A few from OLTL, among many I'm probably forgetting (I'm trying not to count the likes of the college students brought in under Malone as they were never meant to be meaningful in story):

Melanie, the "good" sister to wicked Lindsay, and Bo's true love for less than year. I think this was around the time they were trying to make Bo seem a bit younger. The actress was mainly known for being on that USA bike cop show, and more recently known for ranting at a city council meeting. This was one of those cases where the audience ended up rooting for Lindsay. Melanie's lasting legacy on OLTL was Ty Treadway as her evil ex.

Barbara Niven as Keri's mother, Liz, who was meant to have a baby for her, but the baby was actually Antonio's, as he and Liz had hooked up before they realized who the other was. Liz also rekindled her old love with Keri's father, RJ, around this time. The whole story was seamy and dull and dumped as soon as Gary Tomlin was gone. Only memorable for being RJ's last story, or close.

Sarah/Flash...twice!

Grace Rappaport. The actress, Susan Misner (?), was more of a dancer and not up to much, but wasn't horrible, IIRC. The family was just very disliked by fans, as was Tim Gibbs as her beau Kevin Buchanan. JFP/McTavish, seemingly in an attempt to shame viewers for not getting the message, had her unwittingly killed by Big Bad Asa, trapped under a dock or something, getting hypothermia. I can't remember. Needless to say, viewers still didn't give a damn.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by DRW50

This probably doesn't count as a new character, but I will offer the example anyway. In 1989 Days of our Lives took the patch off of Steve Johnson. They gave him a glass eye, and the change was meant to be permanent. Anne Howard Bailey was the HW who made that decision, shortly after Al Rabin retired as co-EP.

I don't think many fans today understand just how popular Patch Johnson was in the mid-80s. The patch craze was enormous. He was arguably the most popular character in the history of the show. And the patch was central to his identity. The decision to take the patch away was beyond crazy.

When Al Rabin got brought out of retirement, the patch immediately came back. Actually, it is even possible that Ken Corday made that decision himself, before Rabin even returned.

3 minutes ago, StevieM said:

This probably doesn't count as a new character, but I will offer the example anyway. In 1989 Days of our Lives took the patch off of Steve Johnson. They gave him a glass eye, and the change was meant to be permanent. Anne Howard Bailey was the HW who made that decision, shortly after Al Rabin retired as co-EP.

I don't think many fans today understand just how popular Patch Johnson was in the mid-80s. The patch craze was enormous. He was arguably the most popular character in the history of the show. And the patch was central to his identity. The decision to take the patch away was beyond crazy.

When Al Rabin got brought out of retirement, the patch immediately came back. Actually, it is even possible that Ken Corday made that decision himself, before Rabin even returned.

I think it is interesting to discuss, character or not.

I remember reading about the change and the fan backlash. I can see why the show wanted to try, and there could have been an interesting story, although that didn't seem to pan out.

I wonder how Stephen Nichols felt about the change.

3 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

Totally. I remember seeing pictures in SOD and I would think she was Miranda or vice versa. It was confusing. But not in a bad way. Nice to know Jax had other types. :)

I feel like Jax wasn't very committed to a type like Sonny is. Well, actually his type is probably woman Sonny dated mostly.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

IIRC the story went that Guza liked V (who I think he inherited from Culliton) and wanted to put her with Jax. Riche didn't want it (I think?) so the compromise was they gave V a HEA exit with a new love.

Who did Riche want Jax with? Chloe? She vetoed Alexis too, IIRC.

1 minute ago, carolineg said:

I feel like Jax wasn't very committed to a type like Sonny is. Well, actually his type is probably woman Sonny dated mostly.

Who did Riche want Jax with? Chloe? She vetoed Alexis too, IIRC.

That made me very mad at the time, although I guess NLG isn't too sorry about it these days.

46 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think it is interesting to discuss, character or not.

I remember reading about the change and the fan backlash. I can see why the show wanted to try, and there could have been an interesting story, although that didn't seem to pan out.

I wonder how Stephen Nichols felt about the change.

I think they took the patch off because it was starting to hinder SN's eyesight in real life or they were worried about it or something. That could just be an excuse since he still wears it now.

5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That made me very mad at the time, although I guess NLG isn't too sorry about it these days.

Lol. Probably not, but I think Ingo and Nancy were both for it at the time.

5 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I think they took the patch off because it was starting to hinder SN's eyesight in real life or they were worried about it or something. That could just be an excuse since he still wears it now.

I'd wondered about that, as I've heard of some actors who have to stop playing disabilities in long-term characters due to the pain it causes them in real life (Laura Innes on ER, for one). Maybe they figured out something better for Stephen when the patch came back, I don't know. I guess it helps that the character is on much less...

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I wouldn't know where to start. The Latino brothers Greenlee was involved with...Ryan's sister Erin who was murdered...that "edgy" twin of Lily...Kendall's brother Trey. Trey was a character I would have kept, admittedly partly because Sam Page had a nice ass but that wasn't the only reason (he had an interesting relationship with Kendall - they painted him into such a corner early on I wasn't that surprised he went though).

I liked Juan Pablo more than Carlos, but yeah, both didn't really last long. Wasn't that all part of the Fusion Sex and the City thing they were going for?

I actually liked Erin Lavery and thought the actress was good, I need to go see what she's doing these days. She fell victim to the Satin Slayer, poor girl.

As far-fetched as this was, I liked Ava only because it was interesting to see Leven play a different role from the beloved Lily.

Awww, Sam Page. So hot 😍 haha.

4 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I liked Juan Pablo more than Carlos, but yeah, both didn't really last long. Wasn't that all part of the Fusion Sex and the City thing they were going for?

The only thing I remember about Juan Pablo is an outtake where Rebecca Budig cracked up because his accent made it sound like he was calling her "a work of fart."

7 minutes ago, Kane said:

The only thing I remember about Juan Pablo is an outtake where Rebecca Budig cracked up because his accent made it sound like he was calling her "a work of fart."

LOL I totally remember seeing this.

18 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Lol. Probably not, but I think Ingo and Nancy were both for it at the time.

They were, very much so in print interviews. Of course Mo and Nancy both did the same in the mags in 2001-02, pushing for Sonny and Alexis to get together (Maurice literally pointed to Nancy or something in an interview and told the writer 'this is who Sonny should be with') and we know how that turned out. They were tight back then. Meanwhile, the clash over the mixed marrieds and not doing Jaxis was key to the Guza/Riche conflict in this period.

I remember Barbara Niven @DRW50 . I also recall some fans at the time unwisely got behind her because she was very communicative online with fandom. I found Liz intolerable. My last memory of her was their seemingly chemistry testing her with Max in either late January or very early February or March '03, right after Malone and Griffith had returned. But thankfully they dumped her pretty much immediately.

I had a fondness for poor Susan Misner, not unlike Tava Smiley. Grace was just a futile role.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Vee

30 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

I liked Juan Pablo more than Carlos, but yeah, both didn't really last long. Wasn't that all part of the Fusion Sex and the City thing they were going for?

I actually liked Erin Lavery and thought the actress was good, I need to go see what she's doing these days. She fell victim to the Satin Slayer, poor girl.

As far-fetched as this was, I liked Ava only because it was interesting to see Leven play a different role from the beloved Lily.

Awww, Sam Page. So hot 😍 haha.

I can see why Leven would have wanted a different part.

Connie Fletcher (Erin) seems to have no credits after 2010.

7 minutes ago, Vee said:

They were, very much so in print interviews. Of course Mo and Nancy both did the same in the mags in 2001-02, pushing for Sonny and Alexis to get together (Maurice literally pointed to Nancy or something in an interview and told the writer 'this is who Sonny should be with') and we know how that turned out. They were tight back then. Meanwhile, the clash over the mixed marrieds and not doing Jaxis was key to the Guza/Riche conflict in this period.

I remember Barbara Niven @DRW50 . I also recall some fans at the time unwisely got behind her because she was very communicative online with fandom. I found Liz intolerable. My last memory of her was their seemingly chemistry testing her with Max in either late January or very early February or March '03, right after Malone and Griffith had returned. But thankfully they dumped her pretty much immediately.

That whole story seemed like a stalled out mess onscreen - not surprised to know why.

Niven, I think, found a home in Hallmark. I'm glad for her, although similar to various new hires on OLTL in the early '00s she seemed more like a softcore actress to me.

I didn't realize she was already almost 50 when she was on OLTL.

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

I can see why Leven would have wanted a different part.

Did she? I always wondered if it was just AMC/Frons trying to find a way to get her to play a 'sexier,' older role than Lily. (IIRC Ava was older.)

2 minutes ago, Vee said:

Did she? I always wondered if it was just AMC/Frons trying to find a way to get her to play a 'sexier,' older role than Lily. (IIRC Ava was older.)

You may be right. I couldn't remember as I thought Leven was into the type of music at the time that Ava was meant to be into. (wasn't she a singer)