NocturnalCouchPotato

I know it's reeeaaallly late of me to join this thread, but I've been in a Hazel/Andrea mood lately. Andrea seems like such a nice person on Twitter and Tumblr (she retweeted my brother once and she answered his question on Tumblr). And her song (I think it was called Robot?) is really catchy.

Last night, before I went to sleep, I was thinking about Hazel having a designated driver plot. Because of her docile personality, Hazel is always the designated driver to Paige, Spinner and Jimmy at parties. But what happens when Hazel has enough of their attitude, and decides to drink? The outcome would probably be the same as Time Stands Still for Jimmy being paralyzed, but I think that could've been a nice plot on Degrassi. They haven't covered it on TNG yet.

JustMe2000

I've always loved the verbal smack downs she gave to Paige (at the Prom in S4) and Jimmy (when she dumped him in S5), although at the same time they highlighted just how underused she was on the show.

That does sound like an interesting plot. I wouldn't mind seeing them go that route at all.

ChinaTequilia

Can you add me?

I always liked Hazel, even though we knew next to nothing about her. Paige took her for granted, and I didn't like the way Jimmy treated her in season 5.

ihavealife2uknow

Andrea opens up about her experience on Degrassi and the lack of screentime for Hazel:
(New Post) A REAL conversation about Degrassi….#tbt

MegaJ

Degrassi got better about that, I'll admit.

She also isn't the strongest actress, so that probably had something to do with that. Lauren Collins made her look like a junior high amateur. Of course, if weak acting (at the time) was the problem, that doesn't explain why we saw so much Christina Schmidt so much...

They fixed this a bit with Marisol - Marisol is more her own character that just Katie's friend, though I wish they did more with her.

ihavealife2uknow

She wasn't the only one from that cast who got the short end of the stick. Jay's never had an episode of his own outside of his relationship with Manny and after season 3 Toby barely got anything. There were times where I felt they could have given her more to do, like after Jimmy was shot but I can't picture her character being a lead.

I can totally see why she's upset though since they let Melissa, Lauren and Cassie showcase their voices and made her the girl who couldn't sing when she's got a better voice than Lauren.

NocturnalCouchPotato

I think that while she wasn't the greatest actress, there were a whole lot of others who were plain awful from start to finish, while others improved throughout their run. If Hazel was given more to do, Andrea could've improve her skills. Even if they weren't interested in Hazel, they could've use Hazel to tell stories about Jimmy or Paige, like what they did for Connor and Eli this week.

I think they could've done more with Marisol, too, and with her (probable) graduation in 2 episodes, I think the writers have got some explaining to do.

Shiny Shinx

Good news! Andrea Lewis' web series, Black Actress, has reached its funding goals. And even Stephen Stohn congratulated her.


I wonder what her series will be like.

kaleidocat

I kinda get this sense that the big controversial blog entry written by Andrea about how she got the short end of the stick was a way to bring attention to her new web series. But I have no idea about the series, its production...so what do I know? Best of luck to her.

NocturnalCouchPotato

Yeah, while I agree this felt more like a self promotion than wanting to end racism on Degrassi, Degrassi has to work on its minority representation and hopefully Andrea reminded the writers that they can't keep pushing their non-white actors aside. Before Alli and Dallas came along, how many minority A-List characters were there? Jimmy, Manny, and Liberty (who didn't get a lot of attention until season 5ish)?

kaleidocat

Is anyone watching her Black Actress web series? I see her tweet about it every once in awhile. But I've never checked it out.

JustMe2000

I haven't either. I guess I should.

kaleidocat

I don't keep up with her as much as I should. I do notice that she is frequently tweeting interviews she is doing so folks seem interested in what she has to say. That's cool.

source: Andrea Lewis Talks 'Black Actress' Web Series And Being Confident In Your Convictions | Vibe

JustMe2000

Just going through her IG account to find some pictures to post.







Carry on.

kaleidocat

Remember when Hazel was a perv?