New Kim Zimmer interview!

[Vee]

I have given Kim Zimmer a lot of [!@#$%^&*] over the years, but this makes me love her. I've been much more fond of her and Reva since the show gave up on selling her as an exotic, holy glamourpuss and acknowledged that she was a) old, promiscuous and c) overweight, and yet still fierce. If GL was in their right minds, they could really sell her as our iteration of a British soap matriarch; when they are being honest about Reva/KZ she closely resembles one of those working-class heroines IMHO.

[Greg's GL]

THANK YOU so much for posting this, Y&RWorldTurner. One can hardly compare the writing of JLH to Nancy Curlee & Co! This show NEEDS (IMHO) KZ to stay on-board. She has ties to everyone in Springfield and children by half of the men in town . But I digress. Although according to some, "Otalia" and Phillip are the center of the show these days, she has been involved with both the Spauldings and the Spencers. So GMAMFB.

Vee! I'm so fuckin happy that at least one of the actresses on the show are calling them out for their inane set choices. IMHO, KZ is 100% right. If TPTB are going to have a birthing SL, at least make it [!@#$%^&*] believeable for crying out loud!

[DRW50]

Nancy Curlee was scapegoated by JFP for decisions that JFP made (like Maureen's death) and left in late 1993. If I could compare JLH to the writing of the post-Nancy JFP era (Tangie, the mindnumbingly boring Nick/Alex/Mindy go-round, "evil" Julie taking poor poor Lucy's beauty crown title, Alan's awful return, Buzz yelling on the roof...), I don't think she's too bad.

One of the reasons Zimmer was brought back in early 1995 was because of what a mess the show had become by then, to the point where they were almost canceled. If I watched that time again I'd possibly prefer it to now, because of the quality of some of the cast, but I thought 1994-early 1995 was a very bad time for GL.

As for Nuke, I do think they deserve some credit for ATWT's ratings in 2007, but that's probably been rehashed a dozen times by other people on both sides who have better comments than I would have.

[Gray Bunny]

Well, she was also on Santa Barbara during her 5 years away from *GL*, not daytime.

[Gray Bunny]

Actually it's Ken Corday that screwed Deidre/Drake.

[Dan]

Call me crazy but GL has chopped off enough of its soul already. It started to get a little better with Grant's return, which allowed me to try to get into the show again. But getting rid of Reva is a big step backward. Sure Kim can be a blowhard and chew the scenary, but she is one of the last vestiges of "old" GL. She is also a linchpin character that has a relationship (romance or otherwise) with everyone on the canvas. As for these 6-8 "newbies." Do we really want them? I mean, I can barely get emotionally connected to a few of the characters they already have. Why would I want to watch a bunch of strangers? If I wanted to do that, I'd watch ATWT.

As others have said, she has taken a pay cut and she was completely in the right to refuse back in 2005, considering the fact that she was midway through a new contract. Quite frankly, I doubt that her refusal had any effect on the firing of the others. They probably were on the cut list anyway.

As Alvin said, they also had a wonderful ensemble cast of characters with a bunch of veterans in a variety of age groups left. Not to mention a brilliant headwriter that wrote stories that used this cast to perfection. Neither of which they have today. There is STILL alot of improving that GL MUST do. Sure Otalia and Phillip are the "focus" of the show right now, but a great majority of the rest sucks ass. And it must be done fairly quickly because time is running out.

Yeah Ken Corday screwed over the show with his completely inept management style and his haphazard fiscal discipline (or lack thereof).

I have to say I disagree with this for the first time in awhile because I do see improvement. It isn't much, but it seems like the writers are *finally* beginning to tackle the bad on this show. The kidnapping arch is over and Grady is dead. Phillip is back and sane. They are trying to recast

, which will hopefully begin to reclaim the Bauers. On the production front, there is some improvement. The music is still horrible, but better writing can try to mask some of the production flaws if they can refocus the show. Their priorities are still out of whack. I would so LOVE to see a great reunion storyline for Vanessa and Billy, much more than some tru wuv adoption story for Mallet and Marina. This production style seems to accentuate the details, so they need to give us the details of the story beats. A 50-second Billy/Mindy reunion is NOT ENOUGH. There still seemed to be some things that were cut from the reunion. Why couldn't it have gone on further and into more detail. I'd rather have seen that than Buzz skulking around town looking like some hobo with an axe to grind.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

I'm torn on this myself.

On the one hand, Reva was insanely overused and overexposed for so long and involved in so many of GL's most infamous and damaging stories. She has recently been so marginalized and cut-off from the rest of the canvas that I don't think I'd be all that upset to lose her. It would be unfortunate, especially without a Josh & Reva reunion but I don't think it would be the catastrophe some think or the fallout anywhere near as bad as it would've been two or three years ago. Plus, there would be more cash available for other things.

On the other hand, I certainly wouldn't want that money wasted on 6-8 newbies that nobody cares about and would probably suck anyway, nor do I want to see anymore core families fall apart and the Lewises just might without Reva on-board forcing the writers to work Josh, Billy, and Shayne into things now and again. And while having Phillip back is great and Olivia & Natalia is still a good story, those two things alone can't make a great show overall. There need to be other stories/characters/families that are working and if the Lewises fall apart, I'm not sure what else would pick up the slack.

[JackPeyton]

"So get ready ‘cause it’s all right there, baby. This birth will be in your face!”

omfg.

best. quote. EVER.

[SteveFrame]

I always find it funny that people still blame Kim Zimmer for getting people fired.

Have people not learned anything from P&G over the years. P&G and NBC both told so many lies that last year that AW was on the air. I have no doubt in my mind that no matter what happened with AW it would have been gone. Both P&G and NBC were done and had made the decision already and would have justified it no matter what.

What works good for P&G with people blaming Kim is that they don't get the blame and that is what they like. P&G would have fired those folks no matter what Kim did. If Kim took the pay cut that would have just meant more money for them. With Kim not taking the pay cut it worked out for them because then it could be insinuated that it was her fault those people lost their jobs.

I agree with so many Reva is one of the last characters on the show that has long ties to the past and present both. She is worth more than 20 newbies with no ties to the show.

And I will take her any day over Otalia. I am glad that GL has them and they are getting some buzz, but I have no doubt in my mind that with P&G involved that it will not turn into a drawn out mess like Nuke has become. P&G is just too scared to let a gay couple have a fulfilling sex life and relationship and I just have no confidence that they will ever allow it to happen with Otalia just like they haven't with Nuke.

[jfung79]

P&G was not done with AW, they fought for it to the end. Even Victoria Wyndham thinks P&G was fighting for AW, and she was never one to cut any execs any slack. Also, P&G is not "conservative P&G" anymore, if that was ever true. If they don't go all the way with Otalia or Nuke -- and I don't agree that that's necessarily the case -- it is still more than any other soap has ever done, certainly for gay men with Nuke having sex and planning to move in together, and establishing more of the groundwork and development of the relationship for Otalia than AMC has apparently done with Bianca's relationships (not to mention showing a different, older perspective from the usual "youth coming out" story). I give them tons of credit (but I bet you would expect that given my post history and the "P&G Soaps Forever" tag, lol).

As for whether it would be Zimmer or the show making to decision to not renew, you mean to say if Zimmer decided to take a huge paycut, the show wouldn't want her? I'm sure the show will at least offer her something, even if it's a lowball they don't expect her to take. Personally, I think both sides want her to stay, but both sides are also not sure there is the money to do it. That's why I don't think there will be acrimony.

[Vee]

I completely agree that many of Reva's overexposed frontburner sexpot goddess storylines destroyed GL in the 90s, and that she was one of the worst things about it at that time; I also agree the show was better without her in the early '90s, and of very few things I agree with her on, I applauded JFP's choice not to bring Zimmer back on contract at that time. For years I hated Reva with a passion, so much so that her early, classic SLs in the 80s seemed a distant memory.

That said, I truly appreciate Zimmer and Reva now for the unique character they have allowed Reva to evolve (or devolve) into; she's old, fat and loves sex. She's very often an embarrassing wife and mother, and despite marrying into wealth she has never shed her down home roots. She is also a survivor and makes no apologies for herself. There is no other character on American daytime like that which is treated so candidly and with such raw, unvarnished honesty, and most of that is due to Zimmer. That is a magnetic presence which I think needs to be cherished, lest we go back to the Jills and Stephanies and Vikis and Ericas forever. (I love those characters, especially Viki, but Reva is unique.) This is not to say I like Reva's pairing with Jeffrey, but I think the British soaps (and our own American love for vets) prove that a randy, raw-boned old bird like Reva can be a force to be reckoned with story-wise.

Reva's role needs to be understood and given its specific position on the canvas, not removed. You can revitalize the Bauers and Spauldings (at least, you could but I doubt Wheeler will do it right) and other needed families without dumping Reva. IMHO, her appeal is now both something old and timeless to viewers as well as something new to US soaps and totally different.

[jfung79]

Hear hear, Vee, well said! I agree that she does seem a lot like the Peggy Mitchells, Pat Butchers, and Pauline Fowlers.

[Vee]

Kim and Pam St. Clement will be having a knifefight in the Peapack landfill on today's show.

[DRW50]

I'm not sure why it's even an either/or, or why Kim brought them up in the interview. Otalia only take up a few days of airtime a week, and with JL going on maternity leave soon, the story will probably decrease during her absence. If there's a story which has taken up some of the airtime Reva once had, it would probably be the Bizzie stories, or all the Cooper family stuff. I agree that they can't replace Reva with Otalia, and I don't think most of their fans would want that to happen, as Olivia and Reva have a very entertaining relationship. It's not like when the Jonathan Show replaced what Phillip used to represent on the canvas; Olivia has lengthy ties to Reva and the people in Reva's life.

I agree that Reva has plenty in common with the matriarchs on Eastenders. In Pat's case, she hasn't been a leading character in many years. When she does show up, she's usually just involved with the lives of her enemies, or her loved ones. Peggy has more to do, but even then most of her stories are more about other people. I'm not sure if Kim will ever want Reva to make that transition.

[Vee]

I'm not saying Reva should be as utterly peripheral as, say, Pat is now, but I remember when both those characters drove stories and frankly it wasn't that long ago (I'm thinking of Peggy's breast cancer and the ensuing affairs, to start with) and they were far from English Roses. And you can name people on Emmerdale or Coronation St. too, similarly rough old men or women, with major audience investment in their unique personas, and story under their belts despite age. That's a model to follow, and Reva has broken it open for us here in America. What's more, Zim for all her rawness is still not as old-skewing as Pat or Peggy.