Missed Opportunities

[Steph J]

I'm in the midst of re-watching 1995, which has got me thinking about some of the shows biggest missed opportunities during the period that I originally watched:

* Not pairing Tad and Liza in the 90s/00s. I've never seen Liza's original run in the 80s, but when Marcy Walker came back in 1995, Liza instantly became one of my favorite characters and I loved her with Tad (of course, I've also always kind of hated Dixie, which made that easier).  I understand that Tad and Dixie fans pitched a fit any time the show hinted towards putting Tad with Liza, but I think this is one of the times when a show shouldn't have listened to fans - particularly during the period when Dixie wasn't even on the canvass. Instead of wasting Tad with Gloria and Camille (remember her? No? Just as well, there's no reason to) and trying to make Liza and Jake happen, we could have had a Tad/Liza/Adam triangle instead, which would have been so much more satisfying.

* Charlie Brent. Given that he's the show's original legacy kid, it's a real shame that no regime of writers could figure out who he should be or what to do with him. He had ties to so many characters, but the writers just couldn't seem to find a way to make him interesting and turn him into a long term adult character.

* The Fryes. I think AMC actually did a pretty good job in the early 90s in terms of creating and then actually writing for black characters, but that started to fall apart in 1994. Mimi and Livia just disappear from the show, then Terence is unceremoniously sent out of Pine Valley (I can't remember whether Lucas, who wasn't a Frye but was related through Terence, disappeared or got an actual exit, but my recollection is that he left off-screen and got one of those exists where some other character will casually remark that he left town) then Taylor turns psycho. The show transitions to the Keefers in 94/95, but I think there was still a lot of story that could have been told with the Fryes if the writers had just given a damn about them.

* 90% of what they did with Brooke after she and Tad split up. It wasn't always the fault of the writers - her relationship with Pierce had potential which was undone by the original actor having to be let go and subsequent recasts not really working - but it really shouldn't have been that hard to write a character played by someone as talented as Julia Barr.

* Greenlee and Jake. I liked Greenlee and Leo, but I thought Rebecca Budig and J. Eddie Peck had great chemistry when they put Greenlee with Jake. I also thought that she matured quite a bit in that relationship and that when they put her back with Leo, she regressed. The Greenlee/Jake period is pretty much the only time the Jake character actually worked for me.

* Bianca and Lena. They had potential to be a classic star-crossed couple, with the twist that they were both women. The start of their relationship had such great conflict and angst, but the writers at that time either didn't know how to or just didn't want to write a same-sex romance so the relationship faded further into the background until finally Lena just... left. It was pretty much the only relationship of Bianca's that I was actually invested in.

* Ethan Ramsay. He was a character with so much potential, but once Zach was introduced, Ethan became yesterday's news and by the time he left he was fully on the backburner. It was such a shame, particularly when you consider that Ethan and Simone could have been a great romantic comedy type pairing that could have acted as a lighthearted counter-balance to the drama if the show had actually seen fit to have them onscreen more often.

[Annber03]

6 hours ago, Steph J said:

* Not pairing Tad and Liza in the 90s/00s. I've never seen Liza's original run in the 80s, but when Marcy Walker came back in 1995, Liza instantly became one of my favorite characters and I loved her with Tad (of course, I've also always kind of hated Dixie, which made that easier).  I understand that Tad and Dixie fans pitched a fit any time the show hinted towards putting Tad with Liza, but I think this is one of the times when a show shouldn't have listened to fans - particularly during the period when Dixie wasn't even on the canvass. Instead of wasting Tad with Gloria and Camille (remember her? No? Just as well, there's no reason to) and trying to make Liza and Jake happen, we could have had a Tad/Liza/Adam triangle instead, which would have been so much more satisfying.

My mom loved the Tad/Dixie pairing, but she's said before that if Tad were to be with anyone else, she liked him with Liza. She seemed to prefer the version of Liza played by Jamie Luner, though. 

Quote

* Bianca and Lena. They had potential to be a classic star-crossed couple, with the twist that they were both women. The start of their relationship had such great conflict and angst, but the writers at that time either didn't know how to or just didn't want to write a same-sex romance so the relationship faded further into the background until finally Lena just... left. It was pretty much the only relationship of Bianca's that I was actually invested in.

It's been ages since I've seen any of this show, so my memory's hazy on a lot of stuff in your post in general (or, if it was something from the early to mid '90s, I was a kid then and probably wasn't paying much attention, 'cause I thought soap operas were boring at the time :p). 

But I do remember this pairing, and I liked them, too :). I would've been interested to see what all they could've done with those two. 

[junemeatcleaver]

Shit, most of the show from the late 1990s to up to its cancellation was one big missed opportunity.  A whole lot of bad and mediocre with a handful of bright spots.

[Ladybyrd]

I've been on a late 90s kick and Alex's introduction stands out as a huge missed opportunity.  To get an actress as popular as Finola Hughes, only to have her march in and basically say, "Hi, I'm Alex, I'm Dimitri's wife and also, he's dead. Or is he??? We got married last week so I guess I'll be staying around!" was a weird choice, to say the least. 

Regarding the original post:

I found Ethan Cambias very robotic. The actor did come into his own of DAYS, for sure, so maybe there could've been something there.

Completely agree on Tad/Liza.