By Sara A. Bibel
Fancast.com
Same Name, Different Face
While watching As The World Turns Thursday, I did a double take. Who was that attractive brunette with Holden? Then I remembered. She’s the new Lily, Noelle Beck. At the moment, she doesn’t seem like Lily to me. Martha Byrne joined the show as a teenager. The adopted heiress Lily’s love story with stable boy Holden was one of the greatest in soap history. Fans grew up along with Lily, joining the work force, marrying, and having children at roughly the same time that she did. Byrne forged a close connection with the audience, who admired her not only for her talent but her work for charities. Now she’s off the show for the most disappointing reason, a contract dispute. Byrne’s the latest victim of daytime’s budget crisis.
Recasts are one of the more frustrating aspects of being a soap fan. After years of getting to know every nuance of an actor’s portrayal of a character, suddenly the audience is asked to expect a new face in the role. It’s a convention that doesn’t exist in primetime.
But in soaps, a character often needs to stay on the canvas after the actor chooses to leave the show. In other cases, an actor isn’t working out in a role and the show chooses to make a change. Sometimes the new actor seamlessly steps in and is soon embraced by the audience. Such veteran, popular actors as Peter Bergman, (Jack, The Young & The Restless) and Erika Slezac (Viki One Life To Live) are recasts. Other times, the new performer never clicks with the majority of viewers. It’s impossible to predict. Certain actors are so identified with a role that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else in the part. Yet, when they’ve left they were successfully recast. Sarah Brown was a sensation as General Hospital’s Carly. When she chose to leave, I thought the show was crazy to attempt to keep the character going. But her replacement Tamara Braun was accepted. Then, when she left, her successor Jennifer Bransford tanked. But her re-re-recast Laura Wright is wildly popular.
Stepping into a role that somebody else has already defined is a tough job for an actor. Success or failure often has nothing to do with an actor’s skill, or how popular the character is. It has to do with the peculiar alchemy of daytime. An actor needs to capture the true essence of who the character is, to make an emotional connection with viewers. One of the most notorious recasts in daytime history occurred on ATWT when Susan Batten took over the role of Connor. Batten was a hit as OLTL’s New Age Luna. But her earthy style was a complete mismatch for savvy business woman Connor. The fans rebelled, writing letters of protest even allegedly sending cans urging the show to “can” her. The show acquiesced and the character was written off. It remains to be seen whether the audience will come to accept the new Lily or whether Byrne is the only one who can bring her to life.
Our National Soap Opera
This presidential season has had as much drama as a soap. Inspired by the end of the primaries and HBO’s recent film about the 2000 election, Recount, I offer my casting suggestions for the inevitable movie about 2008.
Obama: Kristoff St. John (Y&R’s Neil Winters)
The character of Neil shares many of Obama’s ideals and experiences. He’s got the top-notch education (Neil is a graduate of Stanford business school, making him the only employee of Newman Enterprises who is actually qualified for an Executive level position.) He’s an idealist, unwilling to resort to the dirty dealings of his co-workers. St. John imbues Neil with the same stiffness that Obama often has in interviews. His heartwrenching portrayal of Neil’s alcoholism convinces me he’s got the goods to pull off Obama’s inspirational speeches.
Hillary: Hillary B. Smith (OLTL’s Nora Hannan Gannon Beaucanan)
Though she’s about a decade too young for the role, Smith excels at playing tough, intelligent women. She’s mesmerizing in Nora’s courtroom scenes. She’d be fantastic at dramatizing a presidential debate. Years of playing her complicated relationship with Good Old Boys Bo and Clint Beaucanan have prepared her for tackling Hillary’s marriage to Bill.
Runner up: Julia Barr, formerly Brooke English, AMC
McCain: John Ingle (GH’s Edward Quartermaine)
The tough, often mean patriarch of the dysfunctional Quartermaine clan runs a major company. He’s outspoken, doesn’t suffer fools gladly and never backs down in an argument. He’s rebuilt his business and his relationships more times than he can count. He is convinced that the younger generations are lazy and undisciplined. In short, he has plenty in common with McCain. Ingle, a former Beverly Hills High drama instructor who taught numerous movie stars, has the range and depth to play the war hero turned politician.
Comments (4)
actually, a recast is what has sent me to the lunatic fringe. when the character of colleen was recast, i kept an open mind. i had hope that it would work out. when she actually appeared and still had her australian accent and looked all of 12 years old, i got so frustrated i started to rebel. the main board i post on conceived a plan. we posted on message boards, wrote snail mail to everyone connected with the show, signed petitions, voted in online polls, sent tomatoes, daisies and strawberry seeds to tptb, whatever it took to get noticed. it was like watching a tribe go to war. we were noticed, to an extent. lml did a story in which the least stable person on the show [gloria] took her grievance against jack to the internet, gleefully concocting all sorts of on screen names and voting multiple times, which of course led to more letters on my part saying "i will not be mocked", etc. but at the end of the day, we were unsuccessful. and are still frustrated. very. frustrated.
Posted by sydney | June 7, 2008 10:37 PM
Posted on June 7, 2008 22:37
Sara,
I'm enjoying reading your blog.It's reassuring to know that there are writers who really appreciate this genre and are soap fans themselves.
I remember how upsetting it was when Kelly was recast on "Santa Barbara" - from Carrington Garland to Eileen Davidson.I got that they wanted to increase ratings - esp. with Marcy Walker leaving.But it was that recast -along with an influx of too many new characters - that eventually made me lose interest.
And now, there's the Colleen catastrophe on Y&R.I can usually learn to live with -if not love- a recast.It's alot easier if an actor's contract is up & they choose to go elsewhere.Or if there are rumblings that someone is difficult,I can understand that also.But what gives with firing someone who is so perfectly suited for a role only to replace them with someone so...erm..unsuitable? I had high hopes that once LML was booted,the new EP would right the wrong.But for whatever reason, he's choosing not to do so.It's very frustrating!
As for the Lily recast,Beck is no doubt a capable actress.IMO,she lacks Martha's warmth.She also seems more "hoity toity" (just like NuAllison & ex-NuWackoAdam).The clone hairstyling isn't helping,either.She resembles her hubby's sis a little too much now - just like every other woman in Oakdale!
Posted by JD | June 10, 2008 6:54 AM
Posted on June 10, 2008 06:54
Sara, I love reading your blog! I'm catching up on reading it tonight and I just had to comment on this one!
I too, was and STILL am very distraught over the recast of Colleen on Y&R! Yes, I do realize it is just a soap! I loved Lyndsy Fonseca and I loved Adrianne Leon on GH and when she was cast as Colleen, I absoutely loved her Colleen the first day! Once Tammin Sursok started as Colleen, I really tried to give the girl a chance but almost a year later, she's just not cutting it! The majority of Y&R fans all over the internet are still wanting Adrianne to return and it would seem that we, the fans, are not getting what we want. Very frustrating! Usually, one can get "used to" a recast, but my goodness this is just inconceivable! Adrianne Leon just set the bar too high as Colleen and Tammin Sursok just does not compare!
Posted by Karrie | June 12, 2008 9:34 PM
Posted on June 12, 2008 21:34
Sara, I love your blogs! I agree with you about Carly on GH! I loved Sarah Brown and came to love Tamara Braun pretty quickly and then Laura Wright but I never could get into Jennifer Bransford's Carly. I really hated to see Sarah and then Tamara go, but I got over it! There is one recast, however, almost a year later that just baffles me; perhaps it was that she was fired so abruptly while she was doing such a wonderful job as Colleen Carlton on Y&R. Perhaps it was because she was such an outstanding young woman and actress; it was both! Adrianne Leon has left such an impression on Y&R viewers that we are STILL demanding her return as Colleen! This character has turned into a meaningless background character, when Adrianne's Colleen was a front burner character and had on screen chemistry with everyone, but not Tammin Sursok; she has tanked, in my opinion, and I do not understand why the powers that be will not right this wrong!!
Posted by Karrie | June 12, 2008 10:42 PM
Posted on June 12, 2008 22:42