Phillip Chancellor (Y&R, 2009): Hyped as a shocking resurrection and a chance to revive the Chancellor clan, but after the “faked death because he was gay” reveal, the show gave him little story and he vanished again.

Victor Lord (OLTL, 2003): Brought back decades after his death, but the retcon didn’t land. Fans rejected it, and he was quickly killed off again.

Irene Manning (OLTL, 2011): Supposed to be a game-changer in the “Two Todds” saga, but after a few explosive scenes, she was shot and gone - pure stunt.

👉 All three had huge buildup but no lasting impact.

 

14 hours ago, Franko said:

Susan Seaforth Hayes, Days of Our Lives, 1990-93.

I watched 1991 to 1993 fairly recently and I honestly have no idea what the plan was for Julie.  1992 is a rough year overall for Days with the all Carly all the time show and people like Marlena/Roman doing very little, but Julie is truly doing nothing.  I remember the show briefly teasing her with Victor although that was quickly pivoted to Carly. She's heavily invested in Tanner/Molly's relationship for no discernible reason and that entire romance is a dud.  Then Julie just randomly pops up at Wings in the background handing out menus and chit chatting with her customers/friends.  I can't believe SSH stayed as long as she did.  

15 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I watched 1991 to 1993 fairly recently and I honestly have no idea what the plan was for Julie.  1992 is a rough year overall for Days with the all Carly all the time show and people like Marlena/Roman doing very little, but Julie is truly doing nothing.  I remember the show briefly teasing her with Victor although that was quickly pivoted to Carly. She's heavily invested in Tanner/Molly's relationship for no discernible reason and that entire romance is a dud.  Then Julie just randomly pops up at Wings in the background handing out menus and chit chatting with her customers/friends.  I can't believe SSH stayed as long as she did.  

She briefly had a relationship with Jay Pickett (RIP), didn't she, or did that not happen?

7 hours ago, Cheap21 said:

Eva La Rue as Maureen Gorman on All My Children. A HOT azz mess that ruined her legacy as Maria

That was the only time I liked her, maybe because it played into what a cold actress Eva is.

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

She briefly had a relationship with Jay Pickett (RIP), didn't she, or did that not happen?

Yes.  Dr. Chip.  It was after she was caught in the museum explosion.  During the Torres brothers fiasco that seemed to last forever.  I don't recall the relationship getting much focus and I can't even tell you why they broke up.

14 hours ago, Melroser said:

I'd say Cecile's return to AW when she was trying to pass Maggie off as Cass's. Never made sense. Cecile had been such a force of a character and they had dwindled her down to a caricature. 

It was very unpleasant to watch, like all of JFP's tenure.

13 hours ago, AdelaideCate007 said:

The Guza/JFP era was filled with these random vet returns that started off strong and then just fizzled out or ended badly. Rick, Stefan, when Felicia came back after Georgie died, whatever that was with Scott and Laura around 2007/2008. Even looking back, a lot of those Robert and Anna returns sort of sucked until they committed to them when Frank got there.

I remember a lot of complaints about Robert's return story. And Anna was reduced to having flings with Noah the rock god (I never enjoy "rock" stories on GH). 

47 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That was the only time I liked her, maybe because it played into what a cold actress Eva is.

Haha the original Maria fans hated her bc she was not what we’d been waiting for and that return really ruined her to the point that she never recovered and we were glad to see her leave again

Edited September 5Sep 5 by Cheap21

22 minutes ago, Cheap21 said:

Haha the original Maria fans hated her bc she was not what we’d been waiting for and that return really ruined her to the point that she never recovered and we were glad to see her leave again

I can respect that. I don't think it helped that the Callahan marriage was dying at this point, but it did ruin the whole selling point. 

I liked her with Aiden, but after everything with that actor we later heard I don't have the same view.

Do you guys think any of Sheila's "returns" past 2002 worked?

16 hours ago, Vee said:

People were very sad to see her go.

I wasn't so much sad to see Gabrielle go as I was sad to see how she written out.  I mean, wasn't she strangled next to a toilet or something?

2 hours ago, Khan said:

I wasn't so much sad to see Gabrielle go as I was sad to see how she written out.  I mean, wasn't she strangled next to a toilet or something?

Yep!

On 9/4/2025 at 6:51 PM, Franko said:

Susan Seaforth Hayes, Days of Our Lives, 1990-93.

For whatever reason I enjoyed that return and think it was because of the Julie/Victor pairing and her playing a big part in the introduction of Bill and Kate’s story. 

20 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Joanna Johnson as Karen on B&B.

Viewers loved JJ as Caroline. So the reasoning behind making her a totally different character and not playing a Ridge/Karen romance made the whole thing pointless.

They should have either

1. Sent Caroline out of town, either dying or not, leaving the door open for a return

or

2. Killed her off and stand by that decision. The return was a fizzle, so really no point.

Taylor pretty much replaced Caroline. Karen got lost in the shuffle because there were too many other females in the early 30s age range (Brooke, Macy, Taylor, Sheila) and not enough storyline to go around.

Oh, yes. Karen was a huge misstep. The way they wrote for her didn't suit JJ at all. It was very hard to take after seeing her be front and centre as Caroline and then the same actress was given such scraps in terms of storyline. Didn't work.

Some great choices here all around. I’ll add a few I didn’t see listed:

ATWT: Margaret Reed’s return as Shannon in 1994 was a complete disaster. I mean I suppose it was a good thing that we found out Shannon’s head wasn’t shrunken by Lilith after all, but the whole story was such a disappointment and she was gone within a year.

I’ll save the 2000’s character returns for another time, but Scott Bryce was failed by inept writing and management. 

AW: RKK’s return. Nothing else needs to be said. Also the Anne/Frankie story was….weird…

B&B: Too many failed returns to count lol

Days: Crystal Chappell’s return as Carly became a rather sloppy disappointing mess.

GL: The waste of Robert Gentry’s Ed and Susan Pratt as Claire in their returns. For returning characters, Alan-Michael in 2005 turned into a big WTF. 
 

Y&R: Hmm another tough one. Poor David Tom in 2014. Malcolm returns but is now played by Eddie Winslow. Stafford’s return in 2019 is a return no one asked for.