Y&R: Soapnet interviews Michael Muhney

[MoTheGreat]

But people actually like. I mean Goddard has his fans. Some who like Cane & other who like Lame. Adam has nothing & by MM keep trying to explain away the problem in his storyline or in his character. People going to beg for the first Adam back.

[JimTolkien]

Are you serious? What is he, 5 years old!!! He is lucky he is on a soap, if he ever got a real acting critic to really criticize he would be crying in his beer if he drank beer!! He should take that criticism and channel it into a better performance. I am trying really hard to get into his portrayal but he talks so much that I cannot enjoy him. Action speaks louder than words. And it just shows me how desperate this writing team is.

His character better not get away with everything because then I will be really ANGRY!!!

[DeeeDee]

MM has fans.

They are nowhere near as many or as rabid as Goddard/Lame's but they're there.

Muhney's thing is being a recast of a controversial actor a lot of his initial interaction with fans were bids to endear himself to them unlike his predecessor.

Now it's just overkill.

[JimTolkien]

I actually like Daniel Goddard very much, I just don't like his pairing at all. But he appears to be a really nice guy and very down to earth (but then he is an Aussie, ) and I don't know, he talked about Lame but he never came off as arrogant or trying to browbeat those of us fans who do not like his pairing. I liked that he communicated with those that love his pairing and he didn't come off as if he was trying to sell me something. Maybe I am too much of a wordsmith but I don't get that same feeling from MM.

But I can't stand Adam so he must be doing something right to make me feel something LOL! Otherwise I would be saying BLECH!!

[DeeeDee]

Goddard didn't have to inherit a broken character played by a controversial actor.

He's been propped from Day 1.

[Sylph]

Don't forget King Hogan of Trolls!!!

[MarkH]

IMO, it has long been wise for actors to use the press.

If it weren't, Eric Braeden wouldn't pay Charles Sherman boatloads of $$, and Sherman wouldn't get Braeden in the New York Times and everywhere else.

Muhney, IMO, cleverly has used the new social media to create a buzz and an attention. It's working too. When he tweeted that he was leaving the show ... and then one tweet later said "...for the weekend", that (ill conceived) prank got covered in all the soap mags. This MENSA member is very cleverly working the new media to create a fanbase. These are skills he learned, I think, from the SciFi/Veronica Mars fandoms that he has been so closely connected to.

I don't think it is all cynical. In the soapnet interview he clearly views this as 'part of the job', and more power to him. For those who actually connect with him via twitter or whatever, he reduces the degrees of separation and enhances the fan experience. I really think it singles him out as a "next generation" soap celebrity. There are a handful of actors on each daytime soap that are trying to build their fandom this way.

As for the interview, it _IS_ P.R. That is what these interviews are. That is what every soap mag interview is, from every writer. It is basically "spin" to get you to watch the show, or to get you to pay more attention to the actor doing the interview. In that context, I find the interview very helpful (just like Muhney's tweets about blindness), because they reinforce what he's trying to play.

This is a business, and Muhney is an actor who is trying to build a career.

[DRW50]

I'm not sure if this type of thing helps a career or not. When an actor becomes too involved in this type of agenda, then there is as much backlash as there is hype, especially in situations like triangles, if some fans think an actor is too biased in the favor of one fanbase.

Things like Twittering to make people think you've been fired -- I don't see how that helps a career. If some fans had taken that too seriously and had sent nasty comments to the studio, then wouldn't people be less likely to want to hire him? It's like the American Idol singers whose fans would bombard radio stations with demands their songs be played. In the long run, a number of radio stations thereafter refused to play any of that person's songs.

Braeden has been in soaps for almost 30 years and I don't know if he was so heavily involved in the press until more recently, in terms of comments. Even then, he usually manages to make sure he comes across as giving his opinion, and not being seen as doing the show's work for them.

[Cat]

Are we sure people aren't transferring their dislike of the character on the recast actor? I admit that Engen's version of Pipsqueak-Adam was definitive for me. But the character of Adam has gone beyond the point of no return after causing Ashley to lose her baby and making everybody believe that Ashley was going mad. I think the fault should be put squarely at the feet of the writing team. Muhney's just playing the PR game and trying to keep a job.

[Sylph]

That's a rather problematic statement. Something like condoning the totalitarian regimes of this world because, you know, they weren't all that bad, they were trying to save humanity from itself. Or from evil. Or something like that.

You are given a choice. Meaning, you can have principles and refuse to play Adam and refuse to defend his actions, thus having no job, or play him and just shut up about principles, stop trolling the boards and shamelessly promote yourself. Otherwise, if you decided to play this vile psychopath and try to present him as a misunderstood, poor tortured soul, don't complain if you're called a hypocrite and a self-obsessed actor trying to make yourself happen.

[JackPeyton]

thats pretty much whats happening.

[MoTheGreat]

The problem with MM fans is that they don't like how the first Adam left. He should have just did the gay scene with no question asks. MM isn"t asking any questions. But him explaining away his trrible character behavior or terrible storylines.

[MoTheGreat]

I don't really care for Adam. My problem began with MM when he sounded like he was slamming Engen for leaving. The interview he gave about he's an actor & he'll kiss a man. & all his other bull that he was spitting. He wasn't there, he doesn't know what went on before he took over the role of Adam to be slamming Engen.

[Sylph]

No. It's Muhney's obnoxious self-promotion, praise of the writing team and trolling of the boards that caused the dislike. And the "acting".

[dm.]

He's awful. He was tolerable on VM, really, even now while I'm watching it, but he's a nightmare on Y&R.