked how it also kept Allison as an important character despite being off screen with a fate unknown - we saw the characters move on, but every now and then the consequences of her departure would flare up. Was Allison a victim Rachel's uncle? Did she really go off to New York? And so on.

Ultimately, people go missing and unfortunately aren't found in some way or another. There's a reason why Charley Project has 15k+ cases. And sometimes, people do bizarrely turn up out of nowhere.

Unfortunately, I think the whole "let's kill the character off" (beyond short-term thinking with ratings stunts) is a way to not deal with a characters absence and have the characters move on with their lives.

Edited February 20 by te.

[Khan]

I'm actually okay with killing off characters under certain circumstances.  I mean, people do die; it's an unfortunate fact of life.  But what I can't tolerate (aside from bringing people back from the dead after we've seen them die on-screen) is how their deaths are usually forgotten in almost record time.  I say, if you're gonna kill off a major character, make it count.  Allow it to impact the other characters' lives in such ways that they are never truly the same afterward.

[j swift]

I believe it's fair to provide a free pass to characters who were written off due to unfortunate circumstances behind the scenes. Sometimes, characters are killed off unnecessarily because writers feel slighted that their inspiration is leaving for better opportunities, or producers are frustrated during contract talks, or network executives have their own priorities. When an actor is open to coming back under different circumstances, I think it's reasonable to bring their character back to life and continue the story.

Edited February 20 by j swift