Jill Farren Phelps Interview

[prefab1]

I totally agree, Mitch. I watched the show off and on from 1994, and Peapack Reva is by far my favorite incarnation of the character. That's when Zimmer really showed off what a good actress she was, because she was able to calibrate her performance to suit the grittier, more naturalistic aesthetic of the revamped show. And even though she got plenty of airtime, she wasn't always the lead in every story, and got plenty of scenes that showed she was also a superb supporting actress; younger actresses like Bonnie Dennison (Daisy) and Michelle Ray Smith (Ava) had some of their best scenes opposite her. 

 

My least favorite Reva era, on the other hand, has to be everything from the clone story through the end of the Rauch era. I remember it being particularly bad when Claire Labine was writing. Reva was embroiled in a lot of the San Cristobel plots, and was portrayed in a saintly light, usually in an insufferable double act with Laura Wright's Cassie. I vaguely recall one storyline where she became the savior of some boat people and then another (which may have been from the same storyline) where she and Cassie disguised themselves as strippers to get dirt on sex trafficking in San Cristobel. Beyond awful. 

[FrenchBug82]

My interpretation is that Peapack is when Zimmer was pissed off at the show runners, was seeing the writing on the wall and thought the show was garbage at that stage so she gave up. She gave up on trying to give "performances" and gave up too on trying to look a certain way.

And ironically it is when she stopped trying that she did some of her best work. Because her natural charm is her real strength and she definitely can act but as soon as she amps it up just a bit she easily becomes obnoxious.
So when she is *acting* it very quickly becomes either grating or OTT - because her personality is so borderline and the line is so thin in the first place. 
But when she did her thing without worrying about being an ACTRESS, she was fun to watch, the scenery-chewing largey went away and by then Reva and KZ's personalities were interchangeable anyway so it worked in story.
 

[Spoon]

Carolyn Culliton and Millee Taggart really understood the essence or feel of GL. The show improved notably during their short stint and it was really the last time GL felt like GL.

[Liberty City]

 

By that point, it was clear Proctor & Gamble were trying to just be done. For Ellen Wheeler have been in her position for as long as she was is laughable to me, especially succeeding John Conboy.

They seemed to change executive producers every two-to-four years. She was there five; by year two she should've been cut.

[Vee]

 

Yep. IMO the Peapack stories were awful, but Kim showed what she could do with grit, candor and an absence of all the tacky 90s Paul Rauch love goddess shít. Reva was a boozy, heavy older woman who liked sex and didn't care if she was a bit rough. If these were the British soaps she'd be a canonized TV saint on par with Pat or Peggy from Eastenders - she was cast from that mold.

[Mitch]

Totally agree and always thought that during the St.Reva the Love Goddess that no one seems to think is past her prime days (Post Resurrection Reva and Zimmer always reminded me of Lucille Ball in her later shows....desperate to stay young and playing 20 years younger then she actually was ..and characters having to call long in the tooth Lucy Carmichael/Carter.."young lady.") that is what her character should morph into.  It was too bad it had to be Peapack that brought us that but I always wanted her to run Company, be behind the bar smoking a ciggie and knocking back a drink kicking people's assess and giving out bad advice.. a tough broad who has seen it all..)  But we got pastel suit Reva who crash landed on kinda gay Island Hunk's island he stopped in his tracks to see "The most beautiful woman on earth" rise out of the water, and the camera showed us Reva wet with nasty hair and mascara running down her face with wet clothes which couldn't hide her age.

[Soapsuds]

@Mitch gay hunk Island?

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[robbwolff]

That would be Sean, the hot, hairy-chested guy who lived on the island where Reva ended up after Annie tried to kill her in 1998. William Bumiller played the role. It seemed like Sean was going to be a love interest for Reva. Once they got back to Springfield, Sean was placed in Dinah's orbit and was then written out.

[Soapsuds]

Oh I know who Mitch was talking about. I just never saw it as a gay island.

[robbwolff]

 

Me too. I never heard it referred to as a gay island before. But, hey, I figured this was a chance to post a photo of Hairy Island Guy. 

[Soapsuds]

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He's a therapist now. I think I need counseling.

[Mitch]

Well, I am sure any island that Island Hunk inhabited would turn instantly gay...(and wouldn't Reva LOVE to have landed on secluded gay resort...cocktails and worshiping queens, she would never want to leave..) but I mean...Gay Island Hunk on his...Island, which he would turn instantly gay. (have no idea if the actor is gay but he came off as such...) I thought he had good friendly chemistry with Dinah and she needed a gay bestie to ring her beads once in a while.

Ha..his website says "My expertise lies in working with men transitioning into, or out of, relationships"...oh..I am sure he has helped transition many men out of their old relationships.

 

He still looks good, but its kind of funny he does indeed look like a soap therapist..."Throw some glasses on him so he looks smart, but find a way to show his chest..."