I came across this interview Kim did to promote her book and LOL, she acknowledges that she misspelled people's last names, but she also got her own son Max's birthday wrong 😂 She's a mess. She also begs the interviewer for a kiss at the beginning, which is odd.  She talks about the Slut of Springfield scene here too and why she didn't want to use that for her Emmy reel. She talks about the hair, her dark horse status, etc.  She also talks about her drinking "I would have a glass of wine or two at lunch just to stop myself from chewing someone's head off" She's just an open book. 😂 She said she learned she was not an alcoholic when she had to go to AA meetings after her DUI. 

 

Edited June 23Jun 23 by alwaysAMC

Kim is great and real. Met her so many times and she is herself. She laughs so much. Love me some Kim Zimmer. 

2 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

She also begs the interviewer for a kiss at the beginning, which is odd.

The WLS guys were very close to the stars in those days. It's not a typical press junket.

This talk of paycuts-starting with execs-seems the very reason Ellen was plucked out of nowhere to become EP. She was obviously a lot cheaper than someone with at least one EP credit behind them.

What was Ellen's trajectory?

When  did she first start directing and for how long? Did she have any other experience eg some sort of producer capacity before she took on EP?

3 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

This talk of paycuts-starting with execs-seems the very reason Ellen was plucked out of nowhere to become EP. She was obviously a lot cheaper than someone with at least one EP credit behind them.

What was Ellen's trajectory?

When  did she first start directing and for how long? Did she have any other experience eg some sort of producer capacity before she took on EP?

She comes from a theatre background & from a young age had knowledge & awareness of various BTS jobs. At some point she got formal training as a director & then began to direct for soaps. Also then she was hired to work as a Line Producer which she did for a fair amount of time. Both Directing & Line Producing were two things she was doing, in soaps, when we largely didn't hear about her any more as an actress.

P&G had two people shadow Chris Goutman to learn how to be an EP. One was Ellen. The other was Scott McKinsey, director & Beverlee's son. After a considerable period of time they chose - Ellen.

Paul, specifically to your point about P&G & whether they were willing to spend money on an experienced EP for GL during the period of time in question. What your thinking is dead-on. They were cheapskates but then they were about almost everything concerning GL at that time. They wouldn't even provide product for the experiment Ellen did with the little store & P&G products for sale. 

 

Edit to Add:

Standard disclaimer that we know both of these sources can get things wrong. 

From IMDb

Dir, ATWT 1999-2010 55 epis

Dir, GL 2005-2009 35 epis

P & EP, GL 2003-2009 315 epis

P, Delta Fever (may have been director too or instead) 1987

Not Shown but I'm positive that while Conboy was at GL she was at ATWT as a Line Producer & also Directed.

Wikipedia described her first directing at AW near the end, then 2 seasons directing at ATWT & also lists working as an Assoc. Producer at GL which sounds like it was just pre shadowing Goutman & being hired as EP. 

And, here is KZ winning Best Actress in 2006, which our rewatch Queen & often instigator mentioned. Wheeler is shown cheering in the audience & KZ thanks Wheeler by name but also Barbara Bloom & other honchos. 

 

 

Edited June 23Jun 23 by Contessa Donatella

12 hours ago, Melroser said:

I have a feeling P&G is only "testing" this method again to advertise for Tide and Febreze (which are nauseatingly present in eps). If it fails to improve sales of these products specifically, I think P&G will be out sooner than later. 

This makes sense. It's a positive sign that they see soaps as an avenue again. I just hope that continues and BtG stays on for some time or we even get another soap. 

I think P&G still cared about content with GL up to the late '90s but seemed to give up after that.

12 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

Haha this is how I feel. My grandma would FF her soaps when she wasn't interested. Granted, she was watching 3 shows a day, so I get it. But for me, I hate missing anything even if I'm not thoroughly enjoying some of it.

I think of us as a secret society. The only thing we have in common is this kind of maybe obsessive feeling we have about seeing every single moment of these shows, ya know, LOL! We do not FF show. We think clips are great as extras, enhancements, but never replacements for full episodes, etc. I suspect there are a lot of us. I try to think of a name for us but all I can come up with is "sticklers" which is not very positive sounding. 

20 hours ago, DeeVee said:

They were trying to save their show! KZ, being in her 50s and thinking she still should be the star of the show (IMO, soaps are better when they are an ensemble) is kind of insane. Maybe she was thinking of the grand dames of the older soaps, like Mary Stuart. But they played matriarchs, and she never really wanted to play that part, she still wanted to be the romantic lead.

As far back as 97/98 Kimmer was complaining (Kimmer was always either trying to prop up the latest cheesy Reva story, or when it failed going to the press and complaining about it, or just complaining...) that they were trying to turn her into "Bert Bauer" by even having her tut tut at Cassie for something...(she also said they had 6 characters to fill in as Reva, while not making Reva..Reva) so Kimmer was NEVER interested in that role. She wanted to be the Slut of Springfield forever, and that was not going to work, nor was Reva a matriarch. So I do feel sorry for Wheeler in that she was stuck with the "star" of the show aging and getting heavier, but still wanting to cling to the past, and getting more desperate about it each day. P & G , Rauch and MADD created that monster by pushing Kim as the star of the show and kept feeding it and Kimmers ego over the years so Wheeler was left with an older, fatter star who didn't want to face reality, and she had no one to back her up.

The one thing I will give Wheeler is that she rose to the challenge by putting Reva more in a support role and making her the most likeable she had been in years.  I also give credit to Kimmer as she started playing Reva much like herself..getting older, getting cranky, getting tired, getting sick of having to compete..which is exactley what Reva should have been then (I will ignore marrying that black hole Jeffie and getting a ridiculous miracle pregancy..)

19 hours ago, P.J. said:

And about her not wanting to be a matriarch of the show---YEP. In fact I blanched when she played sweet Charita Bauer in the 70th anniversary episode. Admittedly, the entire show annoyed me anyway, but it just felt like they'd decided the "star" of the show was the only logical choice for that role.

They offered Ellen Parker the Bert role but she turned them down. I actually thought did a great job on playing Charita...she gave her that warm sense of humor that Charita played through everything (I think Bert was my fave matriarch as you know she could knock down a brown drink and tell a hilarious story) But I think I thought that episode was really good, despite Wheeler trying to use it to justify incest Jammi. 

Kim nailed Charita Bauer, IMO. Same with Beth Ehlers doing Irna Phillips.

12 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

I came across this interview Kim did to promote her book and LOL, she acknowledges that she misspelled people's last names, but she also got her own son Max's birthday wrong 😂 She's a mess. She also begs the interviewer for a kiss at the beginning, which is odd.  She talks about the Slut of Springfield scene here too and why she didn't want to use that for her Emmy reel. She talks about the hair, her dark horse status, etc.  She also talks about her drinking "I would have a glass of wine or two at lunch just to stop myself from chewing someone's head off" She's just an open book. 😂 She said she learned she was not an alcoholic when she had to go to AA meetings after her DUI. 

 

OMG that kiss in the beginning 😱🤣 I CRINGED SO HARDDDDD. I feel like the kiss was meant to be on the cheek on not the lips but perhaps the interviewer wasn’t understanding? Either way.. that interaction would keep me up at night for YEARS. Lmao. 

Since starting these GL episodes I can’t say Reva is a favourite of mine even though I acknowledge that her role is important in the show. I definitely get more matriarch vibes from Vanessa out of the 40 something crowd. She seems like she has more of that soft energy where I can see multiple characters going to her for advice, etc. 

31 minutes ago, Ryanc2 said:

OMG that kiss in the beginning 😱🤣 I CRINGED SO HARDDDDD. I feel like the kiss was meant to be on the cheek on not the lips but perhaps the interviewer wasn’t understanding? Either way.. that interaction would keep me up at night for YEARS. Lmao. 

1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

As far back as 97/98 Kimmer was complaining (Kimmer was always either trying to prop up the latest cheesy Reva story, or when it failed going to the press and complaining about it, or just complaining...) that they were trying to turn her into "Bert Bauer" by even having her tut tut at Cassie for something...(she also said they had 6 characters to fill in as Reva, while not making Reva..Reva) so Kimmer was NEVER interested in that role. She wanted to be the Slut of Springfield forever, and that was not going to work, nor was Reva a matriarch. So I do feel sorry for Wheeler in that she was stuck with the "star" of the show aging and getting heavier, but still wanting to cling to the past, and getting more desperate about it each day. P & G , Rauch and MADD created that monster by pushing Kim as the star of the show and kept feeding it and Kimmers ego over the years so Wheeler was left with an older, fatter star who didn't want to face reality, and she had no one to back her up.

The one thing I will give Wheeler is that she rose to the challenge by putting Reva more in a support role and making her the most likeable she had been in years.  I also give credit to Kimmer as she started playing Reva much like herself..getting older, getting cranky, getting tired, getting sick of having to compete..which is exactley what Reva should have been then (I will ignore marrying that black hole Jeffie and getting a ridiculous miracle pregancy..)

Almost all so well said. But, here, you are suggesting that for a woman to go through menopause & then later become pregnant is a miracle?!!! I know I've seen it happen on at least 5 soaps, so how can that be miraculous?  😇😉🙃

1 hour ago, Mitch64 said:

They offered Ellen Parker the Bert role but she turned them down. I actually thought did a great job on playing Charita...she gave her that warm sense of humor that Charita played through everything (I think Bert was my fave matriarch as you know she could knock down a brown drink and tell a hilarious story) But I think I thought that episode was really good, despite Wheeler trying to use it to justify incest Jammi. 

Now, really, if you're gonna call out the incest at least spell it right! JAMI not Jammi.  🤣

These little things matter, right?  🤪

But, seriously, I thought that they all did a great job with the Irna tribute show.

 

56 minutes ago, Ryanc2 said:

OMG that kiss in the beginning 😱🤣 I CRINGED SO HARDDDDD. I feel like the kiss was meant to be on the cheek on not the lips but perhaps the interviewer wasn’t understanding? Either way.. that interaction would keep me up at night for YEARS. Lmao. 

Since starting these GL episodes I can’t say Reva is a favourite of mine even though I acknowledge that her role is important in the show. I definitely get more matriarch vibes from Vanessa out of the 40 something crowd. She seems like she has more of that soft energy where I can see multiple characters going to her for advice, etc. 

LOL - I'm glad I'm not alone. The way he stared at her, trying to process what to do. It felt like slow motion that went on far too long haha.

Reva hasn't been a favorite character of mine yet either, although December 1996 finally might change my mind. We'll see. I don't mind her, and she has her moments where I laugh, and she is definitely a great actress. I guess it just comes down to writing for me with her.

I feel the same way as you about Vanessa in some ways, because she gives out great advice and is a calming presence, but if she has her own personal problems, she's not great to deal with (i.e. letting her whole family think she's dead in 1996. Great soap opera, but Jesus that takes balls haha).

5 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

I think of us as a secret society. The only thing we have in common is this kind of maybe obsessive feeling we have about seeing every single moment of these shows, ya know, LOL! We do not FF show. We think clips are great as extras, enhancements, but never replacements for full episodes, etc. I suspect there are a lot of us. I try to think of a name for us but all I can come up with is "sticklers" which is not very positive sounding. 

Hmm, traditionalists, purists, obsessives... no perfect term comes to me outside of having FOMO.  

12 hours ago, TEdgeofNight said:

Kim is great and real. Met her so many times and she is herself. She laughs so much. Love me some Kim Zimmer. 

That's great to hear and I assumed the same. I've seen more interviews she's done and she just likes to talk, party and gossip. 

10 hours ago, Vee said:

The WLS guys were very close to the stars in those days. It's not a typical press junket.

That's good to know. It almost seems like they were true historians of the shows. I wish they would have done some Locher Room-style shows, if they were that close. Curious if they still are. Doesn't seem like their website is still live.

29 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Hmm, traditionalists, purists, obsessives... no perfect term comes to me outside of having FOMO.  

I give. What the heck is FOMO?

29 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

That's good to know. It almost seems like they were true historians of the shows. I wish they would have done some Locher Room-style shows, if they were that close. Curious if they still are. Doesn't seem like their website is still live.

Roger Newcomb, who created WLS is very well known & has very high esteem. Also nice guy. P&G hired him to curate their Special DVD Collections they did for ATWT & GL. The website has a new address.

 

11 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

I give. What the heck is FOMO?

Roger Newcomb, who created WLS is very well known & has very high esteem. Also nice guy. P&G hired him to curate their Special DVD Collections they did for ATWT & GL. The website has a new address.

 

FOMO = Fear of Missing Out  

What is their new address? I'll look it up.