Bill Eckert In 1991, then-Executive Producer Gloria Monty succeeded in luring Anthony Geary back to the show after a seven-year absence — but not as the character that made him a GH superstar, Luke Spencer. Instead, Geary was given the role of Luke’s look-alike cousin, Bill, the centerpiece of the blue-collar Eckert clan, which also included mother Angela, sister Jenny, ex-wife Nancy and son Sly. None of the stories in which Bill was involved are fondly remembered (he ran a cannery that was manufacturing carbon disulfide, which the cartel headed by Faison, Larry Ashton and Harlan Barrett planned to use to achieve world domination); and he had ho-hum pairings with Julia Barrett and Luke’s former flame Holly Sutton. Indeed, what the character is most remembered for is the backlash the show received for thrusting the Eckerts into the forefront of the show at the expense of beloved veteran figures like the Quartermaines. In 1993, Geary agreed to trade in Bill for a Luke reprisal, and Bill was shot dead. That same year, the actor conceded in an interview with Soap Opera Weekly that “there wasn’t any interest in Bill, except on my part.”
Kristina Cassadine Introducing a sister for über-popular Alexis should have been a slam dunk, but Jaime Ray Newman’s 2001-02 stay in Port Charles failed to spark fan-demonium. As Kristina’s story went, when their doomed mother, opera singer Kristin, gave birth to her second daughter with Mikkos, Mikkos arranged for her to be adopted into the Carter family to protect her from Helena’s wrath. When Alexis and Kristina reunited as adults, Alexis feared she was in danger from the Cassadines and enlisted ex-lover Ned’s help in concealing her presence in Port Charles. Eventually, Kristina’s Cassadine bloodline became public knowledge. Ned’s interest in signing Kristina to L&B Records led to the pair striking up a (widely panned) romance. With the character just not clicking, Kristina was killed off just shy of a year after her arrival, via a bomb explosion orchestrated by Alcazar, and Alexis honored her memory by naming her daughter with Sonny after her.
Rebecca Shaw GH’s decision to kill off Emily Quartermaine via strangulation in 2007 did not go over well with fans, who had many years invested in the journey of Alan and Monica’s adopted daughter, not to mention her romance with Nikolas, and had grown fond of her portrayer, Natalia Livingston. GH’s intentions were good when Livingston was rehired and brought back to the canvas in January 2009 — but this time around, she was playing Emily’s edgy, secretive doppelgänger, Rebecca, a role that did not allow Livingston to showcase the tenderness and empathy that had been so well-received in her Emily. In short order, it was revealed that Rebecca was Emily’s long-lost twin and had designs on bilking big bucks out of the Quartermaines. The show flirted with a Rebecca/Nik pairing, but it quickly became clear that the new character was not a successful vehicle for capitalizing on the chemistry Livingston and Tyler Christopher (ex-Nikolas) had generated in the Em/Nik relationship, and less than a year after her arrival, Rebecca was busted for her schemes and took off for Paris.
Claudette Beaulieu Claudette’s 2016 stay in Port Charles was short (less than four months), but packed with enough soapy drama to fuel years of story: She was Nathan’s first wife and cheated on him with priest Griffin, hence why Nathan shot him and Griffin left the priesthood! Her daughter, Charlotte, was Nathan’s daughter — no wait, Griffin’s daughter! And she shared a mysterious past with Valentin! The problem was, none of it really landed, despite the charm and charisma of the actress playing her (ONE LIFE TO LIVE vet Bree Williamson, ex-Jessica) — and when Claudette was disappeared by Valentin on her way to reports of a greatly-exaggerated suicide, few fan tears were shed. When the character was scrapped, so, too, was her role as mommy, with the reveal that while Claudette gave birth to Charlotte, the girl was really the product of Helena’s scheme to produce a Valentin/ Lulu offspring — and Claudette’s fate remains a mystery, given that her most recent kidnapper, Cassandra, bit the dust last year.