Babylon 5 - Why 'Sinclair' left the show
- Thread starter Jan
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Jerry Doyle also believes Obama is a planted Muslim spy so y'know, best not to put too much value in his words. And this is coming from somebody who hates Obama.
I don't even just appreciate it as set-up, I think it's just an awesome season in of itself. Love that blue collar, gritty atmosphere which is completely absent from every later season. The station really feels like a dangerous, lively ghetto. Afterwards, the emphasis is more on outside threats so the show loses its atmosphere in favour of larger, epic storytelling. Bit of a shame really.
Mysterion said:
I don't even just appreciate it as set-up, I think it's just an awesome season in of itself. Love that blue collar, gritty atmosphere which is completely absent from every later season. The station really feels like a dangerous, lively ghetto. Afterwards, the emphasis is more on outside threats so the show loses its atmosphere in favour of larger, epic storytelling. Bit of a shame really.
What Jerry said on the radio show was that he personally thought Michael was crazy and that he demanded the producers remove him or Jerry would leave the show. Jerry has the air of someone who thinks he's the reason for existence. There's zero evidence that Jerry's personal disagreements with Michael had anything to do with it, and the reveal of a personal medical issue just makes Jerry seem like more of an ass for saying these things.
Wow. Thank you very much for sharing this story.
Honestly, this is a bit surreal. I always figured this would be one of those mysteries which never gets solved. Where we have some theories, and we're almost sure of the answer... but its really all just speculation by people who don't know, while those that do will never tell. But now JMS has. Kudos to him, and to O'Hare for wanting/allowing the story to be told after his passing.
As for O'Hare himself, I though he was brilliant as Sinclair. I much prefer Sinclair to Sheridan and O'Hare's acting has a lot to do with that.
We can only speculate about what B5 would be like had Sinclair been the central character for all five seasons, but I'm certain it wouldn't have been any less spectacular.
Honestly, this is a bit surreal. I always figured this would be one of those mysteries which never gets solved. Where we have some theories, and we're almost sure of the answer... but its really all just speculation by people who don't know, while those that do will never tell. But now JMS has. Kudos to him, and to O'Hare for wanting/allowing the story to be told after his passing.
As for O'Hare himself, I though he was brilliant as Sinclair. I much prefer Sinclair to Sheridan and O'Hare's acting has a lot to do with that.
We can only speculate about what B5 would be like had Sinclair been the central character for all five seasons, but I'm certain it wouldn't have been any less spectacular.
It's not just Doyle though, I was at a Q&A session with Claudia Christian and Peter Jurassic they not only told the story about a regular being sacked for sexual harrasment (though they didn't name him. Apparently as a result the remaining cast were asked to sign "We promise not to perve over co-workers" style agreements that were met with some mockery), but when asked "Who was the biggest diva?" responded as one with "Michael O'Hare"
It looks as if no one else knew of the bigger problems he was having and just bore the brunt of the after effects without realising why he was behaving so oddly. Now this has been made public knowledge, they might change their views of him.
If they did, it wasn't referring to Michael.
Claudia said in interviews at the time that she was surprised Michael didn't return for season two.
Peter said Michael's issue was just that he had a hard time being the "#1 on the set."
I recall that some behind-the-scenes people did get fired for sexual liaisons on-set. Not an actor though.
Damn.. sad to hear about a person struggling so much.
My impression of JMS was not so well after B5 concluded.. it seemed he went a bit sour and could never live down the fact it didn't become as huge as Star Trek or Star Wars.. inflated ego came to mind.
However huge bonus points for keeping his word to a troubled and now dead man.. sad to say but that has become quite rare today and especially in the cutthroat media business.
My impression of JMS was not so well after B5 concluded.. it seemed he went a bit sour and could never live down the fact it didn't become as huge as Star Trek or Star Wars.. inflated ego came to mind.
However huge bonus points for keeping his word to a troubled and now dead man.. sad to say but that has become quite rare today and especially in the cutthroat media business.
JMS always seems to be big on the actors and others from Bab5 being clan of their own, he talks about them like they are hugely important as a group to him (and has very close ties with a lot of them). It doesn't surprise me he protected O'Hare like that. It's good to read though, especially in the light of some of the nastier suppositions that have been put forth.
And I'll echo the praise for O'Hare's acting and the character of Sinclair.
And I'll echo the praise for O'Hare's acting and the character of Sinclair.
I always got the impression that it was more a case of being disappointed, and yes probably bitter, that the franchise didn't get the respect or support from WBs that he felt it deserved.
No, they don't. Jerry Doyle may be an ass (I don't know or care to be honest), but he can't be blamed for not empathizing with Michael O'Hare when he kept his issues a secret.
This isn't a great story to be honest, it's sad! It's sad that mental illness is treated like a shameful secret that someone has to take to their grave.
Huh I didn't actually write anything about whether Jerry should or should not empathize with him. I did write about Jerry thinking he was responsible for Michael leaving. But since it was a medical issue, Jerry was wrong. That's what I was addressing, so your post doesn't really make sense in response to mine.
As for Jerry being an ass - he was absolutely not polite about the whole situation and he can certainly be blamed for not being a nice person about it.
Michael was a very private individual about most things. He wanted to keep private about it. Calling that "shameful" seems like your issue, not his.
As for Jerry being an ass - he was absolutely not polite about the whole situation and he can certainly be blamed for not being a nice person about it.
Michael was a very private individual about most things. He wanted to keep private about it. Calling that "shameful" seems like your issue, not his.
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Thanks for posting this Jan, nice to finally have the final story after all this time.
This article has the audio of JMS talking about Michael
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollyw...Promise-To-Late-Star-At-Phoenix-ComiCon-Panel
Jan
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollyw...Promise-To-Late-Star-At-Phoenix-ComiCon-Panel
Jan
This seems to be as appropriate a place as any to post this link. Most B5 fans are aware of the sobering tributes to Richard Biggs and Andreas Katsulas create by the brilliant John Hudgens. Well, he has crafted a simple, straightforward dedication to all of those in the B5 family who have passed on. It was unveiled just this past weekend at Phoenix
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C5KlNEh2Yo4[/yt]
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C5KlNEh2Yo4[/yt]
John Hudgens told me that our hearts would break when I saw him before the reunion panel. He was true to his word. Many of the cast were very emotional after seeing it.
Jan
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