Fiona Hutchison Fans Discussion: Gabrielle or Jenna????

[Soapsuds]

I had forgotten she was on ATWT. I dont even recall Celia to be honest with you. I thought Fiona shined as Gabrielle. The only time I liked her as Jenna was with Henry. When she first came on GL she still Gabby's mannerisms.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

She was originally only supposed to have a 3 month stay at GL, but they kept on extending her contract.

Fiona says working with Michael Zaslow was the reason she decided to stay on the show:

http://fionafest.hourb.com/articl26.html

You can find more past interviews/articles with her on that site.

[MissLlanviewPA]

There were a few OLTL fan club luncheons that Fiona attended even when she wasn't on the show (at least 1998 and 1999, based on pictures I've seen). Fiona Fest had this very touching picture of her embracing Michael Zaslow, who had just returned as David, from the 1998 event.

Perhaps we should start a thread for Marcy's roles now: Liza vs. Eden! (And of course Tangie )

[Soapsuds]

LOL..Tangie was a trainwreck.

[MissLlanviewPA]

On her Facebook page, Fiona has DAYS as one of her "likes." I know she's on THE BAY now, but I'd be tempted to watch the show if she were ever on.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I do wonder how successful ABC's smear campaign against her worked though.

When she first landed Jenna, she mentioned that AW, DAYS, and SANTA BARBARA were all after her. I wonder how her history would have changed had she went to one of those shows...

[DRW50]

Jean Carol always played up Nadine's loneliness and vulnerability, which is why I felt sorry for her. I had seen Nadine over the years, through good and bad times, and the one constant was how lonely and desperate she was. Buzz and Jenna were strangers to me, and then Buzz just took over the storyline, with that godawful "accent" and the gum-smacking. That was the end of my GL.

Technically, I shouldn't have felt sympathy for her, especially since I also liked Bridget, but the show did a wonderful job with Nadine's motivations and with the price Nadine paid - she went back to the poverty she'd spent her adult life running from. I didn't even like Buzz and Nadine together - I just wanted Nadine to have a good story and not be the patsy for that couple.

I never associate Jenna with Curlee/et al, mostly because the character was just so vague at that time. She moved from being witty and jaded, with a heart somewhere underneath, to just a victim, and to having a constant earache from Buzz's "banter". I have never seen Fiona as someone who is suited for that constant yapping, screaming, and forced comedy which made up the first years of her relationship with Buzz. Jenna lost all focus. I associate Jenna as pure JFP - she likes an actor and then has little idea of what to do with said actor.

To be honest with you I'm not even sure if people really accepted Marj. I think people were happy to have Alex back, but she was never the same, and she never had the same prominence on the show. It took me years to accept her. At the time she reclaimed the role of mistress of the manor, I mostly saw her as a little loud and annoying - my sympathy went to her because of the degrading way Nick treated her, but it was clumsily obvious that JFP saw little use in the character beyond a shrewish foil to Nick and Mindy.

I never thought the show was trying to replace Jenna with Alex. I just felt like the show struggled with any identity for Jenna and it was easier to downgrade her to Buzz's galpal and Roger's victim, partaking in phenomenal stories like stolen face cream.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The storey didn't last long, but this is one of my favourite soap promos

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RmtCc1AoYrc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I guess for those who watched her religiously on both shows, how were Gabrielle and Jenna different? Did Fiona play them the same or differently as an actress?

[DRW50]

I mostly remember her wearing leopard print shoes (they just showed a woman's pumps for weeks), and I think she did a lot of hammy acting. It wasn't much of a role.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMWWbfenZrw

[Soapsuds]

She looks like pure Gabrielle in that promo.

Its a shame they couldnt get Joan Collins to stay longer in the role. At the time I thought Joan was a bad mistake as Alex but she was actually pretty good in the role and better than Marj.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yeah, she kept her signature long hair for quite some time.

I remember being surprised when she returned to GL with shorter hair - she still looked fierce though.

[DRW50]

I thought she looked great when she returned to GL in 1996, with that haircut - I had remembered her hair looking a bit too long and shaggy at the end of GL. Overall she always had good hair at GL. When I saw her on OLTL in 2001 I was shocked at her hair and I think it sort of created a bad impression for her from the start - it was very severe, and so many people associated Gabrielle with the long hair.

[MissLlanviewPA]

It was all about the hair from the beginning, wasn't it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93SC22LSoHo

And I LOVE her Argentinean style dress, too .

[Soapsuds]

It's a shame ATWT didnt use Fiona to her full potential. She could have been a long long relative of a central character. I was always envious of OLTL having such a talented actress like Fiona.

[DRW50]

They brought in some talented actors for short term roles at this point. I guess it may have been a budget thing, I don't know. Or perhaps she was too hot to touch after the Zaslow controversy so they hired her short term, like they did with Roscoe Born around this time.