Yes, if they look good with their shirts off, then they must be hired, no acting necessary.

Basically

I remember an interview with Mark Lawson where he said Valentini directed his audition and made him eventually audition in his underwear.

Err I diont know how wacko that is considering Brody was in his underwears for the first couple of weeks after the character's debut

No one claimed he invented the casting couch. It just seems like OLTL has taken the crown Passions once had by casting male talent based on looks alone. The domination by the Ford brothers and constant need to showcase male eye candy on the show seems to be as much his fault as Carlivati's. Valentini is very involved with the audition process, and we clearly saw what he favoured in the OLTL season of "I Wanna Be a Soap Star."

This I will agree with this. I remember back in the 03

or 04 OLTL had a whole lotta men (Priest Joey, the Vegas, Rex, Chad, Wil, Seth, etc..) showing skin. This past winter I have seen more male skin shown on OLTL then all the other soaps combied. Thsi seems to ebb and flow depending on the writer, but the concstant is def FV.

I have NO memory of that Wannabe A Soap Star winner, who did he play?

I don't think JPL is utterly talentless, he has shown *glimpses* of talent and potential in dramatic material and has made me LOL once or twice, but I think he is a dare I say lazy actor who relies on tricks and is totally coasting and making a good living for it. Show up, deliver my lines in a snarky sitcomy way that pleases myself first and foremost, pray that they don't give me pesky dramatic stuff, Febreeze my pajama pants, collect check. And you know what, at this second I'm kinda not mad at him for it. TP'TB priorities are all types of screwed, they're more than content with being vapid, why should the actors feel any different? Okay, that opinion will probably change within the coming hours, I do believe in an actor's integrity, but that's a way of looking at the situation that I've never really considered until now.

I remember it with Tomlin (Chad, Seth, Rex - Will was more JFP), but for some reason I thought it wasn't as prevalent for a few years after that, other than the stuff like the stripping stories.

The only saving grace from IWBASS was that they hired Beth Ann (who was third) and kept her a lot longer than Mikey. He was on 13 weeks and was killed off I think, it was ridiculous. He had some scenes with Melissa Archer mainly. I like different types of men, not just the himbo style. OLTL doesn't even have a Team Edward or Team Jacob type of thing except with Team Bo and Team Clint and they are 60+ year old men, which is just so strange.

If ABC goes with The View spin-off, as rumored, it's likely it would land in GH's timeslot, because a talk show with a "male" viewpoint is seen as better airing in the late afternoon. GH would have to move to an earlier slot. Conventional wisdom would have ABC just backing up both OLTL and GH to 1 and 2 PM Eastern, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say GH moves back to 1, leaving OLTL at 2.

I have NO memory of that Wannabe A Soap Star winner, who did he play?

I don't think JPL is utterly talentless, he has shown *glimpses* of talent and potential in dramatic material and has made me LOL once or twice, but I think he is a dare I say lazy actor who relies on tricks and is totally coasting and making a good living for it. Show up, deliver my lines in a snarky sitcomy way that pleases myself first and foremost, pray that they don't give me pesky dramatic stuff, Febreeze my pajama pants, collect check. And you know what, at this second I'm kinda not mad at him for it. TP'TB priorities are all types of screwed, they're more than content with being vapid, why should the actors feel any different? Okay, that opinion will probably change within the coming hours, I do believe in an actor's integrity, but that's a way of looking at the situation that I've never really considered until now.

I am annoyed with any actor who tanks stories because they displease him. That is basically what he did with the Stacy saga, and he got rewarded for it, while everyone else in the story was fired.

So many talented actors have been fired while this shaved extra from Critters continues to be hyped as a star.

Edited February 23, 201115 yr by CarlD2

The casting directors get it from the higher ups, there is without question a strong emphasis on looks in the casting process, more talented actors sometimes losing out because of this. Then you have people like Bruno who have said flat out that they can teach a model how to act but they can't teach an ugly actor how to be pretty.

"And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!" -Hyman Roth

I have to remind myself that this is what soaps are, this is what soaps have decided to be and not fault them for their priorities. I could always stop watching (and I probably won't), but that doesn't mean I can't go on wishing for and expecting better. Looking back, you'd think the work of Nixon, Bell, Marland, Lemay et al was some sort of happy accident.

Edited February 23, 201115 yr by SFK

I think JPL is a great looking guy. He's not my type, but I definitely think he's extremely attractive. He has nice chem with FF. I saw him on the street a couple of years ago, and he really is very impressive looking in person, much more so than on the show even. OLTL definitely holds the crown for overall best-looking male cast IMO. Looks ARE important in daytime and everywhere else, and a not-so-great looking leading man can detract from the story IMO. Case in post, Michael E. Knight. I'm generally liking the whole Cara story...it's really been a breath of fresh air and a little shot of adrenaline in an otherwise sleepy show. What weakens it for me is MEK. He totally let his looks go and he just seems so uninterested in the material at this point. Talk about sleepwalking through your role. This might sound horrible, but if I did find him more attractive and charismatic, for me that might compensate for the fact that he obviously doesn't give a s**t anymore.

I have NO memory of that Wannabe A Soap Star winner, who did he play?

I don't think JPL is utterly talentless, he has shown *glimpses* of talent and potential in dramatic material and has made me LOL once or twice, but I think he is a dare I say lazy actor who relies on tricks and is totally coasting and making a good living for it. Show up, deliver my lines in a snarky sitcomy way that pleases myself first and foremost, pray that they don't give me pesky dramatic stuff,

One thing I find that is becoming more and more a problem in all of TV is the writers who come along learned how to write not from reading books, but from watching TV. So more and more characters get dialogue that almost demands delivery in the style of Matthew Perry. That being said JPL does have that snarky sitcom style that TV has gravitated to.

I think JPL is a great looking guy. He's not my type, but I definitely think he's extremely attractive. He has nice chem with FF. I saw him on the street a couple of years ago, and he really is very impressive looking in person, much more so than on the show even. OLTL definitely holds the crown for overall best-looking male cast IMO. Looks ARE important in daytime and everywhere else, and a not-so-great looking leading man can detract from the story IMO. Case in post, Michael E. Knight. I'm generally liking the whole Cara story...it's really been a breath of fresh air and a little shot of adrenaline in an otherwise sleepy show. What weakens it for me is MEK. He totally let his looks go and he just seems so uninterested in the material at this point. Talk about sleepwalking through your role. This might sound horrible, but if I did find him more attractive and charismatic, for me that might compensate for the fact that he obviously doesn't give a s**t anymore.

Does Cameron Mathison having a good face and body make his presence any better?

I am annoyed with any actor who tanks stories because they displease him. That is basically what he did with the Stacy saga, and he got rewarded for it, while everyone else in the story was fired.

So many talented actors have been fired while this shaved extra from Critters continues to be hyped as a star.

You are right, I don't believe in tanking a story or working against the writing which is different than making infrormed acting choices based on your view of your character. I guess I just mean the more passive instances of his bad habits. I know you feel TSJ is a tanker too, right/?

If ABC goes with The View spin-off, as rumored, it's likely it would land in GH's timeslot, because a talk show with a "male" viewpoint is seen as better airing in the late afternoon. GH would have to move to an earlier slot. Conventional wisdom would have ABC just backing up both OLTL and GH to 1 and 2 PM Eastern, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say GH moves back to 1, leaving OLTL at 2.

A male version of The View? Lord help us. But if it means that we'd keep AMC and OLTL, I'd learn to live with it. Even though it's not an ABC show, the Oprah slot must be filled for ABC, yes? So we could be looking at each showing moving forward or backward and hour. I'd actually like to see the order reversed with AMC leading into GH, but again, as long as both shows got to stay, whatever is done will work.

I think TSJ was for several years - now he just doesn't care about anything (in my opinion).

I think JPL just wants to play what he wants and the rest is meaningless to him. The problem is even if there is material that he might want, he is not able to play that either. He's bad at comedy, he's bad at drama, he has little chemistry with most of his co-stars, and the show drained the life out of any relationships he had which were once interesting (like the one with Bo). Now it's mostly just about writing around him. It shows you how desperate they are to make him work that they rewrote history to the point where Clint allowed his grandson to spend months and months dying of leukemia.

A male version of The View? Lord help us. But if it means that we'd keep AMC and OLTL, I'd learn to live with it. Even though it's not an ABC show, the Oprah slot must be filled for ABC, yes? So we could be looking at each showing moving forward or backward and hour. I'd actually like to see the order reversed with AMC leading into GH, but again, as long as both shows got to stay, whatever is done will work.

You've already seen the pilot for it. They were testing it this summer with the "He Said, She Said" set of shows.

I'd only get on board with this if someone like Bryant Gumbel were moderator. Knowing Geddie, he'll want a white, male Republican as the head of the panel or some moron who makes black people look bad.(Hey Joe Scarborough! What's up, D.L. Hughley!?)

One thing I find that is becoming more and more a problem in all of TV is the writers who come along learned how to write not from reading books, but from watching TV. So more and more characters get dialogue that almost demands delivery in the style of Matthew Perry. That being said JPL does have that snarky sitcom style that TV has gravitated to.

Absolutely! And Matthew Perry is the same example I always use. It's kind of like people who write for The Simpsons now, they grew up watching The Simpsons and the writing comes across like a third generation video tape. But actors like JPL, the boy who played Schuyler, even Ryan Reynolds, they ape this Matt Perry/Jim Carey style and it's just so gimmicky bad at times. Sure there are plenty of crap actors who've graduated from acting schools, but their bags of tricks would have been well addressed in formal training.