| During Their Two-Decade GL Journey, Robert Newman And Kim Zimmer Have Survived Quite A Few Bumps In The Road. Josh and Reva --- two names inexorably linked in the GL canon, are a supercouple who, last year, tied the knot for the third time. Off-screen, their portrayers, Robert Newman and Kim Zimmer, have cultivated a powerful bond. Together, they sat down with Digest to share their thoughts on the lessons they've learned and what still surprises them after 20 years. SOD - What's your reaction to the behind-the-scenes changes at GL? Kim - I am always a big believer that change is good. I've never worked with John Conboy, so I don't know what to expect, but I can say that he shows up at 7 in the morning and is there for dry block rehearsals. I miss Paul, but they're from the same school, Paul and John, so that is kind of comforting to me. And (new head writer) Ellen Weston I don't know, but from what I understand, she wrote a TV movie that I did, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF VONNIE, which is one of the better TV movies I was in. Robert - I've never worked with John before, but he seems like a really good guy. In a general sense, I can't imagine how many writer changes I have been through in 22 years. It seems like they come and go. SOD - How have you tried to maintain a through-line of Josh and Reva? Robert - Lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth (laughs). We've fought our share of battles to try to keep the characters intact. For me, Josh is where he's supposed to be right now in the sense that he is with the woman he loves. There are other times when I can't figure out what the guy is thinking. And that's when I go back to evil twin Skippy. "Well, if I don't know what he's doing, it must be Skippy who's doing it (laughs)." Kim - I remember when Millee came on the show, she said, "I want to do something with Reva that has such devastating results, but it is so Reva. And I went, "Wow, I don't even know who Reva is anymore...You say you want her to do something so Reva-like --- what's that?" Robert - (in a Southern accent) Jump up on a table in a red dress with lots of men going... (He begins to point and laugh) Kim - I had a fear that that was what she was thinking. SOD - Do the symbols --- red dress, Cross Creek --- still hold the meaning they once did? Kim - No. Certainly a red dress doesn't. Everybody wears red dresses on the show now. And we haven't seen Cross Creek since... Robert - ...Josh proposed. SOD - What element would they have to take away for it to no longer be GL to you? (A long silence is broken by low chuckling) Kim - We can't jump on an answer because we are numb to that. It has happened so often. There have been so many things over the years where I've gone home to (husband) A.C. and said, "I can't do this anymore. I'm not happy doing this." But I'm learning a great deal of patience in my old age, and I don't have that need to be front-and-center anymore. And I don't want to be the pinnacle of Springfield society. I don't want to be Bert Bauer. She was fabulous, but I don't want to do that. Robert - Patience comes to mind for me, too. I've said the phrase "This too shall pass" many times over the last few years. I think it's a lot like what some of the diehard fans have been through, where people are in this waiting mode: "When is this show going to get its act together again?" I think everybody has been through too many experiments. I feel like a broken record because I feel we've all said it a thousand times --- we have to get back to the roots of what daytime is supposed to be about. And there have been many times over the last 20 years where I've been waiting for that. On the positive side, it has taught me some good things, like what is really important in life. Things are going to fall apart at work occasionally. Does that mean that your whole life crumbles? For me, no, because this is not my whole life. I always consider myself fortunate to be doing what I do, even when the story is horrible. There are a lot of other things I could be doing. I could be standing on a corner right now in a chicken suit handing out flyers for a restaurant. Kim - Me, on the other hand, even though I've learned patience, I won't roll over and play dead, either. I still don't do this job just to collect a paycheck. I need to have a reason to be here, and if I feel I don't have one, I'm at a point in my life and career that I will leave, and I've said this for the last 10 years, too. It hasn't gotten so bad yet that I am willing to take that jump. SOD - What have you done to stave off burnout? Robert - First of all, sometimes there is burnout. I've walked into the studio on some days and can't function. When I am feeling like that, it's time for me to get refocused more at home and take this place down a notch in where it lands in my priorities. (Pauses) I always like Kim's answers more than mine. Kim - And I always listen to Robert's and go, "Gosh, I wish I could be that pragmatic." But I just can't. I don't have that bone in my body. Robert - That's what makes us work so well together. SOD - You both haven't been working as many days in the studio. Kim - Two years ago, I would have been pulling my hair out if I was only working two days a week. I have other priorities now --- I can't believe my daughter is going to be a junior in college and my other two are growing up so fast. Robert - Five years ago, I probably would have stewed about it, lost sleep about it and had a bunch of meetings to say, "What the heck is going on here?" But I'm watching my kids grow up too fast, and I'm afraid I am going to turn around and they are going to be out the door to college. SOD - What still surprises you about the other? Kim - Robert's sense of humor still surprises me. There are still things he says where I go, "Oh, my God, I can't believe you just said that." Robert - For Kim, it's vulnerability. She can put on this tough exterior, but there is a vulnerability that comes through her. Kim - (pretending to cry) Oh, stop. SOD - Have you developed a way to speak shorthand? Kim - There's a look that he gives me, and I know I've gone too far. I know there are times when Robert has seen me at the boiling point, and he'll take it. He'll say, "Maybe if we did this, she won't want to cut your head off." (They laugh) Robert - "You might get out of the building alive if we cut this section." Kim - And then there are other days where we go, "What are we going to do with this (material)?" But you put us in a scene, and it works. Robert - We're both big fans of history and the romance of these characters. That's when we get choked up in the middle of a scene --- we're doing something, and it clicks a memory from 20 years ago. SOD - How do you feel about Josh and Reva being married again? Kim - Great. It's where they should be. Robert - Definitely. SOD - Do you have a routine when you're at the studio together? Robert - A long time ago, we stopped seeking each other out to say good-bye at the end of the day. Kim - We have other lives to get to now. And I know he'll be there, and he knows I'll be there. If anything were wrong, I know I could find him to talk. He is probably the only person at the studio who, if I had a life problem, I feel I could talk to. Robert - We do start pretty much every morning with a hug. Well, depending on the story. (They laugh) There are other days I walk in and think, "I wonder where Kim is?" SOD - Can you tell when the other is in a bad mood? Kim - Oh, yeah. Robert - The whole studio was in a bad mood for a while, including myself. I think that time is over, which is also a good indication that the show is getting back on a better track. Three, four years ago, it all got very dark. Kim - It helps to know --- I mean, it could all change tomorrow --- that P&G and CBS seem to be behind us. I think for a long time, that's why people were so edgy. You felt that the ax was going to drop, that they were only going to keep us on until the 50th anniversary (last June), and then we were going to be gone. SOD - How conscious are you of ratings? Robert - I couldn't care less. Kim - I look at them only because I still can't believe they are so bad across the board. Robert - I think we shot off our own foot with a lot of our fans. People need to trust when they watch a show, and when you violate that trust, you're going to lose people. Sadly, I think over the last several years, we've lost a number of people that way. Then we have the task of building a new audience and trying to win people back. SOD - What have you learned from Josh and Reva? Robert - Never clone your wife. Stay away from psychos. Kim - I don't know if I've learned from Reva in the way she deals with Josh, and I take a little of that home or what, but there are lessons to be learned from the way they write these two characters. Everybody should pay attention to them, and you, too, could be married for years. Robert - Or three times. |