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I loved Beth Ehlers! I really enjoyed Harley’s relationship with Alan-Michael back when Carl T. Evans played the role. Then I loved Harley’s unexpected chemistry with Josh after Reva died. Later, I loved when Harley’s well-established friendship with Phillip turned into romance. I also liked the story where Phillip learned she was carrying Rick’s child. And, finally, I enjoyed her relationship with Gus.
My recollection of the interview controversy is similar to the description from alokin’s post above, but my memory on the topic is a bit sketchy. Originally she was slated to play Liza, but then they changed it up. I was surprised at the time when AMC did not pair Ehlers with Ricky Paull Goldin, given the success of the pairing on GL.
ReplyCopy URL^^ Absolutely. It’s that charismatic personality that was Ehlers’ secret weapon, wasn’t it?! No matter what the storyline, she always let that inner light of hers shine so bright and is what really grounded her work as an actress. I think it’s also what allowed her to have great chemistry with almost any one of her on-screen partners. She had so much natural chemistry too with Justin Deas which is what made Buzz and Harley’s relationship so special and why to this day I still consider them as one of daytime’s best-depicted father-daughter duos.
ReplyCopy URLSpeaking of Guiding Light, I wonder what Beth Ehlers (who portrayed one of my all-time favorite characters, Harley Cooper) has been up to? Has she retired from acting? It’s been too long since she last graced our screens and would love to see her return to daytime. I miss her (as well as some of my other favorite GL alums like Justin Deas, Tom Pelphrey and Ricky Paull Goldin) so much!
Speaking of Beth Elhers, I can only speculate but I have a feeling she burned a few bridges within the industry. Specifically when she left “GL” for “AMC” and talked a lot of trash in the press about “GL” and CBS. I don’t remember much of the specifics but I recall that her comments left a lot of people dismayed at her.
My memory on this is also a bit hazy (it was ten years ago, after all!) but perhaps you’re referring to an interview she did (I forget with whom) at the end of her run at AMC? I recall her mentioning how honored she had felt for being asked to play a disabled Army vet and being involved in the telling of such an important storyline but then how disappointed she was over her character’s eventual pairing with on-screen partner J.R. Martinez, himself a real-life retired Army sergeant who at the time had no prior acting experience and who Ehlers claimed didn’t challenge her enough in his scenes with her. I believe she had likened the situation to something along the lines of a seasoned actor doing Shakespeare on the stage with a complete novice at the craft! I kind of get where she was coming from and personally found the Shakespeare analogy kind of endearing, but I also see how those comments could’ve maybe offended some (especially Martinez). And maybe I missed it, but I don’t really recall any interview she did where she bad-mouthed the times she spent over at GL.
I vaguely remember that she expressed anger in the way she was let-go from the show and how she showed up on-set and wasn’t allowed to even go to her dressing room to collect her things. I don’t remember the specifics to be honest; just that it seemed to hurt her reputation a bit.
ReplyCopy URLI know she retired from acting to become a writer, but I feel the need to add Staci Greason to this list. I also need to add that it’s a crime that she was never even nominated for either a daytime emmy or even a soap opera digest award, especially for during her cancer storyline. I just watched the storyline again on youtube, and teared up, she was amazing!!
ReplyCopy URL^^ That’s odd. I don’t recall Ehlers being let go from GL. I had always thought that she’d decided on her own terms to leave and not renew her contract with the show.
In 2008, Ricky Paull Goldin left CBS’s Guiding Light. His character, Gus, was killed off in the spring (either March or April). Beth Ehlers, shortly after Goldin, decided to leave as well. Her character, remaining alive, last appeared in June. One month later, Ehlers first appeared on All My Children and was working right away with Goldin.
Ehlers explained, in an interview, that after she left Guiding Light, she had some trouble collecting the rest of her belongings from the studio. A security thing. So, it may have been no big deal. But, if there was anything, there may have some resentment directed toward Ehlers, who made the same decision as Goldin, to leave Guiding Light.
I don’t think there was anything more to it than this.
ReplyCopy URLThanks DS for all your interesting findings! Who knew that Beth Ehlers had so many unexpected talents?! There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s been doing a lot of good through her profession in the medical field, which has surely given her a lot of fulfillment but at the same time probably also been very demanding, especially when juggled with family life and two kids. No wonder then she hasn’t been willing or able to commit to any acting offers that may have come her way. A big issue that I’m certain she had to consider when her stints on GL and AMC ended (and this ties in with Freeman’s point earlier, the predicament that many daytime actors living on the East Coast found themselves in once all the shows that were shot there went off the air) was whether or not to relocate to the West Coast. With the few daytime broadcast serials remaining, and the limited amount of acting positions available, it’s understandable that those who already had the stability of an established residence on the East Coast weren’t willing to make such a big move (especially when kids are in the picture) and take a gamble on an uncertain future that would or wouldn’t pay itself out. It’s interesting that Ehlers took part in that online series River Ridge back in 2011-12 well before the popularity of the digital series medium really took off (and seemingly became the mecca for a lot of our beloved daytime alums). It was co-produced by Signy Coleman (who also starred in it and I’m sure many still miss from her most memorable role as Hope Adams on Y&R) and featured some new, but also very familiar faces especially to fans of ATWT (Julie Pinson and Jon Prescott). The funny thing is, it was actually shot at a locale over in New Castle not too far from where I live, but that I only found out long after the series had already ended! It would’ve been nice to see it go back into production after it came to what appeared to be an abrupt halt (I’m not sure if that was the original plan all along, for the series to end after only six episodes?) because, given the nature of how ambitious this project was (signing on daytime A-listers and shooting on-location, which is always costly) I got the impression there was more story to tell. Anyways, the lucrative thing about the digital series of today is that shooting isn’t just restricted to one of the West Coast studios, so there are more options now for actors both in terms of shooting locale and what I’d assume would be greater flexibility with shooting schedule and overall workload. It would be awesome to have Beth Ehlers back on the acting scene. Perhaps we may just see her pop up on one of the popular digital series for a short-term role or a guest stint in the foreseeable future!
River Ridge was ahead of its time in many respects. It originally aired on the The SFN which at the time was attempting to be the first online network. This was even before Netflix did anything but mail DVD’s. It was quite ambitious at the time and never got credit for pioneering many of the things it did and unlike many other web series (Venice I’m looking at you) it wasn’t out of work friends just casting each other or doing favors, it was run like a network show.
Creator Tyler Ford admitted in an interview that a second season was written and negotiations began but The SFN struggled to make monetize their content and River Ridge at the time was the most expensive show. There were talks of moving the filming location to either New York or LA to cut costs but Tyler refused and shortly thereafter The SFN went under.
At the time it was breaking ground in many ways but ultimately it was cancelled purely out of budgetary reasons. Ford did allude to the fact that the second season ended in a much more satisfying way while also leaving it open to return.
One of the most interesting and lesser known facts is that Kim Zimmer was initially cast to play Coryn Foster but was fired for being difficult and Beth Ehlers eventually took over the role.
And I believe casting had prematurely began for the second season before the negotiations fell apart and from the sides that were released the show was intended to pick up five years later.
ReplyCopy URLI don’t know why Days doesn’t try to bring back Renee Jones. She was one of my favorites of all time. I think Lexie and Kristen would make a great duo. Something must have happened behind the scenes for her to never come back to Days.
If I remembered correctly, Renee was tired of acting and wanted to live a simpler life. That’s why she quit DAYS.
ReplyCopy URLI miss Marcy Walker and wish she would return to acting – I think I read that she got involved in some religious group? Liza and Eden were two of the most memorable characters ever on daytime!
This may interest you:
https://pierin26santabarbara.blogspot.com/2012/02/interview-with-marcy-walker-smith-eden.html
ReplyCopy URLThanks so much, sarahburnett, for all those really interesting particulars regarding River Ridge. I had not known that quite surprising casting bit about Kim Zimmer! I love how Beth Ehlers, the trooper that she is, stepped in once again to save the day. Reminds me of her time on Guiding Light, when she kept the show afloat for the greater part of 2005, i.e. the ever-evolving “Who shot Philip?” saga. It’s kind of ironic too, looking back over that year’s Lead Actress Emmy race, where Ehlers (who had yet to win her first Emmy) was nominated alongside Zimmer (previous, multiple-time winner and Ehlers’ fellow GL castmate) and Zimmer prevailed even though it was Ehlers who I felt should’ve been given the credit (and trophy) she deserved for carrying the show on her back for so long.
River Ridge was groundbreaking and you’re so right, sarahburnett, it also doesn’t get the credit it deserves for all that it tried to accomplish at the time. I find it really admirable that, despite what sounds like a very lucrative option for the show to re-locate to NY or the West Coast to cut costs, Tyler Ford insisted the shooting locale stay true to his Delaware roots, and it’s heartbreaking that this ended up being a deal breaker, especially when a second season was already in the works. I wonder what Tyler is up to now.
I was thinking it’d been cool if CBS had since picked up River Ridge (considering the many CBS acting alums who starred in the series!); it would’ve allowed the network to air some original programming as part of its daytime lineup and come in very handy now, during this pandemic.
(P.S. I tried to reply to your message, sarahburnett, within this post but for some reason, the “Quote” function isn’t working…)
ReplyCopy URLI really loved Renee Jones as well, and I miss having Lexie on DAYS and the potential for Lexie mixing it up more with Kristen. It seemed like the DAYS production schedule had started to drive some of their actors into retirement or at least out of daytime, as in a very short stretch they lost Jones and Peter Reckell to retirement and James Scott, who I haven’t seen since he was on an episode or two of that Lost spoof show that was on TBS a while back.
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