If you could bring family from a now defunct soap

Poirot

Poirot

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who would you want to arrive in Salem and be the new ones in town?

I only watched one other soap, and that was Guiding Light. So I would bring the dynamic Spaulding family, & a few of their friends. Alan Spaulding was as devious as Victor, and his sister Alexandra was sneaky and manipulative. would give Vivian or Kate a hard time. Star crossed lovers, Josh Lewis & trouble maker Reva Shayne. Oh there was Philip Spaulding, Alan Michael Spaulding........heck, lots of cast, but just noted a few that might spice up Salem a bit. Heck those actors who played those characters have definitely moved on, retired, maybe a few have passed. So they would be recast, of course, but the personalities would remain.

Am sure some of you have other soaps you watched, that no longer are on the air, but has a few memorable CHARACTERS.
 
The Salinger siblings from Party of Five.

I wasn't sure if Party of Five qualified as a soap opera, but I found old soap opera magazine articles calling it a prime time soap.
 
Poirot said:
I only watched one other soap, and that was Guiding Light. So I would bring the dynamic Spaulding family, & a few of their friends. Alan Spaulding was as devious as Victor, and his sister Alexandra was sneaky and manipulative. would give Vivian or Kate a hard time. Star crossed lovers, Josh Lewis & trouble maker Reva Shayne. Oh there was Philip Spaulding, Alan Michael Spaulding........heck, lots of cast, but just noted a few that might spice up Salem a bit. Heck those actors who played those characters have definitely moved on, retired, maybe a few have passed. So they would be recast, of course, but the personalities would remain.
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Poirot,
I liked all the Guiding Light characters whom you mentioned. I’d also add Nola and the mysterious Mr. McCord. It’s a shame that the actors who played leading Another World characters, MacKenzie Corey and Sven Petersen are now deceased. Mac Corey would bring an older, distinguished publisher to Salem, and Harold and Henderson would be aghast at the schemes of the evil butler, Sven. Rachel, Mac’s wife, could compete withe the best women plotters that Salem has to offer.
 
I was just thinking something along these lines the other day - all the P&G soaps had a "poor" family with dozens of relatives that could emerge from the farm/forest/backlot at a moment's notice. Another World had the Frames, Guiding Light had the Reardons, and As the World Turns had the Snyders. (The Bradys were viewed as this at first, but the supercouple/supervillain era of the 1980s made the label hard to stick.)

Whenever the writers needed a new character, a new cousin could pop out of the woodwork. A family connection beyond "cousin" often didn't need to be offered (and Young Jason was admonished for expecting one). I was thinking that that was the sort of family Salem needed - since the Hortons (and now Bradys) were documented on-screen for so long, grafting relatives is difficult. (The recent addition of branches to the Kiriakis family tree was rightfully met with criticism.)

But to the original question - I'd pick the Snyders from ATWT because their tangled family tree and cousins* reproducing and/or dating would make Alex blush, while their homespun grandma character/s make Alice seem like a tart. Also, there are so many of them that if one doesn't click with viewers, his/her bags can be packed and another cousin can be brought on in minutes.

Also, they have no interest in business enterprises, so we'd be free of boring business stories, and their naming conventions - making sure everyone has the surname Snyder - would make it easy on even the dimmest writer. And the addition of a Snyder farm set could allow viewers a break from the tedium of everyone gathering in front of the Pub, Inn, and Sweet Bits.

*See Josh and Ava Snyder, Lily and Holden Snyder, etc.
 
I know Days could not use the same names as on any other soap, there are copyright laws, and American soaps are shown in other countries at times, and could be years old. I like the idea of a farm family, tho Days would not be able to do the sets, probably. However, Shawn Brady probably has a lot of Irish relatives, .........and I don't know Caroline's background but there has to be some on her side. And I am sure there are unknown Hortons.......Heck, what about Graysons? (Alice's maiden name?)

Heck, bet many of us have relatives we have never seen, MAYBE heard about. My mom was an only child, but had a lot of aunts and uncles, cousins. Her mom passed when my mom was 10. Her mom's sister became very close.........and as a result, I know, and have stayed with tons of relatives in Milwaukee. LOL. My dad was from Iowa, am sure there are unknown relatives there. Now we lived in Chicago, grew up there, so family is spread out all over the USA now. and the same goes for the Bradys, Hortons, Johnsons, Kiriakises. Doesn't bother me to have the appearance of some relative of any of them.

I'd love a story where a couple moved to Salem, he got a job transfer, they know no one. BUT, as time goes by, they discover that each of them is related to a Salem family.
 
We did get one other Brady family member, Pop Shawn Brady's nephew, Colin Murphy, from 2001 to 2004. He was the son of Shawn's sister Molly and her husband, Francis Murphy. Colin turned out to be trouble, doing Andre DiMera's dirty work.

Here's his storyline (in a nutshell):

Colin Murphy (Days of Our Lives) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
It wouldn't have to be the same actors. Soaps recast characters frequently.

I chose the Salingers because besides Days, I haven't really watched any soap operas for a sustained amount of time except pro wrestling which is athletic soap opera.

There are more sitcom and primetime drama families that I'd want to see join Days than soap opera families.
 
I wouldn't mind Bo Duke (John Schneider) showing up in Salem. John Schneider has done at least one soap. I think it's called Haves and Have Nots.
 
Poirot said:
I know Days could not use the same names as on any other soap, there are copyright laws
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They could probably use any other Betty Corday properties, or lease any properties they really wanted. I think P&G would probably lease the Snyders to them. (It would be a small revenue stream without much cost to them.) It's also possible they could use other Sony properties. It's all about paying the royalties - which now that I think of it, Ken Corday hates to do.

Although the last time that happened in soapland, there were some bridges burned, this case would be different.
 
Jack Brady said:
I wouldn't mind Bo Duke (John Schneider) showing up in Salem. John Schneider has done at least one soap. I think it's called Haves and Have Nots.
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I met him about 15 years ago. He was in town for a car show. I was helping someone in a nearby booth, so I got to kind of watch him all day. He made each person feel like he really cared about meeting them and that he appreciated them taking the time to talk to him. Dennis Haskins (Principal Belding on Saved By the Bell) was also there and he was the same way.

I've met others who were cranky old poops. So it's really nice when the actors are extremely kind to the people coming to meet them. From the interactions many here on the board have had with the actors on Days, they seem like a pleasant bunch.
 
Just Samantha said:
I met him about 15 years ago. He was in town for a car show. I was helping someone in a nearby booth, so I got to kind of watch him all day. He made each person feel like he really cared about meeting them and that he appreciated them taking the time to talk to him. Dennis Haskins (Principal Belding on Saved By the Bell) was also there and he was the same way.
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I've heard similar stories about both John Schneider (Bo Duke/Dukes of Hazzard) and Dennis Haskins (Principal Belding/Saved By the Bell).

Dennis Haskins recently reprised his Principal Belding role for a Saved by the Bell fan film about Mr. Belding's brother Rod Belding.
 
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