Carly Corinthos-Jacks: Ruining Lives Since 1996

[BetteBoo]

Meanest: Hands down, Sarah Brown. For sheer callousness...just rattlesnake viciousness, SJB wins by a mile. She honestly used to semi scare me sometimes watching her on tv, she was that believable in her absolute cruelty. LW'S early Carly is a good 2nd place.

Vulnerability: Tamara Braun. Although she gave pretty good nasty, her strong suit was showing Carly's scared inner core.

Strongest Carly: I guess this one goes to LW's Carly but only because SJB'S Carly is the one I saw clawing and scratching her way to the top, grabbing for money, power, respectability. While LW'S Carly is the one who is mature and settled and gotten everything she wanted.

Worst fit with MB: Gotta be Jennifer Brandsford. MB sometimes seemed as if he was slowly backing away from her. But to be honest SJB missed first place by a nose. Her Carly was so intimidatingly I used to think she could take Sonny during their arguments.

Edited April 1, 2014 by BetteBoo

[LeftPhalange]

I think LW is the best Carly. But to be fair, I startef watching right before she came on so I've only seen the SJB and TB through youtibe clips. I caught the tail end of JB's run and I have no idea what was going on there. I will say she did play crazy really really well.

If SJB were still in the role I feel like she would have murdered Sonny by now. I can't imagine her putting up with his bullshit for all these years.

[Stinger97]

This is almost like those arguments James Bond fans get into about who their favorite Double-Oh-Seven was/is. I grew up on Sarah Brown's portrayal of Carly, so she's the one I remember most fondly. However, I think each actress (except for What's Her Name, who was in the role for something like 10 minutes) has had some defining moments as Carly.  

I think, for me, Tamara Braun had the most.  During the Panic Room arc, I still remember her on the floor, clawing for the phone in Liz and Ric's house, right after Liz had a stroke from the birth control pills Ric was slipping her. And I still remember her opening her eyes from her coma after the Bullet of Love incident, which led into the "heartbeat" of Dave Koz's GH theme. It all gave me chills.

And I acknowledge that much of this was the writers and the story that was given to TB to play, but I thought she did a great job with it all. I don't know if I would be equally impressed with LW if she was given the same material. I wasn't bowled over by LW's Carly begging Heather to spare her life in the Spoon Island barn, but YMMV.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Stinger97

[BetteBoo]

^^^LOL, Well.....? Sooooo which was your favorite James Bond? Imo nobody can touch early 60s Sean Connery. And the latest guy ain't half bad.

& I agree re TB. She was excellent in the panic room sl and the aftermath of the shooting. But for cornered rat viciousness? Winner and still champion, SJB.

Edited April 1, 2014 by BetteBoo

[MSquared]

If I must choose, I chose SJB.  With the exception of my CarnAJ.  SJB can be thrown off a parapet for LW and SK's chem.  

[LadyJaney]

I'll always love Sarah Brown's version of Carly.  LW has her moments, but not enough to win me over.  I think TB is pretty, but I hated her era of Carly the most. 

Sarah Brown all the way as Carly for me!

[Tiger]

On the Tiger scale, SJB and TB were both 10's.

JB was a 4.

LW is a 2.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Tiger

[TheGourmez]

Due to NULOCH, I can only rank Carlys by the one I hate most to the one I hate least.

1. SJB. I hated, hated, hated original Carly and everything about her, although I did like the scene when Bobbie found out Carly was her daughter.

2. TB. This is when Carly's shit stopped stinking, and she became the patron saint of mob molls, a title that Olivia is currently in the running for. I couldn't stand the screeching. There was so much screeching. And I resented that the unholy trinity took up 99.9% of airtime on my show.

3. JB. I hated her because she was supposed to be Carly, but I'm still not sure she actually was.

4. LW. Once again, I hate Carly. I am very grateful to her pairing with Franco, because there were brief moments when she was with Jax and Todd that I didn't hate her. That wasn't okay.

Edited April 1, 2014 by TheGourmez

[smoothoperator]

I love SJB but my fave is TB ! cuz TB was so hood and I liked TB's acting in dramatic scenes, like you could feel the pain. when she found out michael was "dead" that scene was off the charts !!! Great acting.

SJB is good, but TB is phenomenal.

Jennifer whats-her-name was ok. IMO, she's better than LW.

LW is a great actress and all, just never bought her as Carly. she screams, too loud. UGh

[BetteBoo]

LW does a lot with sheer physicality. That's the source of a lot of her intimidation. She towers over all of the women and most of the men in the show.

LW's Carly is a verbal and physical bully. So when she gets in your face, screaming, taunting and sometimes pushing and shoving and invading your space you instinctively want to back up.

SJB is five foot nothing and weighs four pounds. She did not use her physicality to intimidate;she did it with sheer acting talent. I remember it seemed she was almost spitting her lines out sometimes. Very effective...

Edited April 1, 2014 by BetteBoo

[Lillybee]

SJB was my favorite Carly. I though she portrayed Carly as a person who did horrible things but couldn't stop herself and sometimes felt regret about them.

[LateJuliet]

Sarah's is my favorite Carly.  Cornered rat is about right - vicious and unpredictable but she was able to also bring layers of self-doubt and vulnerability and misgiving.

I like LW as an actor and especially like her with IR (soooooo pretty together) but I don't like her as Carly.  Too soccer mom, too entitled, too bull in a china shop.  Not Carly.

TB was fine, I was checked out for most of her run but I liked her interpretation better than LW's.

JB's best moment was the "fight" with KeMo.  She looked like The Hulk next to tiny Kelly but she had to get her ass beat.  UCG.

[norahs99]

SJB was my favorite Carly.  Her Carly was complicated and damaged and interesting. That all changed as when TB took over the role, and the TPTB decided to make Carly a heroine.  That destroyed everything that made her interesting in my eyes.  Carly was much more interesting as a bad girl with good qualities than she is as a good girl with bad qualities.  Today's Carly is not a character that I can root for, nor am I interested in what she does or what she wants. 

That said I think LW is a terrific actress, but she's not Carly.  TB was not Carly and, IMHO, not a very good actress.

[Bobbie]

I've only seen LW's Carly and to me she screeches like a barn owl most of the time and I end up either FF or muting the ear splitting noise.

[Aprilshowers]

SJB hands down. LW's Carly is okay in small doses but I don't get an ounce or vulnerability from her, ever. TB was an interesting Carly but didn't have the vulnerable and tough combo  SJB had 

[Expat]

Tamara Braun's Carly is the only one that I liked. There was something likeable, a warmth there imo.

I like Laura Wright, but god, I hated her Carly even more than SJB's version.

[ulkis]

LW does a lot with sheer physicality. That's the source of a lot of her intimidation. She towers over all of the women and most of the men in the show.

LW's Carly is a verbal and physical bully. So when she gets in your face, screaming, taunting and sometimes pushing and shoving and invading your space you instinctively want to back up.

SJB is five foot nothing and weighs four pounds. She did not use her physicality to intimidate;she did it with sheer acting talent. I remember it seemed she was almost spitting her lines out sometimes. Very effective...

Really? I thought Sarah was 5'4? Anyway, besides that, she has/had arms of steel and can do handless cartwheels. I thought she definitely looked like she could kick some ass.

Edited April 5, 2014 by ulkis

[BetteBoo]

Really? I thought Sarah was 5'4? Anyway, besides that, she has/had arms of steel and can do handless cartwheels. I thought she definitely looked like she could kick some ass.

SJB is not a tall girl and definitely not thick . She's little....not as tiny as TB but still very small. So what explains the power that SJB'S Carly had? Because it was not based on the physical as LW'S version is.

ReH, Kemo, ER, ...all petite women like SJB; Imo? None of them have that power of intimidation and scary viciousness or could believably pull it off like SJB'S Carly did.

Edited April 5, 2014 by BetteBoo

[javajeanelaine]

Tamara Braun was my favorite Carly due to her raw vulnerability.  Great acting chops.

[Tiger]

I never thought I would actively hope that the show went back to CarSon, but right now I am if only because I actually see shades of the real Carly around Sonny.

 

I frankly don't know who the hell that woman is sniffing around Freakco, but she sure as hell ain't Caroline "Carly Roberts" Benson Quartermaine Corinthos Corinthos Corinthos Alcazar Corinthos Jacks.

[Chairperson Meow]

I love the name of this thread. I've never forgiven Carly for ruining Tony Jones.

[Rancide]

In the past decade I have voluntarily watched maybe 20 or fewer Carly scenes (which is 20 more than the number of Sonny scenes I have watched during that time period), so I don't have a ton to say about this character, but I just wanted to post to say that every single time I hear someone talking about Carly refer to her as "Carly Jacks" I roll my eyes hard.

 

I wish soap operas would stop changing female characters' names when they get married.  1) It's 2014.  I'm at an age where lots of my friends have gotten married in the last 5 years, and only about half of them are changing their names--probably even less than that among the friends who got married after 30 (like Carly) or were remarrying after a divorce (like Carly).  2) It's a soap opera.  It's not like they're going to stay married anyway, and it's confusing having to remember the last name of the last person someone was married to in order to know what to call them.  3) It's Carly.  This is marriage number... ???  Can't we please stop pretending this is a lasting union worthy of renaming a character over?  4) Lastly, even if Carly needed to be Carly Jacks for whatever reason during the period of time she and Jax were actually married, they are now divorced.  Even among my friends who change their names when they get married, very few of them retain their ex-husband's name after the divorce, particularly when the marriage was as brief as Carly and Jax's was.  There is no reason for Carly to still be referred to as "Carly Jacks."

 

Okay.  End of rant. 

[LeftPhalange]

I just want Carly free from that piece of trash Franco so if a reunion with Sonny is the only way to make that happen I will begrudgingly accept it.

[Chairperson Meow]

We may as well do CarTrick and do Carly/Patrick. Why? Because Carly will have a better reaction knowing she'd been hooking up with the man who knew Jasus was alive and didn't tell her. Plus, RoHo, JT, LW would give better scenes. And I love the Robin/Carly cat fights.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I've hated and loathed this character from the first day she showed up. For ruining not just Tony, but AJ as well. AJ, who was doing well, and then made him fall off the wagon.  Though Sarah did a credible job of giving her layers, it wasn't enough for me to ever like her. I didn't and don't love to hate her. I just HATE her. She's a vile, vile, VILE character with no redeeming qualities. What "self-awareness" she has, only lasts for nano-seconds, and it's back to being a judgmental harpy, who marks her territory. I still remember her telling whoever it was that Jax and Jason were "mine." I think it was when Brenda came back in 2010.

[OnceSane]

 

We may as well do CarTrick and do Carly/Patrick. Why? Because Carly will have a better reaction knowing she'd been hooking up with the man who knew Jasus was alive and didn't tell her.

 

Eh.  Carly didn't care about Todd's DBL with Jason's kid, only that he didn't tell her.  & she's currently fucking the guy who put Jason through quite a bit of shit.  IDK if she'd care that Patrick didn't tell her about Jason maybe coming back to life one day.

[Tiger]

IIRC, Carly & Patrick were a couple during an alternate reality ep where BJ had lived and Maxie had died.  I believe he was cheating on her.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Tiger

[MSquared]

 

Eh.  Carly didn't care about Todd's DBL with Jason's kid, only that he didn't tell her.  & she's currently fucking the guy who put Jason through quite a bit of shit.  IDK if she'd care that Patrick didn't tell her about Jason maybe coming back to life one day.

 

And here is the inherent problem with Carly as she is now, something that is the fault of the current Dynamic duo.  They don't know the character of Carly.  Love her, hate her or love to hate her, the one constant about her is, she gave a fuck about Jason.  Yeah, she also wanted Jason to fix every problem she ever got herself into, but at the same time, anyone hurt Jason, she'd go after them with guns blazing.  

 

I waited three months in 2012-13 for the explosion that should have come in the aftermath of not just the baby switch being revealed, but Jason subsequent rolling into what I wanted to be a watery grave.  Carly was the type of pain in the ass that would have made it all about her.  She'd be the one throwing herself onto the coffin.  The real Carly would have every means of getting back at anyone who hurt her best friend the way Todd did.  He'd be mincemeat in her eyes.  

 

And I never got it.

 

What I did get was some alien being saying she would have gone to the mat FOR TODD TO JASON about the whole mess.  On what planet?  They were so determined to "mine" the CHEMISTRY! they think they see in LW and RH that they totally tore apart the very fabric of Carly.  

 

I saw, from the minute they met, that he was playing her.  She was a flood of information for him and he just took it in.  They made her look the village idiot for him.  Which shouldn't really surprise me, because they did a job on Blair for VicTodd and Todd.  

 

They have ignored so much possible story for Carly, including but not limited to her and AJ (LW and SK were a fountain of chemistry, so much so that I hardly remembered SJB in the role from way back when), her and her kids (though she has thrown her kids by the wayside in the past, usually for Jason, at least then, it made sense), hell, her and Lucas.

 

I've gotten to the point that I feel pity for Carly because she does look so bad.  And I do want CarSon, because then, at least, I can aim my dislike at the two of them together.  Especially in light of the fact that Sonny killed AJ and Carly's covering his ass "for Michael's sake".  I want her beloved son to go thermonuclear on the two of them.  But, with Carly's lack of rage at Todd, I am not expecting much.   

[GHScorpiosRule]

MSquared, I had to like your post because I agree with 99.999% of it. Like the first part. Don't feel sorry for the beast. But all else? Hellz yeah.

[MSquared]

GHScorpiosRule, I HATE feeling sorry for her, but she's just become so pathetic, especially with the Franco shit.  I hate how she's been defanged and become an apologist for this gigolo.

 

Hell, I wrote a fanfiction because I felt so horrible for Carly.  

[OnceSane]

Ditto, GHScorpiosrule.  I don't pity Carly, but I think RC has done the character a disservice by fucking up such a basic character trait just to pimp Franco/Cranco (& Todd and/or Carly/Todd before that).

[GHScorpiosRule]

GHScorpiosRule, I HATE feeling sorry for her, but she's just become so pathetic, especially with the Franco shit.  I hate how she's been defanged and become an apologist for this gigolo.

 

Hell, I wrote a fanfiction because I felt so horrible for Carly.  

 

Oh.My.God. Things have go to be really bad for you to have done THAT!

[MSquared]

Oh.My.God. Things have go to be really bad for you to have done THAT!

 

It was therapeutic, to say the least.  Ulkis linked to it in the fanfiction section.  It was a CarnAJ story, where it should have gone after they fell into bed last year.   

 

And don't worry, I'm thinking of a new story where I thoroughly humiliate her.

Edited July 13, 2014 by MSquared

[SlovakPrincess]

Caroline "Carly Roberts" Benson Quartermaine Corinthos Corinthos Corinthos Alcazar Corinthos Jacks

 

Two thoughts on this:

 

1.  Shouldn't there be a "Jones" in there, or was she never actually married to Tony, just his live-in girlfriend?

 

2.  Corinthos, Corinthos, Corinthos, Alcazar, Corinthos?!  Did those two morons actually manage to get themselves married and divorced and re-married that many times, in rapid succession, between the time I checked out in the late 90s, to when I when I started paying attention again in the mid 2000s? 

 

Many people can't manage to get one divorce finalized in 6 years, much less four.  So .... good job Sonny and Carly! .... I guess?

[jennifer6973]

No she was never Tony.

 

Yes they got married and divorced that many times.

[Chairperson Meow]

The only winners in there were the two not named Corinthos.

[Tiger]

Aren't Carly & Jax still legally married?

[GHScorpiosRule]

No they got divorced a couple years back.

[boes]

No they got divorced a couple years back.

 

I always wondered about that.  I mean, how could their marriage have ever even been legal?

Does the law allow marriage between Wildebeeste and Human in Port Charles?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I always wondered about that.  I mean, how could their marriage have ever even been legal?

Does the law allow marriage between Wildebeeste and Human in Port Charles?

 

HAH! I love that name! I'll add it to my list of nicknames that are allowed.  I'm pretty sure that Jax got her to sign the papers when he came back, all scruffy and sexay during the water poisoning story arc? That's how much I don't give two flying blue dilly Fucks about Cujo, that I don't recall exactly when Jax got his freedom. Just that he did.

[Tiger]

Okay I remember Jax serving Carly with the papers last year but I cant recall her actually signing them.  

 

I know for sure they were still married when Jerry poisoned the water.

[magnolia11]

She had actually entertained hopes of reuniting with Jax when he returned that time, and after she poured her heart out to him and told him so, he devastated her by saying he had actually come to see her to serve her with the divorce papers because he was engaged to Brenda.

It was truly a thing of beauty -- nothing warms my heart quite like seeing that beast suffer. If only it happened more often.

Edited July 18, 2014 by magnolia11

[smoothoperator]

Siiiigh.

I love Carly, I'm just gonna pretend that she's not dating Franco. Much easier for me!

[MSquared]

I don't like Carly and I try to pretend she not fucking the SERIAL KILLER that screwed with her son and best friend.  Much rather imagine her and undead!AJ screwing all around town. 

[jazzyscreenname]

I pity the fool that Carly has become. To have sex and a relationship with the guy that got her son raped, it's the lowest of the low. She's beyond pathetic. I haven't cared much for Laura Wright's Carly, but they have just gutted the character in the worst way.

[Beataholic]

I never thought I would actively hope that the show went back to CarSon, but right now I am if only because I actually see shades of the real Carly around Sonny.

 

I frankly don't know who the hell that woman is sniffing around Freakco, but she sure as hell ain't Caroline "Carly Roberts" Benson Quartermaine Corinthos Corinthos Corinthos Alcazar Corinthos Jacks.

You forgot her middle name- Lee. Caroline Lee Benson and so on and so forth.

Her middle name has been mentioned a few times in the past with all three Carly's (I don't remember if it was mentioned with Jennifer Bradsford; she was on and gone so fast)- one clear memory was when Tamara Braun's Carly finally got a driver's license with Zander's help and she was reading her new license with her full name with pride.

 

1.  Shouldn't there be a "Jones" in there, or was she never actually married to Tony, just his live-in girlfriend?

1. Carly and Tony did attempt to get married when she was pregnant with Michael but it didn't go through. Unfortunately I don't remember what stopped the wedding- I think Carly had early labor (the hicks thing- sorry I am not a Doctor nor have I ever been pregnant) and they decided to hold it off. Then eventually Tony turned against Carly and filed for custody of the baby after it's born but Carly told him that it's Jason's baby (rather than AJ's).

I pity the fool that Carly has become. To have sex and a relationship with the guy that got her son raped, it's the lowest of the low. She's beyond pathetic. I haven't cared much for Laura Wright's Carly, but they have just gutted the character in the worst way.

Even lower than having sex with a despised woman- who happened to have shot Olivia and killed Connie without any remorse as well as in a relationship with their own son- on a family crypt after the funeral of a father of her own child after killing him because he just simply wanted to?

Granted, Franco is not exactly a pick of a bunch but how much loyalty can she have for someone who had shot her in the head? Carly will drop Franco in a hot second and forget about him the next day as she had done with Tony, Jax, Lorenzo, AJ, even Zander, Steven Lars and Shawn (whom she all had flirtations with) but with Sonny, Carly will forever hold a torch for. And Jason too.

[Gladrags]

Laura Wright is easily my favorite Carly - she made me actually like the character. Carly alternately cracks me up and makes me cringe. I love her outrage when people call her on her behavior; she splutters like a gasping fish.   And just when you think she's grown the heck up, she goes and does something stupid - usually, that "something" is sleeping with Sonny.  On the other hand, for better or worse, she is fiercely loyal and has an impressive repetoire of zingers.

 

Tamara Braun is my least favorite Carly.  I do not like her acting style, and I loathed the character when Tamara Braun played her.

 

My #2, Sarah Brown, was good in the role as well. I hated the things Carly did ... and said ... but Sarah Brown played her very well.

 

Jennifer Bransford I thought got a raw deal. She wasn't horrible, she wasn't fantastic. She may have been memorable had she stayed in the role longer than  a nine days' wonder, and had she had decent storylines to work with. But ... any scene with Jennifer Bransford and Kari Wuhrer was like a train wreck -- bad acting but good snark, and you couldn't look away, no matter how hard you tried.

[OnceSane]

Do you love Carly?  Do you loathe her?  Which actress is your fave Carly?  Which version of Carly makes you want to spork out your eyes?  Discuss it all here.

[WendyCR72]

Only 4 words come to mind when I think of Carly. Actually, these four words can now cover Franco and Sobby and also always, ALWAYS covers Sonny:

 

Kill it with fire.

[LeftPhalange]

 

Jennifer Bransford I thought got a raw deal. She wasn't horrible, she wasn't fantastic. She may have been memorable had she stayed in the role longer than  a nine days' wonder

 

I started watching right before LW came on so I think I missed JB 'greatest hits." The only thing I remember about her is that she seemed kinda mannish. I kinda remember when Carly was having her breakdown and JB seemed a little...over dramatic.