What were some publicized/ anticipated returns of an actor to soaps or resurrection of a character that didn't pan out?

For example

After a controversial departure from Another World almost a decade earlier, Jacquie Courtney returned to the role she originated, Alice Matthews. Viewers anticipated seeing their beloved heroine, now more mature and experienced involved with new characters and romance.

It was even more significant as the show was struggling and the original Matthews family had been sidelined. But it all came to nothing. Jacquie/Alice was given little to do and quietly departed a year later.

On Y&R Lauren's son Scott finally returned in 2017 as a major character. But audiences were pretty much not interested in Daniel Hall's portrayal and Scott was also shipped out after a year or so.

What are some you remember?

 

So does Scott's return in 2005 count? I thought Blair Refeld was good with Sheila's return, but I remember him vanishing at the end of that return. Or fading away. 

John Aprea on AW. Aprea and Linda Dano still had chemistry, the idea of Felicia being with a much darker version of Lucas could have had merit, but the complicated backstory with Carl and Nikos wasn't appealing. On top of that, the "gothic" tones were a tough sell for the show, and they also required Matthew and Amanda to have massive personality transplants. 

Jonathan Jackson on GH. 

Both times actually.

Any Taylor return past her 2002 death and burial... didn't work IMO. I love Hunter Tylo, but at some point the character was better off dead. We even saw her as a ghost several times. It was ghoulish and bizarre and the fact that Bradley decided to completely ruin her and make her a shell of her former self didn't help. Taylor became even more chaotic and messy than Brooke at some point... She was a counter-point to Brooke and should have stayed like this. We didn't need to see her drunk-drive-killing Darla and then getting it on with her daughter's boyfriend Rick. It was too Brooke-esque. Didn't work.

There was deterioration in the acting department too. Hunter Tylo's face was too frozen for her to emote, so she would constantly scream, raise her voice or shake her head like a maniac, which didn't suit the previously elegant and more... nuanced Taylor. She became a cartoon.

After that with the new actresses, as much as I adore Krista Allen... Bradley still gave rinse and repeat of old stuff from the Hunter days... and now Rebecca is getting the same storyline too. Beat by beat. 1 - Brooke does something to disappoint Ridge. 2 - He leaves her. 3 - He gets engaged to Taylor. 4 - Last minute realizes he can't live without Brooke.  We've seen this played out more times than I can count. It's the most dead storyline in the show.  

 

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

John Aprea on AW.

Yes, yet another example of deciding to kill off a character then trying to backtrack by resorting to the lookalike plot.

See - Hilary on Y&R. Despite some wobbly writing Hilary was the only new character in years that took off. So they kill her off and then bring back Mishael as Amanda, which didn't work.

GH-Vanessa Marcil

 

 

 

LIES!!!!!!!!!

Yeah I agree with Maxim about Taylor. 

Did any of Amber's returns on Y&R or B&B work? 

Lisa Brown and Michael Tylo's return to GL.  The minute I heard that Quint had cheated on Nola, I knew they were doomed.

Holly on GH during her 1992 to 1993 stint where she returned just after Anna had vanished and Robert was on his way off the show so the show first tried to make her and Mac Robin's guardians.. then she was paired up with Anthony Geary's horrid character Bill Eckert then they went on an adventure to a make believe country where Emma Samms played a dual role.   She wisely quit the show in mid 1993 because her return was poorly written/planned from the start.  Her brief visits since then have been more successful... which proves that some characters are only meant to be short term on a show.

Damian on ATWT, who came back from the dead in 1997 as a monk/buddhist... then came back later as the heavy/homophobe when his son Luke came out of the closet while Holden was propped.

Jenna on GL coming back in time for the 70th anniversary.. and at first her return was promising before she was watered down so much that she happily was working at the diner and became weepy over big bad Jeffery when the Jenna circa 1992 to 1993 would have made mince meat of Jeffery.

Edited September 4Sep 4 by Soaplovers

14 minutes ago, Khan said:

Lisa Brown and Michael Tylo's return to GL.  The minute I heard that Quint had cheated on Nola, I knew they were doomed.

That was a heartbreaker, especially what was done with Nola.

Thom Bierdz as Philip, one of the most bewildering returns in soap history, even if it was nice to see him. When was he last mentioned?

JKJ’s last return as Phillip on DAYS. RC did his best to ruin the character and it didn’t seem like JKJ liked the material at all. Now Phillip is back on canvas with JPL and much improved writing.