I think Blucas has been pretty good in the comedic stuff he's done (Summer Catch, that hilarious turn that was the main redeeming feature of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back...) and wooden in all his more serious work. Why they abandoned his strengths to change his character into Clenchy McLockjaw, I'll never understand.

This is going to bug me for a long time, unless someone is kind enough to remind me what MB did in J&SBSB. I remembers Dawson boy and the "Pie-f*cker", but I can't seem to place Riley in the scant version of the film that still plays in my head.

He was Fred during the Mystery Machine scene

Wolfram, he was Fred in the Scooby Doo scene.

X-posty. Though I white-fonted because everyone was being so vague. Guess I didn't need to.

Thanks guys. There he is. Apparently I have more Marc Blucas in my brain than I was previously aware of.

My sources told me he was supposed to be more laconic-but-amused-and-thinking-interesting-deep-thoughts (kinda like a more macho Oz) but that Blucas coudn't get there and by the time they figured it out it was too late to remake the character, so he went from deep and bemused to, well, serious and wooden. I don't think he's a bad actor--the speed of weekly TV production where the hours are long and there almost no rehearsal can be very tough on a lot of actors.

The thing is though, we saw him get there for several early episodes of Season 4. If he'd always been a cigar store Indian it would be understandable, but he was inhabiting an engaging character that suddenly got replaced by a cardboard cut-out.

I think the S5 version of the Riley character (and/or Blucas' portrayal thereof, I never know where to draw the line) got more interesting once Riley turned into a cranky-whiny pants who went to the crack ho for suck jobs. He just got way harder for me to like or enjoy watching, despite the very pretty pretty. I really liked Riley in season 4. He was no Angel, but he didn't grate 'til season 5. Then he whined. Then he left.

Bye bye Riley.

Matt- I think the issue was the amount of time it took to get him to that place--time they didn't have. For TV, characters tend to be written to the most easily accessible areas of the actor's range. The may not be LIKE the character, but all actors have certain areas they are more facile with. It's about which areas they can reach easily with no prep. Some, like ASH or SMG or AH, have a huge range they can bring to the demands of TV work. It happens with stage actors--some can go right to rage or sadness or whatever in an instant, but they have long rehearsal time to add other layers which might be more less available for them. TV actors don't have that.

The may not be LIKE the character, but all actors have certain areas they are more facile with. It's about which areas they can reach easily with no prep. Some, like ASH or SMG or AH, have a huge range they can bring to the demands of TV work.

This was evident in the outtakes. Robia La Morte was able to nail one take out of 7. I mean the others were competent but she couldn't hit that exact note every time out. This was in stark contrast to SMG or Aly who could not only bring every necessary emotion to the scene, but give each take different shadings so there were choices the editor could make later.

Hec, did you ever send that tape? I'm not fussing at you, because I know you've been busy with much more wonderful things. But if you did send it, I wanted you to know I'm not an ungrateful wretch. It just never got here.