Stars Who Left Daytime & Talk Smack About It

[Cheap21]

I wonder how the role of Daniel would have turned out had Cam been given a chance to grow in the role. Daytime tends to hire alot of bad actors, some of which eventually get better as time goes on

[SFK]

Nice!

Ohhhhh! Major connect-the-dots/a-ha! moment. I remembered all that drama but didn't realize that was him.

[Vee]

AMC wasted Amanda Seyfried, badly. I thought her comments about ATWT were very gracious. And I think Shemar has a lot of fondness for daytime but just put his foot in mouth with that HS/college thing.

Nolan North has trashed soaps repeatedly and is now a hugely in-demand voice actor for animation and some huge video games like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed, opposite Kristen Bell. I've never had the heart to tell my ex, who worshipped him on both PC and the Justice League/DC Comics animated shows.

[All My Shadows]

For a while, I kept confusing him with the other Adam (Matt Cavenaugh) because they were both Broadway guys. Then came Glee. Ugh.

AMC could have gone all the way with Reggie and Joni, but they treated both of the performers like crap, and now look at them. Seyfried's doing her thing in movies and primetime, and MBJ gets critically-acclaimed show after critically-acclaimed show. On the bright side, MBJ has every right to roll eyes at AMC in interviews, but I've noticed that he brings it up even when the interviewers don't and he usually has something nice to say about Walt, Susan, etc.

[DRW50]

That's a shame about Nolan. I think he was even played a bit part as a soap actor on a TV set in Six Feet Under, around 2004 or 2005.

I loved him on PC too. I thought soaps badly wasted him. It's a shame that the experience seems to have jaded him...

[Cheap21]

Same here. I ddint realize they dated till now. She was with him back when he was a nobody

[DaytimeFan]

That's absolutely right. Joan said that she had a fabulous time on GL, loved the cast and crew (she's still in touch with Ron Raines and Crystal Chappell) and had the utmost respect for the work they do (on Larry King Live, she said that soap opera actors were the hardest working and best actors in the business, given the time they have to prepare, she said that most Hollywood actors would fail miserably on a soap). Her only issue was that the schedule was very, very gruelling. She noted in The Spectator (a UK current affairs magazine that she writes a diary for) that when she explained her schedule to Helen Worth, of Coronation Street fame, she said that Helen was horrified and said that UK soap actors have far more time to prepare.

[darraholic]

Susan Ward (SuBe) really trashed the show. She mentioned how much she hated what they made her wear. She seems like quite the stuck up bitch post Sunset.

[Cheap21]

good for her. I preferred Sydney Penny in her role anyway, who did more with Meg in 3 months than Ward did with her in 3 years

[DRW50]

Not on Y&R in the last decade. If he started out bad he would have stayed the same or gotten worse.

I don't remember him, but I think MG has done a good job with years of terrible writing.

[marceline]

SAY IT AGAIN! TPTB at AMC should forever be ashamed of what they did with those characters. But the truth is that actors who want to challenge themselves and who really believe in storytelling aren't going to stay in soaps. The shows need to make the most of them while they have them. I can think of so many current soap actors who are soap actors not because they love the genre but because that's all they were ever meant to be. (Imagine if I started THAT thread. LOL!) I can also think of some far more famous actors who exhibit soap opera level skill. (I'm looking at you Janet Jackson and Katherine Heigl.)

As for MBJ. There are some actors that come across as good actors and there are some actors that come across as good human beings. MBJ is definitely one of the latter for me. His work with Kyle Chandler on FNL has always reminded me of his work with Walt Willey on AMC. Racial/class dynamics aside, I just loved the connection between the actors. Personally I think the work WW and MBJ did together was criminally underrated.

AMS, I've never seen an interview with MBJ where he referenced his soap work. I'd love it if you could point me towards one of those.

[P.J.]

And yet I'd argue AS was better in her five appearances on ATWT than List was in her three years on the show. I think AS would have been a better, stronger Lucy (one more appropriate for the Sheffer-era revamp of Craig's daughter) if given a chance. She had a scene with Maura West that I still remember.

[J.W.S]

I Feel The Opposite as an actor you should not be trashing daytime or anything you have done

Thats what makes no sense to me about Robin wright. SB let her out to do Princess Bride but she had to extend her contract to cover the months she missed. She agreed and if Not for SB she wouldnt have gotten PB and been well known

Then You sometimes have folks that are leaving daytime, badmouth it & eventually realize how good they had it

Unforytuantley too many folks wanna be famous and not just be actors

[All My Shadows]

Word to it all. I wish there were some great actors and actresses who aspired to be soap stars (LAUGH! all of you LAUGH AT ME!!), and I think with the steadily increasing suckage of soaps, it's impossible. The ones who end up in a soap town are only there for the time being...some who appreciate the experience and don't mind sticking around until a really good "next step" comes and others who are just mean and nasty about it and pop off as soon as they get a call from The CW or whoever. MBJ definitely stuck around AMC longer than he needed to, but that's perfectly fine, he's getting his good karma.

I knew this was gonna happen, but the second I typed that, I started thinking "I don't even remember what site that interview was on." I distinctly remember him saying that it was a good job for a kid and that he got to work with the Susan Lucci, etc. I'll keep looking around for it.

[DRW50]

To be honest I can understand why they got rid of Joni -- her character was tied to no one aside from Reggie, and two of the other teens in the story had been fired. I did think she had some potential once the story with Reggie started. Seyfried has charisma but that doesn't mean a lot on AMC -- some of the least charismatic stars I've seen on soaps have been center stage on AMC for the last decade.

I think getting rid of Reggie was a big mistake, but then AMC's teen scene has been deadly for many, many years now.