Vanessa Marcil Debuted on General Hospital as Brenda and Other Big Soap Moments from September 18

In 1992, Lisa Rinna made her Days of Our Lives debut as Billie Reed. She recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2015 that landing the role took her by surprise, admitting, "At the point that I had auditioned for DAYS, I had already tested for seven shows, so I was at the end of the whole soap rope, so to speak. When I went in for DAYS, I was like, 'I'll never get this.' " Rinna remained in the Salem universe until 1995, then made her first of several returns in 2002.

In 1992, Vanessa Marcil (pictured with Antonio Sabato, Jr. as John "Jagger" Cates) made her General Hospital debut as Brenda Barrett. Over the course of her original run, which concluded in 1998, Marcil became one of the show's most popular players, especially while anchoring the memorable Sonny/Brenda/Jax triangle. In 2017, Casting Director Mark Teschner recalled of casting her, "The moment I saw her, I just knew. There was a presence about her, a beauty. She was a very raw actress — she would be the first to admit it — but we tested her. In fact, she was the only actress that we tested for the role. That’s how much we were banking on her coming through. We did a number of takes, and each take she grew exponentially, and we realized, 'We have a star on our hands.' Our gut instincts were correct. She was a huge-impact player instantly."

In 2000, Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Carly Roberts (Sarah Brown) said, “I do” for the first time on General Hospital. It was not love that brought the eventual supercouple together, but expediency. Their wedding at his penthouse was staged so that Carly couldn't be forced to testify against her husband-to-be. After a judge pronounced them married, Carly hissed, "Well, congratulations. I'm effectively neutralized." Carly's former lover, Jason Morgan, informed the surprised groom that the bride truly wanted the marriage, but was afraid to admit it. "This has nothing to do with love," insisted Sonny. But by 2001, the couple could no longer deny their feelings and renewed their vows in a romantic Martinique church wedding with rings blessed by the local priest.

In 2009, Guiding Light aired its final episode. At the time, it was the longest-running scripted program in the history of American television. Originally known as The Guiding Light, the series debuted as a radio serial on January 25, 1937 and made the move to TV on June 30, 1952. In the show's final episode, the Springfield action had sprung forward one year into the future. Lizzie Spaulding and Bill Lewis were expecting a baby; Danny Santos, Michelle Santos, Beth Raines and Phillip Spaulding celebrated with Rick Bauer and Mindy Lewis, who were slated to marry the next day; Dinah Marler and A.C. Mallet were shown still very much in love, crashing a wedding in Europe; and Josh (Robert Newman) and Reva (Kim Zimmer) finally reconciled — fittingly, at the lighthouse.

In 2019, Mishael Morgan returned to Young and Restless a year after the death of her popular character, Hilary Curtis Winters — but this time, she was playing a new role, Amanda Sinclair. In time, Amanda was revealed to be the previously unknown twin sister of Hilary. Reflecting on her comeback, Morgan told Soap Opera Digest in 2023, "There had been a regime change [behind the scenes] and it meant so much to me to get the call saying, ‘I feel like the show made a mistake letting you go so easily and I really want to correct that.’ When they were like, ‘And we’re going to let you play a new character,’ that kind of wrapped everything up in a bow for me, because they knew part of the reason I wanted to leave was because I felt the itch to play new characters. Coming back as Amanda was very challenging for me because I was playing opposite most of the same characters that I’d worked with for five years as a different character. I didn’t want everybody to just see her as Hilary 2.0.”