Soap fans don’t like change. That’s why we tune in to see the same people do the same things on our soaps every day, albeit in different and entertaining ways.
Hence, our shows must introduce new characters carefully because they take time away from our faves. We don’t like that.
The best way to bring in a fresh face is to resurrect a character from the past with the same actor. Y&R is good at that: Diane, Daniel, Heather, Danny, Nina (and soon Amanda) all came back after significant time away played by a previous actor which eased their re-entry.
Another route is creating a new character closely tied to an A-list family. They’ve done that with Claire, but my jury is out. First of all, Victoria already had two kids (Johnny and Katie) languishing in boarding school so her dedication to being the best mom she can be to her new sudden daughter rings hollow. Second of all, Claire went from being Nikki’s top-flight assistant to a sobbing mess in like a month. Yes, she found out her life was a lie but this girl made it to adulthood having been raised by a psycho of epic proportions. Surely she’s made of sturdier stuff than “Boo-hoo I was lied to!” while Victoria and Cole sit vigil in that beige hospital room.
Nikki (to Jack): “It’s like she was hypnotized her entire life.”
Wake Claire up, pit her against her spoiled cousin Summer for jobs and men, and give those Newmans something to really worry about.
Victoria (to Adam, who urged caution about Claire): “The Newman black sheep telling us to watch ourselves. How ironic.”
Fair point!
Creating Claire involved rewriting history, which is not ideal. It’s better to bring someone on in a logical way, like when B&B’s Steffy had a motorcycle accident and fell in love with her doctor. Fans accepted Finn because Steffy had ping-ponged between Liam and Wyatt for a decade already (and been married four times), plus Finn made her happy.
B&B has also done a good job with Finn’s family, bringing them on s-l-o-w-l-y. We met Finn in 2020, his mother Li in 2021, and his cousin Luna and her mom Poppy — Li’s sister — in 2023.
They’re laying it on a little thick with Bill’s sudden infatuation with his long-ago one-night stand Poppy, though.
Bill: “From the day you walked in this restaurant I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I haven’t forgotten, and I know you haven’t forgotten either. You were like no woman I’ve ever known, before or since.”
Except that he never mentioned Poppy in the 15 years we’ve been watching him and was obsessed with Brooke for years… It’s not enough for Bill to repeatedly tell Poppy how “remarkable” she is. They have to show us.
That said, we did get some entertaining scenes with Poppy, her daughter Luna, Luna’s boyfriend R.J. (the rapidly-aged son of Ridge and Brooke) and our fave Dollar Bill. Bill co-opted his son Wyatt’s beach house which, unbeknownst to him, had already been rented to R.J. That gave us the uncomfortable but hilarious scenes of R.J. and his girlfriend Luna getting busy in the living room while her mother was rekindling her romance with Bill in the bedroom.
Poppy (re: Luna): “Ssh! I heard voices in the other room.”
Bill: “I don’t know what they’re paying interns at Forrester but that’s highly unlikely.”
They’ve only been on two dates, but Poppy making fun of Bill bodes well.
Bill: “I’ll say I’m doing some maintenance.”
Poppy: “You? Maintenance?”
If you’re going to hang three newbies on an A-lister, make it funny.
DAYS resurrected oldie but goodie Theresa (good) but recast her with an actress who was already starring on the show as Gwen (not good). This never works for me — I’m still adjusting to Chris Kositchek playing Roman Brady, and it’s been 26 years. Now I’ve got Adrienne playing Bonnie, murderer Nick playing Everett, Ben playing Alex, and Stefan/Jake/Stefan in addition to nuTheresa. Compounding the problem is that they’ve moved Gwen/Theresa front-burner with Ben/Alex and it’s really hard to invest when all I see if Gwen and Ben. As I said, soap fans hate change and that’s a lot of it.
On the bright side, Lucas is back with the same actor!
Kate (after he was beat up in jail): “Life is never easy for you.”
Lucas: “I guess I take after you.”
Kate: “Yeah. You’re witty and charming and easy on the eyes like me but other than that… Hang tough.”
I’m much more willing to accept newbie Konstantin and here’s why: There’s a hole where Stefano DiMera and Victor Kiriakis used to be, and Kostantin is similarly nefarious. This conversation sealed it:
Konstantin: “The mention of The Pawn stops you in your tracks.”
Patch: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Konstantin: “Many years ago, Victor played a deadly match and the prize was The Pawn — a man of mystery who played an important role in Victor’s life and mine.”
Patch: “I’m out of here.”
Konstantin: “Not until you tell me who it is!”
It feels very familiar to have an older guy with an accent threatening our faves on DAYS ,so let’s see where this goes.
The biggest mistake soaps make with newbies, recasts, even returning characters, is thrusting them front-burner right away. GH did that with the recast Drew and he’s still trying to find his footing. Rather than play him with his ex Sam, his daughter Scout, his Quartermaine family when he “returned,” GH sent him to Florida to accompany Carly down a teenaged rabbit hole and then declare his love on a beach. Telling someone you love them over and over doesn’t make it true. Like I said, show us ,don’t tell us.
The current story of Drew giving Crimson to Carly is an insult to her character. It’s the latest in a long line of gifts from men that have catapulted Carly into a rich and powerful woman in Port Charles which goes counter to the “I am woman, hear me roar” vow she made when she divorced Sonny and took the name Spencer. Carly got The Metro Court from Jax, lost it in the inside trading scandal, and Michael tried to get it back for her by blackmailing Nina. She got Kelly’s from her mother and has now been handed the editorship of a national magazine with no Journalism background or training.
It was much more Carly’s personality to rename the diner after Bobbie and work hard to make a successful go of it. Plus, it brought the most interesting man into her life that we’ve seen in years: Brennan aka Pikeman! His chemistry with Carly was off the charts, he shares an ominous past with Sonny, and he seems like a guy Anna would like, too (once GH gives him a reason for being a WSB baddie which, by the way, Anna was, too). That’s how you introduce a new character — throw them lightly into the mix, then make us want more. (I’d put Brick in that “wanting more” category, too… right Jordan?!)
GH does a lot of backing new characters into existing families too, with mixed results. It worked with Willow and Nina, kind of worked with Esme and her retcon parents Heather and Ryan, is stalled with Cody and Mac, and did not work with Austin and the Quartermaines.
They had better luck shoehorning Cyrus and Martin into Laura’s family although it was a tough sell since we’d been watching Laura since she was 14. But Martin is a great foil for Lucy and a good lawyer, and Cyrus is an excellent villain. GH has played the unlikely brothers juuuuust enough to make us like them.
But I’ll be honest: If Cyrus calls Laura “my sister” one more time I’m going to put my fist through the TV. They’ve been siblings for over three years, we get it. We don’t like change, but we do like watching — and we pay attention!
Hey. It’s only my opinion.
