14. A Prayer for Jimmy Barclay
How Jimmy Barclay could fill the void in Odyssey and stabilize the show.
By David Hilder | November 16, 2013
How Jimmy Barclay could fill the void in Odyssey and stabilize the show.
By David Hilder | November 16, 2013
It’s clear to Odyssey fans that we’re living in an era where old characters are constantly returning. At least ten characters from before the 2010 relaunch have reappeared on the show in just the past five albums. We had Jason and Monty come back in Album 53, in Album 54 Hal Schneider of Hal’s Diner resurfaced after a long absence, in Album 55 Dale and Ann Jacobs as well as Robert Mitchell returned to the show, in Album 56 Jack and Joanne Allen reappeared, and in Album 57 Bill Kendall and Jeff Lewis showed up. The trend that started in The Green Ring Conspiracy has become a regular component of AIO. It’s almost a given now that with each new album we’ll see the return of another character from the past. And of course most of these returning people don’t last for very long. Personally, I think this practice has become too predictable and shouldn’t last forever. One of the reasons I think we always seem to have an old character stepping in is because there is a noticeable void in Odyssey that needs to be filled. Right now we’re seeing temporary solutions, but I think a more permanent solution is needed.
This editorial is about Jimmy Barclay, everyone’s favorite kid character. I think there’s a good case to be made that Jimmy should come back to the show. Yes, I know he was in Album 50 and B-TV: Live, but those were more like cameos. That’s not what I’m calling for. If he were to show up again, I would want a legitimate return as a major character. But wouldn’t Jimmy’s return contribute to the trend I just talked about? Wouldn’t it continue the practice of bringing back old characters for the fun of it every single album? Not necessarily. The current trend usually brings back old characters only temporarily. Hopefully, if it’s done right, Jimmy’s return will actually put a stop to this phenomenon.
According to the 2012 Official Guide, there have been numerous failed attempts to bring the Barclays back. The episode Switch in Album 46 was originally supposed to feature kids stumbling across Jimmy Barclay at the Wonderworld tree house. During the brainstorming for Album 50 one of the ideas put forward involved the Barclays returning to Odyssey and Jimmy showing Stewart Reed around. And in Album 55 when the actors playing Jack and Joanne weren’t available to record for The Labyrinth, the team considered replacing them with the Barclays attending a pastors’ conference. In Something Old, Something New, Connie mentions getting a phone call from George Barclay. Clearly the Barclays still have a place in the world of Odyssey, even if they never seem to make it to the final draft.
The focus these days is on two particular families: the Parkers and the Jones. And so there probably isn’t space to bring back the entire Barclay family. That’s not a realistic hope. But what about just Jimmy? I think his character has a lot of potential. He’s not a kid anymore, he’s an adult. There are different stories to tell and different opportunities for new adventures that he can be part of. He’s gotten older but he still has plenty of lessons to learn ahead of him. And Jimmy’s continued presence could help AIO ease out of the era of characters who randomly reappear for one episode and then leave again and bring the show into an era of stability. With the addition of Jimmy as a regular, there would be no need to have this constant unpredictable fluctuation of adult characters.
If Jimmy Barclay were to come back, he would need something to do. This is an opportunity for Whit’s End to finally get another employee that doesn’t fade away after a few episodes of working there, unlike Aubrey Shepard, Nick Mulligan and Buck Oliver. What with Eugene teaching at Campbell College and Connie taking more and more classes there, you’d think Whit would be looking for a new employee after he lost Buck in Album 53. He can’t keep asking Wooton to take over. But would Jimmy ever stoop to the level of serving ice cream? Considering his job prospects, I would say yes. In Album 42 he loses his job at a tabloid and in Album 50 we learn that he’s a gofer working at a small television news station where the weatherman can never remember his name. My guess would be he’d welcome the chance to return home to Odyssey.
Besides Whit, Connie and Eugene, if you think about it one of the central characters of Odyssey is Jimmy Barclay. He went on Odyssey’s first family vacation. We saw him come close to death in Someone to Watch Over Me. He’s the kid who got to stay on the show even after his voice changed. Unlike so many other characters, we were allowed to watch him age on the show. In the episode Wonderworld when Jimmy says he is too old for the Imagination Station and Whit’s End, Whit says he feels that “Christopher Robin just left Pooh Corner.” Comparing Jimmy to Christopher Robin acknowledges the significance his character. While others have been in more episodes than he has, his character is the one that always seems to come back even when the eras of the show change. Despite moving away to Pokenberry Falls in Album 26, he reappeared in Album 31. Then we caught up with him in Album 42 and again in Album 50. A more permanent return to the show would be completely natural considering how frequently he is involved in the show anyways.
In my first editorial, The Top Four, I talked about how Odyssey has a small pool of adult main characters. I said that different eras of AIO are held together not by the kids who come and go but by the adults who last a lot longer. Jimmy’s return as an adult would be a great way of planning for the future. We know Whit will always be replaced by a new actor, so we don’t need to worry about him. But unless AIO is also hoping to eventually replace the actors for Eugene and Connie, who have been on the show from nearly the beginning, realistically those characters are not going to last forever. And with so much changing in Connie’s life recently, I wonder whether she’ll make the choice to move on from Whit’s End to other things even sooner than expected. Unless the AIO team says otherwise, I’m going to assume that Katie Leigh and Will Ryan will not be replaced by new actors. When they do inevitably retire I would prefer for Eugene to move to Africa where his father lives, which was the original plan for Album 49, and for Connie to live up to the “call to something more” that Album 57 was all about. When Eugene and Connie are gone, someone will have to fill the void. Who better to do the job than Jimmy Barclay?
To summarize, this trend of having old characters return for a short appearance every album is just a short-term fix to a problem that will only grow as time moves on. As Odyssey loses more of its adult characters, the show will need to be stabilized by the introduction of new ones. I’m not leaving out the possibility of the creation of completely new characters, but this should definitely be balanced out by older, more familiar characters. We need people from the past who we have grown up with and who also have the potential to last for many years into the future. Jimmy Barclay fits those criteria and is a clear candidate for being upgraded to a series regular when the time is right.
This editorial is about Jimmy Barclay, everyone’s favorite kid character. I think there’s a good case to be made that Jimmy should come back to the show. Yes, I know he was in Album 50 and B-TV: Live, but those were more like cameos. That’s not what I’m calling for. If he were to show up again, I would want a legitimate return as a major character. But wouldn’t Jimmy’s return contribute to the trend I just talked about? Wouldn’t it continue the practice of bringing back old characters for the fun of it every single album? Not necessarily. The current trend usually brings back old characters only temporarily. Hopefully, if it’s done right, Jimmy’s return will actually put a stop to this phenomenon.
According to the 2012 Official Guide, there have been numerous failed attempts to bring the Barclays back. The episode Switch in Album 46 was originally supposed to feature kids stumbling across Jimmy Barclay at the Wonderworld tree house. During the brainstorming for Album 50 one of the ideas put forward involved the Barclays returning to Odyssey and Jimmy showing Stewart Reed around. And in Album 55 when the actors playing Jack and Joanne weren’t available to record for The Labyrinth, the team considered replacing them with the Barclays attending a pastors’ conference. In Something Old, Something New, Connie mentions getting a phone call from George Barclay. Clearly the Barclays still have a place in the world of Odyssey, even if they never seem to make it to the final draft.
The focus these days is on two particular families: the Parkers and the Jones. And so there probably isn’t space to bring back the entire Barclay family. That’s not a realistic hope. But what about just Jimmy? I think his character has a lot of potential. He’s not a kid anymore, he’s an adult. There are different stories to tell and different opportunities for new adventures that he can be part of. He’s gotten older but he still has plenty of lessons to learn ahead of him. And Jimmy’s continued presence could help AIO ease out of the era of characters who randomly reappear for one episode and then leave again and bring the show into an era of stability. With the addition of Jimmy as a regular, there would be no need to have this constant unpredictable fluctuation of adult characters.
If Jimmy Barclay were to come back, he would need something to do. This is an opportunity for Whit’s End to finally get another employee that doesn’t fade away after a few episodes of working there, unlike Aubrey Shepard, Nick Mulligan and Buck Oliver. What with Eugene teaching at Campbell College and Connie taking more and more classes there, you’d think Whit would be looking for a new employee after he lost Buck in Album 53. He can’t keep asking Wooton to take over. But would Jimmy ever stoop to the level of serving ice cream? Considering his job prospects, I would say yes. In Album 42 he loses his job at a tabloid and in Album 50 we learn that he’s a gofer working at a small television news station where the weatherman can never remember his name. My guess would be he’d welcome the chance to return home to Odyssey.
Besides Whit, Connie and Eugene, if you think about it one of the central characters of Odyssey is Jimmy Barclay. He went on Odyssey’s first family vacation. We saw him come close to death in Someone to Watch Over Me. He’s the kid who got to stay on the show even after his voice changed. Unlike so many other characters, we were allowed to watch him age on the show. In the episode Wonderworld when Jimmy says he is too old for the Imagination Station and Whit’s End, Whit says he feels that “Christopher Robin just left Pooh Corner.” Comparing Jimmy to Christopher Robin acknowledges the significance his character. While others have been in more episodes than he has, his character is the one that always seems to come back even when the eras of the show change. Despite moving away to Pokenberry Falls in Album 26, he reappeared in Album 31. Then we caught up with him in Album 42 and again in Album 50. A more permanent return to the show would be completely natural considering how frequently he is involved in the show anyways.
In my first editorial, The Top Four, I talked about how Odyssey has a small pool of adult main characters. I said that different eras of AIO are held together not by the kids who come and go but by the adults who last a lot longer. Jimmy’s return as an adult would be a great way of planning for the future. We know Whit will always be replaced by a new actor, so we don’t need to worry about him. But unless AIO is also hoping to eventually replace the actors for Eugene and Connie, who have been on the show from nearly the beginning, realistically those characters are not going to last forever. And with so much changing in Connie’s life recently, I wonder whether she’ll make the choice to move on from Whit’s End to other things even sooner than expected. Unless the AIO team says otherwise, I’m going to assume that Katie Leigh and Will Ryan will not be replaced by new actors. When they do inevitably retire I would prefer for Eugene to move to Africa where his father lives, which was the original plan for Album 49, and for Connie to live up to the “call to something more” that Album 57 was all about. When Eugene and Connie are gone, someone will have to fill the void. Who better to do the job than Jimmy Barclay?
To summarize, this trend of having old characters return for a short appearance every album is just a short-term fix to a problem that will only grow as time moves on. As Odyssey loses more of its adult characters, the show will need to be stabilized by the introduction of new ones. I’m not leaving out the possibility of the creation of completely new characters, but this should definitely be balanced out by older, more familiar characters. We need people from the past who we have grown up with and who also have the potential to last for many years into the future. Jimmy Barclay fits those criteria and is a clear candidate for being upgraded to a series regular when the time is right.
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