I'm talking about characters that came on and seemed set up for a decent run but within a few months, or under a year were dropped.

Maybe the actor/character just didn't click or there was a writer change but for whatever reason they were out the door.

This idea for this topic came about reading the Days thread when Doug 111 was discussed. Here was a new character that arrived to coincide with Doug's death, bearing the name of this legendary character. So quite a bit of fanfare but gone fairly soon-how long was his run?

BITD Y&R introduced Kurt Costner , seeming to be groomed as a new lead-a man of mystery who attracted Ashley and Hope. Played by Leigh McCloskey known from Dallas etc. But Bill Bell didn't seem inspired and Kurt was shuffled out of town.

I'm sure there are many other examples to be shared. Who comes to mind for you?

I mean, the original 2007 run of Jeremy Horton fits into this but apparently Trevor Donovan was just terrible and they didn't bother recasting at the time.

AMC:

Camille. Schulyer Grant had a pedigree (some would call it "nepo baby" these days), but little screen presence and little chemistry with MEK. The convoluted and unpleasant storyline did not help. At least Camille had a memorable death.

Kit. I can't remember if she lasted a year or not. Maybe? The baby sister whose death caused so much trauma for Jack and Travis should have been real drama, although given that Jack was not a central character by that point and Travis only made guest appearances limited the scope. The "cry rape" story with Tad was a terrible story choice the character never recovered from, along with the limited range of Paige Rowland. At least Paige got a marriage and family out of the role.

Tanner. I have always wondered what the initial plans were for this character. This was the peak of ABC Daytime importing Australian hunks. Vince Poletto was apparently a fan favorite on Heartbreak High or whatever Australian teen soap he'd come from. A triangle with Hayley and Mateo loomed. Poletto had a very dark energy in the role. Within several months, Tanner had pushed alcohol on a woozy Hayley and raped her. This was an extremely ugly story. Was that really what they had hired him for?

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DRW50

GH:

Dr. Buzz Stryker (Don Galloway, July 25, 1985-June 23, 1987) -- An affable redundancy. According to the 1985 summaries, Buzz appears to have been chem tested with Monica, resulting in jealousy from Alan. I'm curious if this was done just to play some beats in the wider Alan-Monica story, or if there was some interest in Buzz/Monica/Alan before it became Sean/Monica/Alan. If they had done Buzz/Monica/Alan, I can't see it being anything more than a poor man's Rick/Monica/Alan.

Buzz is most infamous for not clicking romantically with Anna, which is where I'm at in my 1986 viewing. Galloway and Finola Hughes have good friend chemistry, but it's even better with her and John Reilly. It's also a little silly for Robin to have three godfathers, when Sean and Frisco are more than up for the job.

I'll be curious if my thoughts on Buzz change once we get into his alcoholism and the introduction of his daughter, Sandy.

Edited 48 minutes ago48 min by Franko

1 hour ago, te. said:

I mean, the original 2007 run of Jeremy Horton fits into this but apparently Trevor Donovan was just terrible and they didn't bother recasting at the time.

TD was pretty bad, but the writing for Jeremy was awful too. I wouldn't have recast either. It was a bad idea to make Jeremy Horton an absolute villain. I am not sure even a good actor could have made that work.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

AMC:

Tanner. I have always wondered what the initial plans were for this character. This was the peak of ABC Daytime importing Australian hunks. Vince Poletto was apparently a fan favorite on Heartbreak High or whatever Australian teen soap he'd come from. A triangle with Hayley and Mateo loomed. Poletto had a very dark energy in the role. Within several months, Tanner had pushed alcohol on a woozy Hayley and raped her. This was an extremely ugly story. Was that really what they had hired him for?

Am I wrong in remembering it may have been something personal between the actor and Kelly/Mark? Or that they were both strongly against a triangle and made it known?

It is funny how ABC Daytime went all in on Australian hunks back then because Ingo/Jax still ended up being the only successful one.

For Days I would say Sarah Brown's Madison. She came in with fanfare, was fairly well received, then entered a weird story with Ian Buchannan's character and dumped. Actually, most of SJB's post-Carly roles could fall into this category.

BOLD

Buff RJ - He came... showed us some cakes and triceps and he was gone.

Horny looking older Thorne - there was this actor that came (forgot the name), kissed Brooke, declared he would be taking charge of everything... and was gone in a hot minute. LOL.

16 minutes ago, carolineg said:

TD was pretty bad, but the writing for Jeremy was awful too. I wouldn't have recast either. It was a bad idea to make Jeremy Horton an absolute villain. I am not sure even a good actor could have made that work.

Am I wrong in remembering it may have been something personal between the actor and Kelly/Mark? Or that they were both strongly against a triangle and made it known?

It is funny how ABC Daytime went all in on Australian hunks back then because Ingo/Jax still ended up being the only successful one.

For Days I would say Sarah Brown's Madison. She came in with fanfare, was fairly well received, then entered a weird story with Ian Buchannan's character and dumped. Actually, most of SJB's post-Carly roles could fall into this category.

The writing for Jeremy was insane...trying to drown Stephanie in the hot tub, being a pilot who was in human trafficking (?), but wait, he was neglected by Mike so don't judge him. That was all Hogan Sheffer to a tee.

That would make sense about Tanner as surely, they didn't intend that as a story. 1997 was such a dark year for the show as it was and there we have Hayley, one of the young lead heroines, in her wedding dress, trembling and in tears as Adam tries to console her.

Of all of Sarah's post-Carly roles, Madison did seem to be the one with the most hype with the least to show for it. I can't remember if she and Ian were killed in that big disaster or just one...or neither, I don't know.