The Lloyd Problem

Having read through the STBD Fan Survey results, a few interesting points jump out to us. One, which we're pretty proud of, is the continued affection viewers feel for the characters of Jack and Dean, who have left the series but haven't left the minds of the viewers.

One thing the viewers don't always realize -- and may not necessarily care about -- is that Dan Stripp (who plays Jack Boyd) and Shaun Cameron Hall (who plays Dean Dockerty) left STBD due to opportunities and obligations that superseded their connection to the series.

In real life, Dan and his wife had a baby and moved closer to her family, while Shaun decided to explore grad school opportunities in Virginia. Neither of them wanted to leave STBD, necessarily, but they realized their next steps would take them away from Pittsburgh.

This doesn't mean Jack and Dean have ceased to exist. On the contrary, Dean made a cameo appearance in a recent New Year's Eve episode of STBD, and Jack's next visit is always just off the horizon. In fact, their continued commitment to the show, even from afar, speaks volumes about how much they continue to enjoy their STBD experience -- and justifies how much the audience continues to miss them.

Which brings us to The Lloyd Problem.

At the beginning of Season Four, we contacted Hans Rosemond about possibly utilizing his photographic skills to help promote the show. After a brief conversation, he mentioned he'd also acted in the past, and would be interested in auditioning for us.

Long story short, his natural energy was something we realized we needed on the show -- especially since Dean had departed -- and so Hans joined the cast as Lloyd, a role we'd been trying unsuccessfuly to cast for over a year.

Lloyd had an uphill battle to fight in the eyes of the audience. Not only was he "not Dean," he also wasn't a character the audience could easily get a handle on. Depending on whose point of view you sympathized with, he was either a cocky bastard, an object of desire, a manipulator or an innocent man caught between multiple women. As opposed to a Jack or a Dean, Lloyd was a much more complicated "sell" as a leading man.

Still, the audience slowly bought into Lloyd over the first half of this season. His self-deprecating humor and manic energy helped win him fans, even as people continued to wonder what he was really all about.

And then Hans decided to leave Pittsburgh.

It's impossible to blame him, since his choice was the best one he could make for his career. He realized he'd have many more opportunities to succeed as a photographer in Chicago, where he'd attended college, than here in Pittsburgh, where the market and the rates (and the expectations) are significantly lower.

Unfortunately, his decision came in mid-December, and his departure date was just past New Year's. After taking most of the season to establish a tenuous love triangle with Caroline, Liz and Lloyd, we now had only three weeks to write Lloyd out of the series. That's one of the many loose ends we'll be wrapping up after our 6-week hiatus.

So now Lloyd follows Jack and Dean in the tradition of STBD leading men who leave the series prematurely. This leaves a bit of a hole in both the plot and the cast. How will we rebound? Tune back in starting March 26th and see how we adapt...