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

[philstar22.livejournal.com]

And also, they didn't "wake up" and fire her because she was badly written/unpopular (whether she was either or not is up for debate). She was fired because CBS sees actresses as interchangeable and didn't want more than three female characters. Having 4 would balance things out, but they don't seem to care about that. They focus more on the male characters and treat the actors better than they have treated any of the actresses.

[x-forgetromeo.livejournal.com]

Yes yes yes to both of your comments. You said it much better than I would have.

[antoinettemason.livejournal.com]

fucking THIS. at this point, i'm wondering which cbs actress is going to find out she was fired via twitter next summer.

[dysfunkshunell1.livejournal.com]

You know this from an inside source? Otherwise, it's your opinion.

Would you have Rachel stay on and TG not signed?

The show began with 3 female characters. Going to 4 would make it reverse top heavy. It would not fit with the ratio of law enforcement or what has worked all this time.

I agree that CBS has its issues but I will not accept the character of Seaver. The actress seems like a lovely person but the role has consistently been criticized where the actress herself has had to promise the development, noting there hasn't been much reason to watch the character.

This wasn't an attack on Seaver but an argument that what happened to Rachel does not in any way equate with what happened to AJ or Paget.

[a_blackpanther]

"The show began with 3 female characters. Going to 4 would make it reverse top heavy. It would not fit with the ratio of law enforcement or what has worked all this time. "

You do realize that sounds horribly misogynistic, right? Having an equal number of women and men on the should wouldn't make it reverse top heavy at all, considering the fact that Garcia and JJ barely had a few minutes of screentime anyway. Also, this is a TV show, the real BAU doesn't work in teams of seven, so skew the ratio of men to women slightly wouldn't be the hardest thing to swallow. Rossi didn't exactly fit in right away, either but they didn't drop him after a season.

[liliaeth]

utterly agreed

[dysfunkshunell1.livejournal.com]

No. Considering that I am a woman who has served in the military and have relatives and friends in law enforcement, I'm speaking from a place called the real world. As I said in another comment that addressed this specific portion, what has been set up for CM is already pressing the fictional envelope--anymore and it would be a joke to watch. Even shows that center around female characters do not have this ratio of women.

Rossi had an intelligent insertion and played a role in the team, even if initially protagonist. I hated Rossi when he started--I actually felt something. With Seaver, I felt she had absolutely no purpose and made no sense for her to be a regular member of the team. I'm seriously hoping the show comes to its senses and explains her departure as being fitted with her permanent unit because you don't graduate from the academy then head directly to a special unit unless you have special credentials.

[a_blackpanther]

I really find that CM presses the fictional envelope a lot less than shows like say Bones (or CSI, for that matter). There have been shows that centred around women in law enforcement (one, I believe, was called The Division). The ratio of women to men that show was somewhere above 1. Considering that the women get less screen time than their male peers anyway, I doubt anyone would have found CM "hard to watch".

I believe Seaver should have been given a chance to grow into her role on the team. I'd hate to point it out but Reid became an agent at an unlikely young age and as far as we know went straight to the BAU as well. I'm sure they could have found some sort of plausible explanation for her to stay.

[the-gubette.livejournal.com]

This. So much.

They focus more on the male characters and treat the actors better than they have treated any of the actresses.

NONE of the male actors have been in jeopardy whatsoever. Thomas hasn't signed a contract yet, but CM wants him back. They would never attempt to write off one of the male characters, and that's what disgusts me.

[cuddar.livejournal.com]

Reid's headaches were brought on specifically because they thought they were going to lose him at one point. Messer said so herself.

[philstar22.livejournal.com]

They thought the actor was going to leave. It had nothing to do with any person higher up wanting his character removed. So, two totally separate issues.

[cuddar.livejournal.com]

True.

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

BS. They fired her because she was the low man on the totem pole, and no one would really care if her character was gone anyways. This had nothing to do with Rachel being a female.

While CBS' decision to cut actors last summer was sucky, I'm NOT going to fault them for chosing AJ and Paget over any of the men. For one, none of the men had their contracts up first. For two, the men have actual fandoms and/or clout. JJ by far and away was the weakest link on the show, in terms of cutting out. Prentiss second. CBS' mistake was not in reading Paget and AJ's TVQ scores. AJ and Paget weren't saved by AJ and Paget fans. They were saved by the CM fans as a whole. Contrast that to say if they'd decided not to pick up MGG. Reid fans would go ballistic. And Reid fans? Not only sizeable, but active as well.

If anyone is to blame, it's the fans for liking the men more. We *are* a sexist society. Far and away male-dominated shows are the successful ones, not the female-dominated shows.

[blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com]

They were most likely fired because they had the lowest TVQ scores, meaning they didn't have character-fan loyalty. There weren't "JJ fans" per se. Certainly not enough for CBS to think they'd be a problem. Unlike say, Reid, who *definitely* has character-fan loyalty. People actually tune in to watch him specifically. They didn't for JJ. Probably not for Paget too.

What AJ and Paget did have was CM fandom as a whole though, which is where CBS miscalculated. They assumed letting AJ and Paget go would be like letting Rachel go. Some complaints, but eventual absorption. That 67,000 fans signed a petition for AJ and Paget's return most likely shocked them. Research wouldn't have backed that outcome up.

Of course, the reason so many people responded so quickly however, may very well be Jill's doing (at CMF Blog). She has tens of thousands of followers, and got the word out quickly. We'll see if there's enough interest in saving Rachel as there was AJ and Paget, but I seriously doubt it.

[liliaeth]

but the problem is that the show from the start has focused more on the men. If there had been an equal focus on JJ, as there is on Hotch, then JJ would have easily gotten just as big a fandom. The issue is that the writing always seems to lean more male heavy.

I for one have always loved Prentiss and Garcia more than I do Reid, even if Morgan is my favorite character. Yet the women and Morgan are more often than not pushed aside, so that the writers can put most of the emotional storylines on the white male characters. And it's because of that focus, that the fans are more instantly inclined to lean towards those characters as well, because the storyline makes it easier to focus on them.

[chreesko.livejournal.com]

no one would really care if her character was gone anyways

Really? So the character doesn't have any fans out there? None? That's incredibly dismissive.

And I would argue that it does have everything to do with her being female. The whole reason the show is in this position is for treating its female characters like interchangeable crap. While it's fine to shrug it off by saying that we are a sexist society, I'd bet a significant part of why the women (including Seaver) had such low Q scores in the first place is because they were given fuck-all to do by the writers.

[crystalfairie.livejournal.com]

no one would really care if her character was gone anyways
I think she would care if her character was gone because she's out of a job.

[thecowboycliche.livejournal.com]

THIS. Absolutely.

[ryuutchi.livejournal.com]

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