In The Media: Fresh Off The Press

[ClareWalks]

Constance should invest in a personal journal that she could write these things in. Why the FUCK would she have TWEETED how pissed she was? And thought that nobody would question it, or think it looked bad? She just comes across as extremely naive. She's not a 15-year-old noob, she's a grown woman who's been in the business for a while.

[Snow Apple]

She has a right to her feelings and I don't blame her for no longer wanting to play Jessica. But you just don't post things like that about your job whether you're an actress or a cashier, while you're still forced to do said job. How did she think her boss, costars, and viewers see her after that? Behave around her?

She could have even posted how she loves the cast and crew and it's been great but she was hoping to be able to do new things. Instead she came off as difficult or worse.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Snow Apple

[Ms Blue Jay]

That's true.  I think about that all of the time when I tweet.  

[CrazyDog]

Her original comments were offputting enough but I'm really annoyed with her backtracking, chiding of fans, and her "pleasant" apology. The mention of gaslighting is so true.

None of her frustrations needed to be aired on social media. It sucks that she has to give up on another project but sometimes that is the "curse" of being on that rare successful tv show. 

I'm happy for the cast and crew that they get another year, which will likely be the last. Maybe the writers will reduce her screentime, which would probably make her happier, and it would definitely make me happy to have less Jessica on my screen. Win-win.

[tennisgurl]

I mean, it sucks that Constance cant work on whatever passion project she wanted to do, and Jessica has basically become a shallow shell of her former self, but damn, dont tweet about how much you hate your current job and how much it sucks that you and your co-workers are still employed by it! Or at least, dont post exactly that reaction, because obviously people are going to read that as "I hate that this stupid show I have to do is coming back." Maybe thats not totally what she meant but...yeah it does not look great. It is gonna be super awkward when she gets back to set with the rest of the cast and crew, as no matrer which way you cut it, she sounds super over it.

Like, I just think of all the cast and crew members finding out their shows got canned and being devastated at losing their jobs in the last few days, while Constance is just super pissed that her show didnt get canceled! 

[Camera One]

The last episode title seems a tad ironic now.  I can understand why she felt frustrated (considering how Jessica never grows, it's not a surprise the job isn't much of a challenge or an inspiration), but why did she feel the need to go on social media about it?  I was so happy with her success, but she made it worse by including some sanctimonious commentary in her apology.  Even elementary school students know such public outburst of emotion is inappropriate and should have occurred in a private conversation with her close friends.  I wouldn't mind if Jessica was MIA for some episodes in the final season but at the end of the day, commitments like this come with both positives and negatives.

[Mellowyellow]

That apology is a bit off to me and sounds really insincere but at the same time I don't think anyone should be crucifying her for some poorly thought out comments. 

The memes are hilarious though.

I am genuinely curious as to how this will play out and whether she'll have a career after fotb.

[Court]

I grew to hate Jessica but still loved Constance Wu. That Twitter rant is a really bad look. I have no issue with seeing her less on the show. 

Eddie and his friends are the best part of this show. Show us more of them!

[Jaded]

Her repeated use of the word pleasant in that statement made it come across like she knows she may not be the most popular person on FOTB's set. That word and her added sentence at the end were two things that made what she said seem insincere and instead was something she had to put out there in an attempt to smooth over the reaction she caused by being careless when it comes to using social media.

[readster]

19 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

I think Phoebe became a bigger asshole later. Ross is seen as problematic now because of his possessiveness and jealousy. They all really became exaggerated as the series went on.

That happens with a lot of shows that are on for so long. Grey's is a prime example of that. The Middle found itself in the same circle by season 6 and Charlie McDerment not being afraid to say and try to leave the series until he gave up by the end of season 7 and was just happy he still had a job. ABC looks at three things when it comes to a TV show: are the ratings decent, is it not too expensive to make (salaries, production ect) and do they have shows that are DOING better than them. 

  With FOTB, I feel it was more dealing with not only ratings being just above Speechless and also out doing MUCH better than Splitting up or Single Parents. Plus add in Constance and Randall's recent movie success with Crazy Rich and MCU movies. ABC wants to keep them around because once the show is gone, they know they will lose the actors. ABC gets greedy at times, but at the same time. They really need to tell shows: "Hey you know what, you are looking like this will it for you. Wrap things up." Or "You know your politics, stories, ect are out of control, clean it up or you can all get new jobs." Instead they just let things be and then you get pissed off actors, fans and producers.

[SmithW6079]

On 5/10/2019 at 9:38 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

She's not owning up to anything she said, she's claiming that she simply had a "rough day" and it was "ill" timing, people making "assumptions" and that people don't like that she used the word "Fuck" (other tweets on her timeline). 😶😶😶😶😶

She deleted the comment on Instagram and the "No it's not" as if everyone would forget and believe these explanations but um....... we all have the screenshots.   

And when someone says "my truth," you know they're about to lie and bullshit you.

On 5/10/2019 at 11:44 PM, biakbiak said:

I don’t think anyone is defending her Twitter reaction just questioning the comparisons people are making.

Plenty of people on her Twitter thread were defending her reaction to the news of the renewal.

On 5/11/2019 at 10:35 AM, fishcakes said:

The criticism she's getting for a couple of impolitic remarks is really over the top. She basically said, "aw fuck no, I'm not happy," about her show getting renewed; she didn't say, "what? I have to spend another year with those fucking brat children? I wish they would all be in terrible accidents so the show will be cancelled," which is what one would think she said judging by the SM reaction to her. 

She might not have gone that far, but she was pretty condescending in her "love" of the show, constantly referring to it as "pleasant" and easy to work on, as though it was beneath her now as an "artist" to work on something as plebian as a sitcom.

I think it's bad form to badmouth your current employer or be dismissive of the show that made you a household name, and if you do, then try to backpedal.

Maybe her first call should have been to her agent to see if she could change the terms of her contract, instead of taking to social media. 

Yet another argument against social media and another arugment for not sharing every thought that pops into your head.

[VCRTracking]

I know some dislike Seth MacFarlane because Family Guy takes some cheap shots but I think this time the joke is earned(plus I'm glad The Orville got renewed)

Edited May 12, 2019 by VCRTracking

[alihart41]

Oh yeah, everyone's having a ball this weekend.
 

[possibilities]

They snarked on SNL last night "Believe Constance Wu"

[Sparger Springs]

Wu is too old to be this stupid. Every thought you have doesn't belong on social media. She should've had her people approach the powers that be and asked for a reduced schedule to continue her movie career. I'm sure shipping Jessica off to DC or Taiwan to care for family or take care of business for a few months would've been an easy fix. I'm sure zero scripts have been written for the new season.

[SmithW6079]

8 minutes ago, Sparger Springs said:

Wu is too old to be this stupid. Every thought you have doesn't belong on social media. She should've had her people approach the powers that be and asked for a reduced schedule to continue her movie career. I'm sure shipping Jessica off to DC or Taiwan to care for family or take care of business for a few months would've been an easy fix. I'm sure zero scripts have been written for the new season.

Which they could still do. I stopped watching because the Jessica character is so awful. Send her and the youngest son away and have them never come back.

[fishcakes]

1 hour ago, Sparger Springs said:

She should've had her people approach the powers that be and asked for a reduced schedule to continue her movie career.

I agree with that if it's true that the reason she doesn't want to do the show any longer is because of having to forgo other jobs. But I don't know if that's the real reason, despite what she says in hamhanded apology. The Jessica character has become increasingly one-note and is not well-liked by the viewers; it's not something that's only talked about on message boards, there have also been at least a couple of articles written about it. Playing an unlikable character can be death to an actor's career if that's the role he or she is most closely associated with. Larry Linville talked about this late in his life; he said that casting directors could only see him as Frank Burns and so he worked very little after MASH. So I can see Wu being upset that she has to continue to play Jessica to the possible detriment of her career after FOTB while at the same time not being able to capitalize on the current interest in her because of Crazy Rich Asians.

That doesn't mean it wasn't a bonehead move for her to go on social media and express her disappointment, but when I see how people -- not just people in the business, but viewers of the show as well -- are leaping at the chance to vilify her for it, I have to wonder how much of this is what she said and how much of it is that they just don't like Jessica and that's somehow extended to Wu herself. It strikes me as an unfair reaction for people to say she's the worst part of the show and they hate Jessica but also how dare she not express how grateful she is that she has to continue playing this character that no one likes or wants to see anyway.

Edited May 12, 2019 by fishcakes

[Ms Blue Jay]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

They snarked on SNL last night "Believe Constance Wu"

Omg WHEN?  How did I miss this?!?!?!?

(iZombie was NOT renewed.  This actor did this purely for the joke.  It is freaking hilarious.  And he made the joke before any of the ones linked upthread.)  

Edited May 12, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

7 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

I know some dislike Seth MacFarlane because Family Guy takes some cheap shots but I think this time the joke is earned(plus I'm glad The Orville got renewed)

The Orville is good!

Edited May 12, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[possibilities]

The snark on SNL was during Weekend Update. Heidi Gardner has a character who I guess is a teenager and does movie reviews. As she was leaving, she shouted "Believe Constance Wu!"

[SmithW6079]

3 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Playing an unlikable character can be death to an actor's career if that's the role he or she is most closely associated with. Larry Linville talked about this late in his life; he said that casting directors could only see him as Frank Burns and so he worked very little after MASH.

According to Wikipedia, it sounds like he worked quite a lot after M*A*S*H.

Quote

After M*A*S*H

After M*A*S*H, Linville starred or appeared in many films and television series. He was a guest-star on many television series, most frequently Murder, She Wrote; Fantasy Island; The Love Boat; The FBI Story; and CHiPs. He also appeared on episodes of Airwolf (he played Maxwell in "And a Child Shall Lead") and The Rockford Files, and appeared in the television movie The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite (1981). He also played a stock character—the "Crazy General"—along with Edward Winter in the pilot episode of Misfits of Science. He also co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Grandpa Goes to Washington with Jack Albertson.

Linville appeared as jealous ex-boyfriend Randy Bigelow in the 1982 short-lived Disney series Herbie, the Love Bug. He also starred in the short-lived The Jeffersons spinoff Checking In, where he played Florence Johnston's (Marla Gibbs) nemesis, Lyle Block; however, this series only lasted four episodes. Linville co-starred in 1984 on Paper Dolls, a nighttime drama on ABC offering a glimpse behind-the-scenes of the fashion industry. In 1991, Linville appeared on an episode of the television series Night Court as a doctor. Linville also appeared in an episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Supermanseason 1 episode 3 as a crackpot claiming to have been abducted by Superman and taken aboard his spaceship.

He also had roles in many films, including School Spirit (1985), Earth Girls Are Easy(1988), C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. (1989), Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (1991), A Million to Juan (1994) and No Dessert, Dad, till You Mow the Lawn (1994).

Linville appeared as an interview subject for Memories of M*A*S*H, a 1991 special commemorating the 20th anniversary of the series. In 1997, he joined Larry Gelbart (the producer and creator of M*A*S*H) and David Ogden Stiers (who played Frank Burns' replacement on the sitcom, Major Charles Winchester) to attend a deactivation ceremony for the last remaining U.S. MASH unit in Korea.[4]

Edited May 12, 2019 by SmithW6079

[Ms Blue Jay]

4 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I agree with that if it's true that the reason she doesn't want to do the show any longer is because of having to forgo other jobs. But I don't know if that's the real reason, despite what she says in hamhanded apology. The Jessica character has become increasingly one-note and is not well-liked by the viewers; it's not something that's only talked about on message boards, there have also been at least a couple of articles written about it.

I just don't know how universal this feeling is, though.  I think that among some people Jessica is still the fan favourite she was since Season 1.  For example, before Constance voiced her displeasure, if you saw the social media announcements about the renewal, many replies said "More Jessica please!!!!!!!!"

I know that's not the sentiment here, but I swear, it exists.

Quote

when I see how people -- not just people in the business, but viewers of the show as well -- are leaping at the chance to vilify her for it, I have to wonder how much of this is what she said and how much of it is that they just don't like Jessica and that's somehow extended to Wu herself. It strikes me as an unfair reaction for people to say she's the worst part of the show and they hate Jessica but also how dare she not express how grateful she is that she has to continue playing this character that no one likes or wants to see anyway.

For me, it's not related.  I love the show, I don't hate her character at all, but I'm disappointed in her remarks.  I feel like this is common, after seeing so many people express disappointment on FOTB's social media.  I don't see how the creators or producers could possibly be happy with how she behaved.  

Edited May 13, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[biakbiak]

22 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

t don't know how universal this feeling is, though.  I think that among some people Jessica is still the fan favourite she was since Season 1.  For

Very few things are universal but the change in the character has been mentioned in a lot of reviews and articles like this so it’s a fairly widespread sentiment.

[theatremouse]

On 5/11/2019 at 3:11 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I still remember when Jessica Biel made it no secret that she wanted to leave Seventh Heaven so she started posing for Maxim and trying to find movie roles that were nothing like her wholesome character. All she ended up doing was making the producers mad.

Biel was trying to make the producers mad. They wouldn't let her quit so she was trying to get fired, which may also have been Wu's original thought.

[Ms Blue Jay]

So many shows dip in quality and so many characters change.  It's much harder for me to think up television characters who possibly stayed the same.  So yeah, what Constance did is really weird.  An actor is at the mercy of the writer.  The actor does not determine the writing.  Saying Constance could be expressing displeasure at the writing will just add more fuel to the fire that she's ungrateful for her job.

What are the terms of the contract, anyway?  Constance must stay on the show for the duration of it, even if it goes for 10 years?  Or is there a limit, like 6 seasons?  And what are the consequences if she tries to break contract, or quits?

And why couldn't she do the movie at the same time?  As I mentioned before Jennifer Aniston did 12 movies during Friends.  People seem to think that that's a ridiculous analogy but I'm not sure why.  She probably asked permission and was granted it.  So why can't Constance try the same?

The whole thing is still hilarious to me.  That she wants to be Daniel Day-Lewis but she's stuck being Matt LeBlanc.  (And I'm on the side of Joey was DEFINITELY seen as lovable.  He was clearly one of the actors who was still enjoying the hell out of his job towards the end, which he proved by taking the spinoff.)  I remember Matt once saying "No one is a bigger fan of Joey than I am."  He loved that job!

Edited May 13, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

What are the terms of the contract, anyway?  Constance must stay on the show for the duration of it, even if it goes for 10 years?  Or is there a limit, like 6 seasons?  And what are the consequences if she tries to break contract, or quits?

Industry standard is 6 season with an option for a 7th.

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

She probably asked permission and was granted it.  So why can't Constance try the same?

She specified that her reaction was to a specific project that she would no longer be able to do because of scheduling.

[Guest]

I'm curious to know why, despite being contractually committed to this show, she lined up another project that would be impossible to complete if she were called back for another season. That seems like poor judgment on her part. 

[fishcakes]

2 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

According to Wikipedia, it sounds like he worked quite a lot after M*A*S*H. 

The point is that he didn't have the kind of success he wanted as the list of credits you quoted demonstrates. He wasn't happy with guest shots on The Love Boat or small roles in terrible movies like C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. I'm pretty sure Wu's aspirations are higher as well.

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

For me, it's not related.  I love the show, I don't hate her character at all, but I'm disappointed in her remarks.  I feel like this is common, after seeing so many people express disappointment on FOTB's social media.  I don't see how the creators or producers could possibly be happy with how she behaved.  

No, I agree with all that. It's not related for me either, and I don't dislike the Jessica character although I do think the writing for her has gotten worse and more stereotypical. I also think that anyone associated with the show is perfectly justified in being pissed off about her remarks and her armpit fart noise of an apology, and the tweets that are just poking fun at her missteps are fine too. But if I didn't know what she'd done and was only looking at the angrier reactions from people who have zero stake in any of it, I would probably conclude that she'd kneecapped one of the child actors in order to get the show cancelled. All of the pearl-clutching about how rumor has it she's a rude, abusive, and most of all ungrateful person are not proportional to a couple of unwise tweets and a Super Serious Here Is My Truth As A Woman bit of revisionist history.

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

(And I'm on the side of Joey was DEFINITELY seen as lovable.  He was clearly one of the actors who was still enjoying the hell out of his job towards the end, which he proved by taking the spinoff.)  I remember Matt once saying "No one is a bigger fan of Joey than I am."  He loved that job! 

I loved Joey! And I'm one of the ten people who liked the spinoff and was sad to see it cancelled before they aired all the finished episodes. I was going to get it on DVD back when that was a thing, but Season 2 was never released in the U.S., only in Canada. You could get season 1 for around ten bucks, but third-party sellers on Amazon were selling copies of Season 2 for close to a thousand dollars, which was insanity.

[biakbiak]

11 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

I'm curious to know why, despite being contractually committed to this show, she lined up another project that would be impossible to complete if she were called back for another season. That seems like poor judgment on her part. 

It was a bubble show people do this all the time on shows that they don’t know if it is going to be renewed they even enter into contracts with it (first position vs second position casting is extremely common during pilot seasons).

[Ms Blue Jay]

40 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

I loved Joey! And I'm one of the ten people who liked the spinoff and was sad to see it cancelled before they aired all the finished episodes. I was going to get it on DVD back when that was a thing, but Season 2 was never released in the U.S., only in Canada. You could get season 1 for around ten bucks, but third-party sellers on Amazon were selling copies of Season 2 for close to a thousand dollars, which was insanity.

This makes me so sad !!!!!!!   I checked Amazon.ca for you, but it says Season 2 is $104 Canadian!!!   What a freaking crock!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

9 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

I'm curious to know why, despite being contractually committed to this show, she lined up another project that would be impossible to complete if she were called back for another season. That seems like poor judgment on her part. 

It is possible to shoot movies when you're on hiatus from a tv show, but sometimes shit happens. Often when actors are initially brought in for movie roles, there is a tentative production schedule, but it's not set in stone. If a tv actor agrees to do a movie that's supposed to be filmed during their show's hiatus, there's no guarantee that it will DEFINITELY be filmed then. There are lots of things that can cause delays before production begins (rewrites, studio interference, etc).

If filming was supposed to begin in July and it gets delayed until September, if your name isn't very high on the call sheet, you will probably be replaced if you aren't available in September. If you are the big name star that the studio is banking on to sell the movie, they might be willing to push back the start date to accommodate your schedule. But if you are on a tv show and you were planning to shoot this show during your hiatus (which is often only a few months) and production gets pushed back, the likelihood of postponing production for almost a year so that you can shoot it during your next hiatus isn't very high. If you aren't a main character on your show and if you are willing to travel a lot and if both the show and the movie are willing to work with you, then there can be some overlap in both projects (I remember some tv actor was shooting a movie simultaneously so they adjusted his schedule on the tv show so that his scenes would be shot Monday through Thursday and then he would fly to the movie location and shoot that Friday through Sunday, but it didn't go on for the duration of both projects).

[Robert Lynch]

I looked at her next other supposed projects. One is a J-Lo film called Hustlers about hookers.

[SmithW6079]

4 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I looked at her next other supposed projects. One is a J-Lo film called Hustlers about hookers.

I beg your pardon. It's about strippers. And it's a Jennifer Lopez project, so it's must be a quality production. 😁😁

[biakbiak]

18 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said:

I beg your pardon. It's about strippers. And it's a Jennifer Lopez project, so it's must be a quality production. 😁😁

The story/article it’s based on was quite good and it’s a true story. 

[Robert Lynch]

Okay, I was wondering about that.

[JAYJAY1979]

This is why it's a shame made for TV movies dont exist on networks anymore..because they filmes around tv show schedules, etc.  Since the lines between tv and movies blurred..we get more of these situations, etc.

[Robert Lynch]

Is that the project she is talking about?

[biakbiak]

45 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

Is that the project she is talking about?

No it’s in post production. She didn’t say what is was, didn’t even specify that it was a movie. 

[libgirl2]

21 hours ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

This is why it's a shame made for TV movies dont exist on networks anymore..because they filmes around tv show schedules, etc.  Since the lines between tv and movies blurred..we get more of these situations, etc.

I really miss all those good (and not so good) TV movies that were on every week when I was growing up. For goodness sake, the networks gave us one of my favorites, Duel! 

[possibilities]

Colbert talked about Wu's twitter commentary last night.

[dcinmb]

[dcinmb]

L.A. Times: ABC has no plans to recast Constance Wu on ‘Fresh Off the Boat’

[msrachelj]

ungrateful bitch about sums it up. there are people out there dying for 1/10 of her paycheck. boo fucking hoo.

and speechless was cancelled?! so sad about that. 

Edited May 14, 2019 by msrachelj
add

[LisaM]

More of Eddie's friends, please! 

[msrachelj]

17 hours ago, dcinmb said:

L.A. Times: ABC has no plans to recast Constance Wu on ‘Fresh Off the Boat’

too bad. she doesn't deserve it. but the character sucks anyway. was the real life mother this much of an unlikeable you know what also?

[scorpio1031]

On 5/14/2019 at 9:17 AM, libgirl2 said:

I really miss all those good (and not so good) TV movies that were on every week when I was growing up. For goodness sake, the networks gave us one of my favorites, Duel! 

Yes!!!  And the mini series too.

[incandescent]

Quote

“I’m going to choose to believe Constance’s most recent communication about the show,” Burke said Tuesday.

Oooooh, the shade.

[floridamom]

ABC should grant Constance Wu's wish and fire her; recast the role and re-write the character as a more likeable, caring mother. This actress doesn't realize the line of actresses that would be grateful to have her job. 

[biakbiak]

47 minutes ago, floridamom said:

ABC should grant Constance Wu's wish and fire her; recast the role and re-write the character as a more likeable, caring mother. This actress doesn't realize the line of actresses that would be grateful to have her job. 

She has nothing to do with the writing and given that she got her break at 32 which is considered late for actresses I think she does understand it. Her “apology”/statement was pretentious bullshit but I think it was honest in that she doesn’t give a shit about the show and wouldn’t care if it went away.

[floridamom]

If Ms. Wu doesn't give a 'crap' about the show, she should be trying to be let out of her contract with it. She is insulting the other actors with whom she works, IMO. If the show 'went away' and her great film career fizzles, she would have no acting job to fall back on. I think she's being arrogant. Sorry, this is my opinion. As a professional woman, she should have know better than to originally post what she did and should have been working with her agent to be let out of her contract behind the scenes. Don't trash your employer publicly. Not a good idea.