Deep Soap: A Question of Character

Whipped Into Shape

Rick Hearst is the garlic of soap actors: just adding him instantly makes everything better.  When General Hospital idiotically decided to take him off contract, The Bold & The Beautiful was quick to hire him to reprise his eccentrically named character, Whipple Jones.  I’m pleased that the show decided to rectify its own boneheaded decision years earlier to let him go due to its usual inability to write for characters whose last name is not Forrester.

Hearst’s debut episode Friday resulted in some of the show’s most intentionally funny scenes in quite a while.  From Nick repeatedly slamming the door in his face, to Whip assuming Jackie’s marriage to Owen was a publicity stunt, to Pam feeding him her infamous lemon bars, Hearst seemed to inspire the B&B writers to explore their rarely mined comedic sides.  His co-stars appeared equally inspired.  These scenes proved that the show is capable of genuine wit, not just camp.  I hope that B&B continues to attempt more sophisticated humor.  It can be so much more than the Brooke, Ridge and Taylor show.

Hearst is one of those rare actors who has the ability to make absolutely anything work.  He managed to keep Ric Lansing sympathetic despite a storyline where he imprisoned a pregnant Carly.  He made The Young & The Restless’s Matt Clark scary, even after his character became a figment of Tricia’s imagination.  So it was no surprise that he easily stepped into Whip’s expensive shoes.  Whip is just plain fun.  He’s slimy and cutthroat without being evil.  He radiates intelligence, which is not the case for many of the characters on the show.  I immediately began assessing which women on the show were worthy of being his love interest.  His ex-wife Brooke is the obvious choice.  I would like to see him with Katie, simply because I think Heather Tom deserves an acting partner who can keep up with her.  It’s a shame Jackie is currently off the market, since Hearst and Lesley Anne Down have great chemistry.  I would even enjoy Stephanie deciding that Los Angeles was big enough for two cougars and setting her sights on the man.  I hope that Bell is serious about using Hearst to his full potential.  I’ll be disappointed if six months from now he runs out of story for Whip.

I was initially disappointed that Hearst was going to B&B instead of returning to Guiding Light for the show’s finale.  Alan Michael Spaulding is, in my opinion, his greatest character.  Springfield’s Dark Prince was sexy, tormented, and complicated.  Three other actors failed to capture his essence.  This core character should be there for GL’s last hurrah.  But I understand Hearst’s desire to keep his kids fed and his mortgage paid.  I can’t think of any reason why he couldn’t appear in GL’s last episode, assuming the two shows coordinate schedules.  Perhaps Barbara Bloom and the GL writers will figure out a way to make it happen.

Dancing On His Grave

I should be sad that Guiding Light killed off Jeffrey.   He is Reva’s husband, a father of two, a man who slept with half of Springfield.  But I am feeling nothing but joy that this ill-conceived character will not pollute the final months of the show.  Bradley Cole was wonderful as the dashing, heroic Prince Richard.   When he decided he wanted to return to the show, there was no resurrecting a man whose heart had been donated.  So Jeffrey, Richard’s sleazy lookalike was created.   The show could never decide who Jeffrey was.  First he was a ladies’ man District Attorney then a Federal agent, then a villain who conspired with Dinah, used Cassie and date raped Olivia.  Finally, he became Reva’s supportive husband.  Each incarnation of Jeffrey annoyed me in a new way.  There was the time he slept with Marah, the horrific period when Jeffrey had a rock band, and, worst of all, the brief attempt to pair him with Olivia after she remembered he raped her.   Along with Sarah Brown’s Claudia and Natalia Livingston’s Rebecca, Jeffrey is proof that bringing back a popular actor in a different role is usually a bad idea.   I take almost as much pleasure in Jeffrey’s death as I do in the return of longtime favorites.  I beg the TPTB not to make this a fake out.  O’Neill deserves to be six feet under.

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