We received a comment from a reader, about the Tracy Vilar post…
Tracy actually appeared in 10 or 13 eps of Partners, some shows more substantial than others. Only reason she was credited as guest star was because she replaced another actor from the original pilot casting. If the show had gotten picked up for more she was contracted to be a series regular. Do your research. She has been an accomplished working actor for many years, Never heard anyone but you dismiss her as ‘Sophia Vergara lite’.
A couple of things…
Thanks for the inside information on how many episode included Tracy and the explanation of her “guest star” credit. But it doesn’t really change the core message, does it? Our point was that she was underused in a show that was, basically, not very good and very short-lived.
It’s also important to us to make this clear: we didn’t dismiss Tracy Vilar as “Sophia Vergara lite.” We said, pretty specifically, that we were referring to the role. From the beginning, “RoRo” is played as the stereotypical sassy, oversexed Latina with the big boobs and tight clothes–a lose variation on the least attractive aspects of Vergara’s character on Modern Family. In her first or second scene in the pilot, (we’d check again, but the episodes have all been pulled from CBS and Hulu), RoRo’s entire purpose was to present her over-exposed pushed-up breasts–“the girls”–to Michael Urie’s character “Louis” so he can bury his face in them. And the role didn’t mature or broaden as the season progressed; in her final appearance just last week, RoRo is described–without dispute–as a terrible secretary who can’t even take a phone message properly, and who abruptly leaves for vacation without arranging for a temp. She even refuses to tell them where she’s going, in a series of old an tired jokes that amount to her saying, “None of your business.”
There’s another equally revealing line in what proved to be the last episode, when Urie’s character says something blunt to Sophia Bush’s character “Ali,”—essentially, “Sorry, but until you get a sassy black best friend, I’m the gay best friend, and I’m telling you the truth.” Or, to put it another way, “Look, we’re all just a bunch of sitcom cliches here anyway: the high-strung manipulative gay boy, the uptight straight white dude, the sassy, irresponsible Latina with the cartoon accent, and the ubercute but clueless spunky girlfriend…live with it.” Tracy was just one of the crowd, and–as we tried to point out in the original post–ill-served by the scripts she was given. Just as the viewers were.
None of this is or was a reflection on Tracy herself. We’ve written about her before; we loved her on House and we were happy (and said so) to see her get a place on a new show, especially as one of the few Latinas on CBS. But we can’t say we’re sorry to see another embarrassing stereotype fade from the scene. It’s much sadder to see the losses in strong Latino characters on CBS, like the ones in CSI: Miami or–as we said–the Latino-as-Latino cop-and-detective roles played by Manny Perez and Felix Solis this season. Of course we wish the best to Tracy. In fact–hey, Tracy, get in touch, tell us what you’re up to next!
And to the reader, thanks for the additions and comments. We appreciate the feedback.
