ALL: Popular Actors playing Unpopular Characters

[Efulton]

Julie Chandler is a great idea.  

[carolineg]

I think had SK been able to stay and clean up his act, AJ would not have been as marginalized as BW's AJ was and would have become the definitive AJ.  SK had much better chemistry with SJB, had established relationships with the Q family actors, and had started the Carly/AJ/Michael story.  It was jarring when BW took over mid-story and the dynamic between AJ/Carly/Jason became very lopsided very quickly.  

I am not saying AJ would become the good guy or win over Sonny/Jason, but I think Guza just really disliked writing for BW's AJ.  I do think Guza was gearing up for an Alan/Monica type coupling for AJ/Carly, but when BW's AJ fizzled the plans were dropped.

Then again we got SK's AJ back years later and that was entirely botched in the end so I could be totally wrong lol.

[Liberty City]

That pisses me off more than I ever care to admit. Sean Kanan had some amazing chemistry with Chad Duell, Elizabeth Herbst and even Laura Wright. There was so much potential for him to work out, but a certain someone had to sabotage it, and ultimately put a sour taste in Kanan's mouth, re: the role/serial.

[carolineg]

Exactly.  What a waste of a character that could have had years and years of story.

I don't blame SK.  After enduring insulting fat jokes and being unceremoniously killed off I would stay far away from GH too.

[DRW50]

I think a lot of the AJ/Carly material was down to Steve Burton's issues about the Jason/Carly pairing. And maybe someone at the show did think it would work to put AJ and Carly together, but no amount of times we were told they were Alan and Monica (which I hated - be yourselves, not another pairing) made up for a lack of chemistry. 

Other writers did try more with Billy Warlock, even if he was never leading material. IIRC he was used in a more positive way under McTavish and only when Guza/Pratt came in did they trash him.

I think Sean was the definitive AJ for a lot of fans. His exit got a negative response in 1997 (I remember Mimi Torchin chiding fans and saying criticizing Billy Warlock was like if Judith Light had been criticized for taking over as Karen - good luck with that) and the way he was treated when he came back also got a negative response from fans. It just didn't matter because Ron and Frank cared more about spite than what fans wanted.

[Liberty City]

Same; plus, becoming the drunk again likely did help him, both in terms of the role and his own real-life struggles (x).

It's funny you write this, because Warlock felt somewhat of the opposite.

[DRW50]

I haven't listened to any of his interviews so I am not sure what he said. If he preferred the Guza years, I can respect that.  

[carolineg]

Yeah.  I think cast changes (outside of SK's firing) affected where the story was supposed to go as well.   KMc left, Steve left, Hannah flopped, so the show pivoted to Sonny/Carly.  I think the original intention was probably always AJ vs. Jason over Michael, but it ended up being Sonny/Jason/Carly vs. AJ over Michael and there was no chance AJ was winning against that.  Anyhow, AJ became the designated loser.

I will say that I actually liked AJ/Courtney and thought that story had more potential, but AJ was quickly moved aside for Jason/Courtney.

[Liberty City]

He did; he called it the "best three months" of being in the role, and he felt like both Guza/Pratt finally wrote AJ with a "bat to swing for the first time" and, even though he lost, he got to fight. And Warlock even admitted Guza came up to him and admitted he messed up, and admitted to never knowing what he (Warlock as AJ) had in him, and wished he was staying over returning to DAYS.

[DRW50]

Thanks. What did he say about some of the other stuff like the pairing with Courtney (if anything at all)?

[Liberty City]

I don't recall him stating anything; he just remarked prior to those three months in 2005, AJ was a whipping post, but did praise working with Maurice Benard & Steve Burton.

[DRW50]

Thanks.

[Liberty City]

Welcome; I think it's sad that out of the years he played AJ, Warlock only seemed to enjoy three months, and it's even sadder the head writer did not realize the potential he had in the role until he was exiting the building. Shame on them.

[carolineg]

I'll be honest, I can hardly remember anything BW did as AJ besides the obvious Michael stuff.  He romanced Hannah for a bit I think and worked with Skye to cause trouble.  The Courtney romance was the most memorable thing he did that didn't involve Michael.  To think how much story could have been played out if AJ/Courtney were really given a shot.  Instead, we got Sonny being mad at Jason for about 10 mins because he was dating his sister.

[dragonflies]

I liked BW as AJ, he was present, he didn't phone it in. He had good chemistry with SJB and others IMO

Was he miscast? Sure but that happens.