1 hour ago, BetterForgotten said:

Deidre Hall and Suzanne Rogers are both crap actresses. The only time Dee bothers to step it up is when Eileen Davidson is there to light a fire under her ass. Other than that, she hasn't bothered to put any consistent effort since, what, 1983? 

 

I've found Suzanne to be as subtle as a heart attack with this recent story. Granted, I know she's supposed to be a drunk, but she's wayyyy over the top. 

 

I like watching Dee, just something about her, but I agree she sort of gave up after the Kristen stuff (she'll try when Kristen is involved or she's with Will/Chandler, but other than that they don't give her great material, either). She still out acts Suzanne. Lawd. Suzanne was embarrassing. But Maggie the drunk is entertaining so I'll take it at the moment.

 

I really miss popup Maggie of the 90s. Holding Alice's hand and just being a supporting presence. Maggie has been intolerable for about a decade now. I miss when I liked the character. 

 

I think the 'older divas' on the soaps started adding hysterics because that's what TPTB wanted. Susan Hayes has said as much about JER. I imagine for Dee and Suzanne it's the same. JER had no interest in Susan Hayes' subtle performances. So now she acts way more over the top than she ever did. Same for Robin Strasser on OLTL ... the list goes on. And they're all very capable actresses when they're more subtle and given the right material.

Edited June 14, 20196 yr by KMan101

I think Deidre really excels at comedy. Some of her scenes with Judi Evans last year were just gold. But the writing isn’t always up to scratch.

10 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

I think Deidre really excels at comedy. Some of her scenes with Judi Evans last year were just gold. But the writing isn’t always up to scratch.

 

Yeah, she definitely had fun with that and I thought did a good job. She seems to have fun with Hattie. And Judi Evans does so good as Bonnie. It's clear Ron has no interest in writing for Judi as Adrienne and only as Bonnie, lol. Adrienne's appeared twice this year ... 

It’s funny, I love Dee, but not as Hattie. That’s Andrea’s role. Andrea was the superior Hattie. 

 

Somewhat off topic but I wish they would’ve asked Andrea back as Samantha for Marlena’s recent out-of-body experience where she encountered Tony, Andre, and Gina 

I also agree about Judi. I can’t stand Adrienne but I love Bonnie. That scene last year where she made a pass at Patch was hysterical. I’d love to see Bonnie return and interact with Jack. It would be a lot of fun (and funny, since Bonnie and Jack are comedic characters).

20 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

 

I like watching Dee, just something about her, but I agree she sort of gave up after the Kristen stuff (she'll try when Kristen is involved or she's with Will/Chandler, but other than that they don't give her great material, either). She still out acts Suzanne. Lawd. Suzanne was embarrassing. But Maggie the drunk is entertaining so I'll take it at the moment.

 

I really miss popup Maggie of the 90s. Holding Alice's hand and just being a supporting presence. Maggie has been intolerable for about a decade now. I miss when I liked the character. 

 

I think the 'older divas' on the soaps started adding hysterics because that's what TPTB wanted. Susan Hayes has said as much about JER. I imagine for Dee and Suzanne it's the same. JER had no interest in Susan Hayes' subtle performances. So now she acts way more over the top than she ever did. Same for Robin Strasser on OLTL ... the list goes on. And they're all very capable actresses when they're more subtle and given the right material.

 

Deidre is definitely the more watchable and charismatic actress.  I think the OTT is a JER thing as well, at least in Deidre's case.  You can see a shift in the way she plays the material of, say, the affair to the way she starts playing things from Maison Blanche on forward.  But to be fair the material was ridiculous.

Suzanne has always been way OTT and hysterical to me in her acting, and while I didn't mind her as a talk to and Alice's support she could have been given at least 1 story by JER lol.  I like her as drunk Maggie right now.  It's not good acting, but if I was offended by bad acting I would have stopped watching Days ages ago. 

Just now, carolineg said:

 

Deidre is definitely the more watchable and charismatic actress.  I think the OTT is a JER thing as well, at least in Deidre's case.  You can see a shift in the way she plays the material of, say, the affair to the way she starts playing things from Maison Blanche on forward.  But to be fair the material was ridiculous.

Suzanne has always been way OTT and hysterical to me in her acting, and while I didn't mind her as a talk to and Alice's support she could have been given at least 1 story by JER lol.  I like her as drunk Maggie right now.  It's not good acting, but if I was offended by bad acting I would have stopped watching Days ages ago. 

All This right here

9 minutes ago, carolineg said:

 

 I think the OTT is a JER thing as well, at least in Deidre's case.  You can see a shift in the way she plays the material of, say, the affair to the way she starts playing things from Maison Blanche on forward.  But to be fair the material was ridiculous.

 

But I do think that's the difference between Dee Hall and someone like Eileen Davidson. Eileen can ground that ridiculous material and make it almost seem real (I guess that's where also playing a more grounded character like Ashley Abbott may help), but Dee Hall reverts to camp and has those annoying orgasmic-sounding acting tics that have gotten worse as time has gone by. 

I’ve never found Dee campy or over the top. The things you listed that you hate about her are the things I love about her.

 

Eileen is absolutely brilliant as the Banks siblings, especially Susan. She brings so much nuance to the role (the range of her voice, her eyes, her body movement, etc.) that that other actress can’t capture. Her brief return as Sister Mary Moira in 2017 was fantastic and quite distinguishable from Susan even though she hadn’t played that role in 19 years and likely had little rehearsal time. I have never liked Eileen’s Ashley, though. 

Edited June 14, 20196 yr by Marlenaphan

2 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

But I do think that's the difference between Dee Hall and someone like Eileen Davidson. Eileen can ground that ridiculous material and make it almost seem real (I guess that's where also playing a more grounded character like Ashley Abbott may help), but Dee Hall reverts to camp and has those annoying orgasmic-sounding acting tics that have gotten worse as time has gone by. 

 

Oh, I agree about the moans and gasps.  They have gotten progressively worse.  It's an odd choice to say the least.  I don't remember it being as noticeable to me until the late 90's and her and Drake now just seem to use it in all their scenes.  Now I am used to it but I never got DH's motivations for making it sound like she was in a porno.

ED is just a better actress, but I will say that ridiculous material helped not hindered her.  She was dead boring as Kristen before she became evil.

Just now, carolineg said:

 

Oh, I agree about the moans and gasps.  They have gotten progressively worse.  It's an odd choice to say the least.  I don't remember it being as noticeable to me until the late 90's and her and Drake now just seem to use it in all their scenes.  Now I am used to it but I never got DH's motivations for making it sound like she was in a porno.

ED is just a better actress, but I will say that ridiculous material helped not hindered her.  She was dead boring as Kristen before she became evil.

 

The moans and gasps are part of the appeal of Marlena. 

From what I saw of her 70's and 80's material, Dee didn't rely too heavily on those moans and gasps back then and felt like a much more natural actress.

 

The funny thing is, though she can be camp and ridiculous with those moans, she can also be VERY stiff at the same time. It's weird. 

 

 

12 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

From what I saw of her 70's and 80's material, Dee didn't rely too heavily on those moans and gasps back then and felt like a much more natural actress.

 

The funny thing is, though she can be camp and ridiculous with those moans, she can also be VERY stiff at the same time. It's weird. 

 

 

 

I remember using them with WN's Roman sometimes but not to the degree she does with John.  This going to sound really weird but she also has a different way she cries only with WN's Roman.  If you watch the affair storyline it's something I always notice.  I don't find DH stiff really but sometimes Marlena and John scenes in recent years come off stilted I guess.  Like maybe they forgot their lines or messed up blocking.  Because they probably did.  It's strange for me to describe because I don't find them as a couple unnatural or weird, in fact I love them and think they have great chemistry,  but sometimes their scenes just don't flow right.  Anyway, clearly I love DH/Marlena if I have given this much thought to her performances.  Carry on Marlena and your moans!

I think Dee is good, I've seen in her in other things outside of Days and she has the chops. 

Look, even Beverlee McKinsey would struggle in these days, with terrible writing and absolutely no time for proper rehearsal and direction.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

Look, even Beverlee McKinsey would struggle in these days, with terrible writing and absolutely no time for proper rehearsal and direction.

They might as well be doing it live and on the fly.