Salem Mismatches!

[DisneyBoy]

Which actors had no chemistry together but were still paired up? Which characters had no business being involved but were?

Vent here!

I'll start.

Paulina and Abe. Okay on paper since she's so different from Lexie, but awful in execution. She's intolerable and Abe honestly seems indifferent to her. All his chuckles do not amount to believable love or attraction. They absolutely do not work.

Justin and Kayla. Such a weird duo. Good actors, but zero logic to them getting paired up. No heat at all. Couldn't wait for that to be over.

Stefan and Gabi. Wow - from the start this was awkward and unbelievable! He tried to burn her with a fireplace poker, kept her in prison to be assaulted when she wasn't guilty of anything and sexed up her mentally ill frenemy while she thought she was Gabi...but Gabi adores him? No, I don't think so. There was some mild chemistry, but nowhere near enough to overcome that rocky a beginning.

[Ohiopirate02]

2 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

 Which characters had no business being involved but were?

Justin and Bonnie. Need I say more. Sure the actors have chemistry but that's due to their history as Justin and Adrienne. And, I have yet to see a storyline with them as a married couple that needed Bonnie (except for the Body and Soul nightmare). 

[SouthernChick]

John and Hope/Gina - no romantic chemistry and lasted forever. Seriously. It was like a 2-3 year storyline.

[CanaryFan98]

Too many to list tbh

[DisneyBoy]

Haha go for it! I'm curious to hear about some back-in-the-day mismatches I wasn't aware of.

[brisbydog]

Obviously Shane and Kayla had to be the worst, most offensive pairing ever. Even the actors loathed it.

Jennifer and Eric. Ick

Melissa and Lars. What was that?

Daniel and anybody 

Brady and Eve 

Jack and Laura. Shudder 

Jennifer and Emilio

Xander and Gwen.

Bonnie and Mickey 

Harris and Ava

Wendy and Tripp

Colin and Talia 

Chanel and Talia 

 

Edited October 8 by brisbydog

[Irlandesa]

Shane and Kayla were definitely worse than Justin and Kayla.  Remind me if I'm wrong but wasn't Justin and Kayla basically rushed because Stephen Nichols was coming back?  Some of the worst love stories ever start because a more popular love interest is returning and the show wants to create a romantic obstacle (where none existed before) to prevent an automatic reunion.  There's never enough time to create something real. MBE and Kurth are dedicated professional vets. I don't think their characters are inherently a 'no go' but they were undercut from the beginning.

Jack and Eve kind of fill this role.  There's a way they could have done this but it wasn't the way they did it.

1 hour ago, brisbydog said:

Jennifer and Emilio

But that was worth it because it ended up giving us Jack and Emilio. 

Do wildly popular couples count?  Because Ben & Ciara.

 

Edited October 8 by Irlandesa

[CanaryFan98]

Jack and Eve would have been better if Charlotte Ross was still in the role. 

Kate and Jack was strange and I might’ve been more open to it if it happened in the 90s with Deborah Adair’s version. 
 

Rafe and Hope also bad

 

[DisneyBoy]

3 hours ago, brisbydog said:

Jennifer and Eric. Ick

I don't know if this was the actors connecting or just the "we're both so messed up right now and need comfort" plotline...but I bought it. It was so unexpected too...Miss Priss Jennifer getting addicted to pain meds and Saint Eric boozing up over losing Nicole only to accidentally kill the man he lost her to, whom Jennifer also adored...

It was just crazy enough to make a kind of sense. Once they started talking about an engagement, though, I was out.

It was a memorable dark patch in their lives, though, and they had chemistry.

3 hours ago, brisbydog said:

Daniel and anybody

*spits out beverage*

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

3 hours ago, brisbydog said:

Brady and Eve

Oh lord this one was AWFUL. It made no sense.

Also: Deimos and all the poor Salem women the producers forced him on in the few months he was around. It was...Chloe, Nicole and Kate, right? Ugh.

Yikes, I just remembered SUMMER AND BRADY.

🤢

[DisneyBoy]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Do wildly popular couples count?  Because Ben & Ciara.

I'm sorry..."wildly popular"? I mean, were they really though? I saw there were a few fans here and there but...it didn't seem like they were a big deal outside of the DOOL sphere (or even in it).

Yeah I was wondering if it would be wise to veer into "successful but I don't like them" couples, because then anybody could be listed.

...

I'll make an exception for these two. The chemistry was...gross. Sorry but even though they were together IRL, it was unpleasant watching them onscreen. They were smug more than anything. I never watched that Romeo & Juliet fantasy episode but...yeah. WTH was that? Yikes.

Beyond this particular topic, Ben is probably one of the worst characters to ever be on this show, for the long term damage his presence and elevated status did to so many other, better characters. Ben tops the "worst" list in almost every category, so let's not let him pull focus yet again.

1 hour ago, CanaryFan98 said:

Rafe and Hope also bad

How could I forget?

Oh wait, I always forget that people were paired up with Rafe.

[Sunrain]

Ben/Caira. How could someone compare Mr. SuperKiller and Ms. Needy Princess to Bo/Hope? It was a travesty.

Bill/Janice/Mike. The long strained father-son relationship was caused by Bill's adulterous affair with Mickey's ex-wife (Mike's real mother). The return of the younger Janice Barnes made things even worse between Mike and Bill when the writers had both men compete for her heart. 

Dr. Dan "Salem's Most Eligible and Ultimately Irresistible Bachelor"/Chelsea. Not only was Daniel her doctor but Rachel Melvin looked like a teenager next to Shawn Christian. To make matters worse, RM gushed endlessly about how hot SC was and how much she loved making out with him in her blog. She was said to be very upset when they ended the pairing. And their cringeworthy attempts of making him the Salem's most eligible bachelor afterwards made him look like a creeper who preyed on women more than everything else .

P.S. I was actually suprised when I heard SC was well-liked as Mike in As the World Turns. 

Edited October 8 by Sunrain

[brisbydog]

Oh how could I forget Janice and Bill? So inappropriate on every level. She was his neice, he was her boss. And then she died being slut shamed by Harper Deveraux. Just yukky.

If we are doing semi 'successful' pairings than I raise you Mike and Robin. Their entire plot line revolved around her being a virginal Jew who could not marry outside of her faith. Before we had Body and Soul Tuesdays, we had Mike and Robin Tuesdays. Deadly.

Pete was awful with everybody. He was like the precursor to Emilio. Dumb lunk head in love with the good girl.

And Ciara and Ben do have a rabid fan following but I don't understand it at all. They were cringeworthy, from their meeting to the fact he was a 'reformed' serial killer to their godawful psychic connection.

And Alex is of course a complete fail with every pairing, because he is a terrible character.

 

[CanaryFan98]

17 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

I don't know if this was the actors connecting or just the "we're both so messed up right now and need comfort" plotline...but I bought it. It was so unexpected too...Miss Priss Jennifer getting addicted to pain meds and Saint Eric boozing up over losing Nicole only to accidentally kill the man he lost her to, whom Jennifer also adored...

It was just crazy enough to make a kind of sense. Once they started talking about an engagement, though, I was out.

It was a memorable dark patch in their lives, though, and they had chemistry.

*spits out beverage*

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Oh lord this one was AWFUL. It made no sense.

Also: Deimos and all the poor Salem women the producers forced him on in the few months he was around. It was...Chloe, Nicole and Kate, right? Ugh.

Yikes, I just remembered SUMMER AND BRADY.

🤢

Yes that's right about Deimos

I oddly enough thought Daniel had chemistry with Lexie but the show wasn't going to let her out of Abe's orbit so..

I don't think Brady/Summer were an actual item but she wanted him and he didn't.

 

[SouthernChick]

I thought Daniel and Chloe had great chemistry. 

[CanaryFan98]

17 hours ago, Sunrain said:

Ben/Caira. How could someone compare Mr. SuperKiller and Ms. Needy Princess to Bo/Hope? It was a travesty.

Bill/Janice/Mike. The long strained father-son relationship was caused by Bill's adulterous affair with Mickey's ex-wife (Mike's real mother). The return of the younger Janice Barnes made things even worse between Mike and Bill when the writers had both men compete for her heart. 

Dr. Dan "Salem's Most Eligible and Ultimately Irresistible Bachelor"/Chelsea. Not only was Daniel her doctor but Rachel Melvin looked like a teenager next to Shawn Christian. To make matters worse, RM gushed endlessly about how hot SC was and how much she loved making out with him in her blog. She was said to be very upset when they ended the pairing. And their cringeworthy attempts of making him the Salem's most eligible bachelor afterwards made him look like a creeper who preyed on women more than everything else .

P.S. I was actually suprised when I heard SC was well-liked as Mike in As the World Turns. 

I loved SC as Mike Kasnoff which is why it shocked me how much I hated Daniel Jonas in comparison. Mike was the polar opposite of Daniel though. I enjoyed his scenes with Maura West. 

17 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

I'm sorry..."wildly popular"? I mean, were they really though? I saw there were a few fans here and there but...it didn't seem like they were a big deal outside of the DOOL sphere (or even in it).

Yeah I was wondering if it would be wise to veer into "successful but I don't like them" couples, because then anybody could be listed.

...

I'll make an exception for these two. The chemistry was...gross. Sorry but even though they were together IRL, it was unpleasant watching them onscreen. They were smug more than anything. I never watched that Romeo & Juliet fantasy episode but...yeah. WTH was that? Yikes.

Beyond this particular topic, Ben is probably one of the worst characters to ever be on this show, for the long term damage his presence and elevated status did to so many other, better characters. Ben tops the "worst" list in almost every category, so let's not let him pull focus yet again.

How could I forget?

Oh wait, I always forget that people were paired up with Rafe.

 

I think Ben/Ciara would've been a lot better had they had more people against their pairing and Ciara way more conflicted about being attracted to him. Instead they neutered the drama and it just went downhill.

Yeah they did pair Rafe with so many women he had no business being with. That being said I did like him with Jordan(before she went crazy) and currently like him with Jada. He bothers me a lot less than he used to.

[4evaQuez]

3 hours ago, SouthernChick said:

I thought Daniel and Chloe had great chemistry. 

I agree. I thought they had tremendous chemistry. I just hated the way the show threw characters, including Chloe, under the bus for Dan. If it were presented as a more even relationship, it would have been my favorite pairing during that era.

[brisbydog]

Remember Kate and Jake....??

[CanaryFan98]

22 hours ago, brisbydog said:

Remember Kate and Jake....??

Most of Kate's pairings are awful I blocked out most of them. 

 

The exceptions were Victor and Stefano for me. Although I might've liked her and John but I wasn't watching then.

[boes]

21 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

Most of Kate's pairings are awful I blocked out most of them. 

Remember Kate and Rafe??  Talk about a mismatch.

[CanaryFan98]

4 hours ago, boes said:

Remember Kate and Rafe??  Talk about a mismatch.

I do  but only because their plot involved Stefano trying to make Rafe impotent or something

[DisneyBoy]

8 hours ago, boes said:

Remember Kate and Rafe??  Talk about a mismatch.

Oddly, that was the one I didn't mind

Her using him as a boytoy made sense  after being stuck with Stefano.

Is that what she did, or was there "soulmate" talk? I missed most of it.

4 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

I do  but only because their plot involved Stefano trying to make Rafe impotent or something

Yeah, he found out about the affair and sent a dirty cop to shoot Rafe's churro off while he was in a hospital bed. Sami saw it happening and shot the cop dead, saving Rafe, but pissing off the cop's widow, who attended her engagement party to EJ and accidentally shot Chad, which sent him off-canvas and lead to Billy becoming the new Chad.

Interesting series of events.

[nilyank]

12 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

Yeah, he found out about the affair and sent a dirty cop to shoot Rafe's churro off while he was in a hospital bed. Sami saw it happening and shot the cop dead, saving Rafe, but pissing off the cop's widow, who attended her engagement party to EJ and accidentally shot Chad, which sent him off-canvas and lead to Billy becoming the new Chad.

Sami did not shoot Bernardi (dirty cop) dead. He went to surgery and was expected to make a recovery. He ended up dying. It was discovered during Sami's trial that Bernardi was having an affair with a nurse at the hospital and she killed him post-surgery because he wasn't going to leave his son (and wife) for her. Stefano knew all this and got the evidence to be found by Abe once EJ returned Dimera Enterprises back to him and promised to live with Stefano at the mansion with the kids and Sami.

BTW Kate and Rafe got together when Rafe found out that Sami and EJ got engaged and he was drowning his sorrows with an equally lonely/sorry for herself Kate.

[DisneyBoy]

12 hours ago, nilyank said:

It was discovered during Sami's trial that Bernardi was having an affair with a nurse at the hospital and she killed him post-surgery because he wasn't going to leave his son (and wife) for her. Stefano knew all this and got the evidence to be found by Abe once EJ returned Dimera Enterprises back to him and promised to live with Stefano at the mansion with the kids and Sami.

Wow -  did not know that! Pretty good writing too! Days was going so well in 2012...