| "Reflections by Jill" - A Weekly Commentary on OLTL | |
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REFLECTIONS
BY JILL…..
Hi everybody!
Hope you all had a great Mother’s Day!
In the wake of all of the
changes that have been taking place over the last few months, and those that
continue to take place on OLTL, this week I would like to discuss a topic
that has been on my mind a lot lately. From
many of the wonderful comments I received from all of you last week, I know that
these things are on your minds as well. This
week’s topic is CASTING, HIRING AND FIRING, and my commentary is
directed at anyone who comes under that infamous umbrella known as “TPTB.”
Just in case anyone out there doesn’t know the meaning of this
acronym, I shall translate…TPTB stands for “The Powers That Be”, also
known by those who really have an axe to grind as “TIIC” (The Idiots
In Charge). For the sake of
fairness, and just so I don’t find a crazed casting director at my door, I
will use “TPTB”, just to be on the safe side.
Since I know that the
responsibility for major decisions is shared to some extent, and since I am not
the expert on soap opera politics, I shall spread the blame, but I have to say,
I think the major weight of the boom needs to fall on the Executive Producer.
Now, a lot of people were very happy a few months ago when they heard
that Jill Farren Phelps would be leaving the show and most prayed that she’d
take Megan McTavish (the “scribe of darkness”) with her.
Aside from the fact that Jill created Ben and Viki, which gives her a big
corner of my heart for eternity, I felt much the same way about her departure as
most other did, and held out great hope that Gary Tomlin would improve the
storylines, give more airtime to the wonderful actors who were left growing
weeds on the side of the road, and lighten up the storylines a bit.
I acknowledge that we had to endure what remained of the old writing
staff’s work for a while, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have had more
worthwhile changes than we’ve seen. I’m
still willing to reserve judgment and see where Gary takes us, but I expect him
to step on it.
Most of the casting changes
we’ve seen, and continue to see, are like a knife in my heart.
Whether or not certain actors chose to leave the show (and I have serious
questions about that subject), I am more than a little bit sorry to see all of
them go. The first change that
upset me last year was the loss of Don Jeffcoat as Joey Buchanan. Don was not even close to being one of my favorites on the
show, but he WAS Joey to me. There
are few relationships on OLTL that I consider as important as that of
Viki and her three children. Some
of my best memories of the show are of Viki and her kids, such as…Jessica
losing Megan…Viki with Kevin as he went through the torture of Grace’s
death…and the one I loved most…Viki’s kids all being at her side through
her cancer diagnosis and her surgery, talking about healthy food and cheating at
Scrabble. It was especially great
to see Viki’s kids rallying around her, especially since Ben couldn’t be
there. Don’t even get me started
on the months of torture I endured when those writers kept Ben and Viki apart
during that cancer storyline. Where
Viki’s family is concerned, I would be willing to endure yet another set of
recast sons for Viki; they are that important, as far as I’m concerned.
This brings me to Kevin.
In my very humble opinion, Tim Gibbs is a phenomenal actor and although I
know there were several actors who portrayed Kevin that were preferred by the
fans, I have never seen him in a story line in which he didn’t shine.
I have followed Tim’s career from Santa Barbara, to Another World, to OLTL
and he has never failed to make it worth my while.
The fact that they just stopped writing good material for Kevin was a
major mistake on the part of the writers and whoever else decided that Kevin
should be on the back burner. They
really dropped the ball. I took
offense to the Kevin/Joey/Kelly storyline.
I didn’t think that brothers as close as Joey and Kevin would find
themselves in that situation (except on the Jerry Springer Show), and I was not
surprised when it fizzled. I sorely
miss the wonderful, heartfelt relationship between Viki and Kevin,
Kevin/Joey/Jessica, and Kevin’s humorous relationship with Ben (Dad), not to
mention that Kevin would have kept The Banner alive.
Too many of the show’s mainstays have gone by the wayside and The
Banner, as an integral part of Viki’s family, is one of them.
I am very distressed by the
dismissal of Charissa Chamorro. She
has taken the character of Sophia from a “wrong side of the tracks” barmaid,
to a wonderful, purposeful young woman, with a very big heart and a sincere
devotion to the people close to her. Her
relationships with Antonio, Kelly, Ben, Rae and John were always a pleasure to
watch and her sad good-bye, as she left for the rehab center, brought more than
a few tears to my eyes. The
possibilities for the character of Sophia were endless and for the life of me, I
cannot understand why TPTB would let go of such a wonderful young talent, while
at the same time hold onto a character like Roseanne, whose one-dimensional
whining and selfish conniving has definitely been grating on my last nerve.
I now hear that Erika Page will probably be leaving the show when her
contract expires…perhaps TPTB will regret their decision to dismiss
Charissa….personally, I hope they do.
I’m going to get to my
biggest disappointment in a minute, but can we stop for a second and talk about
Gina Russo? Why was it even
necessary to create such a character? Did
TIIC (oops, I said I wasn’t going to use that one, didn’t I?) feel that Ben
and Viki hadn’t been through enough in their 2-year relationship?
I mean, come on…between the shootings, the mob problems, Ben’s
paternity surprise, Grace’s death, Ben’s vendetta against Asa, and Viki’s
cancer, has any other soap couple been through what these two have been through
in such a short period of time? I
think not…and I know that I haven’t even mentioned ALL of their trials and
tribulations. The first casting of
Gina was a joke. That woman
couldn’t scare a fly, let alone run a crime syndicate.
When I came to grips with the fact that they were, indeed, going to
continue with this Mob Princess storyline, I figured that it would at least be
interesting with Lisa Peluso playing the role of Gina, since I knew she was more
than capable of being a good “bad girl.”
She is very believable in her confrontations with Viki in the basement,
but she’s a joke as a temptress to Ben…and did anyone not die laughing when
she whacked that wiseguy of hers across the face at Crossroads when Ben actually
did take that bullet that was meant to miss him?
She is tiny and he was about 7 feet tall.
I don’t think she could physically scare a bunch of nursery school
children. My only hope is that the
character of Gina fades into oblivion as quickly as the decisions were made to
dismiss my favorite characters.
Okay, I am now going to get
to my biggest disappointment. I
don’t know if or when I will stop missing him, but the dismissal of Kale Brown
is something that I just cannot swallow. Despite
any rumors that fly around, and despite what anyone says about behind-the-scenes
politics and the “who hates who” scuttlebutt (how tiring), the fact remains
that Kale’s Sam Rappaport was a major character on OLTL and his
chemistry with many of the others on the show will not be easily duplicated, if
at all. Even if you are not a Ben
fan (and I know you’re out there), you cannot deny that the relationship
between Ben and Sam is a huge part of the canvas.
The on-screen relationship between Kale Brown and Mark Derwin was
amazing. They made you believe they
were brothers and that relationship has major significance to the character of
Ben, as it ties him to his “real” family.
The casting of an actor to play Sam, who is supposed to be several years
older than Ben, yet look several years younger, is beyond my comprehension.
Sam is Ben’s big brother, and although I am more than willing to give
Lawrence Lau a chance because of my love for the character of Sam, it is going
to be a rough road for me. I dearly
loved Sam and Nora together and from what I’ve seen so far of “NuSam”, I
have to say that I am not too upset. I
will admit, I am not blind or dead…Larry Lau is an adorable guy and tell me,
who didn’t just love him as Greg Nelson on All My Children?
And he wasn’t a bad Jamie Frame on Another World, either. I am already enjoying the scenes he’s had with Nora and
Matthew. He’s very sweet, oozes
cuteness, and he has no trouble acting in a romantic role.
That, of course, I love. I
hope I am equally impressed with his interaction with Ben and the rest of his
family. That’s going to be the test for me, as if you didn’t
know. He’s got a very tough job
ahead of him. Kale, I miss you
terribly and wish you only the best.
There is one bright spot that
I can see in casting these days. Although
I am not a fan of bringing back as many old characters as the show seems to be
doing, I can’t help but look forward to seeing characters like Gabrielle and
Al, since I am soooo ready to see someone give Max some major aggravation.
You may have guessed that I’m not Max’s biggest fan, so as long as
TPTB find it necessary to keep his sorry butt on the show, I’m happy to see
his life made miserable. I can’t believe I’m rooting for Asa again, but if he
manages to take Max down a few pegs, I’ll be one happy girl and I’ll give
that big, old cowboy a round of applause.
Just one more thing before I
let you go….Although I know there are tons of Colin fans out there (sorry,
I’m not really one of them), I have to say that I am not sorry about the
decision to do away with the little monster.
The writers smashed him into a corner from which they could not redeem
him, which I think was a mistake. Had
they given him any redeeming qualities, I could have accepted him, but they
chose to abandon any good qualities that they gave him in the beginning, and I
admit he did have some….well, maybe one.
He was fairly kind to Viki during her cancer treatment and probably was a
decent doctor. Anyway, there is a rumor flying around that he will be
resurrected in the form a twin brother, something that Ty Treadway did not
confirm during his on-line chat, which I attended last week.
If that happens, I hope the writers do it better the second time around.
I do remain the cockeyed
optimist, even with the impending departures of even more OLTL actors,
such as Gina Tognoni, David Fumero and John Bolger.
I personally hope they keep Bolger around.
I love, love, love Rae and her relationship with John is
adorable…another example of a wonderful road, not well pursued by the writers.
In the midst of all of these changes, I hold out eternal hope that the
new head writers will take us on wonderful journeys, let us have some real
laughs, and for cryin’ out loud, punish the bad guys for a change!
Tune in for future columns where I will not be shy about my thoughts on
unpunished bad guys.
See ya next week…..
Jill
FAN FEEDBACK
AND QUESTIONS ON LAST WEEK’S COLUMN
______________________
Shelia
McBrayer writes: “I totally agree with your column today, 5/8/01. It is
amazing how no one ever locks the door to their home in Llanview, PA. I'm
from outside Atlanta and I would never leave my house unlocked. I have
enjoyed your columns. I do hope you will write some about Todd, Blair and
Starr. They are my favorites. Keep up the good work.”
Dear Shelia: Glad someone from a big city can relate to locking their doors. And keep tuning in….I plan to address the wacky Cramer/Manning contingent sooner than you think.
___________
Susan
Meyers writes: “Jill,
I loved your column on the lack of privacy and security in Llanview. You've said
things I've been thinking (and ranting about) for years!
One place you missed on your tour - The LLanview PD! There's always
someone skulking around, eavesdropping, stealing things off Bo's desk (just how
did Nora get Lainie's engagement ring stuck on her finger and what was she doing
in Bo's office alone?), and planting bombs in chairs!
If locks don't work, I recommend a big dog (animals are also in
short supply in this town!). Lindsay might think twice about walking into
Nora's house if a Doberman were there to "greet" her!”
Dear Susan: My hat’s off to you, girl. I was going to include the Llanview PD on my tour, but if I went into every single case of lax security, we’d be reading that week’s column for a month. Thanks for bringing it up. I did die laughing when Nora got that ring stuck on her finger. Oh, and do you really think a Doberman would keep Lindsay away? She’d probably start carrying around a raw steak in her purse instead of a loaded syringe.
___________
Doc, Donna and Deb
write: “Dear Jill: Your
column is a wonderful breath of fresh air. It is interesting as well as funny .
I was reading your second column and laughing so hard, my husband was
wondering what I was up to. Keep up the good work, you write this column
like a true fan.”
Dear Doc, Donna and Deb: Thanks for the kind words. Keep that hubby laughing and wondering what you’re up to. I’ll send you a really lovely photo of Ben to put on your screen in case hubby decides to take a peek. Would he worry if you started hyperventilating? He’d understand….wouldn’t he???? LOL!
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