loveslullaby

After re-watching her Intimate Portrait, I'm much less offended on her behalf with the Jennie/Tori stuff. I highly doubtful they went all Regina George on her. And not being inclusive or welcoming doesn't necessarily equate to emotional torment, lol. I can understand being content with your inner circle of cast/crew members that you've known for 8 years and not caring to get to know someone new.

On another hand, Vanessa grew up having braces and not being a cool kid. So I get how not fitting in and feeling left out on set probably brought all that back for her, and shook her up to the point she decided to depart early.

Talk of joining the show (7:40):

yulan

it is logical they wanted to hang out with the same people like always, but as far as I understood, they were also jealous and territorial. Vanessa was soooo beautiful and she was already famous, even more than Tiffani when she joined the cast, I think. I'm sure Jennie and Tori felt the need to let her know she was not welcome.

I did not know Aaron released her from the contract 6 months earlier - wasn't she there almost until the last episode?

loveslullaby

I think they outgrew that by then. If Jennie was able to catch her cattiness after Tiffani's arrival and even going as far as to swear it would never happen again, I can't see her reviving that behavior.

No, she left in February and the show ended in May.

yulan

Well, Jennie apparently had problems with some more people between Tiffani and Vanessa's arrival: Emma Caulfield, a guy who played Mark, Jessica Alba, allegedly also Hillary Swank. It seems logical to me she also had issues with Vanessa.

I mean, maybe not. I was not on the set But it seems to me like both she and Tori behaved like territorial divas a lot. There's a bit too many stories about it. And even nowadays they had a nerve to throw a shade at Tiffani at Ru Paul's Drug Race, so I think they never really outgrew such a behavior. They just don't have many opportunities to show it.

Man, that's how much I forgot

loveslullaby

She was more a bigger name in Daytime that garnered a bit of mainstream attention (People's 50 Most Beautiful list, The Rock blockbuster, Prince vid, big soap triangle). I think Tiffani was more relevant when she made her arrival. I have doubts the cast had heard of Vanessa when she came on. A part of me thinks Aaaron wasn't even looking for someone to revive the series, but rather merely fill the brunette bad girl slot.

yulan

That's possible. I don't know, I thought she was famous. But I guess there was no hope for the show at that point anyway.

loveslullaby

Yeah, it was too far past it's prime.

ETA: Her wardrobe baffled me a bit. She was wearing clothing similar to mine back then, and I was like 9 and 10 at the time.

loveslullaby

Perhaps she would've been more interesting had they made her Kelly's long lost cousin and not Donna's?

yulan

I had to check it out in some pics, but yeah. Some of that stuff looks a bit infantile.

Hm, maybe, given the antagonism between the two. Then again, Kelly already got a lost sister (the one she did not know about). And it would be too similar to Jane/Sydney on Melrose Place.

loveslullaby

It was especially glaring when her predecessor was in curve-hugging dresses and heels more than half the time.

Well, they were a big fan of repeating sls by that time. If they gave Noah two random siblings that season, I don't see why not Kelly. And borrowing from Melrose Place makes sense since they were mildly following their lead with all the campiness.

yulan

Well, I guess it couldn't get worse than it already was. How sad that the show which launched the other show eventually ended up imitating it - badly.

loveslullaby

How sad is it that said show got an EW Reunion cover FIVE years ago when it's predecessor that lasted longer has yet to ever be profiled for the special. And they missed both the 20th and 25th anniversary date to do it. Smh.

Staying on topic, maybe the writers didn't make them related because they didn't want to over victimize Kelly. They probably figured having your boyfriend get back together with his estranged wife, being sexually assaulted, and killing your attacker with your cousin sabotaging your life in the same season would be too much.

yulan

Right, Donna had to get her share of misfortunes too.

However, choice couldn't have been worse. Gina and Donna had the same father and their mothers were sisters, so one would expect them to look very much alike. But there were no two actresses with more different looks than Vanessa and Tori.

loveslullaby

Right?! It was so glaring. They gave zero ****s by then.

loveslullaby

Hey pretty: