Original Actor vs. Recast.

[SFK]

I like your ideas, I'd really love to see them both work on another soap again before they're all gone. Just something they could sweep in, bang out, and be on their way. VW reminds me a lot of my best friend's mom when I was little, very sweet, but that lightswitch temper and those EYES.

[SFK]

I could totally see Carmen as Viki's proper English cousin, that just sounds SO Viki. Of course Carmen is Australian, but such things haven't seemed to matter in the past.

[DRW50]

Rachel was a very interesting type of character, because she did represent what you see in real life but don't often see on soaps. She was sometimes very sweet, vulnerable, kind, almost childlike, but that was around a very select group of people and over the years, like Ada and Mac, among others, and that circle grew smaller and smaller. So you ended up with this woman who would not put up with any crap from the people she let into her life, and even when her kids were adults, they would bend over backwards to try to do what they thought was right for her or to make up to her when they screwed up.

She would do the hearts and flowers stuff with Carl and then everyone else would usually get shut out unless they proved they deserved a chance.

Whenever I think of VW's Rachel I think of that stuff where Liz let Matt know, accidentally, about the circumstances of his conception, and Rachel froze her out of the family. Mac was very emotional about the whole thing, because he loved Liz, but Rachel had never really liked her and she just made Liz feel like crap.

[SFK]

Liz, that blabber mouth. Is that scene online? I have a classic ep where Mac gets after Liz for blabbing to Iris that he was staying in a suite above his office and not at the house with Rachel.

[DRW50]

She can play someone named Augusta.

David: Where is that accent from?

Augusta: Good New England roots.

David: Nice try. You went to that "A" school, as in, "A...n accent is impossible to tell you what country I'm from." Like OprAh, and MadonnA.

Augusta: That's just not true.

David: There are exceptions to every rule. I'm told my dear old grandma OlympiA sounded like Colonel Klink.

Viki: David, that is such a cruel thing to say.

David: Fine, fine. Anything but that disapproving glance, please, you're breaking my heart. Ever since a certain Dukakis diva got me fired my big break, Look Who's Talking Truman - a local independent film in which I was to play a baby who talked like Give Em Hell Harry, not Harry O'Neill, sorry, I know you loved and lost him in a bewigged other life - I've spat internal venom at the sound of that name.

Augusta: What does this have to do with me?

David: You you you. Maybe you really are a Lord after all. How many of your children did you know of at the time of their birth? Memories wiped out by hypnosis or falsified DNA tests do not count.

[DRW50]

The stuff right after that, when Jason spitefully tells Matt that Rachel killed Janice, is online, but that scene isn't. It's a shame. Yet there are clips of Liz working at a nail salon. Oh well. Maybe someday. I can't complain I guess, I don't know how to put stuff on Youtube.

[Jay]

Oh, that sofa. That sofa.

[Jay]

What wonderful ideas. I would SO watch that, every single day.

Oh, I would love to have seen that. When was it?

And this!!!

I don't know how to put stuff on youtube, but are these scenes already on your computer?

[R Sinclair]

I agree with all of this.

Especially General Hospital's "Carly" character. I wasn't a HUGE Tamara Braun as Carly supporter, but I still consider her and Sarah Brown "Carly Benson." I see absolutely NO "Carly Benson" in Laura Wright's performance. It's all "Carly 'I'm an Untouchable Head Cheerleader' Corinthos" portrayal. I, personally, believe that SB/TB might have a more earnest approach to this written version of Carly.

I also think that Ricky Paull Goldin has taken any credibility away from Jake Martin.

Oh... and I also find Jessica Buchanan quite laughable in the form of Bree Williamson.

[DRW50]

I just have them on tapes somewhere.

This stuff was around October 1988. The aftermath of that is on Youtube. I'm not sure of the exact order of the clips but this might be a good place to start.

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I keep forgetting they brought Vivian back for a few years. I always liked Vivian.

[R Sinclair]

1988, you say?

Wasn't this Donna Swajeski?

Why is it that 5:00 -7:54 seem like Damon and Colby on AMC (co-head written by Donna Swajeski)?

[DRW50]

Harding Lemay tinkered with by Donna Swajeski.

I've never been fond of Colby with any recast, and I never was with Josie either, so that's a good call.

[Jay]

Thanks. That was nice. 1988 is when I started watching AW, in the summer. I was home one day, and turned on the TV, and there was this story about a poor girl whose rich boyfriend just found out that she wasn't rich and fabulous, as she had been pretending. The most touching scenes were between the girl and her mother, who owned a farm out on the outskirts of town. The mother spent considerable time that day assuring her daughter she was every bit as good as the rich boy.

The poor girl, of course, was Josie, the rich boy, Matthew. Sharlene was Josie's mother. It was so good, I had to tune in the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. It was just the most wonderful thing I'd ever seen, and I had no idea about the Frame-Cory subtext until months later. I'd never watched a soap opera as an adult (my grandmother and I watched the CBS soaps when I was little, but I don't really remember that).

I started flicking between AW and ATWT after awhile, and had to buy a VCR to tape one or the other. I even got one of my friends watching, a friend who looked a whole lot like Michael Hudson. He's dead now, my friend. Most of the people I watched soaps with in the '80s and '90s are dead now.

Funny to see Sharlene and Felicia in a scene together, knowing what's going to happen between them seven years down the road. And of course, they all look so young.

I've never liked another soap the way I did both AW and ATWT. Just as other people had the ABC shows or the CBS shows, I had my "World" shows.

They pay people plenty of money to produce and write these shows, and it's the same amount if it's good as they pay if it's bad. I wish they could have gone with the good.

[Mr. Vixen]

I could never see Robyn Richards playing Maxie today. Obviously, she was good and on the show for so long, but the direction they have taken Maxie now...It just doesn't feel like Robyn would be right playing it now.

On a different note...

People always try to dismiss Jennifer Bransfored as Carly. And I admit, she was BAD BAD BAD for most of her run. But during the breakdown, she really did it well. I mean, she was never going to win an Emmy, but I think she pulled off the breakdown very well. Sure Sarah Brown and Tamara would have prbably done it and got an Emmy, but there was a believeable quality about Jennifer's performance that I'm not sure would have been there. And I certainly don't think Laura Wright could have done it (unless it involved lip curls, scowls, and crying).

And the Lucky's on GH. Jonathon Jackson was obviously great in his originating of the role, but Jacob Young was also very good in the role, and it was Jacob Young's tenure that really ended Lucky's run as a good character. (Obviously there were the rough patches...Hell hypnoses?), but IMO Jacob Young's portrayl was just as enjoyable as Jonathon's, acting wise. Greg Vaughan, well, he was a good actor, but they just TRASHED lucky non stop throughout his whole tenure. And when Jonathon Jackson came back, their efforrts to make Lucky an almighty character once more, just shows how characters change through recasts. Honestly, I don't know if I would have bought Lucky as this kind of character if GV was still in the role.

Michael, GH:

Huge fan of Dylan Cash (sorry, Y&RWorldTurner !!!) I thought he was charismatic and spunky. Drew Garrett...Oh sweet baby lord JESUS I hated that boy. I thought he portrayed the character rigidly, and was only good at ANGER. Even when he had tender scenes with Carly or Krissy or whoever, he always looked angry and brought anger into the moment, which totally turned me off towards the character. Chad Duell, however really infuses enough emotion into his scenes to present Michael as an angry, troubled soul, but he doesn't do so in a way that makes him unworthy of sympathy. You can see the compassionate, fun, good kid he is, similiar to Cash's reign, and blends it well with the troubled, angry, hurt, battered, young adult that was so evident in Garrett's reign. So in this case, I think Duell is the best actor in the role, above Garrett, and above Cash (even though it's almost two different character since then, seeing as Cash was a child at the time).

[R Sinclair]

If you remember or noticed, the was that Storms was introduced was via "BJ's Heart" which is what Richards was originally a part of. Have Storms' Maxie suffer and triumph through a malady Richards' Maxie originated, it's just the same as having Laura Wright redo flashbacks of Carly that other actresses had played. It's a blatant attempt at making the viewers forget anyone previous being in the role. And, then, of course, Maxie was rewritten to accommodate Kirsten Storms "perky" (aka cigarette smoking, drunk driving with an 'open container') portrayal.

My excuse for Jennifer Bransford was that she auditioned for the role of Drew/Dru. She didn't audition for the role of Carly. So it was TPTB that placed her into a role she had NO CLUE that she was supposed to play. It wasn't fair.

Like

, there are certain characters that get a reprieve when particular actors play them. GV's Lucky is NOT the same as JJ's Lucky.

Once Michael gets out of prison and has more interaction with other character, we can, truly, see what Chad Duell can do-ell! LOL! However,Chad's Michael doesn't evoke any sincerity from me, while he's in prison.