Why Did Christopher Pennock Stay on DS after Leviathan?

[Philippe Cordier]

I always come back to my lasting suspicion that there was very little respect for the audience involved here, and "good enough" was the prevailing standard.

Gosh, this is almost a direct quote (quite coincidental, I'm sure ) from a rather infamous post I made last year, although that was still a little further down the road in Leviathan ... but if you are getting that impression already, well, let's just say you'll have even more reason to in the near future ...

I'm pretty much fast-forwarding through things at this point, especially with Friday's really bad episodes (including the unexpected triage of my three "favorite" DS actors  ) ... the only high point I remember from this point on in the storyline is Angelique (though possibly I'm forgetting some good things since I don't really remember how much longer Leviathan goes on). ... I remember I was still defending Leviathan for the most part until much closer to the end -- even the unexpected news about Victoria Winters that's coming up (which seemed to get most people in a dither).

The good news about Pennock is that he is quite a bit more tolerable as Gabriel in the 1840 storyline, though he still enjoyed mugging the camera.

I remember expressing a similar opinion last time regarding Carolyn's stupidity as MB mentions ... you'd think she would have some sense of listening to her own instincts, especially when re-inforced by some extraordinary dreams, not to mention warnings from others, but ...

On the other hand, I suppose we all have ignored our better instincts and judgment and gut feelings at times, and have been sorry for it afterwards.  I just viewed an extreme case of this in a made-for-TV re-run miniseries on Lifetime, where a woman seemingly assisted in her own (and her two young children's) murder(s) ... withdrawing all her savings to turn over to her "future husband" (yeah, right), rewriting her will to make him her sole beneficiary, taking out a number of staggering life insurance policies on herself, naming said "future husband" sole beneficiary of course. I mean, how dumb can you get? Pretty sad case, though.  The things people do for love ...

[Dr. Eric Lang]

I think it came down to one simple reason: popularity. Unlike Bernau and Scott, Pennock generated a lot of positive fan mail (makes you wonder what sort of substances the people who wrote those letters were on?

Aw, c'mon MB, Jeb was grrrooovy, baby!!!

Bernau may have simply accepted another job offer after the Phillip Todd character was bumped off. (I have a tough time believing Geoffrey Scott was offered another job elsewhere, but I guess anything is possible.)

Marie Wallace probably would have been written back into the show at some point if she hadn't taken another soap job after the Megan character was bumped off. She had a lot of "down time" between her DS stints and a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, so to speak.

I love the story she relays, wherein she received a call from her agent on the last day of the Megan Todd storyline, asking her if she wanted to audition for a part on Secret Storm. "I think I'd better," she replied, "because they're putting a stake through my heart this afternoon."

[Mysterious Benefactor]

if she wanted to audition for a part on Secret Storm

That would have been Another World - Somerset, but I'm sure you knew that and simply made a mistake (something we're all guilty of from time to time ). And Marie was quite incredible as India Delany.

My most vivid memory of Marie on the show (which I happily got to joke about at length with her at the 1989 Red Zone party) was after India got bopped over the head with a gold candlestick to the tune of "Theme from Shaft" (and "her" motionless body laid behind a couch for two weeks while Marie was actually off on vacation), she got to confront her attacker (after recovering from her bout with amnesia, of course ) with the immortal line, "I haven't just pulled the rug out from under you, darling - I've pulled out the wall-to-wall carpeting!"

Aw, c'mon MB, Jeb was grrrooovy, baby!!!

As for Jeb, well, trust me, you don't want to hear (read) what I'd have to say about that comment!

[Gothick]

Yeah, baby, Jeb and his personal Naga are simply shag-a-delic!

Jeb was clearly DS's version of the typical hipster-gone-bad character that appeared on so many Sixties shows.  I'm sure that had a lot to do with his appeal back in the day.

Jeb's dialogue sounds even more dated than Buzz Hackett's, sometimes.  I still remember this scene where he's discussing Maggie with Barnabas and gets this sudden gleam in his eyes and crows, "You DIG her, man!"  Yeah, dude.

Gothick

[Philippe Cordier]

At the risk of drawing attention to my misuse of a word above, I meant to refer to the surprise "trio" of my favorite    DS actors appearing in last Friday's second ep ... but for some reason I must have been thinking about checking into a hospital instead ... probably one of the "mental" variety ... 

[Philippe Cordier]

I think what really irked me about Carolyn was how she remained in ignorant bliss about Jeb through the end of the series. That really caused me to lose sympathy for her character.  I mean, I just couldn't like a character who was that dense.

(I have a tough time believing Geoffrey Scott was offered another job elsewhere, but I guess anything is possible.)

He actually did fine in his first scene in Tuesday's first episode, when he was talking on the phone before Angelique came in.  I mean, that isn't much, but it does show potential. 

[IluvBarnabas]

I think what really irked me about Carolyn was how she remained in ignorant bliss about Jeb through the end of the series. That really caused me to lose sympathy for her character.  I mean, I just couldn't like a character who was that dense.

I always thought Millicent was the most dense of all the characters Nancy played on the show. Well maybe dense is the wrong word, but undoubtly she was sooooooo gullible as far as Nathan was concerned. [spoiler]One minute she wanted to kill him when she found out about Suki then she wants to marry him because he saved her life (it never occured to her he could have set the whole thing up, especially since he was forbidden by Joshua to come on the estate?)....calling him a man of "true splendor" and a "gentleman" I just had to roll my eyes...[/spoiler]

Don't get me wrong, I loved Nancy in just about every role she played but Millicent of all the characters she played was my least favorite. Do love Carolyn, Charity [spoiler](once she was possessed by Pansy Faye),[/spoiler] Leticia and Melaine with a passion!