ALL: Popular Actors playing Unpopular Characters

[Khan]

I think even Billy Warlock would agree that he was miscast.  I, myself, was willing to give him a chance, since I don't think there had been a definitive take on the character.  But it was so obvious how Bob Guza resented JFP (or Riche, or whoever was EP at that time) foisting BW on him.

I still think Y&R would have been better off casting MW as Sharon's long-lost half-sister.  Sharon is a character who DESPERATELY needs relatives on the canvas, IMO.

[BetterForgotten]

I think BW was just one of Shelley Curtis’s friends at DAYS in the 80’s that she helped bring over to GH in the 90’s, lol 

[Khan]

And that's fine, I've no qualms about that sort of thing, especially when the actor is decent.  (JFP and Kale Browne are another story, lol).  I think BW would be an asset to any show, because he seems like an actor who respects the genre, respects the writing (that is, when the writing is good) and who doesn't phone in performances.  In GH's case, though, they simply gave him the wrong role to play.

Edited January 5 by Khan

[Vee]

According to Warlock himself a year or two ago, he was cast at the last minute when a chosen actor couldn't hack it after several days of taping.

[titan1978]

Back when soaps could still never air material, and recast and reshoot.

[Taoboi]

Awww the good old days...

[MissPhoenixGirl92]

I don't know... maybe if Drew had actually ended up developing some real feelings for Nina and shown some genuine remorse for the way that he acted towards her, maybe they could've worked. But there was nothing there that would ever indicate to me that those two were ever going to be truly endgame. Besides, I always had a feeling that Drew was going to eventually choose Willow over Nina anyway, so that point is moot. 

I actually agree that Nina should've been written off after Michelle Stafford left back in 2019 and they should've wrapped up the daughter reveal right then and there by having Willow find out that Nina was her birth mother and deciding to want absolutely nothing to do with her, prompting a heartbroken and devastated Nina to leave town for good. I actually won't be surprised if Nina gets written out in a year or two, especially since she really doesn't seem to have that much purpose to begin with and she's just eating up precious screen-time. Cynthia Watros would've been better off cast as someone else, but I don't know who else she could've possibly played on GH. 

[Vee]

He did that.

I have found Nina useless since she first appeared, but Watros has made her much more entertaining. I would still rather watch Cynthia Watros than over half the canvas. YMMV.

[carolineg]

Do you know who they originally cast as AJ?  That's actually a super interesting tidbit I have never heard before.

BW was never my AJ.  He was miscast, but he did well with the material he was given.  Idk, I find his AJ more interesting than Frankie Brady on Days.   I always thought Frankie was a dud of a character although I know he was popular.

[Contessa Donatella]

Wait, you don't know who? I see I have misunderstood. I thought you were about to tell us who this other AJ had been. Now I see. Okay, guys, who knows?

[Liberty City]

Cynthia Watros keeps being given material she could really go off on and then they retract it, and diminish her to a contractual day player. I still don't buy her as a fashion maven running Crimson at all. That story decision still does not sit well with me.

I wonder who their choice was, hmm...

Based on scenes I've seen, Billy Warlock is a very different AJ than Sean Kanan or even Gerald Hopkins. And I've got to say: if Robert Adamson were allowed to be Michael full-time, I would say he opposite Warlock would be a great son/father combination, in the same way I felt Chad Duell was opposite Kanan.

I feel like daytime never got Warlock; I think the one person in his corner was John Conboy.

Warlock was set up, and even he knew it: he knew his castings in the roles of AJ on GH and Ross on OLTL were not meant to work, but he still showed up to do his job. He's a trooper. And then his 2004/2005 return as AJ was sabotage, but even per his own words: it was the first-time AJ was given a chance to fight. He may have lost said-fight, but he was given a chance, and it made for his best three-months in the role (per Warlock).

[Khan]

I feel the same way about Kin Shriner.  Only GH knew what to do with a guy who was good-looking AND funny.

[Contessa Donatella]

Kin says to tell you that the check is in the mail 

[Liberty City]

I agree/disagree with this. In the other roles I've seen Kin in, I've liked him in those. But it's clear that Scotty Baldwin is where his bread is fully buttered. When he pinch-hit for Ted Shackleford as Jeffrey Bardwell on Y&R, I quite liked him in that role. And I didn't entirely hate him as Keith Morrissey on ATWT.

[Vee]

He was somewhat my A.J. because he was the one I spent a ton of time with as a youth, while my memory of Sean Kanan was more sporadic (A.J.'s stories in the Labine years were not exactly barnburners IMO, so they didn't stick in the memory much any more than Jason Q did). Today, upon review and after his return I will absolutely say Sean is the definitive article. But I think Billy did a very good job in difficult times. I have no idea who they originally cast.

I think he was just a pinch hitter at OLTL for a few days because Michael Lowry was no longer available. That was a strange incident where IIRC he got hired by FV and had to show up on-set within like, a day or the same day according to his recent interview.

As for Nina, I do think she's fine at Crimson. Of course I'd prefer it to be someone like Brenda or whoever and would dump Nina from that if VM came along, but Nina bought her way into that position long ago, CW sells it and Kate/Connie is long dead.

Edited January 8 by Vee