10 hours ago, Khan said:

At the time, when I heard that SJB was off DAYS, I thought, "God, that poor girl can't catch a break!". IIRC, she had already tried to move past GH and Carly with jobs at ATWT, B&B and even some primetime show (although, I can't remember which one).

That would be Cold Case. SJB joined the show as a detective (and, if I recall, was resented by that show's audience for taking screen time away from Kathryn Morris' Det. Lily Rush!). Then Sarah got into a public squabble with Les Moonves, and her character was gone quickly. (Knowing what we know now, Sarah calling out Moonves was a brave move.)

8 hours ago, glfaninnyc said:

Marcy Walker as Tangie Hill on Guiding Light- Was brought over by JFP after Kim Zimmer left but they had no idea what to do with the character. They tried pairing her with a few different actors without any success.

The name Tangie said it all.I remember reading her joining GL in the SOW magazine and thought what a disastrous character profile.

Guiding Light

Sean (1998-99)- Reva's island buddy. They gave him a story about being framed for his wife's (fake) murder, they even tied Ben Warren into the plot. He then had a one-way crush on Cassie before quietly leaving town.

Noah (2000?)- The character was originally created to be paired with Harley but they changed course and put him with Reva instead. He might have been a doctor. Was he Lizzie's cancer doctor? Anyway he was in the San Cristobel earthquake and I don't remember much else about him.

Sebastian (2004)- already mentioned, but the whole plot with him holding Holly captive in San Domingo was cringe.

Lainie Bauer (1987)- Johnny Bauer's kid sister and parents were duds.

Catalina (2001?)- Migrant that Reva championed, later Tony's wife, killed by Romeo.

Ruth (2000?)- Person in trouble that Reva championed, Thrown into a relationship with David- making Vicki Spaulding the spoiler.

Harley's cellmate played by Linda Dano (2005)- I was under the impression she'd stick around a little, like Selena did. Also like Selena, she had a grown daughter which I was also sure was going to be a thing. Oh, well.

As the World Turns had many in the late-1990s and 2000s. From Rose's daughter Jade, to Hal's daughter, to Holden and Molly's daughter, Bob's nephew Ryder, Marshall, Monti Sharp's character, the Kasnoff sister and her model friend, Mark Kasnoff (?), Bryant Montgomery, those two teen siblings from Montega.

2 minutes ago, Spoon said:

Harley's cellmate played by Linda Dano (2005)- I was under the impression she'd stick around a little, like Selena did. Also like Selena, she had a grown daughter which I was also sure was going to be a thing. Oh, well.

I think the official story was that Dano was still grieving her husband's death and wasn't able to continue. Of course, that could've been just a cover, lol.

4 minutes ago, Spoon said:

Harley's cellmate played by Linda Dano (2005)- I was under the impression she'd stick around a little, like Selena did. Also like Selena, she had a grown daughter which I was also sure was going to be a thing. Oh, well.

That daughter was also Skye. Skye Chandler Quartermaine Ruthledge.

8 minutes ago, Khan said:

I think the official story was that Dano was still grieving her husband's death and wasn't able to continue. Of course, that could've been just a cover, lol.

I can believe it. Linda took her husband's death very hard. Any time I've heard her quoted since she always mentions 'my Frank.' Gets me in the heart.

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

Kin Shriner to Texas. One of daytime's hottest hunks paid 6 figures to get GH viewers to switch over.

Except he was hired w/o a character or a story. He played out the 1 year contract, took the money and headed back to GH.

He said most of his fan mail was along the lines of 'Scotty, when are you coming back to GH?'

I just rewatched Texas and thought Jeb was a pretty interesting character. He had lots of story until Gail Kobe became EP.

24 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That daughter was also Skye. Skye Chandler Quartermaine Ruthledge.

LMAO!!

Y&R.......Brian Forbes Ashley Abbotts first love interest circa 1982-83 that disappeared by going to make a phone call and never came back. In the 90's a mustached/dark haired Grant Kramer (who had previously played crazy blonde Shawn Garrett) came on as Adam Hunter. He was Ashley's new lab partner/potential love interest (like Brian had been years before). I think they only showed Adam maybe 3 or 4 times and he disappeared. Then came the ill-fated Kurt Costner (Leigh McCloskey).

B&B........Jessica Forrester. I don't think she went over all that well.

ATWT.....Brad Hollister and a bunch of those other characters the Dobsons introduced when they took over the writing in 1980. It was similar to when all those sucky characters that arrived in the mid 90's.

GL......Jennifer (Geraldine Court) That character was blah......along with several other characters that Marland created. Marland was excellent at ATWT but GL was hit or miss. At ATWT he loved to dive into the history of the show. At GL he couldn't be bothered much with character's he didn't create.

Dallas.......Mitch Cooper (Leigh McCloskey). Nothing against McCloskey, but he always acted/spoke in an affected manner like he was doing Shakespeare no matter what role he is playing. There's a Princeton/Harvard quality to him as if TV was slumming.

KL...Kenny & Ginger Ward. The writers had 4 seasons to come up with something, but couldn't figure out what to do with them.

22 hours ago, DRW50 said:

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.

Madison died as a result of the explosion. Ian stuck around for a few more episodes to be revealed as the person behind Stefano's death. He had kidnapped Stefano and claimed that he was Santos Dimera's bastard son via the family maid, Sophia, but I believe E.J. and/or Stefano dismissed Ian's claim. The scripts with the Santos' reveal were Tomlin and Whitsell, but I wondered if that wasn't the intention of MarDar all along.

In retrospect, I have to wonder at what point Joe Mascolo's Alzheimer's was diagnosed. I feel like Stefano was used pretty consistently until his murder in 2012, but afterwards, there were so many gaps. Stefano was revealed alive in August and then disappeared again for some time. In 2012, "Days" did a tour of different cities to promote the show and I caught the even at one of the Connecticut casinos. I remember Drake Hogestyn basically walking arm in arm with Mascolo because of Joe's health. Now, I have to wonder if things weren't starting then.

21 hours ago, Vee said:

I was admittedly presold for SJB, but I really liked Madison when I came back to DAYS with that umpteenth reboot. I thought the writing in that business story/romance early on there was unusually adult for the modern show and you're right, she did have real chemistry with Eric. Of course it fell apart and Dena Higley and co. announced their triumphant return the following summer by slaughtering her, hurling Jack down the elevator shaft, etc. Ho hum.

I have no idea what the Ian Buchanan story was about. I have defended McPherson/Thomas a lot on the early stuff (and re: the former's work on AMC 2.0) but if they really thought that character was going to work as a successor to Stefano they were dreaming.

I won't rehash too much on MarDar as my feelings are fairly well known. If I recall though, part of the issue was the business infrastructure wasn't there for Madison to work. The typical business stories of the previous few years were always grounded in the relationships, however underdeveloped they may have been. From what I remember, the business stuff was constantly shifting under MarDar without much impact. Sami worked for Madison, her childhood friend, and then went to work for Kate, I think. And Kate had been a hooker who slept with Ian during his marriage to Madison. Even on days that was a wonky timeline. Almost as funky as Chad's mother being a prostitute with Kate when Chad was conceived under Higley a year or so earlier.

21 hours ago, Khan said:

At the time, when I heard that SJB was off DAYS, I thought, "God, that poor girl can't catch a break!". IIRC, she had already tried to move past GH and Carly with jobs at ATWT, B&B and even some primetime show (although, I can't remember which one). Each time, however, she and the role didn't seem to work out, and for reasons that were never exactly clear. In light of the #MeToo allegations she made against Les Moonves, though, I have to wonder whether he didn't play some part in tanking her DAYS job as well.

It's always possible that is why Sarah J. Brown was dropped, but I don't think financially there was space on the show for her where the story was heading with Kristen's return and her seduction of Brady.

21 hours ago, Khan said:

I can't remember who was HW'ing DAYS at that point - maybe it was Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell - but whoever it was, they were setting her up to fail with that ridiculous story about the elephant statue.

The elephant story was stupid. I also thought that adding Xander as the third wheel and making him a Kiriakis was just a little too tight. In a post-Sami Salem, having a medical reporter arrive in town with a past connection to Melanie and to Eric opened some interesting possibiliies. It also should have provided Nicole, then also a journalist, a much needed rival. Everything seemed to go south very quick, which is a shame, because I remember thinking this could be a nice pivot.

20 hours ago, Liberty City said:

Days of Our Lives

• Schuyler Yancey and Nathan Owens as Cameron Davis (2010–2013)
  Yancey was poorly cast, as was Owens (and yet, I am surprised at how decent Owens is doing at Y&R), and the character of Cameron ultimately lasted three years longer than it should have. On top of that, a failed romance with Abigail (then Kate Mansi) just did not do the character any kind of favours.

• Marie Wilson as Summer Townsend (2016, 2020)
  Do I need to explain this one? From the casting choice to the storyline, this character was never going to amount to anything. At all. Even Wilson's previous like (Bree Tjaden) was a dud. It was like trying to watch TPTB at Days of Our Lives trying to make "fetch" happen.

• Paige Searcy and Gabrielle Haugh as Jade Michaels (2016–2017)
  Another character introduced that just did not work. And in the case of a recast, it made the role even worse.

Nathan was only on for about a year and a half introduced in April, 2012, when the show was gearing up to have Lexi die of cancer. Yancey was out in the fall and then Owens did a one year run (November 2012-November 2013). Yancey had previously appeared as a bartender at the Brady Pub probably around 2010. Owens came in for the Cameron / Abigail / Chad triangle with his big plot being that he was in debt and had secretly been stripping to pay the bills leading to the strip show sequence. When Casey Jon Deidrich left as Chad, Cameron really wasn't going to be able to carry the story, as you said.

Bree Tjaden was a bit part (maybe 3 months) and served her purpose, to propel the mystery of Aiden Jennings' wife. I really like all those bitchy moms that appeared briefly (Bree's sister-in-law was Hope's friend).

Paige Searcy had such a unique look. I thought her Jade could have made life miserable for Kayla for years, but I don't think people really liked the idea of Kayla as this aging helicopter mom. I didn't hate it. I also liked how both Ciara and Claire snubbed her once Jade got knocked up by Joey. Haugh wasn't good, but I thought the show could have recast and gone with a Joey / Jade / Tripp story and there would have been some interesting moments to explore.

19 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Did any version of Taylor Walker ever last or work on DAYS? I remember Natalia Livingston's version getting the most brickbats.

None of the Taylors lasted long. I think Taylor was introduced in late January 2011 because someone's contract was up for negotiation (Allison Sweeney's maybe?) and the show was setting up a potential next step. At the same time, there was a casting call for a male that many assumed was going to be Eric, but I don't think that part ever materialized.

13 hours ago, MichaelGL said:

GL

Sebastian Hulce

We were so excited to have Roger Thorpes absence (and MZs passing) addressed but he and his storyline fizzled out like a lot of David Kreizmans stories.

Sebastian's story was stunted when Wheeler didn't recast Ed Bauer for the Santa Domingo story when Peter Simon refused to return. The shift to Sebastian and Beth was pointless though I did enjoy where they were going in Sebastian's final days with Blake, Sebastian, and Josh plotting a takeover of Spaulding with Sebastian and Josh developing a close friendship and Blake crashing out when she learned Alan and Holly were in a business deal that would have exchanged ownership of the Journal and shares of Spaulding Enterprises. .

9 hours ago, Spoon said:

Guiding Light

Harley's cellmate played by Linda Dano (2005)- I was under the impression she'd stick around a little, like Selena did. Also like Selena, she had a grown daughter which I was also sure was going to be a thing. Oh, well.

I wonder if Michelle Ray Smith's Ava was originally suppose to be Lena's daughter. I do remember the set up and wondering if they were going to introduce Lena's daughter, but I also thought that maybe it was just backstory to give Lena a reason to look after Harley in prison.

42 minutes ago, dc11786 said:

Bree Tjaden was a bit part (maybe 3 months) and served her purpose, to propel the mystery of Aiden Jennings' wife. I really like all those bitchy moms that appeared briefly (Bree's sister-in-law was Hope's friend).

Yeah, Bree was never a 'real character' or brought on with any fanfare. She was needed for a plot function, but I figured they must have liked Marie Wilson so much that they either created Summer for her or kept her in mind until a role came up. Summer was truly a cursed character, and I'm still unclear what was even the point of bringing her on. They didn't seem to have a clear vision for whether she was supposed to be a rootable character or a villain, and that whole convoluted thing with having known Daniel previously and then falling for Brady, who had Daniel's heart... it was a complete mess.

That 2015-16 "season" with Griffith & Higley was overrun with confusing, short-run character. They hyped up the casting of Dr. Fynn, played by hot Australian Alexander Bruszt, but they clearly had no vision for the character at all besides "hot" -- they introduced him as an old pal of Daniel's, had him hit on Daniel's fiancée Nicole, sent him on a date with Ava Vitali, and then semi-paired him with Kayla for a hot minute before writing him out. Very weird. And that was the same time period in which they brought on the Hernandez parents -- A. Martinez as Eduardo and Alma Delfina as Adriana -- both of whom flamed out quickly, even though Eduardo made a few weird returns. There was also that lady Blanca, some Hernandez family friend whom Adriana wanted to pair up with Rafe to get him away from Hope. They toyed with her and Jordi Vilasuso's Dario (another one for this thread!) for a minute, then unceremoniously wrote her out and shuffled Dario over to Abigail for a terrible immigration story.

@dc11786 I always though SJB's firing was more financially motivated as well on Days. I never thought it was personal. They dumped Carrie, Austin, and Jack (which may have been personal lol) at the same time. I think Madison was popular just not popular enough to keep with Eileen returning and the story pivot they were about to do with Brady.

I don't doubt a lot of jobs SJB have been tanked by Moonves and her accusations, but I am not sure if it affected her on Days.

@dc11786 Thanks for all the DAYS rundowns. This sounds much more interesting than the likely onscreen version.