GL: Kim Zimmer is Mad!

[Kubla Khan]

http://kimzimmerfanclub.yuku.com/topic/3024

[LoyaltoAMC]

Jeez, she needs to lighten up. Most of us would kill to have the equivalent of a paid vacation. These things go in cycles, and I'm sure she'll go front burner again. Anyway, I always notice in the monthly episode counts that the GL actors at the top of the list usually appear in no more than 12-13 episodes per month. I'm sure it's a budgetary thing, and Zimmer, as are a lot of actors on that show, is just caught up in their budget crunch.

[JackPeyton]

i dont blame her/

[NYC123]

I really don't blame her!

GL is the WROST soap on air right now. If we thought AMC's writing was bad GL is horrible!

I would leave GL. Its a sinking ship and it cannot be saved.

[AddictedToSoaps]

Preach it Kim!! She's the best thing GL's got.

Kreizman and Wheeler are idiots.

[UKBoi]

She's obviously hoping it will have the same effect as Erika Slezak's rant got on getting Higley canned from OLTL, but whether it will actually work is a different matter. She should have learned from what happened with Martha Byrne that PGP dont care about how long you've been with the show or how popular you are with fans, you ARE replaceable, and should have kept her mouth shut, especially considering the fragile state GL is in, she should be fighting for this show, not complaining because she's not the 'star' this month.

That being said, I do agree with her viewpoint because GL is wasting her, especially considering she is the closest thing to the 'heart' of the show.

[Chris B]

She's been on the backburner for over a year which is ridiculous considering how much money they pay her. Why would a budget strapped show like GL let ANYONE stay at home and be paid? That's ridiculous. I know many think Kim's a diva, but this is why GL is dying. Nobody wants to see Natalia and Ava, we want to see Kim Zimmer, Beth Ehlers, Jordan Clarke, Maureen Garrett, etc. in GOOD stories.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Wheeler and Kreizman or without them, this show is just not salvageable anymore. It's lost too much of its centre to ever be a fraction of how good it used to be. Sad to say, this is not the GL I used to know and love, its some cheap imitation product that doesn't hold a candle to the real thing. At this point, a change in the regime of the show won't be as noticeable as we'd like, the show is just too far gone and beyond repair.

[AddictedToSoaps]

I totally agree. The show has been destroyed and there is nothing much left to save.

[UKBoi]

I see potential. If they capitalise on family relationships (in the mould of the scenes with Vanessa, Bill and Dinah today) and make the show more about the core families and get rid of people who bring nothing to the show (Jeffrey, Ava, Remy, Natalia, Cyrus, Marina), it could work. Ideally, have Josh and Reva reunite and have their kids come back to Springfield and, along with Dinah and Bill, as well as the Spauldings, give the show a feel of something like Brothers and Sisters, it could be salvaged. I'm suggesting this only because it would be pointless to try and recapture the 'glory days' of GL, and the show is in a tricky position right now with this whole new production model, they're trying to recapture the glory days whilst trying to steer the show into a new direction, and you cant do both. I think GL is in A LOT better shape than ATWT is right now, but that's not saying much.

[EastMA2]

It doesn't make any sense why a cash strapped show would allow their highest paid actor to sit home. P&G has to pay her so why not drag Kim into the studio or on location in NJ, especially when, love her or hate her, Kim and Reva are the most popular names on GL.

I understand that for the last couple of years GL has only worked the actors to their guarantee so they didn't have to pay them extra, but to not even work their highest paid actor to meet their guarantee and yet they have to pay them anyway is assinine.

[R Sinclair]

Maybe... just MAYBE... there's something Zimmer is leaving out?

[DevotedToAMC]

Yep I agree....not everyone is that lucky. Even when my mom went on a business trip to NYC she still had to pay for us (my brothers, myself, their girlfriends and my fiancee at the time-she is now my wife).

Even when I worked at a grocery store, I got paid vacation (took a week off and got paid for that week)

[Cat]

Given how prevalent all things nostalgia are right now and How Better Things Were Back in The Day (Mad Men being my favorite show ever right now -- I am counting the days until the Season 1 DVD is released!), I think GL should go back to the past in every way in order to save itself. Dump the uber-realistic locations and mundane non-plots and Friends-like opening theme. Bring back the old-style opening with the "dated" music. Hell, bring back the disco opening!

Write it like it is a soap in the early to mid-80s. Write it as if it were the Dobsons or Douglas Marland writing GL again. Spookiness and swoony romance (remember Quint and Nola!) and wealthy, secretive families led by Alexaaaandraaaa Spaulding and catfights and conflicted Roger Thorpe-esque villains and forbidden love and extra-marital affairs and all that good stuff that made soaps, soaps.

All you need is a three-walled set and some stirring incidental music and exciting, exuberant characters and soapy, well-plotted story. YouTube is stuffed with awesome GL episodes from years past and, honestly, the show didn't need extravagant budgets or production processes, it just needed these basic ingredients.

LOL, OK. Wishful thinking.

[MarkH]

I have bolded many interesting turns of phrase here, in the hopes that a few of you can give insight.

Business manager - This is interesting, because it speaks to Zimmer's economic motivation for staying with the show and working as much as possible. That's fine...we all need that...but it plays into my suspicion that Zimmer has really NOT been giving her heart to her job for some time. I know she earned kudos with that breast cancer story (to a point...remember the controversy over not shaving her head...so she wasn't THAT committed). I think that Kim's lack of attention to her appearance (I don't have a problem with that...but it DOESN'T look like someone who cares about her job in television), her public irascibility...all say that this has been a "paycheck" to her for some time now. Because she no longer exudes passion, she may be less of an asset to the show.

this regime - WHAT a distancing turn of phrase! It is very "us versus them"...indeed, that is a theme that pervades the whole posting. So, now, put yourself in the mind of a showrunner. Would YOU be supportive of a cantankerous old timer who constantly undermined you? I think not. I'm not defending anyone...seriously...but I'm seeing evidence here that Ms. Zimmer may not be playing her cards right if she wants to remain employed.

to what was Guiding Light - oooooooooh...total *snap*. She is saying what many here and elsewhere have been saying: Guiding Light as it was is dead. She is not on-board with this new vision. Again, this relates to her distancing. She may be an obstacle to the vision for progress that Wheeler/Kreizman/CBS/P&G have signed on to. I AM NOT DEFENDING THAT VISION (far from it). But TPTB _do_ have the power. They can't keep an ornery force who opposes their vision so relentlessly in their midst, can they?

executive director -- Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. What is that? Wheeler is executive PRODUCER, right? But she does direct at least once a week. This is making me think that Kim is slapping Wheeler as not being a true creative/power force. In other words, Wheeler may be overseeing the *technical* aspects of the show, but that makes me think Kim is saying Wheeler really isn't exerting creative or fiscal control. That, I'm reading between the lines, might belong with some "suits". Speaking of which...

"suit" - Snap, slap and wow! She wants a new contract from these people???? I guess not. "Suit" was elevated, to my knowledge, to a new level of perjorative on Entourage (although it has been a bad word for a while :-) ). This doesn't seem like it is going to end well for Zimmer.

under worked actor - In what sense does she mean this? Underworked in the sense that they are paying her more than they are using her? (Of course...the reason might be clear. It reduces her 'footprint' on the show, and makes it easier for her to be eased off the canvas. ) With casting spoilers suggesting that an old face from Reva's past will be coming to Springfield, I wonder if the long-term end game for getting Reva off the show isn't being fashioned. Especially if Kim is being a bitter, destructive, not "on-message" force behind the scenes (I am not saying she is...I'm just wondering)... Or is this more ego-driven? "I am the history of this show. I am the multiple Emmy winner. I am the link to your most loyal viewers. OF COURSE I should be front and center". (By the way...I would AGREE with that sentiment!)

who the powers that be dislike more, Kim Zimmer or Reva Shayne - That cements it, eh? Is this finally "payback" for failing to take a pay cut the last time it was requested? I suspect so. I suspect the decision was made to keep her till the end...and then jettison her. Does anyone know if she got renewed after she refused the pay cut? Or is that cycle still coming up? P&G has shown there are no sacred cows (Scott Bryce, Cady McLain, Grayson McCouch, Martha Byrne)...so I suspect Kim's time is up soon, and what she is perceiving is the inevitability of that.

bread crumb - Wow...she doesn't have faith in being returned to a meaningful story, eh? But, truthfully, Kim NEVER liked being ANYTHING but front burner. I understand this, but it is a little unrealistic given most shows' treatment of the veteran actor...especially P&G. Kim and her ilk, apparently don't bring in the desired demo. (I know that this is misguided thinking).

Happy Anniversary - What anniversary was it? If it was a "round" one (20, 25, 15...whatever), and it wasn't celebrated....that IS another slap in the face.

I wonder how long Guiding Light will survive?