Wishful Casting

Wishful Casting Poll: If Robin Strasser Leaves, Who Should Play OLTL's Dorian Lord?

By Jamey Giddens on July 10, 2009
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Okay, let me start off by saying I hope Robin Strasser will be on One Life to Live until the last plate of hash is served up at the Bon Jour Cafe. That being said, I have to do what I do. If I could write Wishful Castings for Jill Abbott and Nikki Newman, I gotta do one for Dorian Lord , but this time I'm gonna make it interactive, and ask you, our readers who you would like to see fill the role of Dorian— if anyone— should Strasser announce her exit today on her hotline?
 
For my money Anna Stuart (ex-Donna, Another World; ex-Vanessa, Guiding Light; ex-Mary, All My Children) would be the best fit. Stuart has mastered the art of playing the glammed out bee youch. If the show wants someone more in the vein of Strasser's larger-than-life style, there's also Louise Sorel (ex-Augusta, Santa Barbara), or Marj Dusay—suggested by one of my secret soap pals— who will soon finish her run as Aunt Alex on Guiding Light. If OLTL wants to grab a headline, Raquel Welch could be fun.  What do you think, if Strasser leaves, who should play Dorian Lord?  

Wishful Casting: Jessica Leccia as Rafe's Sister Arianna on DAYS

By Jamey Giddens on June 19, 2009
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In Michael Fairman's new interview with Crystal Chappell for Advocate.com he mentions how awesome it would be for Days of Our Lives ot snap up the other half of the insanely popular Otalia, Jessica Leccia.

You told Jessica you were going to go back to Days. How did that go?
I did tell Jessica, and she texted me back and said, Yay! Employment. You know, that is what we all wish for each other. It was funny. I had this wonderful news breaking last Friday. I am so lucky as an actor to have a job these days, but I really thought it hit me hard. I am the first one to announce: Hey, I’m going over here, and you could kind of see that people were so happy for me, but there was a weight that fell on the group. I kind of felt it all weekend. I am vacillating between extreme relief and joy and excitement about going back and trying something old and making it new again. At the same time I was feeling devastated. So, it was this weird emotional breakup at some level. READ MORE

Wishful Casting: Cloris Leachman as Y&R's Mary Williams

By Jamey Giddens on June 16, 2009
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Like so many fans of The Young and the Restless, the current storyline featuring Stacy Haiduk as the brilliantly-unhinged "Mary Jane" aka Patty Williams, has me rushing home to my DVR everyday like I'm about to watch a marathon of True Blood or something, however there is one thing that could make the story even juicier— an appearance from Paul (Doug Davidson) and Patty's malevolent mother Mary Williams!

Played from 1980-2004 by the phenomenal Carolyn Conwell (who originally tested for the role of Dr. Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives), Mary hasn't been mentioned much in recent years. This classic character simply has to come back from her extended church trip, or potluck, or wherever she is, to see what a whackadoodle her daughter has become (I think she would say it was the devil!), not to mention to react to the news that Paul is marrying ex-stripper and venereal disease spreader Nikki Reed (Melody Thomas Scott)! READ MORE

Wishful Casting: Lawrence Saint-Victor as General Hospital's Tommy Hardy

By Jamey Giddens on June 12, 2009
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Hey brass at General Hospital, wanna a.) give the fans what they want in terms of more storylines featuring the hospital and b.) actually tell a storyline featuring people of color on your canvas as opposed to simply having them provide psychiatric counseling, prenatal advice and sassy commentary at the nurses' station? How about bringing back the character of Tom "Tommy" Hardy Jr. in the form of Guiding Light star and recent Ugly Betty guest Lawrence Saint-Victor?

As the son of Dr. Tom Hardy (last played by DAYS superstar Matt Ashford) and Tom's African-American ex-wife Dr. Simone Ravelle (last played by Felicia Bell), Tommy Hardy is a legacy character in the true definition of the word— the grandson of GH's first supercouple Dr. Steve (the late John Beradino) and Nurse Audrey (Rachel Ames), which makes Tommy a descendant of Port Charles' first family and a cousin to Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst).   READ MORE

Wishful Casting: Zack Conroy as Y&R's Kyle Abbott

By Jamey Giddens on June 12, 2009
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I have been holding off on Wishful Castings for the cast of Guiding Light until we knew what would happen with a possible move to cable, and although TeleNext hasn't made any updates of late, learning that Crystall Chappell is returning to DAYS pretty much tells me all I need to know. It's time to start figuring out where the rest of GL's talented stable of actors could end up. While I am really sad to see GL go, out of the death of daytime's longest running soap, new life could be breathed into the rest of this stagnating industry. Before diving into the A-list GL stars this weekend,  I'll start with an actor who is giving General Hospital's Drew Garrett (Michael) a run for the distinction of being daytime's breakout young adult male of 2009—Zack Conroy (James). I would kill to see Conroy create the role of a teenage Kyle Abbott on The Young and the Restless. 

Kyle is the son of Jack (Peter Bergman) and Diane Jenkins (first Alex Donnelley, then Susan Walters).

Here's a little ditty 'bout Jack and Diane,
Two American kids growing up in the heartland
  READ MORE

Wishful Casting: Tom Pelphrey as Nicholas Alamain

By Jamey Giddens on June 11, 2009
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If Carly Manning (Crystal Chappell) is on her way back to Salem this Fall, can her beloved son Nicholas "Nicky" Alamain be far behind? Y'all know I already have my Wishful Casting ready! I want to see Chappell's fellow Peapack alum Tom Pelphrey in the role of the tortured Euro-cad! 

Like Pelphrey's Guiding Light character Jonathan, Nicky was a slightly disturbed young man, who some how managed to enrapture the women in his life, especially his mother. What if Nicky returned and picked up where he left off with cougar Kate Roberts (Lauren Koslow), or perhaps decides to romance Hope (Kristian Alfonso) to get back at Bo (Peter Reckell) for keeping his parents apart? Or better yet, once Stephanie Gatschet finishes her run on All My Children, maybe she can come on board as Abigail Deveraux, the daughter of Nicky's father Lawrence's sworn enemy Jack Deveraux? READ MORE