Re: What ever happened to Michael O'Hare?

On Mon, 5 Jun 2006 18:17:04 -0400, masonReloaded wrote
(in article <1149545760.263144.315550@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>):

Amy Guskin wrote:
On Fri, 2 Jun 2006 12:08:32 -0400, masonReloaded wrote
He certainly has gravitas. Let's have Michael O'Hare be the new
president in 24! <<

In the 24 universe, Ray Wise's character (VP Gardner) would be next in line
for the presidency.

Immediately after the last episode of Season 5 yes Gardner would be
POTUS, but if the next season is set after another election it could be
anybody they want...

...well it's all academic anyway, as we know quality actors like O'Hare
and Boxleitner chances of every getting a role like that are almost
nil, IMHO they don't get the recognition they deserve from quality
performances when it is in genre television, much as Andreas did to
some extent - not that he wasn't a renowned actor, but if he had
excelled in a cop show or medical drama like he did in Babylon 5 you
can bet he would have picked up more recognition... <<

'Tis true.

One reason I think that a certain type of quality acting isn't as much in
demand anymore is that the style of television has changed so much. Think of
the way shows looked and sounded in the 50s, 60s, 70s. I don't mean the
technical quality of the film; I mean the style of the writing and the
acting. There's a theatricality that we don't see much on television
anymore, if at all. It's one reason I can watch B5 over and over; the
theatrical quality of the presentation makes it like a piece of _art_ for me.
While so many current shows deal in this sort of hyper-realism, to the
extent that you sometimes can't even make out what they're saying because
either a character is mumbling, or people are talking over one another (like
in Sorkin shows). Which you'd never see in theater (okay, except maybe David
Mamet).

In Babylon 5, every word meant something, and the lines were delivered as
though they did.

I certainly like and watch shows like 24, West Wing, The Shield, ER, but they
don't give me the same kind of satisfaction that watching something like B5 -
or Twilight Zone, or classic Trek, or Night Stalker, or Buffy - does.

So where does that leave the classically-trained stage actors in a world of
hyper-realism and reality tv? Je ne sais pas, but it's a fairly grim
picture. It's heartbreaking when I think of Andreas having to audition
repeatedly for NYPD Blue, and when they _did_ finally throw him a part, it
was a couple of nothing lines and a really broad caricature of a character.
If someone like that, with that level of ability wasn't able to get decent
roles on television after the incredible work he did on Babylon 5, I don't
really know what that says about where the art _is_, and where it's going.
Sadly, it's hardly surprising we don't see the others on television very
much. (rant off)

Amy


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