Apparently, she used to be on a television show before Heroes! If you'd like to talk about her previous projects or her as an actress, this is the place!

I think this is a subtle hint that things were getting off topic from Elle, in the other thread. Hee.

I love Kristen Bell. I adored her as Veronica Mars.

That said ... if this over-promotion is all a conspiracy by TPTB to make me start hating her? It's working.

I don't mind them promoting her, but, when I read things like, "Heroes sucked, but, KB came along and now it's sunshine and GOLD!" from media outlets, that -- when couple with the promotion (which really is kind of unnecessary) -- makes me apprehensive of KB.

And, yes, I realize she can't control what people in the media do, but, I'm human. I was one of those kids who hated everything her parents liked on the sheer principle of it.

Maybe if TPTB spent as much time promoting the actors they already have (some who outdo Kristen in the acting department), I wouldn't be so fussy.

Come on, NBC. I know you have a, "Heroes -- Mondays on NBC, tune in to see Pasdar and Coleman" in you!

That was the initial episode when she was introduced though, where NBC actually hyped KB in their promo. All the rest of the 'Saved by the Bell' overblown media coverage is from 3rd party media like TV Guide and has nothing to do with Kristen, NBC, Tim Kring or even Heroes publicity department, so there's not really a way to control it anymore than NBC/Tim or even Hayden or Milo could control the spurt of HaLo rumors.

The only reason I don't think NBC did the same thing with David Anders (Sark)'s initial episode was that it was supposed to be a surprise that Tazeko Kensai was a English guy instead of a Japanese guy.

When you talk about recent NBC promotion (other than the one KB centric promo for her initial episode) or Heroes publicity, the current round of interviews have been Jack, Milo, Masi and Adrian, etc which is exactly how it should be as KB's character has only had less than five minutes screen time so far.

It would be one thing if KB had personally said how she was the best thing since sliced bread and how she was going to 'save' Heroes, but the only thing Kristen has said is that she loves the show, she's been a fan since the premiere and she's really excited about the opportunity to be on a great show, with a great bunch of people. (She may have also mentioned she loves Zachary Quinto, but I don't fault her for that...Hee.)

Oh yeah, subtle...lol.

Topic? Well, I started watching this show when I heard about KB's casting (along with David Anders' casting), so obviously, I think she's great. There are very few actors who would cause me to buy a dvd set to catch up on a show just so I can watch them on on TV again, but KB's one of them. Ian McShane's the only other I can think of actually, but I haven't had to go down that road, yet. I'd also do this for Joss Whedon, but alas, he's not an actor, so it's safe to say this is a first for me, and I hope I don't regret it. I liked season 1 of Heroes, but it was clear from the beginning that the writers, imo, didn't hold a candle to the Veronica Mars writers...except Bryan Fuller, but he's gone now. I was worried that they were going to try to write Veronica w/ powers since I don't think they can pull of the snark, and after "Fight or Flight," I'm still a bit worried that's what they're going for. Well, a more unstable, murderous Veronica.

Still, KB's a fantastic actress, and I'm not just referring to VM, either. I've seen a great deal of range from her in Deadwood, Reefer Madness, and Spartan. Out of all of those roles, I'd say Elle is definitely the closest role to Veronica, but I liked the little differences in the way she played her, especially considering one scene involved her interrogating a guy in an Irish pub about another guy's whereabouts (a scene she's done more than once on VM). While the writers shoved "she's a villain" down our throats, KB's line readings in that scene also suggested an element of crazy (waaay before she fried Ricky). As Ginn said in the Elle thread, it was as if she had to put forth an effort to come across as normal during her conversation with Ricky, creating a forced sincerity in Elle's delivery that Veronica definitely never had. Anyway, I am intrigued by Elle, if mostly because of KB's performance, and I hope the writers give her some great stuff to work with in the future.

I've loved her in VM and Reefer Madness, but I haven't seen Deadwood yet, because I'm too cheap to buy TV shows on DVDs at HBO prices...although I did cave to buy Dexter and Showtime is also outrageously priced. KB is only in two episodes though, right?

I absolutely agree that she's a great actress, I just don't understand that why -- of all the guests (she's not a regular, unless that's changed) she gets the special commercial, she gets her name listed with the regulars.

They've had bigger stars (well, more sentimental, at least) than she. Where was the guy who played Kaito in the credits? As a guest, where he should have been. The actress who plays Nana? In the guests. Bob? In the guests.

I think that's my point. It's an ensemble. To say "she got the promo 'cause it's her first episode" when she's just a recurring character (again, correct me if I'm wrong) is implying everyone who's appearing for a story arch as recurring gets one, which isn't the case. I have yet to see a promo or special billing for the actress who plays Hiro's princess, for instance.

But, this isn't to take anything away from Kristen or her acting. I think she's adorable and I think her acting is spot on. But, when you have an ensemble show like this -- and, it's not Law and Order which always has huge names popping in -- I get a little frustrated as the more light they shine on her, the deeper the rest of the cast recedes into the shadows, IMO.

I love George Takei (Kaito/Sulu) and Nichelle Nichols (Nana Dawson/Lt Uhura) and while the Star Trek series are pretty much the king of cult shows, I also think the demographics for Trekkies (or at least related to the original Star Trek) skew older than Veronica Mars, which is a recent cult/critical favorite. IMO, the only reason for the focus would be potentially to bring in more 18-34 Nielsen viewers, etc. (Not that VM actually had that many!), but I just don't see it as either NBC or Tim Kring going...'We luuuuuuv Kristen Bell, let's focus the promo on her even though we don't think it will gain us anything, because we have money to burn!'

As for Bob (Stephen Toblowsky)...I know everyone was happy he was cast, but I just looked him up on IMDb and while I've seen him in numerous things, he's more 'hey, its that guy from SpaceBalls..what did he play again??' kind of guy to me, than someone I've actually heard about...

Just to be clear, all of my praise of KB's acting skills was in no way directed at you, ButterflyBandit. Actually, I totally agree with you on the NBC hype machine making a special case out of her. I'm not sure why they did it, I don't think she deserved it more than other recurring guest stars, and I kinda resent it if only because of how it's turned uninitiated Heroes fans against her. I'll admit, at first I liked all the attention she was getting b/c we VM fans know how long she's deserved it. I also thought it was clever of the promo department to promote her as a big star when she's really not, since it creates a curiosity factor for snagging viewers (even though it didn't work, according to the ratings). But really, it just became too much. Honestly, I think a lot more people would've liked Elle if it weren't for the hype. Still, I do think Elle will end up being a bigger role than Nana or Yaeko(?), so I do feel they are justified in giving her more attention than them.

Also, yes rowanceleste, she was just in two Deadwood episodes, 1.07 and 1.08, but I've heard her say in an interview that it was possibly her most challenging role. It was a very good guest spot.

Ditto. Same goes for the stupid 'Saved by the Bell' crap that TV Guide was doing. I don't think Heroes needed to be saved, plus it's also an inaccurate statement. I think its absolutely fair to say that KB's character kick started the Ireland storyline, because Peter is no longer stagnating in Ireland after Elle killed Ricky, but anything else is definitely not giving credit where credit is due, as its undeserved praise, which, of course, would rightfully annoy the crap out of other fans.

Although, on a side note, I did picture Zach facetiously thanking Kristen for 'saving his show', followed by KB throwing something at him and a possible food fight occurring, which would expand to the rest of the cast..(I think Noah would win since kids are more experienced), but that was the only amusing thing I got from the excessive praise of random media sources.

I love KB. The first season of Veronica Mars has probably made me an eternal fan.



Unfortunately. Kinda pissed that she didn't get a fraction of the publicity for VM.

Hopefully, all the hype was just for her entrance and everyone can calm down.

I was seriously wondering if it was some ingenious conspiracy by the 'I hate Kristen Bell club!'. Hee.

Cut to last month's meeting of the 'I Hate Kristen Bell' club:

IHKBC leader: I know! Let's over-promote Kristen's role on Heroes so much that even people that don't have televisions are going, "Who the fuck is this bitch? I hate Kristen Bell!"
IHKBC minions: *applaud madly* Make it so!

Cut to Tuesday's meeting of the 'I Hate Kristen Bell' club:

IHKBC leader: *rubs hands together in glee* Our evil plan is working! Even small children in foreign countries where they ban Heroes now hate Kristen Bell! Our next meeting's agenda is to make all Star Wars fans hate her, before Fan Boys is released!
IHKBC minions: *applaud wildly again*

rowanceleste, I think I love you.

I can't confirm that this is the case as I am not exposed to the promos but I do recall reading that Ellen Greene also got a big push for her guest starring role in "The Hard Part." It may not have had the same impact purely because people weren't already fretting about cast bloat, a concern that grew over the summer as more people were announced as being added to the show. Couple that with Kristen's newly single state, her hanging out with her mate Zach a lot more, and her becoming much more high profile (no doubt for Heroes and her two new movies), and you've got saturation.

I love Kristen Bell... hmmm do any of you NOT know that? hee


Anyway yeah she was definitely a little overexposed when it comes to Heroes. But I certainly don't blame her. And hopefully now that she has been on the media attention will slow down.

rowanceleste, that was very funny, lol.

ButterflyBandit, I think early spoilers had KB signed for a 5-episode stint, then it was changed to 13, and then they gave her the David Anders and changed her from a recurring to a regular with possibility of return after her original arc wrapped up.

I am forcibly neutral on KB, personally, but I'm tempted to fall into the trap laid by rowanceleste's parody executives. I don't want to hate on her as I've no reason to, and Elle is certainly an interesting character, but– at the same time- I did dread her appearance on screen, all due to the promo machine. But if the rest of the cast likes her as much as they seem to, she can't be all bad- right?

Also, the demographics for Trekkies might already be watching Heroes. I'm not saying there's no overlap between Veronica Mars fans and Heroes fans, but plenty of people have noted that they tuned into Heroes specifically for Kristen Bell.

Was thinking of an amended subject heading: That laser bolt Elle threw at Ricky...last time I saw that was in Return of the Jedi, only about a bazillion times more pain-bringing. To that end, why not in a playful paraphrase on the guy who was tossing his bad candy at Luke in that movie's climax, something along the line of 'Empress Palpatine' would be a pretty good addendum, no?

Hee...I kinda like the Masi-inspired subject heading, 'Everybody has a crush on her!: Kristen Bell'...Poor guy...I think Ellen actually made him blush during that interview, not to mention at that time, Masi probably already knew that KB was single, since they're friends, so it was putting him even more on the spot!

I sort of said this in the Elle thread, but I think the NBC shoving Kristen out in front of other new characters and the media mentions are both expected and likely very short lived.

There are a lot of comments that nobody watched Veronica Mars or that they are doing this to bring in Veronica fans. I don't think that's the case on the latter point and I don't think the former is important, really. I think it was rowanceleste who said she didn't get half this publicity for Veronica Mars. But the truth is, she did. The media wrote about Veronica Mars all the time. It is the one thing the show had going for it: critical acclaim. Even when the quality dropped off, Kristen still got oodles of praise. She got dragged in to sing at the Emmys after the first season. She was on the cover of Maxim. I really think that more people have heard of Kristen Bell than you'd think, based on Veronica's numbers.

So I think the idea was more "mention Kristen Bell, the media loves her and, thus, Heroes will get press." I think it's about getting people to write about the show at all, rather than write about Kristen specifically to target Kristen fans.

I think it might also be the result of losing a lot of Emmys. Kristen was on critic list after critic list (I think second only to Lauren Graham) of actresses who were wrongfully deprived of an Emmy due to being on a lame network. NBC already courted Lauren Graham and promoted their 7 figure deal with her. I think they are promoting Kristen for the same reason: get the press talking about what "brilliant actresses" NBC is working with and their Emmy talley may rise come September.

The media has always loved Veronica Mars and Kristen Bell. So now they have more excuses to write about her. I wish she had gotten this kind recogination for Veronica Mars.

I think the promos was partly to get the 2 million VM watchers to watch Heroes. Because adding 2 million more viewers is never a bad thing. Although loyal VM fans knew about K-Bell joining the show for months and most of them already watched Heroes.

To loyal fans I think she is a big draw. I watched Gossip Girl because I heard she was doing the voiceover. I love GG but Kristen was reason I watched in ther first place. So I think the media does know what they are doing, but I agree that having an entire promo devoted to her was a little much considering she only had 4 minutes of screentime.

Kristen has range and while Elle is a sociopathic Veronica Mars. It's hard to see an actor in play a character in another show considering her other show just ended last year! I think as we learn more about her we will see Elle has different character then Veronica. But I saw some similarities like the looking for Peter has a PI thing, but Veronica never flat out killed anyone. So complete difference there. She didn't just electrocute him like she probably could have, she fried him to a crisp.

Yeah, they definitely promoted signing that deal with Lauren Graham, which I thought was cool. I do think NBC is working promoting Heroes overall as well, given the latest round of interviews people are doing, 'Jimmy Kimmel, The View, etc'. They could have also been trying to capitalize on the post Knocked-up, Judd Apatow/Forgetting Sarah Marshall publicity buzz that happened as well.

Hey. For a title, how about "Invasion From Mars: Actor Kristen Bell."

Ding! Ding! Ding! I think we have a winner, folks! Hee. That's great! (I changed the format since there's actually a thread title standardization going on, but otherwise it's perfect!)

Works for me. Glad you liked!

The title has my vote

The media overexposure has been a bit much, especially the "Saved by the Bell" variety, but I agree that it'll stop after a short while. Besides, as a VM fandom veteran I know that rowanceleste's brilliant parody isn't as far from the truth as one would like, so I refused to let myself get embittered by it, much as I refuse getting pissed off at Christopher Eccleston fans who think he is the best thing that ever happened to Heroes.

Of course it helps that I never doubted KB was a good actress - and if her tasering power is a shoutout to VM, I actually think it's a pretty funny one.

And I also vote for "Invasion from Mars" as the new title!

Oh I love that title! I vote for it also

I love this one as well!

As someone who fell in love with Kristen Bell from the first episode of Veronica Mars, and will follow her to any show/movie she appears in based on the fact that it's her alone, I have to agree that all the hype that NBC was throwing out seems a little over the top. At first I figured it was to get all of us crazy VM fans to tune in, but really? All of us VM crazies knew the exact date she was making her appearance long before they really started promoting it. I've been waiting for it since, I think, July.



I think you got it completely right on this one, Coconut. Even though there wasn't a lot of advertising for Kristen Bell and Veronica Mars on the networks it aired on, the media has loved both for a long time. Now that she's on a show that lots of people actually watch, the media who were always on the bandwagon are having a grand old time.

I really do hope people don't get turned off to KB because of all this exposure. People seem to think she's over the top and hamming it up for the cameras, but I worked as background for Veronica Mars and I can honestly say she was always a lot of fun on the set, even with no cameras around, and would talk and joke with anyone and everyone who was around her- not just the "important" people. She really is an amazing actress, as I think anyone would agree just from Veronica Mars, but she is also a fun and great person off screen too, which is most likely why the Heroes cast seems to have adopted her so quickly into their little family.

I've always loved KB and she seems like a lot of fun, but its always great to hear from people with first hand experience! Hee. It also matches what I've heard from the few VM crew members I know as well and would explain why most of the people that have worked with her, also love her (or as Masi says, 'has a crush on her' Hee!) Thanks! :)

I hope I actually get to meet her some day. I've heard Starfury conventions may put on a VM/Heroes convention, in Los Angeles, in the future and that would be a huge win/win for me since I love both shows and I live in California (now). If I got to meet KB, ZQ, and others from VM and Heroes, I think my 'squee' would probably be heard globally, especially if I got to meet Jason and Francis again as well. Hee.

Ok first of all you say "again"... meaning you've met them!? lol *turns green with envy* And then yeah if there was a VM/Heroes convention I'd make sure I was there. I live in Maryland so way on the other side of the US but I wouldn't miss the convention!!

Heh, I've met Jason and Michael twice and Francis once. I'd love to meet Kristen though. I even have a 'My Little Pony' for her to sign for me!

I just had to chime in with a Yes Please. I like that one.

Go Kristen. Love or hate her, there's no denying she rocks the boat big time. The TWOP VM Boards were the most popular on TWOP in 3 short years and her threads here must be the fastest growing, even before she debuted.

I really like "Ellectronica Mars" now if the can make reference to BackUp, I'll be set. It's not like VM never showed any love to Heroes, remember 3.05 - Patrice Petrelli walked off the roof of her building.

My vote goes to this one too.

All the interviews I've seen with Kristen, she seemed like such a cool person to hang out with. She makes jokes and always seems to have a good time. She always seems to get along with whatever cast she's in.

She cracks jokes about her height, I think in one interview she mentioned her feet don't even touch the floor of the chair she was sitting in. I'm the same height so I have the exact same problems, and also the fact that people still think I'm 15 when I'm 24. I know a lot of people think that she's 18 when she's 27. It does get annoying, but there are perks.

Those hater seriously need to watch Reefer Madness to get the full Kristen effect.

I had the pleasure of meeting her two years ago and she was one of the sweetest people I have ever met (celeb wise). She told me us shorties have to stick together, so that's what I plan on doing.

I'ma jump in on this with both feet, if I may. And a vote for 'Ellectronica Mars', myself. :)



I think most of us (and those in the press) can agree Heroes *was* treading water for its first month, spinning its wheels. It became, I think, to some in the media that KB was the show's version of Josh Beckett, as in 'she'll get the job done and jump-start things. NBC showed the CW how to promote a quality actress and I for one believe they did a great job of putting Bell over to the audience as someone who's going to be important to the story. I watched NBC shows I wouldn't even consider watching once in the leadup, just to see if there would be a Heroes ad (there wound up being, I think, four versions of the Fight or Flight spot; a 10-second one and three 30-second ads). Bell herself said on the Kevin and Bean show she had no idea about the leadup to Monday night, save for the teaser at the end of The Kindness of Strangers. I had absolutely no problem with the mega-push NBC did with Bell. She deserves it. And that it was only for her debut.



To me, this is a red herring. The show somewhat radically changed its opening credits on Monday. I feel it needs to be said, David Anders was elevated to the main group with this change along with KB. No one's taken issue with that yet, not that I know of. I do admit my jaw dropped when Bell wasn't listed as a guest star, but right behind Anders; a 'wow' moment from me. This also has 2008 Emmy implications, as Anders and Bell should now attempt to try for supporting acting nominations as opposed to drama guest acting ones.




That's all it was; for this week only. Once we get into Cautionary Tales, the reported title of the episode where she said on Kevin and Bean 'the blank hits the fan' re: Elle, per SpoilerFix, then the focus will swing back exclusively on her. And as for folks ticked off at Bell for all the hype that she had absolutely no sway over, the fact the Heroes cast has bonded with her suggests there's no ill will on the set, an encouraging sign. But I believe the show is all that stronger that Bell is now on its roster. That's not meant as a knock on anyone else. Individually, her four minutes, four seconds on screen (I timed it) made me want to 1) find out more about Elle and 2) made me psyched about the show that I hadn't felt since the end of Landslide last May.

We still have (at least) a dozen more episodes to see if the hype was justified.

I don't understand why people persist in the odd, nonsensical notion that the bad feelings about all the hype are directed personally at the RL Bell. Seriously, what's up with that?

Honestly, I think that is just as simultaneously natural and irrational as all of the people who were turned off by her and Elle mainly because of the hype. It's too bad these things happen, but they do.

I don't understand this. It was confirmed before Heroes even premiered that David Anders was going to be a series regular.

However, Kristen has already premiered and I, personally, have read nothing to indicate she has been elevated to regular status (and thus should be billed where she was). I also think that, for all the promotion they've given her, it doesn't make sense to NOT announce if she's been made a regular. Which, again, I may have missed something.

As for them giving her the promotion the CW failed to, I have a problem with this. When she was on Veronica Mars, she was the star of the show. She WAS Veronica. You're right. They should have promoted the hell out of her. She deserved it. However, she is NOT the star of this show. It is -- in theory -- an ensemble, not "Elle and Heroes."

Again, I do adore her. I think she's adorable. I just like to see credit spread out properly.

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I have no idea. You'd think NBC or Tim would mention if KB was already a regular, but when I googled it, even the old articles seem very confusing. Some articles talk about her 'debut as a series regular', others say the same thing, but then within the same article they talk about how she's doing a multi-episode arc, etc.

I don't know if her placing in the credits with the rest of the series regulars is indicative of anything or not. It's hard to tell with Heroes credits as they only list the people that are going to be in that specific episode and not everyone, so I guess we'll know next week if it means anything if Shalim Ortiz (Alejandro) is also listed with the regular cast, when he also wasn't announced as a regular. I don't know how many episodes he's in though, so maybe the difference is that Kristen is contracted for 13 episodes, which is more than half the season and the other guest stars are in less episodes? No freaking idea...

Because you can't swing a lolcat without hitting some variation of, 'All this promotion is making me hate KBell." I have read this dozens of times in the last couple weeks.

Oh, and I'd like to vote for Ellectronica Mars.

Well, it's possible to be a series regulars and only have thirteen episodes in the contract. Kristen Bell's previous show had such a small budget that it couldn't afford having all of its regulars for all of its 22 episodes, so usually only three regulars had full 22 episodes contracts and the rest had to contend with 18, 12 or even less episodes. I am not sure how Heroes has negotiated the contracts with its regulars, but considering how many of them are regularly missing in action (There isn't a one actor who has appeared in every episode.) it is likely that quite a number of them aren't contracted for all episodes.

Quite. And it morphs into "she's an attention whore," "she's a diva," "she's trying to be Reese Witherspoon/Hayden Panettierre/insert other blonde actress" and I've even seen a number of references to punching her in the face and other parts of the body including one that doubles as the one swear word I will never use.

Actually, I think Zach said it best when he kind of made that spoof in the Entertainment Weekly interview, about how 'he was the old cast and Kristen was the new 'cast' and they weren't 'allowed' to socialize with each other, when the fandom was up in arms because KB kept on being seen out with Zach, Hayden, Masi and the rest of the Heroes family that also adopted her.

If people actually formed their opinion about whether or not Kristen thought she was 'the savior of Heroes or something, based on her own interviews, I think it would be apparent she doesn't feel that way at all, so its frustrating when people get upset about KB either being a regular or a guest star on the show, based upon what third-party media is saying or hyping, rather than Kristen herself.



I've also seen KB basically call this her 'dream job' post Veronica Mars and I haven't seen it anywhere where she's tried to claim that she's the best thing to happen to Heroes or anything of the kind. I also think it would be a lot different if she wasn't talented and everyone wanted her on the show because she was already friends with them and she was fun to be around, but given that she's also talented, I don't see a problem. The quality and quantity of the actual story lines is up to Tim Kring and the rest of writers, not the actors who 'just' have to bring those stories to life.

As one of the only new cast members that was seen with the old cast members for a while, it also seemed as if people resented her because they considered it 'presumptuous' of her to be at Heroes events with the 'old' cast members, etc when the reality was that she was already friends with most of the Heroes cast members through Zach, Hayden and Masi, long before she was cast on the show and those friendships only became the subject of media focus after she was cast on the show.

I don't really feel strongly one way or the other about the media hyper surrounding KB's arrival, but I will say that so far I'm disappointed in her performance. I'll freely admit it may be too early to judge, but so far it's identical to her VM performance (which I didn't care for much past S1 of that show). She speaks in that same clipped, smart-ass way; wears the same perma-smirk except when it morphs into the (deliberately) phony, cajoling 'I want something from someone' smile; etc. I'm not saying she's acted in a way that the role hasn't called for, but I just find her style so self-conscious and mannered. I've felt she was quite overrated for a while now: kind of a one-note smirky snark machine.
The fact that so far it literally feels as if the character of Veronica Mars has crossed over to Heroes rather than KB adding different nuances to the role makes me even more meh on her as an actress.

I do think there are a lot of similarities so far between Elle and Veronica, but I've already seen some differences as well and she was on the screen for less than five minutes. I also think when certain characteristics are identical to both characters, ie, Elle and Veronica are supposed to be 'sassy' and some what of a smart ass, I don't think you can necessarily 100% avoid it. Just like the fact that I see a lot of 'Logan' mannerisms and characteristics in Jason Dohring's character, Josef, on Moonlight, because his new character is also supposed to be snarky, sharp and rich, etc.

I think her level of talent is visible in what she can bring to the screen and I definitely don't see her as 'one-note' at all, based on characters that she's done that don't have any similarities to Veronica, like
Mary Lane in Reefer Madness, etc. I haven't watched Deadwood yet, but I'm pretty sure I won't look at 'Flora' and think "Gee, that's Veronica in Deadwood" anymore than I thought, "Gee, that's Veronica in some weird pot-smoking musical dream" in Reefer Madness.

When I compare what KB brings to Elle or Veronica to the actress who plays Ruby from Supernatural (who is also supposed to be this snarky, sassy blonde), that actress basically comes across like a poor man's imitation of an 'evil' Veronica or Elle for that matter and it makes me appreciate Kristen's talent all the more.

I agree. I thought she was fantastic in the Lifetime movie Gracie's Choice, and Gracie is nothing like Veronica at all. Same goes for her character in Fifty Pills, which I finally saw a few weeks ago on Showtime. I also didn't see any "Veronica" in her perfomance as Maddie in the god-awful Pulse movie. I thought KB was as good as she could be given the awful material she had to work with there. Personally, I think KB does snarky very well and it fitted the character of Veronica. But none of the other characters I've seen KB play (I haven't seen Deadwood and I've only seen clips from Reefer Madness) have been snarky at all, and she has still played them well.

Even in season 1 of VM I found her adequate/good but never worthy of the praise she got throughout the run of that show or her introduction into this one. I found her refreshing from some of her peers, but by no means one of the best actresses on tv, or nomination worthy. I feel the same about Hayden, actually, that they are both hyped beyond their talents for media buzz when I find them both competent, but somewhat forgettable actresses.

I think she's a fantastic actress who is doing an exceptional job with the character Elle thus far. It could change either way (I've only seen her for like, 5 min, or however long her scenes were in last week's episode), but for now she gets the benefit of the doubt from me.

As for media hype, it is my understanding that nearly every actor/actress bemoans this part of their job/career. I try to ignore all media hype and promotions if possible (although, obviously, this is not possible for all viewers). Personally, I just feel that it detracts from their actual work -- acting -- which is all I really care about. I generally sympathize with KB on this one, as she likely has little/no control over the type or frequency of promotional materials.

And I think both titles for the thread have, thus far, been really awesome! I'd be satisfied with either.