12 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

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

B&B had a lot of characters that only lasted a few weeks or months, but Jessica wasn't one of them. She was on contract for 2 1/2 years, was then bumped to recurring and last appeared as a guest for James and Maggie's wedding in December 1996.

As we all know, one recurring pattern on B&B has been the introduction of characters who received a lot of screen time at first, but quickly lost relevance once the show underwent rewrites. More than once, it felt like the writers simply had no long-term plan for them. Of course, a few may have been designed as short-term characters from the outset. But who knows. Many of them were added to the opening credits, and I doubt they would have done that if they’d known that those actors wouldn't last long.

Hardly any character that was introduced in the 1990s lasted more than one or two years. Sheila, James and Amber are really the only exceptions. I'd even call Lauren a failure because she hardly had a storyline on B&B. She was tested with a few men (James and Ridge for example), until she was paired with Eric, but their relationship was hardly shown on screen, and sometimes it wasn't clear if they were still together or not. In May 1999, Lauren was quietly bumped to recurring and then appeared months later for a final appearance (before returning as a guest in later years).

In the 2000s, only the SORASed Forrester children; Massimo, Nick and Jackie; and some of the Logan recasts (Katie and Donna) made an impact.

Here are some contract roles from the 1990s and 2000s that had no impact and were quickly forgotten:

• Brian Patrick Clarke as a failed Storm Logan recast (on contract from April 1990 to March 1991)

• John Brandon as Ben Maclaine, Jake’s father (on contract from September 1990 to March 1991; written out once the abuse storyline ended)

• Michelle Davison as Ruthanne Owens, Stephanie’s homeless friend (on contract from January 1991 to June 1991, until Ruthanne was reunited with her husband; made a couple of guest appearances until 1997)

• Dorothy Lyman as Bonnie Roberts, Karen’s “adoptive” mother (on contract from December 1991 to February 1992; returned for one episode in 1994 when Karen called her)

• Michael Watson as Zach Hamilton, Taylor’s brother (was on contract from May 1992 to December 1992)

• Ken LaRon as Keith Anderson, a waiter at the Bikini Bar who later worked at Spectra (was on contract from March 1993 to September 1994; never had much of a story beyond secretly pining for Macy; later bumped to recurring and last seen at Thorne and Macy’s wedding in June 1995, then vanished)

• Keith Jones as Kevin Anderson, Keith’s mentally ill brother (was on contract from June 1993 to June 1994; mainly known for almost dying in a car accident caused by a drunk Macy; later bumped to recurring and last seen at Thorne and Macy’s wedding in June 1995, then disappeared like his brother)

• Monika Schnarre as Ivana Richards Vanderveld (was on contract from June 1994 to April 1995; killed off)

• Kabir Bedi as Prince Omar Rashid (was on contract from August 1994 to June 1995; bumped to recurring once Taylor had returned to L.A. and quickly written out afterward)

• Kin Shriner as Dr. Brian Carey, Sheila's psychiatrist at the mental institution (was on contract from October 1995 to December 1995; bumped to recurring for two more appearances, then gone)

• Ellen Wheeler as Sarah, Sheila's fellow inmate at the mental institution (was on contract from October 1995 to December 1995; written out once Sheila was released)

• Lily Melgar as Claudia Cortez (was on contract from November 1996 to May 1997; bumped to recurring for two more appearances, then disappeared)

• George Alvarez as Enrique Alvarez (was on contract from December 1996 to June 1997; disappeared)

• Tristan Rogers as Hunter Jones, private detective (was on contract from April 1997 to June 1997)

• Anthony Addabbo as both Tony "Rush" Carrera and his twin brother Jonny Carrera (was on contract from November 1997 to April 1998; Tony died, Jonny vanished without a trace in the same episode)

• Paul Satterfield as Dr. Pierce Peterson (was on contract from July 1998 to April 1999; had a frontburner storyline with Taylor; once that ended, he was briefly tested with Brooke, then vanished; Satterfield remained on contract for a few months after his last appearance)

• Paul Williams as Bailey Masterson, Pierce's assistant (was on contract from July 1998 to October 1998)

• Karim Prince as Raymond, Amber's one-night-stand (was on contract from February 1999 to May 1999; had a couple of recurring appearances months later)

• Victor Alfieri as Giovanni Lorenzano, photographer at Forrester Creations (was on contract from September 1999 to April 2000; little story beyond flirting with Kimberly and later Morgan; then bumped to recurring)

• Tasia Valenza as Susanne, Becky's co-worker at Forrester International (on contract for just three (1) weeks from December 1999 to January 2000)

• Gladys Jimenez as Carmen Arena, Deacon's girlfriend (was on contract from November 2000 to January 2001; killed off)

• Aaron Lustig as Dr. Tim Reid (was on contract from February 2001 to May 2001; exited when Morgan, his partner in crime, was arrested)

• Sandra Vidal as Sofia Alonso, Antonio's former lover and model at Spectra (was on contract from May 2001 to December 2001; had very little story, was bumped to recurring, and last appeared in 2004)

• Daniel E. Smith as the first incarnation of Zende Forrester Dominguez (was on contract from December 2001 to May 2002; then simply vanished)

• Rick Hearst during his first run as Whip Jones (on contract from February 2002 to August 2002; returned seven years later, but didn’t last long then either)

• Courtnee Draper as Erica Lovejoy, Sheila's daughter (was on contract from April 2002 to October 2002; simply vanished)

• Matt Borlenghi as Ziggy Deadmarsh, Sheila's henchman (was on contract from April 2002 to September 2002; simply vanished)

• Michael Dietz as Dr. Mark Maclaine (was on contract from October 2002 to February 2003; bumped to recurring and last aired in 2005)

• Tamara Davies as Dr. Tricia Quick, the Taylor replacement (was on contract from October 2002 to March 2003)

• Luigi Amodeo as Lorenzo Barelli, Macy's lover in Italy (was on contract from December 2002 to March 2003; bumped to recurring once Macy was back in L.A. and then written out)

• Joseph Marcell as Hudson, Massimo's butler (was on contract from January 2004 to June 2004; disappeared)

• Shanelle Workman as Gabriela Moreno Forrester (was on contract from March 2005 to October 2005)

• Mario Lopez as Dr. Christian Ramirez (was on contract from March 2006 to July 2006)

• The aforementioned Dax Griffin as Shane McGrath (was on contract from September 2006 to February 2007; bumped to recurring and killed off)

• Ben Hogestyn as Harry Jackson (was on contract from August 2006 to November 2006)

• William deVry as the final Storm Logan recast (was on contract from October 2006 to February 2007; bumped to recurring and killed off a year later)

• Constantine Maroulis as Constantine Parros, singer (was on contract from May 2007 to August 2007)

• Mykel Shannon Jenkins as Charlie Baker, police officer (was on contract from November 2007 to January 2008)

… and several more followed in the 2010s.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Huntress

13 hours ago, SoapDope78 said:

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

I think that's because Gary and Val's presence made the Wards redundant. Both couples were about the same age, and both were newlyweds, too (even though Gary and Val had been married before). Gary and Val received more attention, however, due to their connections to DALLAS.