Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Favorite Characters

Hey there,
When you write a book where people can use their own minds to imagine the people, you can put whoever you want to together, because the chemistry will always be there.  However, when it comes to onscreen mediums like movies and TV, it's that onscreen chemistry that matters more than anything.  If two people have it, they have it, if they don't, they don't.  Two people can be married and love each other, but never have the onscreen chemistry to play two people passionately in love.  You know why?  

Because being on the screen is acting and when you love some one, really love them, you are too comfortable with them off screen to remember to act.  Plus, you end up bringing your real life baggage to work with you and the lines between on and off screen can be blurred and even the adoring public forgets that bit of truth.  Remember the movie Eyes Wide Shut and all the flack that Tom and Nicole took because they had to be directed during the love scene?  Hello, it's a movie and the director had certain things in mind for the shots, so he had to tell them what to do!  They may have loved each other, but they didn't have really great onscreen chemistry.  
Now, you have two people, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan - each married to two different people, but they have really awesome onscreen chemistry that they made really good movies (Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail), great and a really bad one (Joe Vs the Volcano), tolerable.  It's the onscreen chemistry between Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks that made these movies so great - and both are married to two different people.  Onscreen chemistry can make or break a movie, just as much as it can make or break a TV show, which is why I really dislike it when soaps replace one actress/actor with another for a character because chances are, that new actor isn't going to cut it.   
When I was young, I used to watch a ton of soaps, now, I'm down to just one - General Hospital.  It isn't just the established characters that keep me coming back, it's the writing and the acting cast.  I swear, they must use people who read/write romance novels because their scenes have only gotten better in recent years.  Sonny Corinthos is the best mobster!  And Jason?  Don't get me started there!  I could write an entire blog devoted to how great I think Jason Morgan is. 
But honestly, I haven't been a fan of Carly since Laura took over her role, but let's face it, the actress who originated Carly (Sarah Brown), now playing the role of Claudia Zacchara, was the best of the lot!  I am so glad GH brought back that actress to play Claudia because of all the actresses they've put with Maurice Benard, these two have had the best on screen chemistry.  
I am also glad that they aren't going to put Sonny and Olivia together because, to be honest, the actors just don't have the onscreen chemistry, not the way that Sonny and Claudia and Johnny and Olivia do.  These are two very hot, very steamy couples who can turn up the heat just by looking at each other!  I hope GH realizes what they've got and does their best to keep Johhny and Olivia together and Sonny and Claudia together.  
Now, Elizabeth and Lucky - what can I say?  When Jonathon Jackson played Lucky, they had some really good on screen chemistry.  When it comes to Greg Vaughn, sorry folks, but it's just not there.  She had better chemistry with Jason, but I do like the idea of Sam and Jason.  I think I always have.  Kelly Monaco is a great actress and her and Jason really do have this great onscreen chemistry that can burn down a few barns.  So far, I think that GH has been ignoring a major, major on screen pair for two long.  
Way back, when Amber Tamblyn was still playing Emily, I really thought, even then, that Elizabeth and Nicolas had chemistry, and they still do!  I can't believe they wasted time with this Rebecca crap (the only storyline in GH history I thought really, really stunk!).  I'll be clad when it's over and done with.  I never really liked Nicolas and Emily, but I did like the character of Emily, but I was more of an Amber Tamblyn fan than a Natasha Livingston one.  With Amber, the niceness and caring seemed to real, but with Natasha, it never seemed real, it always seemed fake, like acting.  That's how you find the good actors, they make their roles seamless, so well done that it feels as if they aren't acting at all.  Which is why onscreen chemistry is so important.  You want the electricity to flow, and not seem artificial.  You can't force chemistry, because it won't work and can make the acting seem awful.  
So, I have a request - please GH writers - stop with this stupid Rebecca crap (let Nicolas just walk away) and just put him and Elizabeth together, please!  It's been far too long!