Lesli Kay Joins "Venice"

Once again, I say: Crystal Chappell is the best casting director ever.

Can't wait for the series.

She is a great casting director isn't she, love Leslie Kay that girls been working pretty hard to right she's been on two shows at the same time?

I loved Lesli Kay on ATWT, and have been excited about her upcoming stint. Now, I have even more to look forward to with her being part of Venice! With those 2 in the roles, I bet the Tracy/Gina storyline/scenes are going to rock! And that makes what, 7 Emmys between the V Cast members now...impressive!

Crystal Chappel is a casting goddess. This has turned out to be one amazing cast and can only get better as time goes on. Love it and can't wait for this thing to get going.

I suspect Lesli will have more to do on Venice than she's had to do on "B&B" in the last 3 years. Good for Crystal getting so many terrific actors for "Venice."

Ok I like this casting coo but I want Ani/Jessica with Gina the spark is with Gina and Ani. I am all for making them wait but this series is to new to play around with the fan base. We love the energy between Crystal and Jessica and know one else thank you very much.

This cast is getting awfully big for a show whose entire first season is probably gonna amount to 50-60 minutes total. I hope it ends up being a comedy because there is no way you can create or sustain dramatic momentum with 7 minute episodes.

Ok I like this casting coo but I want Ani/Jessica with Gina the spark is with Gina and Ani. I am all for making them wait but this series is to new to play around with the fan base. We love the energy between Crystal and Jessica and know one else thank you very much.

The first episode hasn't even been taped yet, how can anyone know that "the spark" is between Gina and Ani? We have no idea what these characters are like or what the dynamics of their relationship are. They almost certainly won't be Olivia and Natalia, so the chemistry won't be the same either. Practically every single time a show has tried to re-capture the chemistry that two actors had on another show, playing totally different roles, it's been a miserable failure. Just ask Ricky Paul Goldin and Beth Ehlers. Or Steven Nichols and Mary Beth Evans. Or Nancy Lee Grahn and Lane Davies. It almost never works and given the fact that we've never even seen JL and CC in a physically intimate scene together, I think it's jumping the gun to assume that they even have sexual chemistry. Jeff Branson and Gina Tognoni had great chemistry on GL as Dinah and Shayne...until their characters actually kissed and became lovers. With the sexual tension gone, there was no actual sexual chemistry there. The same could be true in this case.

I agree with Rosevioletdaisy. We don't know the chemistry between Gina and Ani. There is so much that goes into to two actors having chemistry with their characters.

You can't let one fanbase determine storytelling because then there would be no storytelling since watching two people happy and together really isn't all that interesting.
CC seems to know this so I'm personally not worried.

Great casting coup by CC getting Lesli Kay, she is so beautiful and an amazing actress.

Well done Venice team. Best Casting Director Ever is right. They have pulled together an excellent cast and Lesli Kay is a great addition, beautiful, accomplished actress, Emmy winner. I'm going to sit back and see what story or stories the Venice team will tell with these characters. The creators, at least in what I have been reading and watching, have been very up front in saying that Ani and Gina will not be together. I don't think that they can be any more clear than that and I think that projecting Otalia onto the show and the characters isn't fair to Venice and the creators. While the impetus for the show seems to have grown out of the feedback from the Otalia storyline, the success of Venice in my mind will depend on a broad base of fans. Not to mention, as RoseVioletDaisy pointed out, the show has yet to be filmed, the audience really has no idea who any of the characters are and whether or not an audience will want to see certain characters together. Otalia was not Otalia until it was Otalia. They started out as two people, Olivia and Natalia. I think Venice deserves to be viewed with an open mind as to story direction. Finally, I hope Lesli Kay has thick skin.

The cast for Venice gets better by the day and Crystal Chappell is doing what Telenext/Procter and Gamble couldn't do: the wave of the future, soaps on the web!

Emily, Troy and RoseViolet, thank you for stating that Venice deserves to be judged from a fresh view and not just because CC and JL were Otalia. Venice isn't about Otalia. I fear some Otalia fans are gonna revolt when some find the show isn't what they want it to be. I look forward to seeing how Gina/Ani and Gina's new love interest will all play out.

I don't watch B&B and wasn't watching ATWT at the time LK was on, but there have been some really great casting choices already, so I feel good about this one as well. And she is very beautiful.

I agree that people should go into Venice with an open mind and not with specific expectations for character pairings, but...

There are no less than four items on the Venice homepage that feature/promote CC and JL or Gina/Ani. You have the posed photo, the production still, the video greeting and a link to the joint podcast. If I knew nothing of Otalia and looked at the homepage, I would definitely think that those two characters were the "main" couple. It's working for them now, as I'm pretty sure it was Otalia fans who bought the 1000 pairs of panties in five hours that will probably fund production of the entire first season. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite them later.

To Katheryn71 and anyone who have not seen Lesli Kay's work. If u are interested pls use the youtube link below to watch her wonderful performances on The Bold & The Beautiful....not to be missed if u are a fan of great acting

Type "FELICIA" in the search box to view her clips.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DrTroy#g/u

And, it has also been "revealed" (? wasn't a secret) that Ani is Gina's ex, so the first episode could be two exes who remained friends after, seeing each other for the first time in a year and having great ex-sex. That means nothing about any known throughline, ya know? We also know that they kiss early in the first of the epi and that Gina has intimacy issues & is horrible at relationships! Leaves things pretty wide open if you ask me.

And, again, there's the plus factor of personal friendship & trust between CC & LK (ex-LKS) ...

But, yes, Crystal has always been so smart & so savvy & she is just coming into her own all over the place!!!