Rachel Confirms s7 Casting Spoilers

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

 


I'd like to take this opportunity to say that whether or not you loved/hated Ashley Seaver, Rachel Nichols as an actress is a human being who did not deserve to be sidelined liked this. She obviously loved her job and her co-workers, and is justifiably upset about this. 

CBS pulled the same stunt with Rachel that they did with AJ and Paget last year. Please keep that in mind. CBS might have fixed one of the symptoms by bringing AJ and Paget back, but they have in no way solved the problem of treating their actresses as disposable.

If you can, please send Rachel some love on twitter. 

Comments

[littledrop.livejournal.com]

I think her reception may indeed have been different outside your circle. I absolutely mean no disrespect when I say this, because I love and am emotionally invested in the show myself, but I'd say that the very act of discussing a show with friends/family/whomever implies an uncommon level of emotional investment by all parties. I mean, the shows I watch on a general, non-fannish basis, even those shows I watch with my family physically present in the room, I don't talk about those shows with family or friends afterwards, online or offline. I watch them because they're a pretty decent way to pass some spare time, and that's about it. I think twelve million people think CM is a pretty decent way to spend forty-three minutes of their Wednesday nights, whether Ashley Seaver is present or not.

I mean, if we were talking a 50% ratings drop I'd be totally on board with the "Seaver wasn't working and she wasn't good for CM" argument, but we're not, so. I actually think most of the general audience plain old didn't care, or didn't care enough to get angry, which amounts to the same thing in any case.

[nytekit.livejournal.com]

decent way to pass some spare time, and that's about it.
That could be true, but I didn't mean that in terms of the ratings would drop significantly just because she was there (which I probably should have said before). But I do think CM fans are a pretty vocal bunch. Many fans who still watch now have been watching from the beginning and so, I would expect, quite invested in it. I mean, Gibson, Messner, and even Nichols herself noticed that Seaver's reception was not positive. The ratings might not have dropped enough to completely damage the show, but I feel like a great portion of fans made their voice known.

But there are always those people who don't interact with the show outside of watching it, as you said. I just think CM has a higher number of fans who do than most shows.

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the people on the cast realized that Rachel wasn't being well-recepted because (1) the insane "OMG SHE'S GOING TO SLEEP WITH REID LET'S KILL HER" crowd kept tweeting horrible things at her and (2) the one fan site that Thomas and Erica do chats with refused to even acknowledge Rachel as a cast member (didn't put her in the "Starring:" sections, didn't follow her with the fansite's official twitter despite being ~objective, were repeatedly rude about her otherwise). Thomas said in a chat that people really needed to stop being awful about Rachel and give her a chance.

My point with this: Just because the internet side of the fanbase--the more "vocal" portion--doesn't overall approve (because Rachel/Seaver DOES have plenty of fans), doesn't mean most people do. I know tons of people who watch CM irl. It's one of those shows that people don't really talk about unless someone brings it up, and then it's like "Oh yeah I watch that!" I bring up CM a lot (because I am obsessive oops), and I have yet to come across someone who's had anything negative to say about Seaver. Most casual viewers don't seem to care. I'm sure there are exceptions, just like there are exceptions to online fans not liking her, but for the most part...casual viewers don't care one way or another. And casual viewers are the ones with the bigger numbers, not the vocal internet fanbase.

[nytekit.livejournal.com]

All I have to say to that is those are the casual viewers you come across. I've already said the people I talk to IRL did not feel that way.