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On the Wedding Anniversary of a Supercouple That Went From Hot to… Well, Not, We Revisit 10 Sizzling Daytime Duos That Ended Up Fizzling
Wednesday, July 10th, 2024
On July 10, 1979, General Hospital married off Kin Shriner’s Scotty Baldwin and Genie Francis’ Laura Webber, the supercouple that, before Anthony Geary’s Luke Spencer ever set foot in Port Charles, helped stave off cancellation and turn the struggling ABC soap into a hit. Not that the actors realized what they had helped accomplish at the time.
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“Genie and I were down in Fort Lauderdale somewhere in the late ’70s, [and] we went to dinner and people came up to the table and said, ‘Can we get an autograph?’” Shriner recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2019. “And we said, ‘Sure.’ And then we looked, and there was a line of people all the way out the restaurant, down the block, and it was like, ’Whoa, we must be doing something right!’”
That they were — extremely right, as a matter of fact! But once Luke and Laura caught fire, Scotty and Laura flamed out — in a big way. And they aren’t the only dynamic duo who went over time from hot to…well, not. Soap history is stuffed to overflowing with twosomes who burned brightly, only to ultimately burn out and move on to new flames.
More: Soaps’ all-time greatest supercouples, ranked [PHOTOS]
Doubt it? You won’t for long. Soaps.com has compiled a list of 10 supremely successful pairings from not only General Hospital but also Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless that…eh, didn’t stand the test of time. To flash back through their highs — and ultimately their downfalls — just click on the photo gallery below.
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Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
1/15
<p>After Stone’s death, his grieving girlfriend was sure that she’d never love again — and, frankly, viewers thought she might be right. But then a miracle occurred: A tender romance blossomed between her and, of all people, her polar opposite: brain-damaged Mob muscle Jason. They were warm and cool, open and closed, the ultimate yin and yang. And they might have made it for the long haul, too, had he not put Carly’s needs first, inadvertently pushing Robin to acknowledge that, however platonic it had become, the besties’ love was the one that was going to stand the test of time.</p>
Image: CBS
2/15
<p>The CBS soap caught lightning in a bottle when it paired Jon Hensley with Martha Byrne in the 1980s. “I just had that massive crush on him,” she admitted to <a href="https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/icymi-martha-byrne-interview/"><em>Soap Opera Digest</em></a> in 2020. She was “like, ‘Oh my God, he’s so cute!’” After replacing her with Heather Rattray, <em>As the World Turns</em> recaptured the magic by rehiring Byrne. But when the role was recast again, this time with Noelle Beck (formerly Trisha, <em>Loving</em>), Holden and Lily were as much a thing of the past as Byrne’s tenure on the show.</p>
Image: NBC
3/15
<p>In the early 1980s, Wayne Northrop’s rough-around-the-edges cop and Deidre Hall’s glamorous Doc were the kinda hot that could give viewers third-degree burns just by watching. But after Northrop split in ’84 to return to <em>Dynasty</em>, their moment passed (and, for a while, we all thought that Drake Hogestyn’s John was Roman!). <em>Days of our Lives</em> re-teamed Northrop and Hall in ’91, but to no avail. He was given the chop three years later, telling the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-07-14-9407140014-story.html"><em>Chicago Tribune</em></a>, “Leaving this time is not my choice.”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
4/15
<p>Their clandestine affair was the hottest thing on the show for a while there. And the fireworks when everybody found out that Rena Sofer and Lawrence Saint-Victor’s characters were hooking up? Divine. But as soon as the obstacles between them were removed — thanks for nothing, Eric — it was like cold water was thrown on the lovers. Maybe without the element of secrecy, it just wasn’t as sexy?</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
5/15
<p>Don’t you <em>dare</em> say that these two were only a pretty-good, not a super, couple; they were super enough to make Nikki feel so threatened that she pretended to be dying to keep them apart. But, unlike the most frequently-wed Newmans, Victor and Ashley’s rooting value diminished when she was recast over and over again. Eric Braeden and Eileen Davidson have still got “it.” But we’d be Adam-dressed-as-Sabrina-level shocked if they ever went for it again.</p>
Image: ABC
6/15
<p>There was an irresistible sweetness to the romance that blossomed between Jonathan Jackson and Rebecca Herbst’s characters as teenagers. When they promised to be one another’s forever, we didn’t doubt it for a second. But after Jackson left the show in 1999, no matter how good the subsequent Luckys were — and Jacob Young (ex-Rick, <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>) and Greg Vaughan (Eric, <em>Days of our Lives</em>) were <em>really</em> good — the relationship, understandably, never felt the same. Even when Jackson returned a decade later, we had the sense that times had changed… and so had Lucky and Liz.</p>
Image: Peacock screenshot (3)
7/15
<p>Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso will go down in soap history as having created one of the genre’s most romantic and passionate couples. How could they not? We thrilled to Bo and Hope’s adventures for decades and ugly-cried when they were reunited in the hereafter on <em>Beyond Salem</em>. But alas, their legacy was tarnished by the subsequent storyline that brought Bo back to life, only to give him and Hope an unhappy ending. Stick a fork in ’em, they’re done.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
8/15
<p>There was a time when, if Don Diamont and Heather Tom were on screen, our TVs didn’t even need to be plugged in; their characters’ chemistry was <em>that</em> electric. However, sparks started flying a little less fast and furiously after Bill’s relationship with Katie’s sister, Brooke. By the time he was throwing himself at one of them only seconds after being rejected by the other, we weren’t like, “Oh, this is gripping,” we were more, “Get a grip.”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
9/15
<p>We thought these crazy kids just might make a real go of it. But when push came to shove, the mother of three decided that her <em>actual</em> kids shouldn’t have to grow up in the line of fire that seemed to follow wherever Sonny’s right-hand man went. So the two of them broke each other’s hearts — and ours along with them — and parted ways. Now, he’s raising a family with Sam, and she’s married to former homicidal maniac Franco. Hey, it makes sense to them.</p>
Image: NBC
10/15
<p>We can understand why the NBC soap would’ve wanted to keep this supercouple going after Mary Page Keller left her role in 1985. But what we <em>can’t</em> understand is why the powers that be thought they’d be able to. Keller, you see, didn’t just have chemistry with leading man Thomas Ian Griffith on screen, she had it off, too. So any sparks that flew between him and her successor, Taylor Miller (previously Nina on <em>All My Children</em>), were going to seem by comparison like a flicker, not a blaze. The show figured that out a year later and not only nixed the pairing but killed Sally!</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
11/15
<p>We’re still scratching our heads over this one. The CBS sudser came up with a recipe for success when it paired the working-class chef with Genoa City’s poor little rich (play)boy. But instead of go back for seconds, the show let the dish get cold and sent it back to the kitchen, breaking up the couple that had fought so hard to be together with little more than a shrug and an “Eh, we gave it a shot. Better luck next time.”</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
12/15
<p>Yeah, yeah, the show eventually unkilled Cady McClain’s heroine after the unfortunate Case of the Poisoned Pancakes. The trouble was, by then, although we certainly still cared about whether she and Michael E. Knight’s reformed Tad the Cad lived happily ever, we cared a little <em>less</em> than we used to. So a reunion that should’ve been the best thing ever felt a little more like… “Well, that’s a thing that happened.”</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
13/15
<p>In the ’90s, there wasn’t a couple that could come close to the heat that Maurice Benard and Vanessa Marcil generated. And it was still there in a big way when Sonny and Brenda reunited in 2010. Her subsequent returns, however, were mired in nonsensical storylines that undermined the only thing we really wanted: to see her and the Teflon don connecting in that way that suggests their desire for one another is so great, it could burn the house down at any moment.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
14/15
<p>Unlike his brother Ridge and on-again/off-again wife Brooke, Thorne didn’t waver in his affections for Macy. Not as often, anyway. So the black sheep of the Forrester family (played longest by Winsor Harmon) and Sally Spectra’s spunky daughter (Bobbie Eakes) were incredibly easy to root for. At least until — well, whad’ya know? — Brooke sunk her nails into him and took the bloom off the rose in such a way that it never really blossomed again.</p>
Image: ABC
15/15
