TV Guide Dec 17 1994
Is James GH's guiding light?
seems like everybody in Soapland has either come back from the dead or had a long-lost twin—and for that we can thank Francesca James. As All My Children heroine Kitty Shea, James was bumped off with a brain tumor in 1977 but proved so popular she became the first suds star to “rise from the grave” and return as a look-alike. As Kitty’s identical twin, Kelly Cole, James won even greater acclaim, as well as a 1980 Emmy. And then she gave up acting altogether. Out of guilt for what she'd wrought? Hardly. James, a theater-trained Carnegie Mellon grad, was determined to get behind the camera, and now (after directing and producing soaps for 14 years she is making what many consider an unparalleled contribution: Last May, James signed up as supervising producer of General Hospital, where the difference was both overwhelming and instantaneous. This is not intended to downplay the importance of GH executive producer Wendy Riche (after all, the best bosses hire the best talent and then let 'em do their thing) or the soap’s divine headwriter, Claire Labine.
But with James hands-on in the production booth, guiding actors, designers, and technicians five days a week, General Hospital is soaring like no soap in memory. We're talking movie-quality work here. Timing crackles. Humor and style triumph. Nuance—layers and layers of it—shades every performance (some have become so brilliant they're intoxicating). Camera work and lighting (which James has overhauled) are now so rich and textured they're practically characters unto themselves. In short, we're in heaven! But enough with the superlatives: Clearly, what's paying off in spades here is experience—the kind that knows exactly how to take it off the page, get it on-camera, and then send it shooting into the deepest part of our hearts. Just one question: Why is this so rare?
By
Paul Raven ·
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