The Town Hall Archives

Nathan Hoobler · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 8:13 pm Post subject: From Where I Sit

From Where I Sit

I was going to title this message “From Where We Sit,” but then I realized that people might think that I spoke for everyone on the Odyssey team. I don’t. But I thought that I would be good to do a message addressing some of the questions/discussion that have come up over the past month or so. So here we go…

The Build-Up to “Something Big”
Some have asked why we had a build-up to the April 2 “Eugene Returns” episode. Wouldn’t it have been better with no promotion at all? Well, no, at least in my opinion. We certainly didn’t want to give away the secret that Eugene was returning or telegraph what the episode was “really” going to be about. We had to be ultra-careful to make sure the secret didn’t get out. As other people may tell you on the board, there were a few glitches where the secret nearly got out, but we tried to cover them as quickly as we could.

But we did want to promote the show somehow. Why?

If we didn’t promote the date, a lot of fans would have missed the show. A lot of our fans listen religiously every week, but a lot of them don’t. The fans who didn’t listen would probably have the surprise spoiled by reading message boards, hearing about the product, or talking to a friend. There’s nothing worse than someone else telling you the twist of a movie before you see it. So, by promoting April 2, we made sure that as many people as possible were listening.

It’s up to others to judge whether the whole effort was successful or not, but seeing the discussion on these boards, it certainly got people talking…which was the whole point.

Reason for the “Clues”
Others have wondered why the clues didn’t help you figure out what the episode was going to be about. Even after eight clues, you still didn’t know what was going to happen in the show. Maybe the word “clue” led to the confusion, but I’d like to point out that they weren’t called “hints.” The clues were not supposed to help you figure out the plot of the episode. Instead, they were supposed to be intriguing and mysterious and get you to listen on April 2, just like a good movie trailer. They started out very vaguely (Connie with a hand over the shoulder) and eventually revealed more of the tone of the show (like the 60 second spot), if not the plot. If they raised expectations too high, that’s the fault of the show, not the promotion. Then again, I can’t think of any event in the last five years that’s bigger than Eugene coming back.

The clues were also supposed to make sense after you heard the show. As far as I know, the only one that didn’t make sense from the episode itself was the sentence about Whit missing his grandchildren in Clue 7. I’ll admit that this didn’t figure into the episode at all. (It actually did in a previous draft.) It was something of a red herring. But, it’s also not impossible that Whit did mention this “off screen” and it led to suspicion by the kids.

Reason for “New Style” of Artwork
It seems that pretty much everyone has assumed that change to a “new style” of Odyssey artwork was designed to make the brand appeal to younger kids. In actuality, it was nothing of the sort. I was around at the time that we were looking at changing the style in the summer of 2000 and I know at least some of the discussions that went on.

The main point of going with a new style was to make Odyssey look “distinct.” We wanted to make it so that Odyssey stood out on the shelf and when people saw the look they would immediately think “Oh, that’s Odyssey.” We looked a BUNCH of examples before finally deciding on Gary Locke. The problem with the previous style (like albums 31-34 and many of the previous ones) is that it was fairly…mild. There was nothing that separated it from the style of artwork for many other family products on the market. Again, I’ll leave it up to others to decide whether the transition was successful.

Then again, aside from a couple of albums like “Darkness Before Dawn,” when has anyone really been happy with the Odyssey artwork anyway? Should we mention Whit’s leering grin on 14, Tom’s plastic face on 15, demonic Tom on 16, the “Bedrock” cover of 17, the confusing covers of 24 and 26, or the giraffes in the church on 29? Is it because the artists are awful? Not at all! Odyssey has worked with some terrific artists, but the problem lies in the format itself. Odyssey is a radio drama and it’s simply not possible to draw what everybody has in their heads. Most of us have agreed that the video characters don’t look like what we have in our heads. So what should the artwork look like? As soon as you start drawing characters, you’ve differed from what probably 95% of the audience imagined the characters to be. Simply put, drawing radio characters is a losing battle. But we do the best we can.

Reason for “new” Katrina
This is a much-discussed topic and understandably so. It’s strange to hear a beloved character with a new voice, even a voice as incredibly talented as Audrey Wasilewski’s. I can’t get into all the specifics of what happened, but I want to assure everyone that it has nothing to do with money, contracts, or anything like that. We wanted Pam Hayden back and Pam wanted to come back, but an on-going circumstance prevented it from happening. Trust me, we thought of all the options of recording her, including doing it “wild,” but it didn’t work out. So, Audrey will be Katrina for the foreseeable future. I’d encourage you to listen to a few more episodes with her before you pass judgment. Just because one actress had incredible chemistry doesn’t mean another one can’t. Don’t forget that that we had Mrs. Barclay Number 3 for the episodes between “Our Best Vacation Ever” and “Modesty is the Best Policy” and Mrs. Barclay Number 4 took over for all the shows after “Treasures of the Heart.” I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone complain about the switch.

See what you think after the wedding episodes.

Reason for all the Eugene Stuff
There’s been a lot of discussion and debate about all the Eugene products coming out in the coming months. Of all the topics here, I have to admit that I’m a bit mystified by this one. Eugene has been gone for nearly five years on the show, more than twice as long as Whit. He’s a much-loved character (and my favorite character, by the way). Why not celebrate his return? Why not get excited about a fun and joyful event? This is good news! We had an album of searching for Whit and then an album of his jubilant welcome back to Odyssey. Why not one album celebrating Eugene’s return in the best way we can?

As for the Eugene Sings albums, they were an idea of Will Ryan’s. Focus agreed that it was a good idea and so Will put together the albums. Wait until you hear them. They’re terrific! If you never hear Eugene sing a gospel song with an organ and full choir, you’ve missed out!

A Final Thought
I did have one final thought, but I’m not entirely sure how to phrase it without coming off “bitter” sounding. But I’ll try anyway. I’m not bitter and I love the Odyssey message boards. They’re our lifeline! But I have noticed the beginnings of a gradually growing cynicism and sarcasm. Let me explain.

Almost all message boards for television shows follow the same path. The board starts out as a place for fans to gather and discuss the show together for fun. Then, as the fans become more sophisticated in their writings, the board becomes a place to whine and gripe and pick shows apart. It’s far easier academically to watch a show trying to find goofs and things you don’t like. It’s far harder to simply say, “You know what, I really liked it.” Episode reviews on fan sites can often turn into a feeding frenzy, especially if the first few reviews are negative. Readers may check on to the board thinking how much they liked the program. Then, after reading a few reviews, they say, “You know, she’s right, that was a mistake,” or “Yeah, I didn’t like that character either,” or “Yes, like he said, I wish the moral came through better, too.” So, instead of posting a positive review, the listener agrees with all the previously posted comments. From personal experience with message boards before I started working on the show, I certainly began to recognize how much fun it was to write a sarcastic review instead of a loving one.

Now, I’m not saying that any of the wonderful fans on these message boards are falling into this trap. It’s just something that I’ve noticed in other message boards that I hope won’t happen here. You guys are such great devoted fans. You keep us in line. We want to hear what you truly and honestly think. Don’t sugar-coat it. Just watch for creeping sarcasm.

Thanks again for all of your support of the show. We couldn’t do it without you.

Nathan

JM91 · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 8:28 pm Post subject:

Wow, that was very interesting Nathan.

Fletcher · Junior Member Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 229

That was exteremly informative, Nathan. Thanks for posting it. Smile

Jeremy · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 8:41 pm Post subject:

Hey Nathan,

Thanks for your insights. I was wondering if you could finally tell us why Will Ryan had to be gone so long? It seems that it was treated as top-secret before (and I have no idea why that was), but now that he's back can we know why he was gone?

Jeremy

Fletcher · Junior Member Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 229

I would be interested in knowing this as well, if it can be disclosed.

Shadowpaw · He Lies in Shadows Joined: 23 Nov 2002 Posts: 927

JM91 · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:29 am Post subject:

Melka · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:46 pm Post subject:

thanks Nathan

Boa · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:16 pm Post subject:

Nathan, thanks for the the post! You may not want to say it, but I will, there is ALOT of negativity on this messageboard. This place has really gone downhill in the past couple of years. I'm really tired of all the complaining. I think some people's expectations are WAY too high.

All of us waited FOR YEARS for Eugene to come back. Frankly I would have been happy just to have Eugene walk through the door at Whit's End and say,"Greetings, Katrina and I have returned!" but the writers wanted to make it a little more exciting for us so they came up with the memory loss storyline. I was very shocked to hear all the complaining and moaning, about the storyline, about the characters not being right, about a new voice for katrina etc, etc.. I just don't get it. Now we have petitions for Pam Hayden to come back, sheesh poor Audrey. You guys haven't even given her a chance yet. After 3 episodes and about ten lines of dialogue all I hear is "I don't like her", "there's no chemistry". You never know they might end up having great chemistry together.

I'm also looking forward to the 2 part wedding episode, but what do I hear? "What's the point?" and "Why are they having a ceremony, they're already married". Hello! We all wanted a Eugene and Katrina wedding but didn't get it due to Will's departure. Now here's the writer's chance to finally give that to us and all I hear is "What's the point?".

I know all of you are devoted fans, just like me but I think some of you tend to be overly critical. We're lucky AIO is still around after all these years and I hope it's around for a long time to come.

Nathan, as far as the artwork is concerned, I can live with the current ones but to me the artwork from the early albums 1 through 7,8 will always be my favorite. To me, that was Odyssey.

Fletcher · Junior Member Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 229

To be fair about the Katrina issue, its not that many fans have something against Audrey. We just remember how good Pam Hayden was in the role, and its just frustrating knowing that she was so close to being in the role again.