While everyone’s entitled to their opinions and tastes in entertainment, I feel like we’re getting perilously close to yucking on others’ yums. Soaps aren’t for everybody, but they’re just as valid as other genres, and the years-long histories can give storylines resonance to dedicated fans that isn’t obvious to newcomers.
Also we’re kinda wandering off-topic. I’m happy to split this off if there’s interest in further discussion.
Nah, watch and enjoy what you want. I was focused more on the quality (or lack thereof) of the writing on a show or genre, along with other constraints, and how it affects decisions to re-cast when an actor leaves.
I wasn’t all that fond of the character or her acting and I didn’t know she was a MAGA nut until this post. I love the show and it will only be better without her however they decide to remove her from the story.
I wouldn’t say it’s the tattoos, at least for me.
It’s the fact that they get all psyched up about a sport who’s entire goal is giving people brain damage for entertainment. Then acting like people are weak for getting brain damaged.
You’re shitting me …
Please let it be a movie version of Ben’s terrible action novel.
Eddie Izard had a bit in the late 90s/early 00s that was almost verbatim, I think dressed to kill but might be glorious
yes i totally get that, but in a universe as big as star wars, she doesn’t have to be the only one. we already told her story. why not move on and create even MORE characters. To me mandalorian has been all about the freedom that comes with creating new characters as opposed to being tied to existing popular characters. To turn around, now that mandalorian is popular in and of itself, and assume only these new popular characters are the new franchise and have to be milked for all they are worth for years is to ignore that lesson. You can constantly innovate and create new characters and stories and if you do it right people will care! people can actually be entertained by new stuff! I wish hollywood would figure that out. i guess its just not the easiest and least financially risky gamble compared to remakes and sequels. sigh…
Maybe Carino will have a part for Roseanne Barr in her new production. /s
Oh, it’s gonna be terrible… I can’t wait.
From the @DurhamO’s link:
I’m with you. It’s going to be so bad. So. So bad.
ETA: I’m betting notably worse than Battlefield Earth.
If it even comes to fruition at all; might be yet another grift.
Scalzi on the topic:
His main points, each explored further in the essay:
Being ‘canceled’ basically means learning that you’re replaceable.
‘Canceling’ is certain people discovering that capitalism doesn’t love them as much anymore.
“Being Cancelled” doesn’t mean you never work, it means you work in the minor leagues.
When you’re privileged, consequence feels like oppression.
The age of (unmediated) celebrity social media is (probably) coming to an end.
I think this is one way stage performances have an edge over television: since each showing is unique in its way, it doesn’t matter if the guy playing Iago is switched out because he had an argument with the actor playing Desdemona, as long as the new guy can act just as well. Recorded performances place more emphasis on the individual actor, and make it harder.
I think the next step is going to be actors forgoing makeup and CGI just changing how they look from the get-go, so all you need are good body-doubles who sound like how the character should sound, and even that can be tweaked, swapped out, and so on. The future belongs to the legion of nameless Andy Serkis type actors.
True. There is some mild disappointment when a marquee star is replaced by an understudy for a performance (especially in a show with pricey ticket), but experienced theatre-goers roll with it for the most part.
The studios would like it that way, and as the CGI and SFX slowly emerge from the Uncanny Valley we’re going to see more of it. However, at least in the U.S., A-list stars fill the role of an aristocracy that a lot of people (pathetically) still seem to need. There’s a whole multi-billion-dollar ecosystem of gossip media, commercial endorsements, and star-based marketing that’s not going to just disappear.
Oh yeah, definitely. Gina Carano is no Robert Downey Jr. or Johnny Depp. But studios will feel more emboldened to make the supporting cast into CGI, so that the supporting crew of some fantasy ship can look more consistent over the episodes and seasons, even if half drop off after the initial contract runs out.
For this show, Carano was definitely one of “The Six” (i.e. the core group of actors you see on any show) for “The Mandalorian”. In the future, for characters like this we’re going to see studios buying the rights to the actors’ in-character images, including high-resolution body, gait and voice scans.
I don’t think quality is one of the big drivers for rewriting characters. An absolute hack can easily rewrite a peripheral, short run character like this out of existence. In a longer running, core character even a master writer would struggle to write out a central figure and recasting is just a better option. Pick your preferred prestige drama and yank out the lead unexpectedly and a recast is probably going to give a better written story arc than tossing the story for a rewrite.
Thanks, this take on an oldie but goodie is especially great:
That’s not how it works for prestige dramas (or prestige sitcoms for that matter), certainly not since the 1990s but often earlier. When a lead actor leaves a show with high writing quality, the solution is usually to write them out in a creative way (preferably one that leads to new arcs or themes), stop writing about them at all (works best in “big universe” settings like this one) or – in the case of the marquee star leaving or dying – just calling it a day and ending the series.
Going back to the 1970s, we saw Norman Lear write out two characters by having them die when the actors wanted to move onto other things. The show-runners on MASH also wrote out major characters rather than re-casting. And I guarantee you that, had James Gandolfini died while “The Sopranos” was still in production, that season would have been the show’s last (though perhaps a spin-off would have been possible).
Show-runners who value quality writing just don’t typically re-cast or drop major characters without explanation. There are exceptions where re-casting can work (e.g. SF shows where a character is a shapeshifter or symbiote or animated shows) but they’re rare. Re-casting is a hack’s or corner-cutter’s solution, and for certain types of shows that’s “good enough”.
