Days - Wayne Northrup both as Roman then Alex North.

OLTL- Lee Paterson as Tom Denison. How far did they go in pairing him with Viki?

AMC - Robin Strasser as Christina. She was lured back to daytime by Agnes with the promise of playing a character totally unlike Rachel, but viewers wanted to see Robin as a bad girl. She jumped to OLTL as Dorian and made the role her own.

On 9/7/2025 at 8:56 PM, Soaplovers said:

Dallas:

Lucy Ewing Cooper's return in 1988 was a bust.

Bobby's return from the dead in 1986 actually hurt the show in the long term, and he wasn't as compelling to watch once Pam left the show.

Lucy's return was indeed a bust but the setup was perfect had the writers followed through. Lucy came back more mature, sexier and Charlene Tilton was a much better actress. They positioned her as an adult who could hold her own with JR and Bobby but they proceeded to do nothing with her. I don't understand it because they were bringing in a younger generation and she could've easily been apart of that with Michelle, April and Cally who I liked. 

Not sure if this return has been mentioned yet but I thought Gina Tognoni's return as Kelly on OLTL was a total bust. I know she originated the role but I feel like Heather Tom took that character to new heights and she just faded into the background.

 

18 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Days - Wayne Northrup both as Roman then Alex North.

For that matter, Wayne coming back to Dynasty as Michael.

8 hours ago, Chris B said:

Lucy's return was indeed a bust but the setup was perfect had the writers followed through. Lucy came back more mature, sexier and Charlene Tilton was a much better actress. They positioned her as an adult who could hold her own with JR and Bobby but they proceeded to do nothing with her. I don't understand it because they were bringing in a younger generation and she could've easily been apart of that with Michelle, April and Cally who I liked. 

 

Le sighed agreed 100%

I was at least interested when Casey Denault returned and both Lucy and April were drawn in but the show made them look so foolish once all the schemes went bust.  Then later came the ridiculous triangle between Lucy, Cally, and Elizabeth Taylor’s son. I loathe that particular season of Dallas and I think it’s the 2nd worst season after the 87-88 season.
 

I was a bit shocked Knots’ final season  actually mention Lucy a couple times though, especially when Mac asked about in the wake of Val being presumed dead. 

On 9/5/2025 at 6:39 AM, asafi said:

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.

Was Victor intended to stick around long-term?  I always thought him dying after the medical procedure was stopped was the plan all along.

2 minutes ago, SadPim8696 said:

Was Victor intended to stick around long-term?

No, not at all. But it was still a massive disaster of a story, reviled then and now.

18 hours ago, Chris B said:

Not sure if this return has been mentioned yet but I thought Gina Tognoni's return as Kelly on OLTL was a total bust. I know she originated the role but I feel like Heather Tom took that character to new heights and she just faded into the backgroun

That's a good one. I was happy to see Kelly and Joey winded up together, but she had an uphill battle after Heather Tom. Though I am bias. 

9 hours ago, Vee said:

No, not at all. But it was still a massive disaster of a story, reviled then and now.

I vaguely recall Ron a few years later  retconned the story a few years later by having Dorian reveal she killed Victor and that the guy was an imposter, but he didn’t go further than that. 

What a mess. I blame Josh Griffith as that is totally up his alley. 

 

43 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

I vaguely recall Ron a few years later  retconned the story a few years later by having Dorian reveal she killed Victor and that the guy was an imposter, but he didn’t go further than that. 

He had Dorian imply that he was, yes. And had her claim again that she did it. But she didn't explain any of that retcon, it was a very brief bit.

I was glad they basically said he was a fake (and changed Victor's date of death back to the '70s in the Lord mausoleum) even if they gave zero explanation of any of it. I don't believe Dorian actually killed Victor though. The Viki reveal in '95 was too perfect IMO. It felt like something they did just to do a favor to Robin Strasser, who always has maintained Dorian did it.

Ron did something like this again at GH in 2013, during the 50th anniversary but even more faint: The ghost of Rick Webber showed up and Tracy hectored him about the whole attic mystery debacle, and Rick grumbled 'that is not what happened' but didn't elaborate. I feel like if you're going to go in for these retcons go all the way, don't just hem and haw.

Speaking of Ron Carlivati nonsense, Frank Smith still being alive only to be killed again after like a four week story was just plain stupid. Tony Geary said something along the lines of Frank was old in the 70’s when talking about how ridiculous it was. And I know it was a recast, but still a bust as a return. I feel like the Labine era Frank was better than the original, Commandant Lassard from Police Academy.

Andrea Evans had to be the most requested and looked forward to return from ABC. And it was very hit and miss. Although her last return was better. Carlo Hesser also came back to diminished returns. I think had Andrea been there during the first Malone era, she would have had stronger writing and investment, which would have made Tina more vital than what Krista did. But maybe not, because Witter was an excellent Tina and they kind of squandered her.

So many villain returns just don’t hold up. After the peak of Hello Barbara, James Stenbeck becomes a cartoon. And while watching Carlo Hesser lust after captive Christian Vega was perverse fun, it never really goes anywhere, and he really got cartoony. Olivia Jerome was originally calculating and psychotic, so she could be unpredictable, but she had so much intensity. Her return was not thrilling. Faison used to be quite scary, and while I didn’t hate the Faison in a Duke mask reveal because of Finola selling her repulsion so well, that should have been it for him. Because he became eccentric and silly.

I will give DAYS credit for Stefano though. His return in the early 90’s really drove a lot of story, cemented Peter, Kristin, Celeste and Lexie with great stuff to do. And while he went campy with the underground city and beyond, they wisely walked him back from the camp ledge in the 2000’s. One of the things Tomlin did well was establish another family around him and gave him back a more grounded persona.

On 9/18/2025 at 10:32 AM, Chris B said:

Lucy's return was indeed a bust but the setup was perfect had the writers followed through. Lucy came back more mature, sexier and Charlene Tilton was a much better actress. They positioned her as an adult who could hold her own with JR and Bobby but they proceeded to do nothing with her. I don't understand it because they were bringing in a younger generation and she could've easily been apart of that with Michelle, April and Cally who I liked. 

To me this is indicative of the differences between Dallas and Knots. The women were always of equal or more importance to the story than the men on Knots Landing. Adult Lucy could have been the thorn in both Bobby and JR’s sides, as she had the nasty streak of JR mixed with a need for revenge for what JR did to Valene. A perfect and connected enemy to both of them, easily pitting them against each other to get control.

Edited September 19Sep 19 by titan1978

14 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Andrea Evans had to be the most requested and looked forward to return from ABC. And it was very hit and miss. Although her last return was better. Carlo Hesser also came back to diminished returns. I think had Andrea been there during the first Malone era, she would have had stronger writing and investment, which would have made Tina more vital than what Krista did. But maybe not, because Witter was an excellent Tina and they kind of squandered her.

I was just talking about this with @DRW50. Rumors abounded at the time, and I suspect they were true, that Frons hated Andrea's return, found her too old and insisted her stint be either curtailed, kept with the youth set or both. It was definitely not OLTL's intention to write her out in November of the same year, I know that much. It was a mess, but there was some good stuff in there (particularly her roll in the hay and intimate talk with Christopher Cousins' Cain - who she never worked with in the '90s! - shortly before her exit). Her final stint in 2011 was much better. I do think Andrea could've modulated for the Malone era - Witter (who was great) was basically doing a very good, nuanced riff on her anyway.

The great Mitch Ryan (of Dark Shadows and virtually half the TV and films of the mid-late 20th century) was Frank in the '90s. I agree he was great. I could never take the original Frank seriously because of his buffoonish roles in various movies.

Edited September 19Sep 19 by Vee

20 hours ago, Vee said:

I could never take the original Frank seriously because of his buffoonish roles in various movies.

Especially after I'd seen him on "Punky Brewster."   

23 hours ago, Vee said:

I was just talking about this with @DRW50. Rumors abounded at the time, and I suspect they were true, that Frons hated Andrea's return, found her too old and insisted her stint be either curtailed, kept with the youth set or both. It was definitely not OLTL's intention to write her out in November of the same year, I know that much. It was a mess, but there was some good stuff in there (particularly her roll in the hay and intimate talk with Christopher Cousins' Cain - who she never worked with in the '90s! - shortly before her exit). Her final stint in 2011 was much better. I do think Andrea could've modulated for the Malone era - Witter (who was great) was basically doing a very good, nuanced riff on her anyway.

 

Even by 1990, Andrea had modulated her Tina compared to the more campy 1986-1988 period so I do believe she would have continued to adjust her approach during the Malone era.   My late mom told me that her version of Tina circa 1978 to 1981 was much more low key compared to her 2nd return.

 

All My Children:

Maria and Julia Santos returns were so disappointing and a waste of both actresses and their characters.

Days:

Carly Manning's early 2010s return was underwhelming and the show didn't know how to really write her and Crystal Chappell had trouble getting back into playing Carly after her decade playing the more over the top/erratic Olivia Spencer.   

The story wasn't good for Carly at DAYS but I think Crystal Chappell played herself there BTS most of all. Her crashout during and after that was legendary (on top of the Venice webseries grift) and I pretty much ceased taking her seriously ever again, let alone wanting her back on daytime.