Behind The Scenes: Trivia And Other Gossip

[CrazyInAlabama]

They killed Valerie Harper off in a car accident.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hogan_Family#:~:text=After the couple failed to,die in a car accident.

[SVNBob]

17 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Sorry but the sister was played by Tricia Cast. I'm old enough to remember her on the TV version of The Bad News Bears so I recognized her when this show started.

Huh.  I'd swear Justine was on the show.  Possibly as one of the sister's friends, and my vague memories conflated the two.

[Jaded]

53 minutes ago, SVNBob said:

Huh.  I'd swear Justine was on the show.  Possibly as one of the sister's friends, and my vague memories conflated the two.

IMDB says she was in at least one episode.

[Sara2009]

On 6/13/2020 at 8:52 PM, Ambrosefolly said:

Which I stated in my post. I said that Lea Michele was probably a big bitch and more than I blame Lea, Ryan Murphy should have put his foot since he was in charge. I also stated no matter how unprofessional Samantha was acting even in that instance, how Lea went about was still wrong. Lea was neither the director nor the executive producer; since she lacks any sort of tact, she should have told the director and have either them deal with it.

And Lea has admitted to goofing off(along with a bunch of the others) when the camera wasn’t on her too. She talked about it on Kevin and Jenna’s podcast. So really she had no right to lecture someone else about the same thing.

[Mabinogia]

4 hours ago, Sara2009 said:

And Lea has admitted to goofing off(along with a bunch of the others) when the camera wasn’t on her too. She talked about it on Kevin and Jenna’s podcast. So really she had no right to lecture someone else about the same thing.

She 100% seems the type who would think she can do it but how dare anyone else do it to her because she's the "star" and the producers favorite and therefore she can do whatever she wants. 

[VCRTracking]

 

 

[anna0852]

Interesting read.

However referencing a 'black male head of an agency' immediately tells me that person works on NCIS. Anonymity doesn't go which specifics. 

[Blergh]

Performer Christian Jacobs's first regular role was in the sitcom Gloria  from 1982-1983 playing the title character's preteen son Joey Stivic in that one-year attempted spin-off of the iconic All in the Family.  

Would anyone have predicted that he'd grow up to spend the last two decades performing in a rock band and on various network and online productions playing MC Bat Commander, the clearly middle-aged pudgy but persistent leader of those self-parodying hero wannabees called  Aquabats?

[VCRTracking]

 

 

[methodwriter85]

Re-watching the Three's Company behind the scenes story. Joyce Dewitt's anger never fails to crack me up. "They lied. To my face!"

[Blergh]

On 9/23/2020 at 8:32 PM, methodwriter85 said:

Re-watching the Three's Company behind the scenes story. Joyce Dewitt's anger never fails to crack me up. "They lied. To my face!"

I also recall Priscilla Barnes reaction to all the producers' stunts and how SHE just shrugged off the whole thing with a 'consider the source' deal since the producers hadn't previously treated them like fine China so, she wasn't surprised much less disappointed that she and Miss DeWitt hadn't been considered as part of Mr. Ritter's ill-fated spin-off!  I have to admit that that philosophy has gotten me through more than one potentially aggravating scenario in my time. 

[VCRTracking]

 

 

[methodwriter85]

5 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

 

 

I feel bad for Soleil that the best she was able to do after Punky was a three-season stint as the best friend on Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, AFTER the show had jumped the shark.

I always looked at Stephen Dorff and thought of him as the Poor Man's Ethan Hawke. He's still a working actor but he never really became an A or B-level star. He had a period in the late 90's/early 2000's where he was getting pushed but it just didn't quite work out.

Edited February 26, 2021 by methodwriter85

[VCRTracking]

 

 

[Blergh]

Inga Swenson (who later played Krause on Benson) playing Baby Hoss's doomed Swedish mother called  Inger brought  to mind one odd thing about Bonanza. Namely,  that due to the younger leads looking so differently from each other, TPTB soon decided that there was no way that Adam, Hoss and Little Joe could have passed for full siblings. Hence, they came up with the idea that they had each been borne by one of Ben Cartwright's three doomed brides. Thus, the Cartwright Brothers were, in actuality, half-brothers.

Believe it or not, Little Joe himself had another half-brother by his late mother Marie ( who'd been a widow when she married Ben) called  Clay Stafford (Barry Coe) who appeared in the Season Four episode called 'The First Born' with the storyline of his hateful paternal grandmother having told poor Marie that he'd been stillborn  and having had  him raised away from her and him only learning his mother's actual fate and of his younger half-brother's existence much later. Anyway, the idea was that they were thinking of having his character become a Fourth Cartwright Brother and perhaps edge out Adam but Michael Landon thought the character might somehow take the shine off Little Joe's character and Lorne Greene sided with him so, despite the episode ending with the possibility of a future return by Little Joe's other half-brother, he proved to be a one-shot character. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Blergh

[VCRTracking]

For those who want to know why some shows have multiple directors of episodes per season:

 

 

[Bastet]

7 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

For those who want to know why some shows have multiple directors of episodes per season:

Because pre- and post-production take a long time; a director can't be prepping one episode, filming another, and editing yet another all at the same time and meet the air deadline (or, you know, sleep).  I guess I'm a bit surprised if that's something people wonder about these days.

It's why when a show's actor gets to direct an episode, you may notice their character isn't as heavily featured as normal in that one, the one before it, and/or the one after it.  They generally schedule those to occur heading into or coming out of a break in the shooting schedule to minimize the issue, but that's a lot of work for one person.  If I see an episode is directed by the actor playing my favorite character, I'm happy for them but groan for me, because I know there's a chance they'll basically be putting in a cameo next week.

[VCRTracking]

On the subject of both Bonanza and TV directors the late David Canary(Adam on All My Children)who joined the show in 1967 as ranchhand "Candy" Canady, two years after Pernell Roberts left said by the time he came on(the 9th season) Michael Landon was pretty much already running the show.

 

 

[Blergh]

On 5/9/2021 at 9:19 AM, VCRTracking said:

On the subject of both Bonanza and TV directors the late David Canary(Adam on All My Children)who joined the show in 1967 as ranchhand "Candy" Canady, two years after Pernell Roberts left said by the time he came on(the 9th season) Michael Landon was pretty much already running the show.

 

 

Interesting. I'm not surprised that ML would attempt to lord it over semi-regulars and newbies,etc.  but I'm a bit surprised that Lorne Greene didn't seem to resist that from happening- inasmuch as he was older and had more experience! In any case, it appears that Messrs. Greene and Landon stayed friends until Mr. Greene's death. 

[VCRTracking]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

Interesting. I'm not surprised that ML would attempt to lord it over semi-regulars and newbies,etc.  but I'm a bit surprised that Lorne Greene didn't seem to resist that from happening- inasmuch as he was older and had more experience! In any case, it appears that Messrs. Greene and Landon stayed friends until Mr. Greene's death. 

Pernell Roberts had just as much ego but was self centered. He left because he thought he wasnt getting enough attention. Landon was more generous. Canary said in the video ML always wrote good parts for him and was a good director. He ultimately became the main creative force in the later years much like Alan Alda on MASH. The two part episode where Little Joe marries a woman who is murdered and he goes on  revenge search for her killers was originally written by Landon for Hoss. I really believe Landon was trying to get Dan Blocker an Emmy there. If Blocker hadn't tragically died before they had a chance to make it the show could have ran into the 80s instead of ending in 1973.

Edited May 10, 2021 by VCRTracking

[Irlandesa]

"Lording over people" kind of sounds like a power trip for the sake of the power.  It doesn't sound like Landon's focus was chasing power for the sake of power but using that power to maintain a creative standard.  It can be frustrating for those who are more collaborative or who started on the same "level" as he did but if they ultimately liked what he did for the show and their characters, the biggest challenge is accepting that he does have more power than most actors.  If the co-stars managed to do that, then I can see why they'd stay friends with him.

But I did find it interesting how he spoke about how much he liked what Landon wrote for him.  It reminds me of Psych.  I thought James Roday (now Rodriguez)'s character was so obnoxious but my opinion of the actor really shot up once I started realizing that the episodes he wrote and/or directed tended to have some of the best writing for the characters of his co-stars. 

[Blergh]

On 5/10/2021 at 6:28 PM, Irlandesa said:

"Lording over people" kind of sounds like a power trip for the sake of the power.  It doesn't sound like Landon's focus was chasing power for the sake of power but using that power to maintain a creative standard.  It can be frustrating for those who are more collaborative or who started on the same "level" as he did but if they ultimately liked what he did for the show and their characters, the biggest challenge is accepting that he does have more power than most actors.  If the co-stars managed to do that, then I can see why they'd stay friends with him.

But I did find it interesting how he spoke about how much he liked what Landon wrote for him.  It reminds me of Psych.  I thought James Roday (now Rodriguez)'s character was so obnoxious but my opinion of the actor really shot up once I started realizing that the episodes he wrote and/or directed tended to have some of the best writing for the characters of his co-stars. 

Not invalid but that still didn't entirely justify him (or any other performer) behaving as though HE was the show's sole power that be. I mean, I believe that productions work best if there is a collaborative team effort with everyone being able to contribute their ideas and thoughts BUT ultimately respecting if not always agreeing with or liking the directors' calls. 

One things is for sure,  for most of ML's time on Bonanza he wore his hair in a pompadour  but only when the show was coming to an end did they seem to let him grow it to a shag but even then not to the extent he'd wear it on LHOTP and the rest of his career (when HE actually DID have the sole power and final call on every aspect of the shows' productions).

[Blergh]

Of course, in ML's defense, it needs to be said that a good number of the Bonanza film crew followed him to Little House and Highway to Heaven so it seems that they not only believed in but also valued his leadership- and he stayed loyal to them as  long as he was stayed in charge of productions.  Still, one can't wonder if, but for Mr. Blocker's abrupt death, how many more years Bonanza would have lasted- and would Mr. Landon had stayed to the end? Also, would he have ever considered creating, producing, writing and directing Little House from scratch and would he have cast Mr. Blocker in it ( maybe as Mr. Edwards)?

[anna0852]

Alison Arngrim's book spoke very highly of how ML ran the Little House set. Respectful, professional, nurturing to the child actors, no drama or bs tolerated. 

[Zella]

9 hours ago, Blergh said:

Also, would he have ever considered creating, producing, writing and directing Little House from scratch and would he have cast Mr. Blocker in it ( maybe as Mr. Edwards)?

I bet he would have. He cast Dan Blocker's son for an episode in the first season, and it is eerie how much he looks like his dad! 

I think Edwards and Jonathan Garvey were both attempts to create a Hoss/Little Joe-like dynamic on the show. 

[krankydoodle]

Person of Interest is a show I saw a few episodes of and intended to continue with but just never got around to. I knew there was controversy about what happened with Taraji P. Henson, but was surprised to find out how bonkers things apparently were behind the scenes. A recent episode of the QAnon Anonymous podcast talked to 3 anonymous sources from the set and they had nothing good to say about Jim Caviezel:

• The term Cavortex was used to describe being cornered by Caviezel and subjected to his ramblings
• He kept yanking on a dog actor's leash despite repeatedly being told not to. The dog eventually had enough, bit him, and then had to be replaced. He wasn't allowed to handle dogs after that
• He wasn't trusted to drive on set for at least several years after he ran a red light and nearly hit several pedestrians. He tried to justify it by saying that's what his character would've done

There's more, including racism, homophobia, and other flavors of awfulness. It's hard to believe what he got away with, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering this was during Les Moonves's reign.

[ABay]

I'm not surprised to learn that about Caviezel but I am surprised that Jonathan Nolan allowed it and in Michael Emerson for apparently not speaking up (unless he did in which case I am pleased to hear it.).

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 minute ago, ABay said:

I'm not surprised to learn that about Caviezel but I am surprised that Jonathan Nolan allowed it and in Michael Emerson for apparently not speaking up (unless he did in which case I am pleased to hear it.).

I am shocked, but not shocked. Does that make sense?

Now the sudden recasting of David Boreanaz for Seal Team makes more sense.

[Avabelle]

I was listening to Rob Lowes latest podcast interview where he spoke about how on the West Wing he never got a close up yet Bradley Whitford got loads. Does these two not get along? He had Aaron Sorkin as a guest so I didn’t think there was bad blood but listening to him he sounded like there could be bad blood between him and The West Wing. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Just now, Avabelle said:

I was listening to Rob Lowes latest podcast interview where he spoke about how on the West Wing he never got a close up yet Bradley Whitford got loads. Does these two not get along? He had Aaron Sorkin as a guest so I didn’t think there was bad blood but listening to him he sounded like there could be bad blood between him and The West Wing. 

If there had been bad blood, I doubt Lowe would have agreed to do that one-off special on the stage last October, I think it was.

[Danny Franks]

12 minutes ago, Avabelle said:

I was listening to Rob Lowes latest podcast interview where he spoke about how on the West Wing he never got a close up yet Bradley Whitford got loads. Does these two not get along? He had Aaron Sorkin as a guest so I didn’t think there was bad blood but listening to him he sounded like there could be bad blood between him and The West Wing. 

Lowe was originally supposed to be the star of the show, as a young and idealistic staffer negotiating Washington politics for a never-seen president.

As the show developed, his role was reduced to part of an ensemble, albeit a very strong ensemble that gave everyone time to shine. When it came time for Lowe to negotiate a new contract, whatever the show was offering him wasn't enough, so he left.

I guess it's all in the past, but there was a lot of bickering among fans as to whether Sam had been marginalised and given too many B or C-plots, while Josh was given the A-plots. I would note that Sam had four abortive non-work/romance stories - Laurie, Mallory, Ainsley, Connie - that Sorkin got bored of increasingly quickly, while Josh got a whole season of Amy Gardner (a character no one liked) so I can see why Lowe might have felt aggrieved at the time.

I know Lowe's politics and Whitford's may not exactly mesh, so that might be a factor too.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Danny Franks

[Avabelle]

4 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

I guess it's all in the past, but there was a lot of bickering among fans as to whether Sam had been marginalised and given too many B or C-plots, while Josh was given the A-plots

Yeah I think Rob shares the above opinion as he mentioned Brad specifically for being the one getting all the closeups while he got nothing. 

[krankydoodle]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Now the sudden recasting of David Boreanaz for Seal Team makes more sense.

This came up during the podcast. Employees were unhappy when he was cast in Seal Team, and only escaped that fate when footage of the pilot with Caviezel got sent up to Moonves who decided not to go ahead with him on the show.

Also, I have to amend something from my previous post: I forgot that all 3 sources said that despite all of Caviezel's issues, they've worked with way worse people in the industry and he wasn't that bad by comparison. Yikes

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, Avabelle said:

I was listening to Rob Lowes latest podcast interview where he spoke about how on the West Wing he never got a close up yet Bradley Whitford got loads. Does these two not get along? He had Aaron Sorkin as a guest so I didn’t think there was bad blood but listening to him he sounded like there could be bad blood between him and The West Wing. 

Yes, Rob and Bradley don’t like each other for a variety of reasons. From the show Rob thought he was going to be the star with supporting characters but Brad broke out fairly early and they decided to make Martin Sheen an actual character (initially the plan was that the President would be mostly off screen and only occasionally appear). There are other reasons as well but that would be off topic for this website. 

[Irlandesa]

7 hours ago, Avabelle said:

I was listening to Rob Lowes latest podcast interview where he spoke about how on the West Wing he never got a close up yet Bradley Whitford got loads. Does these two not get along?

Lowe was supposed to be the lead. He was the name actor that was supposed to draw eyeballs which gave the producers the ability to cast some unknowns in the show. He continued to submit in lead even after Martin became the de facto lead after the original shift of the central figure changed*.  But I don't think he really took issue with Sheen.  Sheen was a legend in the industry and they had known each other for a long time.

Whitford was more of his "direct rival" so to speak.  Their characters were similar in age.  Both single. BW was originally supposed to play Sam even though Sorkin and Whitford both thought he should play Josh.  Compared to Lowe, Whitford was more of an unknown; although not to Sorkin who had worked with him on stage.  Sorkin loved writing for him.  The character became a breakout and he probably did get stories that were more well received overall.  

*Had Lowe played within the structure of the show and submitted as supporting, he probably would have won an Emmy. 

So they didn't get along.  There were probably many reasons for that but I do think petty jealousy played a bigger role than it probably should have.  Overall, I don't think it's to the point that they can't work together.  Rob Lowe also came back for the show's finale.

Lowe seems to be the kind of actor who, when cast as the lead, wants to be the lead.  I haven't seen many episodes of 9-1-1 Lone Star but what I have seen feels less of an ensemble compared to the original recipe. 

7 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

Laurie, Mallory, Ainsley, Connie - that Sorkin got bored of increasingly quickly, while Josh got a whole season of Amy Gardner (a character no one liked)

Ainsley's story ended because the actress got a regular role on CSI: Miami.  And as much as I would love to say no one liked Amy, I don't know that's the case.  There were definite fans of hers--although the longer she wore on, the less she was liked.  Bradley liked Mary Louise Parker, though.  His youngest daughter is named Mary Louisa but that may just be a coincidence.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Irlandesa

[Guest]

13 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

Person of Interest is a show I saw a few episodes of and intended to continue with but just never got around to. I knew there was controversy about what happened with Taraji P. Henson, but was surprised to find out how bonkers things apparently were behind the scenes. A recent episode of the QAnon Anonymous podcast talked to 3 anonymous sources from the set and they had nothing good to say about Jim Caviezel:

• The term Cavortex was used to describe being cornered by Caviezel and subjected to his ramblings
• He kept yanking on a dog actor's leash despite repeatedly being told not to. The dog eventually had enough, bit him, and then had to be replaced. He wasn't allowed to handle dogs after that
• He wasn't trusted to drive on set for at least several years after he ran a red light and nearly hit several pedestrians. He tried to justify it by saying that's what his character would've done

There's more, including racism, homophobia, and other flavors of awfulness. It's hard to believe what he got away with, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering this was during Les Moonves's reign.

I can’t say I’m surprised with the way the show and his career went. It was noticeable when he suddenly stopped having scenes with the dog and had fewer scenes with the rest of the cast. 

11 hours ago, ABay said:

I'm not surprised to learn that about Caviezel but I am surprised that Jonathan Nolan allowed it and in Michael Emerson for apparently not speaking up (unless he did in which case I am pleased to hear it.).

I recently rewatched the show and it’s obvious that Emerson and Caviezel did not film together a lot in the later seasons. Most of time Caviezel only has brief scenes with the other regulars of the show. He mostly worked with guest stars and he didn’t spend much time with any one guest star in an episode. Looking back now I think they were limited his exposure to the actors. 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Guest

[Macbeth]

On 5/22/2021 at 6:06 PM, Irlandesa said:

Lowe seems to be the kind of actor who, when cast as the lead, wants to be the lead.  I haven't seen many episodes of 9-1-1 Lone Star but what I have seen feels less of an ensemble compared to the original recipe. 

Lowe turned down the role of Dr. Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy to star in the memorable Dr. Vegas.

West Wing was a great show Lowe was lucky to be on.  Much better actors than him were on that show.  Suck it up Lowe.

[Guest]

On 5/22/2021 at 12:24 PM, Danny Franks said:

Lowe was originally supposed to be the star of the show, as a young and idealistic staffer negotiating Washington politics for a never-seen president.

As the show developed, his role was reduced to part of an ensemble, albeit a very strong ensemble that gave everyone time to shine. When it came time for Lowe to negotiate a new contract, whatever the show was offering him wasn't enough, so he left.

John Wells all but said on an Archive of Television that Sorkin wanted Lowe gone.  That Lowe became buddies with the network president and that this conflict pretty much tipped Sorkin into leaving.  And that all the other actors blamed the conflict between Sorkin and Lowe for Sorkin leaving and that fed in pretty heavily to animosity towards Lowe and Lowe leaving.   Wells said everything except Lowe's name but it was clear who he was talking about.

On 5/22/2021 at 6:06 PM, Irlandesa said:

Lowe seems to be the kind of actor who, when cast as the lead, wants to be the lead.  I haven't seen many episodes of 9-1-1 Lone Star but what I have seen feels less of an ensemble compared to the original recipe. 

Its really a lot worse than that if you watch the show.  Its beyond being an ensemble with a clear lead.  Its to the point of a fire Captain (Lowe) and a cop rushing into a hostage station.., and guess who is the one that shots the hostage taker.  In any other show, it would be the cop.  In a Rob Lowe show, its whoever Rob Lowe is playing.  A lot of the episodes are like that, dumb in a way that is clear that Lowe needs to be the center of everything.

Edited May 24, 2021 by ParadoxLost

[Macbeth]

25 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

John Wells all but sad on an Archive of Television that Sorkin wanted Lowe gone.  That Lowe became buddies with the network president and that this conflict pretty much tipped Sorkin into leaving.  And that all the other actors blamed the conflict between Sorkin and Lowe for Sorkin leaving and that fed in pretty heavily to animosity towards Lowe and Lowe leaving.   Wells said everything except Lowe's name but it was clear who he was talking about.

Its really a lot worse than that if you watch the show.  Its beyond being an ensemble with a clear lead.  Its to the point of a fire Captain (Lowe) and a cop rushing into a hostage station.., and guess who if the one that shots the hostage taker.  In any other show, it would be the cop.  In a Rob Lowe show, its whoever Rob Lowe is playing.  A lot of the episodes are like that, dumb in a way that is clear that Lowe needs to be the center of everything.

Well there's a reason why Lowe was a founding member of the Brat Pack.

[Jaded]

Excuse the wording of this and apologies to anyone it offends...

Rob Lowe has always come across as such an attention wh*re. I hate when ensemble shows turn into shows centering around one character. An example of that is L&O: SVU becoming "The Olivia Benson Hour". It got so bad that I stopped watching the show completely. It's also why I've put off watching L&O: Organized Crime. I'd love to know what the BTS people really think of Mariska and how much the show has changed since it's inception.   

Going back to Lowe he was also out there trying to pimp out his sons in an attempt to get them more well known when promoting that stupid looking (from the clips shown on talk shows) reality show "The Lowe Files". He either chooses flops to star in or doesn't stay with shows long after he realizes things won't be all about him. I've seen shows bring him on hoping to improve ratings which hasn't seemed to work as of yet. Code Black is an example that comes to mind.

[merylinkid]

On 5/22/2021 at 7:41 PM, Dani said:

I can’t say I’m surprised with the way the show and his career went. It was noticeable when he suddenly stopped having scenes with the dog and had fewer scenes with the rest of the cast. 

I recently rewatched the show and it’s obvious that Emerson and Caviezel did not film together a lot in the later seasons. Most of time Caviezel only has brief scenes with the other regulars of the show. He mostly worked with guest stars and he didn’t spend much time with any one guest star in an episode. Looking back now I think they were limited his exposure to the actors. 

Well this explained why the show went off the rails and became the "redemption of Root."   I couldn't stand that character.   Anyone who calls people "broken code" should not be moved front and center on a show.   But I guess they needed someone to be out there doing things and they didn't want Caviezel around actual human beings anymore so that left them with Root.   She was a known character rather than have some random person show up and take over the show.  

[ABay]

I was thinking it's why they introduced Shaw, since she became Bear's main human other than Finch.

[DearEvette]

Shaw was added to the cast fairly early on.  My memory is that they added Shaw because they wanted her to be 'Catwoman' to Reese's 'Batman'.   Initially they were laying ground, it seemed, to make her this long-term sexy foil for him.

I think the pivot to making her more Root's love interest happened later.  The slash fan fic was there since late Season 2 but I think it didn't start to really become canon until late Season three after Carter died.  That is when I stopped watching. But I understand that the machine took precedence with Root in the forefront (again another reason I am glad I stopped watching because I have an irrational dislike of Amy Acker).

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Shaw was added to the cast fairly early on.  My memory is that they added Shaw because they wanted her to be 'Catwoman' to Reese's 'Batman'. 

But we already had that with Paige Turco's Zoe Morgan. So I resented it when they ditched that relationship, which I was thoroughly enjoying.

It's disappointing to find out all this other stuff. I mean, I knew Caviezel was reallllly religious, but I didn't know any of this other stuff.

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, Jaded said:

I'd love to know what the BTS people really think of Mariska and how much the show has changed since it's inception.   

Unlike the original L&O, SVU (and Criminal Intent and OC) were always more personality-focused.  The focus was on Stabler and Benson with the rest of the cast as supporting.  When Stabler left, no one replaced him as co-lead. 

The show has been on for 22 seasons.  That is amazingly steady work for a lot of BTS people.  I highly doubt they care as much about the Mary Sue aspect of the show as many viewers do. (Even though it is very annoying.  It's why I resent SVU is the longest L&O).

Edited May 24, 2021 by Irlandesa

[andromeda331]

7 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

But we already had that with Paige Turco's Zoe Morgan. So I resented it when they ditched that relationship, which I was thoroughly enjoying.

Me too. I loved Zoe. She was so cool.

Quote

It's disappointing to find out all this other stuff. I mean, I knew Caviezel was reallllly religious, but I didn't know any of this other stuff.

I didn't either. That stinks.

[ABay]

The religious thing would annoy me in real life, probably, but as long as it doesn't effect story lines, I don't really care. BUT mistreating an animal? That takes a special kind of scum.

Also Shaw came in fairly early, but not as early as Bear, and she was immediately all about the dog. It sounds to me like the mistreatment of the poor pooch would have been there from the beginning so getting the dog away from him as soon as possible makes sense. I don't remember if a timeline for the bite was mentioned.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

That is amazingly steady work for a lot of BTS people.  I highly doubt they care as much about the Mary Sue aspect of the show as many viewers do.

Not to mention from all reports Mariska is extremely well liked. I have long ago stopped watching SVU but I really admire what Mariska has down with her influence through her organization that helps test rape kits that have been sitting around for years.

[andromeda331]

1 minute ago, biakbiak said:

Not to mention from all reports Mariska is extremely well liked. I have long ago stopped watching SVU but I really admire what Mariska has down with her influence through her organization that helps test rape kits that have been sitting around for years.

I didn't know that. That's great.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Not to mention from all reports Mariska is extremely well liked.

Exactly.  She's almost at Allison Janney levels of everyone from extras to day players to guest stars to co-stars enjoying her company.  Presumably not the same level of loving being a scene partner with or even just witness to such a great actor, but she's someone pretty much everyone who works with her likes.

And, yes, she's been genuinely affected by the real-life systemic problems the show is built around and leveraged her fame that is specifically associated with such issues to do some good (I'm a civil rights lawyer with a focus on women's rights, so know a wide circle of legal workers, activists, counselors, and others working in that arena, and Mariska's name pops up with some frequency).

I couldn't hang with SVU beyond a few seasons for all the reasons I hate most cop shows, but I doubt any of her current co-stars resent her, and probably don't even have many thoughts about the apparent canonization of her character.  None of them expect to be more than an ensemble player - for which they've made a shit ton of money - so there aren't any unrealized expectations, and since she is by all accounts not a diva, I doubt the focus on the one remaining original main character chaps anyone's hide, regardless of whether individual scripts are disappointing in terms of their own character's development or whether some writers might have storyline ideas that are altered to focus more on Benson.