Over-Hyped Daytime Actors & Actresses

[juniorz1]

I didn't watch Guiding Light so I can't speak to that, but did you ever watch Santa Barbara? Because he was AH-friggin-MAZING as Keith Timmons! Unbelievably talented!

[Cat]

How could I forget the downright awful Michael McNostril Easton? I do not understand how this drone still has fans, especially fans who wet their panties whenever he makes an appearance. Caleb! Caleb! Bite my neck, Caleb! OMG, wouldn't it be great if John McBain, like, turned into a vampire? And turned Natalie into a vampire? It would be like Caleb & Livvie all over again!!!

And Adrienne Frantz defines overhyped. An unspeakably poor actress (still doing that cutesy Shirly Temple shtick) who, we are told again and again, is so Fabulous, Fresh and Amazing. Heck, didn't she manage to "win" an Emmy or two? What an absolute joke.

[Mitch]

SB wasn't my cup of tea so no. I think a saw a couple of episodes in one he and that crazy woman were going to wedding or something and some ghost or something stopped them by overturning their carriage and they rolled around in the mud and I seem to remember the same flapping and spitting. I did see him on ATWT as Tom and he was pretty good...(even amazingly enough, kind of sexy then) but Tom is a more downbeat character so he had to hold his "acting," down a little. With Buzz I think JFP gave him free reign to chew as much scenery as possible. It didnt help that it became Guiding Buzz for a while and the character was one of JFP's bad boys "you just can't help loving," though there was nothing remotely attractive and charming about him.

Tom Pelphery I give a pass to as he was extremely young when he started and he did not start on GL at the best time with Wheeler and Kriezman catering to his excesses. Add to that Zimmer, with her tried and true "bag of tricks," mentored him and you have over acting hell. When he first came on GL he was great for a month or two, but he quickly got into a rut. I have to blame the fans too, as they treated much like Zimmer, everytime they would go over the TOP, their crazed fans would post on and on about how "Tom," or "Kim" "Knocked it out of the ballpark again!"

There was no excuse for him on ATWT though!

[Mitch]

God, I can't believe that they havent cast Zimmer in a road revival of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane," yet! Or one of the other soaps hasnt cast her as an harridan mess who is also psycho! (and I used to love Zimmer and Reva.)

[Llantano Incorporated]

Karen Witter was NOT the best Tina. My god. Sorry, just my opinion. The woman could not cry on cue- and they always had to give her fake glycerine tears like Melissa Archer (who has improved over the last two years actually) I found Witter absolutely boring. Kinda cute, semi likeable, but just a bore. I know she became the more mature and adult like Tina, but Andrea Evans rules. But Witter was tons better than Krista Tesreau. God, that was horrible.

For me- the most overrated are Tony Geary, Susan Lucci, that godawful Eden Riegel and Katherine Kelly Lang- sorry folks there is a reason why she never gets the emmy nomination, despite the press pimping her nearly every year (she is a solid actress I feel, but she never nails it- kinda like Bree Williamson, where I feel that there is always some kind of disconnect. You can scream or cry with the best of them, but KKL and BW make me feel nothing).

And blasphempy! Erika Slezak! Susan Flannery! (Susan Flannery is one of the top 5 actresses ever in daytime in my opinion.)

[SFK]

I wouldn't say Erika is overrated either. In her smaller moments, just having a simple conversation, I think she is one of the most charming actreses ever. She has that RADA training and she cut her teeth in classical rep and this foundation of her acting technique doesn't always jive with our American TV sensibilities. Specifically, when she's given the larger than life material like the DID atuff where she commits so fully that it often looks OTT. She plays it like Greek tragedy. And truth be told, when you watch footage of real people who suffer from DID, it looks pretty larger than life/OTT there too.

But Erika's Viki is the best when she's having warm moments with her family or telling somebody off in the most elegant of ways. I actually like it when she's all snooty and morally superior because it's not about "being right" with Viki, she just usually *is* right. When they make her do schtick with David or play Niki as most recently written, it's more corny than bad acting. I have really not liked Niki since she came back in the '90s DID s/l, but the truth is, these alters are clinically more one-note than fully developed separate identities, they are fragments of a personality, not like a twin.

I used to love watching ER's eyes flutter as she tried to hold them open long enough for them to tear.

[Llantano Incorporated]

SFK, You nailed it regarding Erika, and especially Niki Smith.

Watch videos of Niki from 1985-86 (OLTL's true renaissance imo, not Gottlieb's era which I respected at the time, but the majority of it (minus the Gang Rape and DID storyline) bores me more and more as I watch You Tube videos)..

Back to Niki, She was played and written like a real person, with a heart and soul. It was amazing to watch. Niki in the last decade has been an absolute over the top caricature as written and played. I was surprised that Erika did not take offense to these later incarnations of Niki. "Live Week" from 2001 or 2002 was particularly embarrassing. Niki was so over the top and it was the only time I questioned Erika's acting choices. I still think she is one of Daytime's Top 5 actresses which includes Flannery and Fiona Hutchison.

[SFK]

Yeah, Niki became very broad and obnoxious, and she continues to do so with every subsequent visit. In office building heaven she was at her worst, in a Gigi wig to boot.

[R Sinclair]

It's funny you made that typo writing about Slezak because I was about to mention her annoying habit of pronouncing at all "atull"

ETA: I think Eden Riegel is HIGHLY overrated. The whole idea that Bianca couldn't be recast in five years was asinine. Bianca was never that great of a character nor was Eden that dynamic in the role.

[bellcurve]

LOL. Almost as bad as Kim Zimmer's CON-TROW-ELL.(I believe that was you, R, who mentioned that).

Overrated I would definitely have to say Megan Ward. Awful character played by an equally awful actress. Will never understand what people see in Megan Ward as a performer. Kate would be such a fun, dynamic character if she could play all the beats properly but she never has been able to and never will.

[All My Shadows]

That hype was pretty much the work of all the hardcore Liancalites. I liked Eden a whole lot, but I always figured the show could and would recast, but then she kept coming back and leaving, then she came back for good, and then left, and came back, and....you already know.

Bianca was going to be perpetually 18-22 years old as long as Eden stayed in the role, though. That voice, the mannerisms. I think she got too comfortable with her co-stars and that's why we never saw any fire in her. It wasn't Bianca with Erica, Kendall, David, Babe, Ryan, etc. It was Eden with Susan, Alicia, Vincent, Alexa, Cameron, etc.

[RomeAt50]

I think Eden was pretty well regarded before Lena and Bianca.

[lovely_m]

I always thought that a part of Eden's hype (as well as Van Hansis) is that she played a gay legacy character. Plus she stayed on the show for a while and wasn't just outed and left town like Lucas on GH did.

[Llantano Incorporated]

One actress overhyped by her show only (as the academy-her peers- have been smart enough to deny her a daytime emmy nomination-

Kristen Alderson.

Sweet Jesus.

Let me say that that little girl Starr was HILARIOUS. That Philly accent, that bovine face, the satanic like behavior. But after the age of 10 or 11, a recast was in order as this girl's talent was limited. And still is.

I still consider her one of the LUCKIEST actresses in daytime. From acting to photogenics, this is one luuuuucccccky girl to be employed.

OLTL's casting has been 1/2 its downfall for the last 7-8 years.

[AdelaideCate007]

ITA about Kristen Alderson- she was hilarious when Starr was a little demon child and terrorizing Max, but she should have been sent packing years ago

Eden Riegel- I just don't get it. I find her voice to be incredibly grating

Martha Byrne- I like Noelle Beck as Lily much more than I ever did Byrne; Byrne was at her best when she was playing Rose

Kim Zimmer- the queen of overacting

Tom Pelphrey- the king of overacting

Maurice Benard- shouting, mumbling, throwing barware, and calling women bitches and whores doesnt not equal great acting

Steve Burton- *blink* *stare* *blink* *blink* *look constipated* *stare* *mumble something in monotone* *blink* *blink* *blink* *stare*...him and Benard have ruined GH for me for years

Kirsten Storms & Bradford Anderson- I'm aware GH thinks they're the two funniest people ever, but I dont think I've ever laughed at anything these two have ever done and her rapid speed talking and loud voice is not funny either

Rebecca Herbst- her whispering and baby voice is so irritating, she always looks so damn smug, and I'll never understand how she has many fans

Adrienne Frantz- just no