JCSRauch

In the first season the best actor/actress was Kimberly – but she was ugly as a stump and in no way soap star material and I was glad she was eliminated. But Kelly, a gorgeous 21-year-old with talent, but no skill or training had the soap look, and thus remained near to the end. Kimberly was brought back after Kelly was eliminated but it was obvious that the winner would be either Mykel Shannon Jenkins or Maya D. Gilbert since they were the only two not eliminated. In the end the dynamic Mykel won the role on "General Hospital." My hunch is that the producers of GH already had the role in mind and in general it was a matter of gender, but since the role Mykel won was a police officer, it really could have been either gender. The character of Officer Murphy could have been played by either gender, however now Officer Murphy a.k.a. Mykel Shannon Jenkins, is no longer a part of "General Hospital" having been killed by Lucky Spencer & Maxie Jones. I still wish Kelly had gotten the role, she did have the best look, and soaps are about looks more than talent, as most soap stars could not handle prime time or the silver screen. There are exceptions to that and Susan Lucci is a definite exception, however she has also been on "All My Children" since 1970 and has her craft down to perfection.In the second season of "I Wanna Be A Soap Star" we got both the look and the talent. Although I personally wanted to see Cathy win the role, there was no way she, or any female was going to win this time. The part that they were all competing for was a returning character, the producers of "All My Children" and I suspect host Cameron Matheson (one of the stars of "All My Children"). The role was for Del Henry, the younger half brother of Di Henry (who is currently going by the name of their deceased half sister's name of Dixie Martin). Nonetheless they took it down to two performers, Prudence Zdravkovic & Alec Musser – of course Alec (the male) got the role, but it was deserved as well. Alec has been on "All My Children" since the last day of season two of "I Wanna Be A Soap Star" aired - what timing – not! By the way I am not able to italicize or underline the titles of shows, so even though it is improper grammar I have to use quotes to show titles – I apologize for the lousy use of English grammar.

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blanche-2

Hopefully the second time around, I Wanna Be a Soap Star will get it right. They really didn't the first time, in my opinion.The winner of this show was to go on to a six-week contract on the soap opera "General Hospital." The process itself was pretty interesting. Actors were trained in love scenes, fight scenes, and crying scenes, got to show off their bodies with a photography session by the pool, and all in all received some very good and helpful comments from the judges: Debbi Morgan, Mark Teschner, and Michael Bruno.You knew you were in trouble when the best actress, Kimberly, was cut immediately (too edgy, too hard looking) and the worst actress (real soap look) was kept almost to the end, until it became embarrassing to keep her any longer. On top of this, it seemed as if the judges had the winner in mind already. On the final day, a GH producer came in to judge. When Maya did her scene brilliantly and Mykel was too over the top, the producer asked to see the scene again with the roles switched, giving Mykel a second chance. Strange that the only notes were for Mykel, since Maya had done such a great job. Strange and more than a little unfair.In the end, Mykel won a role on General Hospital that could best be described as that of an elevated extra. Lately he's had a tiny bit more to do, but why put the actors through all of this work if all they were going to get in the end was a chance to stand in a room and say the odd line now and then?Mykel is a gorgeous man, and he is a good actor, besides being a hard working and dedicated one. In the end, he, Maya, Kimberly, and Robyn deserved better than they got. Hopefully Mykel's role will continue to grow and the others will find success in their careers. But for this show to really work, the stakes have to be higher. The contract role needs to be a ROLE and everyone needs a fair shake, especially on the last day.

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