Y&R: TMZ reporting on Michael Muhney

[alphanguy74]

I think the consensus seems to be this: Muhney is very talented, but too much of a pain in the ass, and he's not worth the trouble.

[Ann_SS]

Kudos to Jerry Douglas! Y&R's cast has a lot of issues, but it is admirable that most of the cast has rallied around HK.

MM talented? Save me.

[ajsp35801]

"High strung and emotional"..."blowing up over things that are not important"..."lucky to have not been fired long ago"

Thanks Mr Douglas for confirming what every rational person already knew.

It sounds like he was making a mockery of EB. Ridiculing the man for what he perceives as weakness.

[alphanguy74]

Keep in mind, I said everyone ELSE think he's talented. I do, too... but i don't think he's God's gift to anything. He's certainly not close to the league of Walton, Cooper, Maitland, and Cast.

[DRW50]

I didn't realize Jerry was 81. I guess that makes sense though.

I guess he and Eric must be close friends and he was annoyed at the blowback against Eric. I can see why. I'm not a Braeden fan, but he's not the devil.

[Vee]

It's just as everyone else has said all day.

Suddenly the spin is "oh, Y&R has handled this so terribly! Nobody should've talked at all!" Why? Because suddenly when it's Michael Muhney fired after an accusation of sexual harassment "spilling the tea" (I [!@#$%^&*] despise that phrase) is bad? I don't remember this same anguish when it was any number of other scandals, just glee. I don't care if people like him. I don't care if he's people's favorite. It wouldn't matter who it was - if they were accused, with reputable back-up, of doing something like this, I'd be on them just the same.

Muhney is not special. He's a primetime dude who got kicked off primetime and slummed it for a couple years in daytime and people act like he hung the moon. He's always been pretty average to me. Talented, yes, perhaps, but not that electric to me, and way too much of a diva about his supposed skills and his character. I grew up as soaps were beginning to slow down and there's only a handful of performers who are that kind of gamechanger for me; he is not one. If he truly believed that he was going to somehow revolutionize daytime and singlehandedly re-order the power structure at Y&R - and I think he did, he has that kind of rep going back to primetime - he was beyond delusional. Michael Muhney and Adam Newman were never going to run that show.

Don't act like you're all dying for "gossip" and "spilling the tea" and then shrink away when it's some sacred cow and suddenly start preaching about restraint and discretion, much less for Eric [!@#$%^&*] Braeden (and say what you will about Braeden, but he has done his years and earned his mouth). That's just hypocrisy. It's being afraid of the story and afraid of what it means for your favorite. It's being a fan vs. being objective. Yes, people would be talking about this story even if Y&R was good! They talked about RKK and the Missy Reeves scandal at DAYS when that show was still riding high. Yes, it is important and yes, he probably won't work in daytime again anytime soon, and who knows about anywhere else.

The move by the idiot fringe online now seems to be "marginalize the story, play it down and try to chalk it up to 'more unseemly backstage chaos.'' That depersonalizes it and tries to shift the focus off of Muhney. No, it's not 'more chaos.' It's not run of the mill. It's not a blip, no matter how much some people need it to be to try and preserve what may be left of the dude's career. Michael Muhney was fired amid accusations of sexual harassment. That's not going to go away.

[YRBB]

This was marvelous.

Thank you!

[vote4llama]

It's not like he was ever that big of a primetime actor either. I guess he was Y&R's most successful attempt at stunt casting, which doesn't mean anything. I rarely watch Y&R but he was boring. He reminds me of Trevor St. John except duller. Victor having a bad apple son who constantly goes against him is a good concept but it didn't work. I don't know whether it was because of the writing or the actor, but he should have been fired anyway. I feel really bad for Hunter King. I hope nobody on set is making it awkward for her.

It's sad to me that his fans pooled together some change to hire a plane to fly above the building. I bet the Sony executives didn't even see it. If they did they probably couldn't read it and thought it was one of those banner planes that goes over the beach advertising Disneyland or spray tans or something.

[ISPICE]

I bet the stans will say that JD is "old, delussional and jealous of MM's youth and talent". UGH!!!

[BoldRestless]

EB is the man! Way to get ahead of the story. Radaronline was clearly getting tipped off by Muhney or Branco so by giving his direct interview he's just killed their source. Radar will now likely run every new rumor through EB for comments. Any backstage story is going to have more credibility when it's on the record. What he said was on point. I can believe that he and Muhney got along at first. And he's right about the ad-libbing. With all the new writers the actors do know the characters better and no one will suffer if he doesn't repeat all the crappy dialogue verbatim. Muhney is very wooden and while I liked some of his work (not very often, mostly when he was being snarky, ie, playing himself) his choices are always very actor-y and obvious so I can see where he'd have trouble going off-script.

Love Jerry Douglas! That's basically the first real confirmation that Muhney did what he was accused of (not that I doubted it) but some Muhney fan in the comments is already saying technically Jerry only said it's a terrible thing to do, not that Muhney did it! Wow.

I don't think Muhney was slumming it in daytime at all. I see no evidence he had any better offers either. Veronica Mars wasn't a hit show. Even the actors who played Veronica's best friend and love interest haven't become breakout stars (well, if they have, I don't know about it), and those were supporting characters (Kristen Bell and Enrico Colantoni being the leads). Muhney played a tertiary character, at best. Fans remembered him because he had an online presence. I watched VM, and when I read that he was joining Y&R, I didn't even realize who he was at first. I REALLY don't think that a supporting role on a CW show is better than a steady gig in daytime. I think soap stars like Josh Morrow, Kirsten Storms, Sharon Case, Maurice Benard, Melissa Reeves are bigger celebrities than pre-Y&R Muhney (and current Muhney for that matter). And the stars like Eric Braeden, Jeanne Cooper, Deidre Hall, and Susan Lucci are much bigger.

[Vee]

My point was, he was "slumming" because primetime wouldn't have him.

[vote4llama]

maybe there's a web series out there for him

[BoldRestless]

Gotcha. I definitely think *in his mind* he was slumming it.

HAH!!!

[Ann_SS]

LOL! I remember when MM was hired. I will never forget wondering why people were excited over a guy whose only claim to fame was a supporting role on a CW prime time series that he got fired from. He was barely working as an actor before Y&R came along and saved him. As usual, the soaps take a poor to mediocre actor and proclaim him Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro/Marlon Brando rolled into one. RME.

MM should have no complaints. He got a steady 4.5 year gig that paid him more money that he ever made before and likely ever will again. He got paid more than most middle class people for doing not that contributes anything of substance to the world.

vote4llama, I love your original La Femme Nikita avatar. Michael and Nikita were my heart back in the day.

[kalbir]

This bears repeating: Eric Braeden rules. He keeps it real and takes no crap from anyone.