Interview: Kim Zimmer, 'Guiding Light'

There’s an old adage that says stars are born not made.

Largely considered one of the most talented actors this industry has ever or will ever give birth to, Kim Zimmer — who has played iconic heroine, Reva Shayne on Guiding Light since 1983, a role that has garnered the Grand Rapids, Mich., native four Daytime Emmy Awards as outstanding lead actress — is proof positive that you can not manufacture that thing they call “it.”

As the oldest show in broadcast history prepares to fade out on Sept. 18, TV Guide Canada decided to speak to the show’s biggest star — and one of daytime’s true royal superstars — and one of my favourite people in the world, La Zimmer, for one final love — and bitch — fest.

Hold on to your water fountains, sluts of Springfield — it’s going to be a very wet ride.

TVGuide.ca: How are you?
Kim Zimmer: Honey, I’m great! How are you?

TVG: So love didn’t save the world this time, huh?
KZ: I guess not!

TVG: Last week, I had lunch with Y&R executive producer Paul Rauch, your former boss, and he told me to tell you “hi.” And that he plans on watching the final episode of GL.
KZ: I love Paul. Actually, he remains one of my favourite GL executive producers.

TVG: I was originally planning to run an interview with Paul today, but I bumped him for you! I’m sure he’d get a chuckle out of that. Paul told me you landed a TV-movie! Congrats!
KZ: Thanks! Actually, we’re shooting the movie in Canada — Victoria Island, British Columbia to be exact. The movie’s called Freshman Father. I play icy, cold Dean Carol Frost. She’s a Harvard University dean. I have three wonderful scenes but it’s a great part. In the end, my character becomes the hero of the movie. Although it’s just three scenes, that’s what my life is about now. I want to jump around and do character parts. Yes, it won’t pay the mortgage or my property taxes, but as long as I’m having fun, that’s what I care about.

TVG: When is it airing?
KZ: I have no idea at this point, but I have a feeling it will air soon because they want a quick turnaround as the narrative takes place in winter.

TVG: I’m happy you landed something so quickly outside the soap world. In the daytime landscape, I’m a little worried about your prospects, but in La La Land, not so much. Let’s face it — you were relatively successful during your GL hiatus. Is there a downside being eternally recognizable as Reva Shayne Lewis?
KZ: Let me tell you something: I’m recognizable as soap star, Kim Zimmer, but in Hollywood and on Broadway, I’m still new to them. In soaps, yes, I am Reva Shayne to all the soap-casting directors, but at the end of the day, I am an actor who was born to and craves to play different roles. If soaps want to be narrow-minded and see me only as Reva, then that’s their loss.

TVG: I think you’re wise to pursue other mediums at this point.  Although, I do think you should play up the fact that you deservedly won four Daytime Emmy Awards, which is quite the accomplishment. Do you think your Emmys will help you out in the “real world?”
KZ: No. Well, it helps my agents to get me auditions or land me on Dancing With The Stars. [Laughs] Now that I’m no longer a CBS star perhaps landing on that ABC prime-time sensation will be easier. Since the first season, I have followed Dancing, and I would love to be a contestant on the show. I think I would have a ball doing it as Cloris Leachman did!

TVG: Are you still a good dancer?
KZ: I have been — as you know! In fact, a very good dancer. I can boogie down! I don’t know about the Latin-American dances, but I want to learn which is what’s great about the show.

TVG: It’s all about leaving your comfort zone. ABC may have to rename the show, Dirty Dancing With The Stars if you become a contestant!
KZ: [Laughs] Exactly! When it comes to dirty dancing, I’m the master! [Laughs]

TVG: My friend, Vivica A. Fox, asked me if she should do it and I said go for it because it’s an earnest reality show. To be willing to fail in front of millions takes a lot of courage. And you come out a changed person. She said it was one of the best experiences in her life — not just professionally.
KZ: If the offer is there, I am there. Now that I’m not on GL, [ABC Daytime President] Brian Frons doesn’t have to sign off on it now because I’m not [a soap star] anymore. I can just be a daytime icon …

TVG With GL about to leave the airwaves, I think you could attract a lot of Springfield-starved viewers to Dancing.
KZ: Exactly. At the very least, I can bring 1.3 million viewers they wouldn’t normally have …

TVG: It was great seeing you at the Daytime Emmys last week. What did you think of the Emmycast? I know people were pissed when Michael Fairman’s brilliant GL tribute was cut short …
KZ: I feel really bad that a bunch of puppets cut our glory short. Listen, I love Sesame Street as much as the next person, but they’re still on the air. So, it was a bit embarrassing. Considering we’re the oldest show in broadcast history, couldn’t NATAS wait a year to honour Sesame Street and honour us instead? Of course, the most embarrassing thing of the night was when the first half-hour soap opera [The Bold and the Beautiful] won best drama series, and their acceptance speech wasn’t aired.

TVG: I felt so bad for Bradley Bell.
KZ: To me, that was the real sin.

TVG: But a fashion show is more important, Kim. I loved Vanessa Williams’ opening number but did we really need a second song?
KZ: Right! She’s not even on The CW, so I don’t get it. In my upcoming autobiography/memoir, I have a whole segment on this subject: The Daytime Emmy Awards should be seen on daytime! Hello! I think we lost footing when NATAS aired them during prime time because then it became a ratings race. Nighttime is not our audience. The best Daytime Emmys aired when we were on daytime. It was an intimate love fest. Each year, one network would drop one of their soaps to air the telecast and the ratings were great.

TVG: Let’s face it: if CBS aired the Day Emmys during GL’s slot, the pupil network would have garnered a much higher rating than the show, but ABC and NBC wouldn’t want to lose their viewers even for one day even in this dog-eat-dog world of ours. But if the three nets took turns airing them, then it would all balance out. I dunno — all I know is that a dead fetus could run this business better!
KZ: You’re terrible, Nelson! [Laughs]

TVG: And so are you, Muriel! Hey, you and I can both sleep at night, right?
KZ: Yes, we have no trouble in that deparment.

TVG: Let’s talk about your submission reels. I’m still shocked you didn’t land a final Emmy nomination as lead actress. I thought your performance — and the writing — during the Always film wedding with faux Reva and Josh were some of GL’s  — and your — best work in recent memory. They were simply beautiful to watch. KZ: I agree with you. Watching those episodes were emblematic of what we used to do so well from writing, performance, to referencing our past, right down to the editing. I thought the way GL focused on the new and the old at the same time was brilliant. At first, when I told people I wanted to submit that episode, I was questioned about the choice. But I stood steadfast because I wanted the industry to see what we were still capable of doing despite our production model. In that particular episode, it showed that there was a lot of care being taken as well as keen attention to detail, so I stand by the submission. TVG: I thought the romantic and humorous Always episodes provided viewers with a glimpse of the old GL. Even if it was just for a moment. I saved your Emmy reel in my secret vault of DVD treasures, actually. KZ: I thought the show did a remarkable job casting the film roles based on our GL characters, especially the look-alikes. TVG: For the first time in forever, GL didn’t sweep the Emmy nominations. Do you think the production model scared voters? KZ: Oh, golly. It’s hard to address that question with you only because it’s a big focus in my book that I am writing, so I don’t want to give it all to you!

TVG: Why do you think there is this insatiable hunger for the behind-the-scenes story of soaps? Many people who read my column don’t even watch soaps anymore — but they are still interested in the backstage politics and drama.
KZ: I like to refer to our show as an heirloom. Everyone claims that our show was a success because it was family-oriented. I don’t agree. I believe that the fact that our GL franchise was passed down from generation to generation … and so on, is why we are so relevant. At fan events, I have had six generations of fans stand in front of me. I’m not an executive producer nor a network executive so I don’t know how to fix the problems of daytime. I only know what I personally think GL’s problems are and were. CBS has got to be biting the bullet because our ratings have not dropped and we’ve remained in the same ratings vicinity despite the fact that our fans have every reason to tune off the show because we’re going off the air. And as you have written, GL’s ratings are only .2 spots off from the next three shows in the Nielsen Ratings. What has to happen next is that the genre itself has to reassess the ratings system. There is a soap opera audience out there, but we can’t compete with the 500-channel universe. When I’m not writing this book, I’ve been lucky to follow the U.S. Open on ESPN2 because it’s not on a cable network. We have to measure alternative ways of watching our shows. Or every show will be cancelled. We can’t pussyfoot around anymore.

TVG: Preach it. Soaps are still living on but on prime time. I think soaps shot themselves in the foot when they didn’t modernize their soaps in terms of casting and storytelling after shows like Six Feet Under and Sex and the City provided a much more realistic and entertaining canvas. O.J. Simpson didn’t kill soaps.
KZ: I completely agree with you. Except for the No. 1 show on daytime, Y&R. They replay the same story over and over again with the same cast, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Those veteran actors stay because they are a smaller cast and whether or not they are repeating the same age-old stories, the fans keep watching because they know what to expect on Y&R which is a very valuable thing — consistency. No one over at Y&R is trying to re-invent the wheel. I hate that cliché, but that’s what I reference when I speak about what GL was forced to do under the guise to keep us on the air. Which I refuse to believe was really the case to this day. I still believe we were used as a guinea pig. And we paid the price.

TVG: I’d have preferred it if GL had been cancelled two years ago, and at least had left the airwaves with its head up high and with some semblance of dignity. I don’t understand why soaps just don’t write a good show. Whether you write a bad or good soap, no one is gaining new viewers, so why not just entertain the audience you already have instead of bullying them to leave …
KZ: I couldn’t agree with you more.

TVG: Over the past two years, it has been unimaginably horrific and extremely painful to see this iconic show dissolve into a joke. You’re a smart cookie — would you ever consider working behind the scenes as a producer? KZ: All I know is that I wanted to scream from the top of my lungs when I saw how our show was being run over the past two years. Could I have done it any better? Well, I think I would have put up a better fight — that’s for sure! Or if I was in Ellen Wheeler’s position, I would have said, “You are raping the show. No, I won’t produce GL this way.” I give Ellen credit for trying to be the second coming. [Laughs] I had a really hard time with the new production model because it affected how the writers wrote our show — and that killed us in the end. In turn, the viewers didn’t relate to the story or our characters. Originally, Ellen’s initial concept was for the viewers to feel very close to the actors so that you could literally smell the flowers they were planting in their garden. Ellen wanted to know what kind of flowers each character planted in their garden.

TVG: The show definitely improved this past year. But why did it take a cancellation notice for them to smarten up? Do you think P&G purposely killed GL? Over at World Turns, the same pattern is happening …
KZ: If that was true, why wouldn’t they have cancelled World Turns at the same time?

TVG: To make it seem less obvious so CBS doesn’t face a viewer boycott in prime time. Insiders are hearing World Turns may not even have a year left and cancellation rumours are getting louder and louder. If P&G wanted to stay in the soap business they would have fired the people in charge. End of story. To me, that tells me everything I need to know. I don’t listen to what people say, I listen to their actions. In film, they don’t allow producers behind countless box office bombs anywhere near a set until they prove themselves again.
KZ: I think the beginning of the end, for us at least, came when P&G dropped the executive that oversaw our soaps. When Mickey Dwyer-Dobbins was systemically removed from her eliminated position, Ellen Wheeler and [World Turns executive producer] Christopher Goutman didn’t have anyone to answer to. I was a fan of Dobbins — and I know this sounds like I’m old school, but I am old school. Your producers and writers must be held accountable to someone other than the fans.

TVG: I liked Mickey.
KZ: I remember when I had a problem with a storyline and voiced it to our executive producer, within a day, Mickey would pick up the phone and ask me out to lunch where I’d find her with a note pad. And it wasn’t just me she’d invite — she’d bring a few actors from all three of her shows to have lunch at the same time to see how we were doing. She’d listen to our concerns, write down the issues, and address them later in a conference call with her show runners. We also lost focus when GL got rid of our control room. That was a huge loss for our show. When you don’t have anyone monitoring what we’re taping, you have no way of judging what looks good or not — especially when it came to costumes because not everything is camera-friendly even if it looks good in the mirror. There was no way anyone could have produced a good show without being in a control room. It’s impossible.

TVG: Luckily, you’re no longer changing in the backseats of cars, lurking in  outhouses, and freezing your balls off in Peapack, N.J. That was the quote of 2008, by the way! These days, are you sunning your balls off in sunny L.A.?
KZ: Yes! I’m having a wonderful time in L.A. with my kid, my 19 year-old Jake [Weary; ex-Luke, World Turns] whom we just found an apartment for here. He’s pursuing acting full time now, which works out because whenever I’m in L.A., I plan on crashing here because I have decided to be bicoastal. Let’s see what happens …

TVG: Jake looked great at the Emmys. He’s growing into quite the man.
KZ: Everyone says he’s growing up into a male clone of me!

TVG: [Joking] God help us all! [Laughs] Does he regret giving up the groundbreaking and buzz-worthy role of Luke Snyder, which went on to be one of the most popular roles in daytime TV?
KZ: No. He was just too young to play that story in that time in his life. It also wouldn’t have had the same value as it did with Van Hansis in the role. Van was in his early 20s, and Jake was only 15 when World Turns pitched that story.

TVG: Despite the fame that could have awaited him, artistically, Jake managed to escape some pretty craptastic writing in the process that would have probably crushed his soul. Back to Peafield: Are you happy with how the final episode of GL turned out?
KZ: I think the longtime fans will be happy with the last show in unique, odd little ways. It’s a split episode — half of it is in real time and the other half is a flash-forward to a year later. It should be interesting …

TVG: Was the last tape day emotional?
KZ: To be honest, It was great fun! We all travelled on a bus to see everyone’s last scenes. Grant Aleksander served Patron tequila shots after every person finished their scene — whether it was someone from the cast or crew! Later, we had a picnic. We even brought out the city crew to Peapack, so everyone was there. Whenever someone finished their last scene, Alex Johnson got on a megaphone to announce their send-off. “Kim Zimmer, 22 years …” From the newbies to the vets, it was a real celebration. Of course, there were tears, but there were also jokes and a lot of laughter. We’ve had a lot of parties and gatherings this past month, let me tell you. And we’re having our fan-club gathering on Oct. 11 so we’ll see everyone there again.

TVG: I’ve always wondered why GL didn’t bring back Marah for its last days.
KZ: Yeah, that was weird. I think the producers had a problem deciding which actress to bring back in the role. That would be a no-brainer for me — bring back Laura Bell Bundy! She was old enough and she wouldn’t have had the same creepy sexual history with Bradley Cole [Jeffrey]. I think the writers were freaked out about Marah because of her romantic past with Jeffrey, especially now that Reva is married to O’Neill.

TVG: I loved Laura. One of the biggest shames is that Reva and Marah didn’t spend more time together as adults. Their relationship reminded me a lot of Madonna and Lourdes. But Laura went on to earn a Tony Award nomination. What is it with your on-screen offspring and big awards? KZ: I think it’s because Robert Newman [Josh] and I force our kids to do the best work they possibly can. When Laura Bell was released, she sat in my dressing room crying her eyes out, and I said, “Honey, this is the best thing that could have ever happened to you. You are so talented. You’re going to blossom.” You know, we liken being a soap star as being trapped in golden handcuffs. TVG: Oh, wow.  That’s a great analogy. I’ve never heard that before … KZ: When your character becomes a steady, front-burner player it’s really hard to unlock those handcuffs and fly away like a little bird. Within a year, Laura got Wicked and then Hairspray. That was absolutely the best thing Paul Rauch could have ever done for her!

TVG: [Half-joking] I wish someone would’ve fired you a few years ago! [Seriously] If I remember correctly, I think you recently told Michael Fairman that you would be interested in re-joining One Life [Zimmer played two minor roles, Bonnie in 1978, and Echo in 1983, on the ABC sudser]. Is that right? KZ: What I really want to do is jump to all the soaps playing one character in disguise, kind of like Linda Dano [ex-Felicia, Another World; ex-Rae, AMC/One Life/GH] did, but not just on one network. And then on my final show, it would be revealed that I played all those characters to the audience. Having said that, I would adore to work for Frank Valentini, [One Life’s executive producer]. Before the Emmys, we recently chatted on our way from the airport to the car rental place and we talked about All My Children moving to L.A. We had the best conversation because it’s clear how much we love this business and want it to survive. Frank told me that he’s always on the floor with his actors every single day, but with his new [AMC] digs, he’s going to have trouble moving in between the control room and the set floor easily. He said that’s the only reason why he’s not super-excited to be switching studios because he needs to be there for his actors to give notes or comfort someone who has been crying a lot on stage, etc. And I said, “Wow — that’s what I missed these past three years on GL!” We didn’t have anyone to give us notes. No direction. No guidance. Nothing. Literally, we had nothing to go on. I don’t care if you are Meryl Streep, no matter who you are, everyone can and needs to take a note. Why? Simply because we can’t see what we’re doing. That’s why a control room is so important. The best lesson I ever learned was from one of our booth directors, John Willmore, who later became our executive producer. One day, he gave me a note  — and I was so appalled by his feedback! He said to me, “Do me a favour, Zimmer — just try it.” And, damn, if he wasn’t right. His suggestion totally turned around the scene for me. In order to tweak and make a show perfect, well, that takes a trained producer with a keen eye who sits in control room watching everything …

TVG: I hear Paul Rauch lives on the set and in the control room on Y&R. He hired Frank right out of college, so I’m not surprised they share similar sensibilities. But even I have to say: sometimes you guys on GL made it work. Recently, I was blown away by the magic that happened on set when Emmy winners Jeff Branson [Shayne] and Tom Pelphrey [Jonathan] met for the first time and fought in front of Reva. KZ: You’re right. That scene made me cry because it worked out beautifully and magically. That — and the fact that we wouldn’t be able to explore their relationship as brothers …

TVG: Or A Slut in a Red Dress! Did GL give you the water fountain set as a gift? I would kill to own that piece of soap history … hint, hint …! Or does Tom own that now?! [Laughs]
KZ: I only have one physical memory from GL — and it was given to me when I first left the show in 1990. It was the doorframe that hung outside Reva Bend, which was that little shack where Reva tried to commit suicide after the exposé Fletcher wrote called Woman On the Edge. Pam Long and Jay Hammer gave that to me as a gift — and that’s all I have to be honest, other than the final GL script. On our last day, everyone had all the actors sign the last script, but I refused. I wanted the last script to be untouched.

TVG: You lived out Agnes Nixon’s soap mantra which is to make them laugh, make them cry and make them wait. It took forever for you to return to GL after your Hollywood hiatus.
KZ: It was only five years, Nelson!

TVG: Well, it felt like forever. Do you think had Jill Farren Phelps welcomed you back sooner that Reva’s journey would have turned out differently?
KZ: No because some wonderful storytelling happened while I was gone during those five years. I read both sides of the fence, and I know some fans thought Reva dominated far too much story when I was there the first time. When I left, GL became more of an ensemble cast — and I think there is some truth to that.

TVG: And we wouldn’t have had Jonathan without that hiatus. Talk to me about Tom. He truly is Kim Zimmer’s son, huh?
KZ: Omigod, totally. Tom pushed me in ways I haven’t pushed as an actor in a long time. He did that. He challenged me as an actor all over again. He brought back that gutsy, in-your-face acting style I was famous for and had forgotten after 22 years of starring on this soap.

TVG: The litmus test of great acting is when I watch a performance and I forget I’m alive, and you and Tom have done that to me on more than one occasion.
KZ: You have to see Inglourious Basterds. There’s a performance in that film that is just like that.

TVG: Yeah, Christoph Waltz is garnering major Oscar buzz already. When did you know you were blessed with a gift?
KZ: All I ever wanted to do is dance in a chorus line. As a kid, I wasn’t a ballet or tap dancer, but I was a modern dancer. That’s all I wanted to do. One day, a man named Don Finn asked me to audition for more than the chorus, which changed my life. After reading a scene from A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, the audience laughed — and that was it for me. I was a goner. At 15, I immediately realized that when you can manipulate an audience for a laugh or an emotional reaction, there was something so powerful and wonderful about connecting with people on that level.

TVG: I also think great actors usually tend to have a passion for psychology, which is why I can’t wait to read your book. When is it coming out?
KZ: I don’t know. I had a meeting with an agent the other day and he said it could take as long as two years to get it on the shelves, but I told him, “I don’t have two years! I have to do this now!” Right now, I’m writing an outline and two test chapters.

TVG: With soaps bleeding out, you have to get the book out now or no one will care in two years. Are you writing this book yourself?
KZ: I’m writing it myself, but at some point I’ll need an editor to help me out. And help me avoid being sued! [Laughs] Listen, my book isn’t intended to be slanderous or a tell-all book. This book is a gift to all the people who worked with me on GL and my fans. It’s dedicated to everyone who helped make this job so special to me for so many years. But I will explore my personal feelings as to why our show failed and what happened to it. Lots of honesty and truth.

TVG: So no Ellen Wheeler questions, I get it. You are one of the most honest actors I’ve ever met — not only in soaps but also in prime time and film. Have you ever paid a price for your opinions and honesty?
KZ: I don’t know if I have paid a price. I think I’ll find out now, especially since I’m an unemployed soap star! We’ll see. Perhaps the soap community will view me as too recognizable as Reva Shayne or that I cost too much money. Of course, there is no more money, so there is no truth that I cost too much money! If a part came along that I wanted to play, the money is negotiable as long as the part is good. But I will find out if the Brian Frons’s of the world are nervous that I have a mouth.

TVG: And a beautiful and nasty one at that — my favourite kind. Your honesty is one of the many legacies you will leave behind … I hate when shows censor stars.
KZ: Yeah, honesty scares people in daytime. They still believe our fans aren’t smart and can’t do the math. However, I was lucky with GL because they tolerated a lot from me — mainly because they didn’t want to lose me. So now it’s going to take someone very special to understand the fact that soap opera means a whole hell of a lot to me and I want to see it done right, and that’s where I come from. That’s probably my biggest hurdle now.

TVG: Were you a soap fan growing up?
KZ: [emotionally] I lost my mother, Didi, eight days after GL was cancelled. My book will focus on her a great deal. Believe it or not, I had no interest in soaps as a kid, even though my mother watched the entire CBS lineup. Like many women, she was a homemaker and did all of her work with the TV set on. So I know who our audience is very well. [Laughs] Never in my life did I ever think after studying at the Royal Conservatory Theatre, a place where they said soap operas were a big no-no, that one day I would act on one — and as long as I have. But I found soap work to being the closest thing to doing live theatre.

TVG: Have you heard from the writer who created Reva Shayne, Pamela Long, after GL’s cancellation?
KZ: I did! I got a note from her and her husband, Steve Bradley, and it was very funny and sweet. Pam and I were joined at the hip when we worked together at GL … We had a love-hate relationship, but it was more love than hate. You know what, Nelson? You’re too good — I’m telling you everything that’s in my book — so I have to stop right now! Damn you … [Laughs]

TVG: [Joking] So now is not the best time to ask you if you’re having an affair in Argentina? [Laughs]
KZ: [Laughs] You are as bad as I am …

TVG: Yep! That’s why we clicked all those years ago. I have to admit: I will miss my favourite slut in daytime, my darling Reva Shayne, who will forever remain one of my most beloved soap characters.
KZ: You know what? I will miss her, too. [emotionally] I already do.

TVG: With the exception of Pam, of course, why do you think Reva has generally been a difficult character to write for?
KZ: No matter what has happened in the past, I’ve been lucky to be one of the top three most aired characters, which I could never believe because there were times when I felt like I wasn’t working. Good stories … bad stories … whatever … I worked consistently. And a lot of people and I have disagreed which stories were good or bad for Reva. For example, I loved the clone storyline …

TVG: So did I.
KZ: But others hated it. Fans are also 50-50 with Reva and Jeffrey …

TVG: Reva is probably one of the most polarizing characters in soap history because we love her so much and want nothing but the best for her. Let’s talk Otalia and Crystal Chappell. KZ: Omigod — a miracle. Otalia came to us at the most opportune time because we had no love stories on our canvas. TVG: On a soap, no less … and then they wonder why no one was watching. KZ: At the time, all of our relationships were ugly. Our fans were starving for a conflicted, genuine love story — and boy, did they get one. I don’t know if it would have worked if the pairing was heterosexual … And let me say this: I love Jessica Leccia [Natalia], too. Crystal and Jessica are two powerful actresses and they have my utmost respect for giving this story everything they had and not shying away from it. At that time, it was our best story. Kudos for them. TVG: I’m so proud of Crystal for creating Venice and giving the Otalia fans what GL couldn’t. KZ: Let me tell you something about Crystal: Ever since I’ve known her, long before GL, she’s been a workhorse. She’s always been an entrepreneur. She has a big brain in that beautiful head of hers.

TVG: I wish Olivia and Reva bonded a little bit more during this Otalia journey. Or at least kissed! [Laughs]
KZ: [Laughs] Reva is a woman who needs a man unless Olivia wants to snap on a tool! [Laughs]

TVG: You gals have a lot of chemistry and I miss their rivalry/relationship.
KZ: Me too.

TVG: Do you think Crystal has stolen the thunder away from you as GL’s top star?
KZ: I think Crystal worked really hard to steal my thunder but I don’t think she succeeded. [Laughs] She may have succeeded in your eyes, Nelson! I read your columns! Seriously, she has a huge fan base and she respects it immensely, so bravo to her — we’re very similar that way. But when the final nail is hammered into the coffin, I think Reva will be more popular than Olivia. And I don’t think I’m being biased.

TVG: No, you are not. You are the biggest star GL has ever produced and Reva will always remain the soap’s heart and soul. God, Reva had her own VHS tape, The Scarlet Years!
KZ: Someone at the Paley Centre asked if P&G would release a boxed DVD set of GL, and one of the executives said, “Well, did any of you buy Reva’s tape?” And almost everyone raised their hand and said yes! I don’t think he was expecting that answer! Those who didn’t purchase it wisely asked, “Why didn’t P&G advertise it?”

TVG: These days, there’s so much talk about whether or not an actor has a right to influence storyline, but you really haven’t interfered in  story despite the fact you could probably get away with it!
KZ: On my contract, my job description is actor. They pay me — or paid me — a [lot] of money to act what’s on the page, to play the character of Reva Shayne Lewis. If the show wants me to contribute to the writing, then they would have to give me another hundred bucks! I’m being paid to be an actor. My job is to make [crap] smell like roses.

TVG: That you do. Most of the time. Your job wasn’t to build houses in New Orleans!
KZ: I know!

TVG: That’s when I knew the show was over. We want glamour, not Reva hammering … well hammering, but not hammering houses! [Laughs]
KZ: Exactly. Listen, what we did in New Orleans was a beautiful experience, and one I will take with me for the rest of life, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to include that in our show. It felt disingenuous.

TVG: Reva and Jeffrey. Reva and Josh. Discuss. KZ: I’m saving all those tidbits for my book, but let me say that I am one of the luckiest actresses on the planet to not only work with two of the sexiest and talented men on TV, but also to be a part of two special, epic  love affairs on-screen. When GL paired me with Bradley, I wanted Reva and Jeffrey to work so badly because I was livid when the soap paired Cassie and Joshua together. TVG: You weren’t the only one! KZ: I thought that was a slap in my face — and I mean a slap to both Reva and Kim’s faces.

TVG: That story should have never been told — at all. Before I let you go, let’s talk about Mike Gold/Cameron Mathison’s third annual Soap Cruise. You and Robert Newman [Josh] are both attending which should make GL fans very happy since the soap will have been off the air for about six months. I’ll be there — so save me a few dances and hangover cures!
KZ: Mike Gold is amazing! Besides the glamorous soap cruise, Mike has 2,200 people coming to So Long, GL in Pittsburgh, which is astonishing. What a smart man. And let me tell you why — our GL fans are consistently voted the most loyal, devoted, and passionate group in daytime. And they are coming in droves to see us — long after the show last airs. We also have another event in Atlanta. Our fans want to see us — they want closure. CBS cancelled GL so quickly — and then our fan club limited how many people could come to our annual luncheon, so there is a real market out there. People need to say goodbye. And so do we.

TVG: I’ll never say goodbye. Until next time …

Vote for TVGuide.ca in the Toronto Sun’s annual readers poll now!

Want to dish the soaps with Nelson Branco? Join The Suds Report discussion Facebook group today.

Follow TV Guide Canada on Facebook! And follow Suds Report on Twitter!

Nelson Branco is a Toronto freelance entertainment journalist, who regularly contributes to Hello! Canada, The National Post, The Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com, TV Guide USA, tvguide.com, Inside Entertainment, OUT, and fab magazine, along with spearheading the soap coverage for TVGuide.ca's popular daytime TV hub. After graduating from Ryerson University in 1997, he moved from Toronto to New York in 1998 to take on the roles as senior news editor at Soap Opera Update. Branco first freelanced for Soap Opera Weekly as an intern in 1994, and after leaving Soap Update to help create and launch Bauer Publishing's In Touch Weekly in 2003, Branco continued to freelance occasionally for its sister publication, Soaps In Depth. Most recently, he helped create and launch Canada's first celebrity magazine, Weekly Scoop in 2005 as its news and entertainment director. Branco is also a contributor to a new TV show titled Planet Soap to air in Canada and America.