TAMARA BRAUN ONLINE is stunned to hear of the death of Tamara’s GENERAL HOSPITAL co-star, Tyler Christopher. As with Rest in Peace Billy Miller, we send our condolences to Tyler’s family, co-workers, and fans. Tyler played the part of Nikolas Cassadine on GHDAYS OF OUR LIVES. Tyler was on during Tamara’s time as Carly Corinthos. I believe they had a few scenes together. This is just too tragic for the GENERAL HOSPITAL community coming on the heels of both Billy Miller’s death, and the death of Jacklyn Zeman earlier this year.
Category: General Hospital
So the title has to do with a line Tamara says as AVA VITALI that is perhaps the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long while on a soap. I’m really loving Steve as Harris Michaels and how keeps talking Ava down on the ledge much in the way he did as Jason to Tamara’s Carly on GENERAL HOSPITAL. And I’m one thousand percent here for it. I’m also wondering if head writer, Ron Carlivati, is doing what he could never do on GENERAL HOSPITAL and capitalizing on the embarassment of riches he has with the obvious chemistry Tamara and Steve have had since Carly and Jason. I’m remembering the scene where Carly was forcing a suit fitting on Jason before his and Courteny’s (Alicia Leigh Willis) wedding and before Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) kidnapped Carly beginning the Panic Room storyline. I think I’m done strolling down memory lane.
- TAMARA BRAUN – IN SOAP OPERAS > DAYS OF OUR LIVES > 2023 > 09/27/2023 – “DAYS OF OUR LIVES”
Billy Miller has passed. This was such a shock to see this on Twitter/X this morning. I grew to admire Billy’s acting when he was a recast for the character of Billy Abbott on The Young and the Restless. His charisma and engaging personality made me an immediate fan and his chemistry with Amelia Henlie (Victoria Newman) was amazing. For the role Billy won himself two Daytime Emmy Awards, and a further nomination for the role. Later he would come to GENERAL HOSPITAL as initially a recast Jason Morgan, however, when Steve Burton made his comeback in 2017, Billy was created the role Drew Cain. When Tamara came back to the show as the newly minted Dr. Kim Nero, she was paired with Billy’s character, Drew having fathered her son, Oscar (Garren Stitt). From there as Oscar battled a fatal brain tumor, Billy and Tamara portrayed grieving parents dealing with the lingering death, and finally death of their beloved son. The scene where Drew carried Oscar down the stairs at the Quartermain mansion was just gutting. Billy decided to leave the show and it was paler for it, as he garnered anther Daytime Emmy nomination for the role. Tamara would win as Best Supporting Actress. But for Billy, it’s so sad to think he was suffering. It is truly gut wrenching to think of his light fading. At 43, he had so much more to give us. He just didn’t feel he could. Be at rest now Billy. On behalf of TAMARA BRAUN ONLINE, we send his family, friends, and co-workers our condolences and wish them peace.
It’s gotta be said, that was the worst escape I think I’ve seen on a soap opera. Where was all the extra security. It’s supposed to be an asylum. It also has to be said, I’m not liking this version of EJ. Dan Feuerriegel is an amazing actor, and I do like his version, however, the blatant inconsistencies in the storyline is very jarring. What I mean is that EJ was very sympathetic to Ava back in 2008 when James Scott played him. Do the writers forget he was Ava’s lawyer? I do hope Ava and Harris (Steve Burton) do become an item. Though I’m still seeing Carly and Jason. Is it okay to want them back on GENERAL HOSPITAL playing those roles? Oh, and there’s a commercial for the series Chesapeake Shores in the video. The reason is because I couldn’t bear to leave it out. The late actor, Treat Williams who just passed this June 12, is in it. He played the part of family patriarch, Mick O’Brien. If you loved Treat’s work, or would love to know more about him, please feel free to visit the site. Rest in Peace dear sir.
- TAMARA BRAUN – IN SOAP OPERAS > DAYS OF OUR LIVES > 2023 > 09/06/2023 – “DAYS OF OUR LIVES”
I said in the previous post that I had something to say. This is going to be a small, though needed rant-ish sort of post. Tamara has been killing it as Ava. She doesn’t know anything else in everything she puts her mind to. She’s an incredible actress and what I have to say has nothing whatsoever to do with her craft or acting. It has to do with the state of her current storyline. As a viewer of Ava’s since her debut way back in February 2008, I’ve seen her character go through a spectrum of severe rewriting and reconning. I know Tamara has said she hasn’t liked certain returns, and the same issue I have in the inconsistent writing, my issue here is that it’s all the same retread of the last time around. It’s getting tedious and to the point of satire. Let’s see all the ways to make Ava crazy and the villainess with no chance of changing or moving forward. There is no real reason for Ava’s current condition other than the writing being so, well, dumb.
Here’s my main issue: Unless the drugs Martino (Joe Penny) were ordering the doctor to give Ava has had long-term effects, there is no reason for this behaviour to continue. When Ava left Salem in 2008, Ava was sane. She was cured. There was no reason in 2015 when she came back to be back to crazy or the way she was other than plot driven drivel. The whole Ava/Steve “rape” I’ve covered in a blog post When Is It Rape?, was calculated to make Ava hated, as if she already wasn’t for coming in between Steve (Stephen Nichols) and Kayla (Mary Beth Evans), and the sabotaging of the plane that caused the death of Papa Shawn Brady (Frank Parker), whoever created this storyline should be forced into a walk of shame a la Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) on Game of Thrones. Did I want Steve and Ava involved and Kayla out of the picture? Sure thing. The chemistry between Tamara and Stephen Nichols was off the charts. However, Ava/Tamara was designed to fail just like Reese Williams from ALL MY CHILDREN, and Kim Nero on GENERAL HOSPITAL due in large part to the failure of the writing for each character. I hate that so much. I don’t expect Tamara to play angels all the time. She’s that good that her bad roles make her sympathetic, with the exception of Claire Dunning in THE PRETENDER. However, the constant and consistent failure of the writing is bothersome. What can be done to fix this mess that Dena Higley, Ron Carlivati, and Jamey Giddens have created? How to fix Ava Vitali? Simple.
My idea would be to go back to 2008 and Tamara’s original run. Bring back the character of Martino and have Ava under Marlena’s care, never mind her severe conflict of interest considering she was on the plane with Shawn Brady, find out something buried deep in Ava’s conscious that has created this repetitive mental relapse. What could that be? There is more than one way to solve this issue and bring about a change in Ava’s character and allow her to be a mother to her beautiful son, Tripp (Lucas Adams). That is Charlie’s (Mike Manning) father is Martino Vitali, not this guy that suddenly came into the story, Jimmy. Having Charlie be Martino’s from this betrayal from Martino would explain a lot of the reason Ava couldn’t love him. How could she when it was actual rape from her father? Her love of Tripp is because of her love for Steve, which is the reason the whole Indonesia storyline was really bad writing and just making the fans hate Ava more than they already did. When we look back on DAYS OF OUR LIVES history, there have been characters who have done worse than Ava, but who are beloved such as Stefano DiMera (the late Joe Mascolo), and Victor Kiriakis (the late John Aniston). I don’t expect them to completely redeem Ava, but how about allow her some modicum of peace and move on with her story of forging a tighter bond with Tripp? I really love the scenes Tamara and Lucas have had as Ava and Tripp. I want them to have a meaningful relationship. The fact that Tripp has in any way called Kayla “Mom,” or that he changed his name to Johnson instead of Vitali, makes me feel they are actively trying to remove Ava from the picture completely. Sort of like those old Soviet Union photos that would suddenly change if someone fell out of favour with the current big boss. Is it too much to ask the current writers to actually look at the character bible to look into how to make Ava less a pariah? Other women in Salem like Kristin (Stacy Haiduk), and Nicole (Adrienne Zuker) have done worse and have been blessed with being able to be mothers to their children, yet Ava has been constantly denied that right.
Yes, I did put that in the title. Tamara sure was getting traction out of that coffee stir stick. She knows how to work her scenery and I’m here for all of it. I’m going to say I just adored Tamara and Steve Burton (Harris Michaela) today. They were magnetic to watch, as they were as Carly and Jason on GENERAL HOSPITAL. If not for Sonny (Maurice Benard), Carly and Jason would have been a good paring. We all know though, Sonny will always be Carly’s true love no matter what anyone else says.
- TAMARA BRAUN – IN SOAP OPERAS > DAYS OF OUR LIVES > 2023 > 08/08/2023 – “DAYS OF OUR LIVES”
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