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Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Sarah Brown, Rebecca Budig returning to daytime
There’s been some big news in casting the past couple weeks.
Sarah Brown (General Hospital’s original Carly) is returning to Port Charles, and Rebecca Budig (All My Children’s original Greenlee) will be popping up again in Pine Valley.
Although they both launched significant soap characters, there is a difference in their returns. Sarah is slated to play a brand new role, while Rebecca will be stepping back into the part that put her on the daytime map.
My initial reaction to these ladies’ comebacks was positive. I adore both these actresses and would welcome them on my TV screen anytime. But I do have a few reservations.
Let’s start with Sarah. She is probably one of the best actresses to ever come through daytime. She always brings such passion and intensity to her roles. That fire is what made Carly such an indelible part of the GH landscape. Without Sarah, I’m not sure there would still be a Carly.
Of course, I’m not knocking her successors. Not at all.
Tamara Braun filled Sarah’s shoes admirably and even put her own stamp on the role.
Then there was Jennifer Bransford, who may not have been quite the right fit (as evidenced by her short time in the role), but she did a fine job with Carly’s nervous breakdown.
And now we have Laura Wright, who has rightly earned fan loyalty and accolades for her portrayal. She has made Carly her own, and she deserves to keep the part. Not that I think anyone at ABC even considered booting her for Sarah, but sometimes the higher ups are knuckleheads, so you never know.
I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m excited Sarah will be back on the GH canvas, but I’m glad someone else didn’t have to lose her job in the process.
So what’s my reservation? That she’ll come in and her story line will be a complete flop. Not through any fault of hers, I would suspect, but because soaps often make the mistake in these situations of either a) throwing the new character into a story/romance with an actor they’ve worked with before, banking on the chemistry to make it all fly, without bothering to offer a strong plot as foundation or b) making the new character so diametrically different than the actor’s previous character, thereby totally neutralizing the strengths of the actor and pretty much guaranteeing a disaster.
Did any of that make sense?
Bottom line: I’m thrilled Sarah’s coming back, but I hope GH doesn’t screw it up.
However, Sarah’s return doesn’t worry me as much as Rebecca’s.
OK, before anyone jumps on my case, I will preface all this by saying … and I’ve said it before … that Rebecca Budig is awesome. She’s cute, she’s funny, she’s a wonderful actress.
In fact, many people consider her the “real” Greenlee.
The problem is, I liked Sabine Singh in the role. Maybe I was the minority, but there you have it. Not to say I won’t welcome Rebecca back, but I think it’s pretty shabby the way Sabine got the shaft.
But you know what worries me most about all this? Where will this leave Aidan?
I thought Sabine had sweet, yet scorching chemistry with Aiden Turner. It was a big reason she was becoming more comfortable in Greenlee’s shoes. She finally had a story that was separate from everything so deeply connected with Rebecca, and it was giving her a chance to mold the role on her own terms.
And Aidan. How long have viewers waited for him to find someone worthy? Someone for the long haul? Someone you really believed he had a soul connection with?
He found that in Sabine’s Greenlee.
That’s not to say that Rebecca and Aiden won’t have the same chemistry, or even better, but it saddens and frustrates me to think I finally had an Aidan love story to invest in … and then poof!
We’ll see, though. Maybe the writers will continue with Aidan and Greenlee. I hope so. But I’m afraid they’ll throw her right back in with Ryan, and as much as I appreciate his portrayer, Cameron Mathison, Greenlee deserves better than what Ryan can give her.
That all said, I welcome Rebecca … and Sarah … back to daytime. The fact is the genre is better whenever they’re around, no matter what role they happen to be playing.
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