Y&R: TV Guide interview with Jill Farren Phelps

[soapfave06]

I was honestly disappointed in the response for the Genie Francis question though. The one time I want her off a show! Genevieve just isn't working.

[dragonflies]

Oh I am pretty sure the Genie stuff is code for "I gave her notice, she'll be gone shortly"

[Y&RWorldTurner]

This is the most honest interview JFP ever gave in her career.

[JaneAusten]

I didn't believe most of it but it was still a good read. The only thing that stood out for me is the economics aspect she kept referring to. She's there to produce a cheaper show.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

This basically confirms what we've said - Maria had no intention of bringing Jill back when Walton's contract ended and she went to live in Oregon, despite what Maria and Walton herself were saying.

I hope they get her back though, and try to repair the hatchet job Maria and team did with the Jill character.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Again, she apologies for Maureen and owns up to it, and I believe her when she said she had nothing to do with Frankie's death.

Hello, AW was already on the brink of cancellation and they were desperate. Not to mention, Margaret Depriest doesn't have a spotless record either. 1995-1996 was a terrible time for all PGP soaps with widespread mismanagement at the top. She could've maybe stopped it, but I don't believe that was solely down to her.

[Khan]

For once, I have to hand it to the queen.

Look, I don't buy for a second that JFP believes she's made mistakes throughout her EP'ing career, let alone that she's learned from any of 'em. If killing off Maureen Bauer had indeed taught her a lesson, then why in the hell did GH's Stuart Quartermaine get killed off under her watch, too? GH needed to be rid of him about as much as you or I need to be rid of our pesky spinal cords.

[dragonflies]

How wouldn't she have had anything to do with Frankie Frame's death, unless it's being suggested she had no power at AW like she supposedly didn't at GH.

Well said!!! Seriously I can't do anything but *smdh* at that.

[Khan]

Same.

[Bright Eyes]

Stuart Quartermaine ... did he work in the library with Lucy?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Look, I don't deny Jill wanted to fire someone with a hefty contract (initially Anna Stuart and Judi Evans were the alleged people who were going to be killed off), but as she adamantly owned up to her role in Maureen's demise, what did she have to lose or gain by not owning up to Frankie's?

AW was a show on the brink of cancellation by that point, everyone from PGP and NBC had their hands in that mess.

Stuart Damon was going to be fired whether Jill was there or not. It's not like Guza hadn't been phasing out that family for years now.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

And I won't even begin to say that Frankie's death was ever on the scale of Maureen's. Maureen was a tentpole character groomed to take Bert Bauer's matriarchal status.

Frankie was just a supporting character that really didn't have much impact on the canvas once Donna Swajeski left. I still think people were more pissed at the humiliating way she was killed off, not so much so by the fact the character was written out.

[Khan]

Well, there might be something to your words, Y&RWorldTurner. According to Eddie Drueding, whose insider knowledge about all things ANOTHER WORLD-related I tend to trust, when word had leaked that Frankie was slated to be killed off (after JFP and Maggie DePriest's original choice, Donna (Anna Stuart), was nixed), viewers raised a HUGE uproar over the news. JFP panicked (possibly b/c, she still remembered the whole debacle over Ellen Parker's firing and Maureen's death on GUIDING LIGHT) and asked DePriest to rewrite the story and leave open the possibility that Frankie had survived the attack. DePriest, however, would not budge, primarily because she felt Frankie's murder would free Cass to return his earlier, roguish ways.

Ergo, if nothing else, JFP attempted a last-minute reprieve on the part of the viewers. It seems to me, though, we didn't get even that when the time came to kill off Alan Quartermaine. As you've said, Guza had it in mind to decimate the entire family, regardless; and all JFP could do was shrug and say, "Well, what are you gonna do?" The fact that she didn't try at least a little harder to keep Stuart Damon on the show...it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, ya know?

[Khan]

Sorry, I meant Alan.

(That Jill Farren Phelps woman just drives me to the point of distraction.)

[juniorz1]

God, I LOVE that woman.

I believe her when she says that she wasn't responsible for Frankie Frame's death because really, why would she lie about it? The problem Jill has, however, is that she's not acknowledging that much of the audience was more put off with the violent way in which it was done than the loss of the character herself, at least IMO. I disagree with them there- Frankie's murder is probably the last "on the edge of your seat" action sequence that I've seen on a soap (that I watch). I liked that Jill didn't just let Fax kill her, that she actually depicted Frankie fighting for her life because that's what Frankie would do. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, even though I was well aware that Alice Barrett was leaving and Frankie was being killed, I still found myself rooting for her and hoping somehow she'd survive. That's really saying something.

I really just love that she owns who she is AND that she's not going to change (RE: FOJs). She makes a valid argument too- many television producers develop a fondness for certain actors and cast them on various shows throughout their carers. The same thing happens in movies. It's the nature of the beast. Good for her for standing up for herself on that! Like them or not, the vast majority of the FOJs can act. It's not like she's bringing Charity Rahmer, Yvonne Zima, Farrah Fath, John Paul Lavosier, etc.... from show to show.

Thanks for posting! That was a great week and I continue to look forward to the debut of JFP's Y&R. I'm super, super, super excited to be watching a JFP production again. I just hope that she works some of her magic there.