1 hour ago, titan1978 said:

You had me up to Liz Keifer. I don’t think she held a candle to what Sherry Stringfield did with Blake.

2 hours ago, Spoon said:

I found Beth Chamberlain's Beth pale in comparison to BE's Beth. BC fared much better in her 2nd stint when she played tbe role as a trouble-making vixen.

Bethany Joy Lenz was instantly accepted as Michelle. Quickly pivoting her to a brand new love interest was a smart calculation.

Gina Tognoni was good on Y&R, but she didn'tfeel like Phyllis. MS always played Phyllis as sultry- using sex appeal to get her way, GT's Phyllis did not.

On Days, Billy Flynn as Chad and Marci Miller as Abigail.

If I had to choose, yes, Sherry definitely blew me away as Blake. Keifer's Blake was less jagged and self-destructive. But I think the audience accepted her readily, in part because of the physical similarity to SS and because SS quickly moved on in her career with NYPD Blue and then ER.

I know you mean Judi Evans. Personally, I like BC's first run better than her second, where Beth turns into a neurotic mess. That the audience accepted her and Kimberly Simms as part of the Musketeers so easily is either because they made it work, or maybe that the audiences were less critical at the time. (Although the massive failure of someone like Glynnis O'Connor as Margo around that time suggests otherwise.)

2 hours ago, Planet Soap said:

Justin Hartley and Mark Grossman as Adam Y&R seemed to slip into their roles easily. IMO Groaaman channels Michel Muney's darkness and mysteriousness. Did you all accept them?

How quickly were GH'S Laura Wright and Tamara Braun accepted as Carly?

I feel like Laura Wright was accepted, especially following the misrecast of Jennifer Bransford, who was a good actor but not for the role of Carly.

I remember Laura being immediately accepted. Tamara had a tough introduction and rough audience response given the BTS circumstances of Sarah Brown's exit and unfortunate changes wrought on the show in 2001, but the audience quickly swung to her side following the unpopular Angel story starting up and Carly being railroaded onscreen, as well as Maurice Benard actively tanking the Angel SL and very vocally coming out in support of Tamara. By the fall of '01 it was a done deal for her winning the audience over, and better daily writing when the Guza team returned the following spring sealed it.

IIRC it also took them time to integrate TB’s Carly because she was intended to be a short term recast to write the character out. And the actors liked her, the audience didn’t react like they did with Jennifer later, and as @Vee said, the Angel story was a dud. The whole show was pretty much awful when JFP had the most control over it.

Laura Wright also benefitted from a terrible Sonny story/romance, the Reese character.

12 hours ago, P.J. said:

If I had to choose, yes, Sherry definitely blew me away as Blake. Keifer's Blake was less jagged and self-destructive. But I think the audience accepted her readily, in part because of the physical similarity to SS and because SS quickly moved on in her career with NYPD Blue and then ER.

To me, the losses of Kimberly Simms, Sherry Stringfield, and Beverlee McKinesy were pretty brutal to the watchability of the show. Then follow that up soon after with the Ellen Parker debacle and also Beth Ehlers? Curlee and that writing team did their best, but a more bland Blake, terrible recasts for Mindy and Alexandra (and I love both actors, it just wasn’t the right fit), and then Lucy Cooper overload are just not the same quality and it showed.

9 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

IIRC it also took them time to integrate TB’s Carly because she was intended to be a short term recast to write the character out. And the actors liked her, the audience didn’t react like they did with Jennifer later, and as @Vee said, the Angel story was a dud. The whole show was pretty much awful when JFP had the most control over it.

Laura Wright also benefitted from a terrible Sonny story/romance, the Reese character.

To me, the losses of Kimberly Simms, Sherry Stringfield, and Beverlee McKinesy were pretty brutal to the watchability of the show. Then follow that up soon after with the Ellen Parker debacle and also Beth Ehlers? Curlee and that writing team did their best, but a more bland Blake, terrible recasts for Mindy and Alexandra (and I love both actors, it just wasn’t the right fit), and then Lucy Cooper overload are just not the same quality and it showed.

oh, Crampton was just so terribly cast. I think better of Keifer and Dusay, but the writing declined precipitously after Curlee's departure.

Christina Bennett Lind as Bianca on AMC, she was pretty well accepted. I often read people saying they liked her Bianca better

On 11/27/2025 at 9:28 PM, P.J. said:

If I had to choose, yes, Sherry definitely blew me away as Blake. Keifer's Blake was less jagged and self-destructive. But I think the audience accepted her readily, in part because of the physical similarity to SS and because SS quickly moved on in her career with NYPD Blue and then ER.

I know you mean Judi Evans. Personally, I like BC's first run better than her second, where Beth turns into a neurotic mess. That the audience accepted her and Kimberly Simms as part of the Musketeers so easily is either because they made it work, or maybe that the audiences were less critical at the time. (Although the massive failure of someone like Glynnis O'Connor as Margo around that time suggests otherwise.)

It took me a few years to accept Liz, as Sherry had such a sultry, jagged edge and had such great chemistry with Michael Zaslow, Jerry ver Dorn and Maureen Garrett. Blake's relationships with Roger and Holly were never as interesting to me post-Sherry, although a big part of that is the severe decline in the writing. Liz did have her own chemistry with Jerry, and she had a certain humor which helped her, along with playing the insecurity integral to Blake. Around 1995 or 1996 I was able to care more about her Blake, after she did what she could with some very dubious stories, even if I still missed Sherry.

I think if Glynis had been given more time she might have won viewers over (especially if they'd known how much Ellen Dolan would end up phoning in her final run), but she came into the show at just about the worst time.

I think what helped Beth Chamberlin in her first run was that Beth had been "dead" for three years and had mostly existed in that time as Philip's fragile love (any other layers she'd had long gone). Kimberley I think may have benefited from the other Musketeers slowly being phased out.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

It took me a few years to accept Liz, as Sherry had such a sultry, jagged edge and had such great chemistry with Michael Zaslow, Jerry ver Dorn and Maureen Garrett. Blake's relationships with Roger and Holly were never as interesting to me post-Sherry, although a big part of that is the severe decline in the writing. Liz did have her own chemistry with Jerry, and she had a certain humor which helped her, along with playing the insecurity integral to Blake. Around 1995 or 1996 I was able to care more about her Blake, after she did what she could with some very dubious stories, even if I still missed Sherry.

I think if Glynis had been given more time she might have won viewers over (especially if they'd known how much Ellen Dolan would end up phoning in her final run), but she came into the show at just about the worst time.

I think what helped Beth Chamberlin in her first run was that Beth had been "dead" for three years and had mostly existed in that time as Philip's fragile love (any other layers she'd had long gone). Kimberley I think may have benefited from the other Musketeers slowly being phased out.

I don't think I could've ever really seen Ross/Blake as anything other than Ross' mid-life crisis with Sherry in the role. Her Blake had done so many rotten things, I never truly would've believed she loved Ross. As good as Sherry was, I would've always been waiting Blake to return to her selfish ways.

Glynis? Nope, I don't think she ever would've been accepted. She didn't have HBS' warmth or chemistry with her costars. And she looked ridiculous trying to be a cop. Her lack of stature (which wasn't her fault) worked against her. While Dolan isn't the warmest presence, she had a lot of chemistry with her costars. Hal, Margo, & Jack is still one of my favorite friendships on soaps.

I do think in BC's first run, she's really just there to sell the romance with Phillip. I don't think a lot of people would've expected her to be brought back in the role. And Simms does get a boost by being part of the Musketeers and then being on her own. Her romance with Nick is arguably more successful than any of Rick or Beth's. Later, I feel Rick and Beth suffer with their unhealthy reliance on each other and Phillip.

Scott Holroyd as Paul Stenbeck.

Melanie Smith as Emily Stewart on ATWT. She took over for Colleen McDermott.

On 11/26/2025 at 6:01 AM, Soaplovers said:

Kimberley Simms as Melinda Sue Lewis was accepted as a recast right away, it was just that the character had to finish out story that was started by Krista T before being allowed to fully be her own Mindy.

My late mom called her the sexy Mindy.

To me, Kim Simms is MY Mindy. She's in the same class at Tamara Braun is for Carly. I don't care who played the role before her or after her, and once that actress left the role, I no longer cared for the character.

I stand firm that GL should've done any and everything to sway Kim with more money at that time or even woo Kim back in future years. Mindy was needed in the later years of GL.

On 11/27/2025 at 8:09 PM, titan1978 said:

You had me up to Liz Keifer. I don’t think she held a candle to what Sherry Stringfield did with Blake

Unpopular opinion, but while I did enjoy Sherry's take on Blake... it didn't fit with the tragic vibe of the character of Blake that Elizabeth D had established and that Liz Keifer expanded upon. And I think Liz K was capable of playing a Blake that was somewhat like Sherry's Blake.. but her stint started near the end of the golden age of GL so the writing didn't support her.

The one area that I did enjoy Sherry's Blake was her sense of humor and the way she would entice her prey (so very much like her dad Roger)... however, I don't think her Blake could have lasted much beyond 1992/1993.

On 11/27/2025 at 6:56 PM, Spoon said:

Gina Tognoni was good on Y&R, but she didn'tfeel like Phyllis. MS always played Phyllis as sultry- using sex appeal to get her way, GT's Phyllis did not.

That's probably why I liked GT much better as Phyllis vs acting tic ridden MS. And MS wasn't sultry nor sexy at all.. .she was kind of like a real life cartoon without any subtly nor without any lethalness.

Sandra Nelson was a scary Phyllis that also was sexy (she and CLB as Michael Baldwin were quite good together.. she even had good chemistry with Peter Bergman as Jack).

GT's Phyllis had a colder approach, but I viewed it as finally growing up and keeping her emotions to herself in order to better fool her enemies and get them to let their guard down.