AMC: SMG AS KENDALL

[cct]

So harsh, Sylph; careful you don't break a nail. Why the venom?

[Cat]

SMG is one of those actresses where I don't care about the acting as such. She makes me want to know what's going to happen to her character. I was the same way with Tamara Braun, even though she couldn't match Sarah Brown for acting prowess.

[JONNYSBRO]

I actually disagree about Tamara Braun versus Sarah Brown. Brown was amazing as Carly most of her tenure but as Claudia I found her dull, boring, lifeless and just a big huge BLAH. Claudia was a stupid idea, instead GH should have brought Sarah back as Carly. I actually thought there were times Tamara matched or was even better then Sarah. My favorite Tamara moment as Carly was her last month on the show and her believing Michael was dead. OMFG Tamara killed me there, she was astounding, heartwrenching, amazing and just gave me chills. In fact I was so upset when Tams could not finish the storyline because when Michael was reunited with Carly it was the new Carly who was dreadful and it lost all emotional impact.

SMG IMO at 15 was a freaking spitfire, the girl had it in spades. She was much different then Minshew's Kendall. SMG Kendall was darker, more twisted, and much more evil. There is no wonder SMG has made a name for herself outside of soaps.

[Sylph]

I hope that remark didn't turn me into one of those haters who frequent this place. But seriously - Sarah Michelle is an actress? And the main reason why I was so "venomous" was that clip, in which she showed nothing. 

Co-sign. 

[cct]

I feel it was more of a great character than necessarily what SMG brought to it. SMGs Kendall was more dark and twisty. SMG is more of a "Hitchcock" actress, if you know what I mean.

[quartermainefan]

SMG (The Real Kendell) was the only Kendell worth watching. The creepiest scene I ever saw on a soap starred SMG as she delivered young Bianca to the child molesting Richard Fields at his divey motel room. It was very twisted just conceptually.

[R Sinclair]

Says the most disinterested party ever to watch AMC.

[R Sinclair]

Well, it was a little WHAT THE PHUCK IS GOING ON -- your comment, that is. As far as her being an actress? Yeah, that's what she was/is. She gets paid to act out a character. Now, if you want to debate on whether she was this fantabulous thespian of the most sophisticated of dramatic arts... then, yeah. I'll get on board and say I've seen much better talent than SMG. But this is about SMG's Kendall -- not SMG's acting abilities per se.

Also, as a 15 year old taking on such an adult role with absolutely no life experience to draw from... she did a pretty good job. Look at the complexities of the character: A young girl who grew up knowing she was adopted the same week her parents bought a family pet, only to find out her mother was celebrity who seemingly didn't want her because having a child would interfere with her career (mind you, this was Kendall's initial perception of why Erica gave her up), only to find out out that she was a child who was conceived via rape by a child molester... Not many 15 year old girls can tap into that. Sarah Gellar was very intelligent for her age and was extremely professional when it came to her craft. Behind the scenes is another story, but her work showed that she did her homework. She didn't just get on stage and think "Oh, I'm cute so I can just ride on that." I stand strong in believing that. I think Gellar took Kendall seriously.

[SFK]

Say what you want about SMG, but she had us talking. Me and my family and friends at least, but I'm sure a great deal of others too. We talked about her Kendall the way I imagine folks talked about Erica back in the day. She was annoying as hell at times, scheming, sniveling, rotten, but totally entertaining and absolutely fun to watch. And that's a gift that Sarah had, I mean look at Crystal Hunt as Lizzie on GL for example. Know what I mean? This may sound a little cruel, but we got a kick out of how downright pathetic Kendall was when one of her schemes backfired. She was so very earnest, you just had to laugh when her house of cards came tumbling down. "That's what you get!" is something we said a lot about Kendall. She was always tucked around a corner eavesdropping, and I remember her getting hit in the gut/bursting into tears when she heard Erica say something about her and Bianca, something that Kendall shouldn't have heard.

But if there's shade between Susan Lucci and another actor, I am most likely to side with Susan whose rep is damn-near flawless. In hindsight, SMG strikes me as one of those precocious, eccentric, annoying child actors in New York. They are a definite type. The "witty" old soul in a small package thing can get old all on its own, but when you mix that with a young actor who's tied in a major way to the show's (the industry's) main character and who's getting great praise in the soap press, I can see how there may have been friction on set. It's not hard for me to imagine SMG feeling her oats and saying something sideways to Miss Lucci. Can't you just see Susan's face: "No this little b!%$h did NOT just say that I need to give her more in this scene..."

But she was definitley one of the best child actors daytime has ever seen, and her annoying qualities translated well from actor to character. Gosh, I'm seeing her wicked wet puppy dog face in my mind as I type this.

There were rumblings that SMG decided to leave after she won the Emmy and that her winning put a greater strain on her relationship with Susan, but the former is not true, she'd already decided to leave, and the latter is just predictable tabloid fodder.

SMG: "Susan and I were not best friends, and we're never going to be... Basically, the best I can say is that we worked together - on top of each other - for so long that problems were inevitable."

[EricMontreal22]

Sylph did you watch AMC back then? Acting quality or not she definetly brought something to her role and show that got people talking (of course AMC was still the number 2 soap and very much a talking point back then). I think she's shown she *can* act (Buffy proved it too), albeit she's hardly diverse, but she seems to have no interest in it anymore.

Oh you

[Cat]

Is she Helen Mirren in terms of craft and technique? Um, no. But she has a quality about her that meant I couldn't tear my eyes away from her when she was onscreen (same with Tamara Braun who IMO has the X factor). Her Kendall matched Erica toe-to-divaish toe. SMG also wasn't afraid to make her character unlikeable. However, the response to news of Kendall's return really underscored how popular she had made the character. A lot of people I knew were talking about it, and whether Kendall could, in fact, be recasted.

[SFK]

And another thing to keep in perspective is that before Minshew came on, AMC had moved Greenlee into the young bitchy role. NuKendall seemed watered down from jump street, which did make sense given her exit a few years earlier. That old Kendall wouldn't really work anyways, she'd learned her lessons and come to grips with her past. You can't play a bitter character forever, how incredibly boring. This is how she was different from Erica. Erica was always trying to "be somebody", to show out, impress, and get that absent love of a father. Kendall did try to prove as a daughter just as worthy as Biance, but Kendall was more hell bent on revenge for Erica giving her up. Once she saw why, sure it still hurt, but she got the point and began to grow up.

Yeah, everyone was saying how "this Kendall" looked like Erica. SMG looked more like Victoria Wyndham.

Long before we even knew what an Alicia Minshew was, I always thought that Wendy Moniz would have made a great Kendall recast. I think she has the best qualities of SMG and AM.

[quartermainefan]

Now that I know what a Minshew is, is Wendy still available?

[cct]

I'm not sure I can wholeheartedly agree with your assessment here. Kendall hadn't necessarily learned her lesson before SMG vacated the role. She had been declawed just slightly when she left town with Del, but she was still hell-bent when she came back as AM. REmember AM entered with the storyline of Erica on trial for Frankie's murder and Kendall came to town to testify against her. Kendall only "learned her lessons" and mellowed out approximately a year after Minshew's entrance, the night of the storm when Bianca was raped. Kendall assisted Erica through the storm (it was storming when she was raped and impregnated with Kendall) and the two started to work their way closer at that point.

I have no idea who Moniz is. Pic or link?

[All My Shadows]

AM's Kendall took a major nosedive right when Kendall and Erica called a truce and declared their lurve for each other.