In many ways MM is more skillful than CE, but I don't for a second believe that MM is more suited to Adam than CE is as the role is currently being written. CE reminds me a lot of Melody Thomas Scott. She may not the world's great actor but you root for her. That ability to make one instantly empathize with you is what sets apart leading actors from supporting actors. Whatever his limitations may be, CE is a leading man. That's why we're actively rooting for his Adam no matter how sick the character becomes. MM doesn't have that quality of instant empathy but he does have a great range and he will act rings around many of his co-stars. He will dazzle, no doubt. But I think his Adam will be more like Sheila Carter & David Kimble. We will marvel at it & enjoy it but we won't be rooting for the black-hearted devil the way we are right now. That's why I really hope TPTB are smart enough to give MM's Adam some humanity to play, pref. through a genuine love story with Rafe.

Is MM going to channel the Sheriff Lamb character(VERONICA MARS) for Adam?

I'm so intrigued to see how he handles taking over from Chris Engen.

Thank you, very nice.

Can we please see some of that on Y&R?

In many ways MM is more skillful than CE, but I don't for a second believe that MM is more suited to Adam than CE is as the role is currently being written. CE reminds me a lot of Melody Thomas Scott. She may not the world's great actor but you root for her. That ability to make one instantly empathize with you is what sets apart leading actors from supporting actors. Whatever his limitations may be, CE is a leading man. That's why we're actively rooting for his Adam no matter how sick the character becomes. MM doesn't have that quality of instant empathy but he does have a great range and he will act rings around many of his co-stars. He will dazzle, no doubt. But I think his Adam will be more like Sheila Carter & David Kimble. We will marvel at it & enjoy it but we won't be rooting for the black-hearted devil the way we are right now. That's why I really hope TPTB are smart enough to give MM's Adam some humanity to play, pref. through a genuine love story with Rafe.

ICAM, this is why I really liked CE in the role. I've said this before, I hope MM and the writers can infuse some vulnerability into the character. From watching some of MM's clips, I'm not sure if this quality will come as naturally as it has with CE.

But I am really excited to see what he can bring to the role.

Edited May 29, 200916 yr by TheDSA

In many ways MM is more skillful than CE, but I don't for a second believe that MM is more suited to Adam than CE is as the role is currently being written. CE reminds me a lot of Melody Thomas Scott. She may not the world's great actor but you root for her. That ability to make one instantly empathize with you is what sets apart leading actors from supporting actors. Whatever his limitations may be, CE is a leading man. That's why we're actively rooting for his Adam no matter how sick the character becomes. MM doesn't have that quality of instant empathy but he does have a great range and he will act rings around many of his co-stars. He will dazzle, no doubt. But I think his Adam will be more like Sheila Carter & David Kimble. We will marvel at it & enjoy it but we won't be rooting for the black-hearted devil the way we are right now. That's why I really hope TPTB are smart enough to give MM's Adam some humanity to play, pref. through a genuine love story with Rafe.

Great post. That is exactly why I like/rooted for CE's Adam. And though I am not familiar with MM's work, I fully expect him to push the envelope.

Both will be interesting to watch and compare. I am sorry about the way things got fucked up with CE and Y&R, though. His portrayal of Adam-- this whole gaslighting story, indeed -- had me riveted. And, more than that, hoping for the character's eventual, well-earned redemption down the road. The quality you highlighted in your post.

the ebst way i can sum up MM on Veronica Mars is... Intense? Yeah. I think thats the perfect word for him. Don Lamb was intense tho, so MM played what needed to played. There was also a pretty strong Veronica/Lamb fanbase fromw aht i remember, but really, there is a strong kristen bell/any actor or actress she is in a scene with fanbase, lol. But when Veronica & lamb would bicker it was fantastic, from both ends.

But that was one role, and a pretty narrow character role at that. Im excited to see what he can bring to adam. I do agree tho, his man look to CE's American Pie frat boy look is jarring.

He certainly is cut. That said, CE's furry chest had a certain appeal.

OK, just me, then.

Edited May 29, 200916 yr by Cat

He certainly is cut. That said, CE's furry chest had a certain appeal.

OK, just me, then.

It ain't just you, Cat.

I'm not calling anyone else here a homphobe. I am calling Chris Engen a homophobe. When you're willing to ruin your livelihood and your family's over having to play mild gay content with another actor, that is not about "artistic integrity," especially not after all the other crazy or if you prefer, stupid [!@#$%^&*] Adam has done. That's homophobia. I don't really give a [!@#$%^&*] if people think that is reactionary or unfair, because it's not. It's a logical conclusion to come to, and people don't want to face it because they'd rather talk about gay militias or Perez Hilton's fat face or the writing on Y&R or uppity minorities targeting another poor straight person who just came into work as a professional actor and shouldn't have been expected to, you know, act.

None of that really matters. If you want to call me a radical for stating the obvious, logical conclusion, that's fine. He was homophobic, and it cost him his job. This may be difficult for some of you to grasp, but I happen to think gay people can walk and chew gum at the same goddamn time. We can focus on larger, important social problems while also calling bullshit on offensive, homophobic media incidents such as this. We have in the past to positive results. Calling Chris Engen what he is does not put me in the Perez Hilton camp of some false equivalence you seem so desperate to draw between warring camps of "Perez Hilton" or "Harvey Milk." I'd rather we follow Milk's example, but Milk also knew how to use media and draw attention to media issues in order to improve GLBT relations (unlike Perez Hilton). If something like this came up in California back then, I'm sure he'd have had something witty to say about it. But it seems that today, he'd get finger-wagged by this board for daring to comment in what I'm sure would be called "a stereotypically gay and negative way." The best way to deal with these problems today, apparently, is for us to continue holding $500-a-plate charity galas honoring crap like Bianca and Reese or Grey's Anatomy where nothing gets accomplished, then sitting on our hands while other homophobia slips through the cracks because we don't want to look like those kind of homosexuals.

Bravo. I love this post so much.

And MAB didn't say he did either. Even her statements on this to Nelson were ambiguous. That's the problem with every source we don't know exactly what happened. It all boils down to we don't know.

ANd see there it goes again you have to draw conclusions. It was just stated. You either have to read between the lines to make your judgement or you have to draw conclusions.

Those are the same things that the right wing fanatics have used for years to condemn everything from dirty magazines to music to you name it. They say they don't have to know for sure.

SO go right ahead whoever wants too and draw your conclusions. Read between the lines. Whatever you need to do. As long as you feel comfortable with it and can lay your head on your pillow at night that is fine.

But I won't. I refuse too. If I choose to pass judgement on a person (which I usually choose not too) I will at least do it when I don't have to draw conclusions or read between the lines. Becuase you know what many times when you draw conclusions those conclusions are WRONG.

I'm sorry but it was said right there in black & white all over the internet and the issue wasn't even addressed in statements made by both MAB & CE. The writing is on the freaking wall. As I've posted before, if the gay angle weren't a major issue in his leaving, why wouldn't either party come out & publicly deny it? I know ignorance is bliss but I refuse to turn off my brain and turn a blind eye to what is so clearly happening in this story.

The problem with judging CE is that the kiss is on top of torturing Ashley and causing her to lose her baby. Engen may have been more than willing to play Noah Mayer. We don't know. I have NO IDEA what's in CE's heart but we have talked about his Catholic background, and even if he's a super evolved liberal hippie lapsed Catholic, you don't just wipe out of your mind the Church's obsession with unborn life. Adam is talking joy out of killing Ashley's "baby". If CE is already unhappy with Adam's turn and feeling that the character crossed a line into being downright disgusting, he wasn't going to be inclined or receptive to the Rafe story and may have felt it was just for shock value. If Adam were a good guy and slowly realizing that he was gay and then fell for Rafe in a romantic way and CE objected to that, we could safely cast judgment. But people are trying to divorce the kiss from the entire storyline and make it a standalone reason for CE quitting. I don't think it's that black & white.

Ok, but I was just watching and I, with my own eyes, saw Chris Engen playing his character's glee in the possibility of Ashley losing her baby. Am I going to see CE's Adam make out with Rafe also?

Excellent point. If the kiss was the straw that broke the camel's back...is that meaningful, or could it also have been a slap, a grimace that -- in all this darkness -- drove Engen to quit. We'll never know.

We know it wasn't needles in his eyes, that's for sure.

He certainly is cut. That said, CE's furry chest had a certain appeal.

OK, just me, then.

I never found Chris Engen very appealing in any way until very recently. He had begun to win me over as Adam and I've even noted his physical attractiveness at times, though he doesn't do much for me usually. But in all honesty, I'm not overly disappointed that the role has been recast. I really haven't had enough time enjoying him to form any kind of attachment. I'm interested to see where this recast takes us.

Oh, and yes, for the record, I think CE's behavior is deplorable and certainly wasn't impressed with the arrogant, rambling non-statement that he made on myspace. A sour taste is definitely left in my mouth from this one.

Edited May 29, 200916 yr by juniorz1

the ebst way i can sum up MM on Veronica Mars is... Intense? Yeah. I think thats the perfect word for him. Don Lamb was intense tho, so MM played what needed to played. There was also a pretty strong Veronica/Lamb fanbase fromw aht i remember, but really, there is a strong kristen bell/any actor or actress she is in a scene with fanbase, lol. But when Veronica & lamb would bicker it was fantastic, from both ends.

But that was one role, and a pretty narrow character role at that. Im excited to see what he can bring to adam. I do agree tho, his man look to CE's American Pie frat boy look is jarring.

Your avatar looks like Starr Manning. LOL.

It ain't just you, Cat.

No, it ain't just you, and I have the photos to prove it

Your avatar looks like Starr Manning. LOL.

That's how excited she was to loose her virginity. lol

He certainly is cut. That said, CE's furry chest had a certain appeal.

OK, just me, then.

Nope, not just you at all.

Engen didn't want to stay. He didn't want to play the story. He would only have stayed if they changed the story, and TPTB rightfully didn't want to do that.

MarkH, I don't know if I agree. They wrote the story with him in mind. Assuming he quit because of the Kiss (though we don't know), they should have postponed the kiss/Rafe story [surely Adam could have manipulated him without sex], wrapped up the Gaslight story, sent Adam off for a month, and then brought in a new actor to play Adam for the Rafe story [maybe with Rafe as the defense lawyer for the crimes against Ashley]. Recasting in the middle of the gaslight story is more disruptive than postponing a romantic story. The whole reason why Rafe/Adam were going to hot & interesting in the first place was because of the chemistry between CE & YG. I seriously doubt that MM & YG are going to read as hot, especially when MM looks so much older than YG.

I think that they'll be hot, because BOTH actors are ready and willing to act out what's given to them as performers.

MarkH, I don't know if I agree. They wrote the story with him in mind. Assuming he quit because of the Kiss (though we don't know), they should have postponed the kiss/Rafe story [surely Adam could have manipulated him without sex], wrapped up the Gaslight story, sent Adam off for a month, and then brought in a new actor to play Adam for the Rafe story [maybe with Rafe as the defense lawyer for the crimes against Ashley]. Recasting in the middle of the gaslight story is more disruptive than postponing a romantic story. The whole reason why Rafe/Adam were going to hot & interesting in the first place was because of the chemistry between CE & YG. I seriously doubt that MM & YG are going to read as hot, especially when MM looks so much older than YG.

I hope you're right! I'll guess we'll find out soon enough.