Y&R: Jill To Be Temporarily Recast

[Sylph]

No offense taken. She is just not vicious enough — for me — for this role. She is too... Polished, nurtured... It needs someone savage, raw, aggressive.

I didn't, however, understand this:

Could you re-phrase?

[rangethatrover]

I am not down with casting this role with some former supposed daytime "legend" who has not had a contract role in a decade.

The character of Jill deserves better. Jill is ballsy, emotional, a business woman, and alot of people forget, Jill does enjoy sex.

I would sooner see the amazingly hot and sexy Lauren Koslow tackle this role.

A few of the aformentioned actresses mention lack the sexual aspect of Jill. And are seriously not charismatic enough.

[rangethatrover]

Actually Sylph, savage, raw, and aggressive are three words i completely agree with regarding Jill

And if Paul Rauch thinks that Wyndham fits THAT bill- this is going to be a disaster.

Frankly, I think Anna Stuart is inspired, but does she have those qualities?? Maybe she could pull off those qualities and knock it out of the park.

[SFK]

But c'mon guys, REALLY, when you look at Anna Stuart do you see Jill Abbott?

Remember Sela Ward in Hello Again? Sela's not an OTT screaming b!tch, she's more like Angelica Houston's Morticia Adams or something, she's quiet, cool, calculating. I haven't seen much of Adair, but I'm guessing Sela's Jill would be more like that. Did anyone ever see Sela in Emerald Point NAS? Speaking of that show, what about Bond girls Jill St. John and Maud Adams?

[SteveFrame]

Wow I am totally shocked by that statement "B List daytime".

No wonder the powers that be in daytime have no respect for the it's veterans and legends. They take the cue evidently from the fans.

Victoria Wyndham, Anna Stuart, Linda Dano and some of the others mentioned are daytime legends. They are not B list stars in the world of daytime. Comparing them to the movie world they are the Elizabeth Taylors, Debbie Reynolds, etc. of the daytime world. And to me they should be treated with respect.

They have more years in daytime than Jess Walton has. And are bigger stars than Jess Walton has been. And I love Jess Walton don't get me wrong but in regards to daytime Wyndham and others are equal or better.

I don't think they deserve to be called B list at all.

Anna Stuart has almost 37 years in daytime. Wyndham goes back to the 50's.

Still I am not saying that that either of them should be Jill, but I would a whole lot rather for these ones who gave their lives to soaps get a chance at a role than some former primetime actress who hasn't done anything for daytime and is only doing it for the money.

I agree that Jill is an iconic character but part of that too is that she has never been played by a big name. All the actresses who have played her have been unknowns for the most part when they came on. They have been more character actresses than stars. To put someone with a big name in it does more damage to the role than hiring someone like Wyndham, Jones, etc. who's name is not going to overshadow the role.

I am hoping that Y&R will continue to be a class act and try to hire the right actress and not go with stunt casting. And that is what most of the casting that has been done in the last few years by many soaps has been - stunt casting. If shows like Days of Our Lives had put money into writing rather than paying big bucks for Shirley Jones for a few days they may not be hurting as bad financially as they are these days. The little bit of publicity they got out of that didn't help at all. There are many good actresses (daytime actresses) in that age range out of work that would have loved to done the job and done it just as well.

[SteveFrame]

I have said over and over I don't see Jill when I look at Anna Stuart. But I don't when I look at Sela Ward either.

Now Swoosie Kurtz who played Sela's sister on Sisters I might could, but not even sure about that.

I don't see a lot of the actresses that have been mentioned as long term Jill's but short term I think any of them will work fine. I just don't want them to go the route of stunt casting for the temp role because the name is going to overshadow the story. And depending on how long that this actress has to stay around they need somebody that is going to be overshadowed by the writing and not overshadow the writing.

I think the best route to go is to go with Deborah Adair since viewers are familiar with her - esp. if it is short term. Even though I think the Jill of today is a lot different than her Jill. But I think Adair could make it work.

[Faulkner]

OK...work with me here:

How about...Katey Sagal (ex-Peg Bundy, Married with Children). She's an extremely underrated actress and even kind of looks like Jess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD4JlqL7Qfw...feature=related

[rangethatrover]

Faulkner, that is brilliant.

Steve Frame- my post was mean spirited, so you are right, and i apologize.

I guess my longterm dislike of one of the rumored possible replacements had me speaking before thinking.

And judging by your name, I don't blame you for being offended, as it was plain mean.

And all of these actresses deserve respect. Especially Jess right now.

I am not participating in this thread anymore but will enjoy reading these mostly cool ideas.

[SFK]

Interesting. I think people like the idea of a Jill who's equal parts Dickson's bodacious camp sex goddess and Walton's tough diva with bite. I think Katey could do that. I'm not saying that she's the one, but I think she's more in the better direction than Stuart, Wyndham, et cetera. The more I think about it, the more I dislike all of the usual suspects we've been discussing.

[CSF]

I'm with you on that one. I can see Katey Sagal in the role because of her looks. And she would be brining aspects of both Walton and Dickson to the part.

To me, Anna Stuart always came off as way too polished and I don't see that for Jill. Jill shed her roots as a Foster and became Jill Abbott, stylish and sexy. I don't see that in Anna. I see Anna playing a character who was born into wealth and lived the life of an heiress, in understated elegance. That's not Jill. (I'd like to add that I never saw Anna on AW or ATWT, I'm only going by how I saw her play Mary Smythe on AMC.)

I don't know if I can see Victoria Wyndham in the role either, but at the same time, I feel like she could play Jill more than Stuart.

But I'm totally hooked on this Katey idea now.

[Graciecat]

Ooh, Sagal is an excellent idea. I think she could pull it off best of anyone I've seen listed.

Of the likely bets, though, I veer towards Anna Stuart. I really think she could adopt Jill's qualities. I just don't want to see Wyndham in the role. She's daytime royalty to be sure, but I've just never really "gotten" her.

[SteveFrame]

I wasn't offended because of my name. That is my real name - it has nothing to do with Another World. I was born Steve Frame in the 60's several years before the Frame family graced Another World.

I do admit I love Another World and I love those actresses, but it was not just about them but all of the former daytime actresses who have given themselves to help establish this genre and then get no respect.

As I have said before daytime is the only genre that seems to forget it's legends. The Daytime Emmys are the only awards show that doesn't even do a memorial montage to the ones who died that year on its show.

I just think all of them deserve more respect than that.

When Mary Stuart who was a legend in the daytime world died a few years back there wasn't even a mention of it at the Daytime Emmys that year. That was sad. She gave 50 plus years to the genre and was clearly one of it's first stars and she was totally neglected.

Oh I like the idea of Sagal too, but is she still tied to the FX series she was on.

[DRW50]

I'm not sure what Wyndham looks like now, but I can see her as Jill, at least as a temporary recast. She started her soap career as the highly manipulative and wicked Tracy Delmar on GL, scourge of the Bauer family in the late 60s and early 70s. When she took over as Rachel, Rachel was still nasty and loving every minute of it.

Even years later, when Rachel was with Mac and had grown children, you could still see that street come out when she was in her lioness mode, when one of her kids was hurt (like when Liz told Matthew about the circumstances of his birth). Her one-on-one scenes with other women she didn't like were the primary outlets for Rachel's nastier side.

It wasn't until Carl that she became the more tranquilized Rachel. Even then that was more the show's choice than her own style. I loved that Michael Logan interview for her 25th anniversary as Rachel where she immediately put him on the defensive for the comments he'd made about her performance as Justine.

[Faulkner]

Damn, you're right. She's still on that Sons of Anarchy show with Charlie Hunman.

[Actor87]

I second that!