TiVo Community Forums Archives - Actors hogging all the jobs.

TiVoCommunity.com
(c)opyright 1995-2005 All rights reserved
indexcheckTC
This area is a static history of posts in the TiVo Community Forum Archive.
This archive history was made for the simple indexing of search sites like Google.

Pages:1

Actors hogging all the jobs.
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: xix_84

Having read a recent thread regarding the reappearance of the same actors on various versions of L&O in different roles (eg on this week L&O CI as a perp, next week L&O SVU as an attorney), it got me thinking how incestuous TV casting is.

This has never been more noticeable than during sweeps, when recurring characters often pop up.

Just in the past week, we have seen:

Janice (from friends) on CBS's Raymond, who's husband is also NBC's Frasier's boss.
Also in the background of the Raymond finale, the very large chested black friend on ABC's Less Than Perfect

One of the desk clerk's on NBC's ER as a bloodhound handler on CBS's CSI Miami.

NBC's Friend's Ross' new girlfriend also appeared as an attorney, also on CSI Miami.

It seems once you get on a Hollywood studio lot, you just hop from one soundstage to the next. I assume some of these shows have common producers or production companies, but surely the networks would like fresh blood.

Every time I see one of these crossover actors, I always say - Hey, that's so-and-so from that other network's show. Surely this is not the reaction they are seeking.

To give all the struggling out-of-work actors a chance, there should be an unwritten SAG rule - only one recurring role per actor.

Thoughts anyone?

Posted by: Satchel

I think Janice is hot....

Posted by: bareyb

I've noticed the same thing. Once you are "in" you are REALLY in. I've always thought it was just Hollywood's (used in the generic sense) tendency to copy each other and immediately do anything the competition is doing that has been vaguely sucessful.

From a psychological POV there's probably something to the fact that people tend to "like" what's familiar to them or is considered "good" by others. Sorta like if you went to the Rental Car Counter and you had a choice of getting a Lexus or Mercedes for not much more $$$ than you could rent an equally nice looking brand you had never heard of. I think Hollywood has the same mentality. Kind of like, "hey we can get so and so from Friends! Let's do it!"

The upside to all this, is that once you have proven yourself as an Actor, you can get jobs more easily. It's like that in most fields. Yes, there are alot of struggling Actors out there, but I'm betting very few that have any real Talent. I'm basing this assumption on the fact that Soap Opera Stars are the "cream of the crop" of the best looking candidates out there. And there are plenty of gorgeous folks who decide to be on TV (or try to be). You really get a sense of how GOOD a "good" actor really is when you see how absolutely atrocious (almost to the point of being funny IMO) some working Actors really are. Watch a few minutes of General Hospital if you need an example of being constantly aware that you are watching "an Actor". Really makes one realize how much talent it takes to make the viewer "forget" the person on the screen is "Acting".

Posted by: WinBear

The Law & Order shows share actors with HBO's Oz and Sopranos as well as some soaps since they all tape in NYC as opposed to Hollywood.

Posted by: Sinuralan

Really get that incestuous feeling watching Joss's shows, with all the ex-Firefly characters drifting around the shows, and now in the Matrix Reloaded.

Posted by: Drewster

I think the associations are really with producers and actors. A writer/producer likes to use particular actors, and will call them back for this or that supporting role. If the actor happens to be working on a show shot at the same *studio*, it's an easy casting call.

What network the show is broadcast on doesn't matter all that much.

Posted by: smak

Yah, David E Kelley uses the same people all the time. And not just because his shows were located in Boston.

The guy who plays the VP on Boston Public, played an L.A. judge in The Practice.

-smak-

Posted by: chroma601

quote:
Originally posted by WinBear
The Law & Order shows share actors with HBO's Oz and Sopranos as well as some soaps since they all tape in NYC as opposed to Hollywood.

Even so, I can vouch that there are a LOT more actors in NYC - and I mean good actors - looking for work than what we see turning up again and again. There must be one or two powerful agents that have the TV market sewn up.

My son is an underemployed actor in New York. He is working this and next weekend, thank goodness, in a play he wrote. He'll be at a storefront theater on Ludlow Street.

My wife and I think it'd be great if he could get some TV work on L&O, but it's amazingly tough to break out. I know he has the looks and the talent; hopefully someone will see him and realize that too!

Posted by: TivoDaddy

Got this info from a talent agent/manager I know.

He said that right now there is a gluttony of actors since they "opened their doors" and let more people audition. It used to be that casting directors used to scout for talent and signed them up or "found" them. They have enough talent on contracts to last them for the next 20-30 years and that within the next 10 years and talent agents will decrease in number. Hollywood will go back to their old ways and close their doors for a while.

So we'll see if this comes to pass.

Posted by: ClutchBrake

quote:
Originally posted by WinBear
The Law & Order shows share actors with HBO's Oz and Sopranos as well as some soaps since they all tape in NYC as opposed to Hollywood.

That is exactly what I was going to post. L&O and Oz are the two most closely related.

I don't watch SVU but was home a few weekends ago and my mom likes to watch it. The opening scene featured Chris Meloni and B.D. Wong (aka Chris Keller and Father Ray Mukada) in a prison interrogation room. My mom asked me why I was laughing and I told her about their background on Oz. I told my mom there would be at least one more Oz character on the show, and sure enough, the actor who played Burr Redding shows up right towards the end.

Posted by: JYoung

Acting is like any other job in that once the higher ups know you can deliver, they'll continue using you.
Producers and Casting directors will often get the same people again because of their past work. They know these people can do the job and are reliable. Qualities, most prospective employers look for.....

Posted by: TheDewAddict

quote:
Originally posted by xix_84
NBC's Friend's Ross' new girlfriend also appeared as an attorney, also on CSI Miami.

Not to mention, she also hosted E!'s 'Talk Soup' for a year, and hosted the dating show 'The 5th Wheel' for a while too.