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Mar
27
2012

Character Crossovers

My all-time favorite reality show—The Amazing Race—is back on TV for a new season!

This season, one of the teams is Brendon and Rachel from Big Brother. Now I watched BB so I know who they are and what they were like on that show. And while I enjoyed watching them on BB—and I even thought they played the game of BB very well!—I’m finding it harder and harder to watch them on the race each week. I keep expecting them to eat slop and make out in the HOH room! It’s weird! And I’m not sure they’re handling the stress of racing around the world as well as some of the other teams.

 

 

They’re not the first crossover characters on The Amazing Race that have felt out of place to me. I remember when Boston Rob and Amber (Survivor) were on the show. I loved those two!! But on the race, if still felt weird to watch them. I expected them to be eating rice and hanging out in a palm tree talking about Rob’s newest plan to outsmart the other castaways. I LOVED Boston Rob on Survivor! He was so entertaining to watch… But not so much on the Amazing Race. I don’t know why.

 

So it got me thinking about crossover characters in books. If you read the first book in a series, do you want to see the characters from that first book crossover into the second for a guest appearance? I can’t say as that’s ever bothered me in a book before but maybe that’s because it happens within a series. What if characters from one series crossed over into another series by the same author? Then would that be weird? If an author has a series about witches and another about werewolves, would it bother you if some of your favorite witches showed up in werewolf world? Does it make a difference in books versus TV?

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Heather

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  1. Sophie Pembroke says:

    As a rule, I love crossovers. I love that moment where two separate worlds collide and become one. And I particularly love standalone books where characters from the author’s other books have cameos. But the caveat is, crossovers have to be done well. Done badly… well, it screws up two worlds for me.

  2. allyson says:

    For me in a series I love to see characters crossover. I feel like you get to know the characters better. If Im reading a book that a character comes into that was the main character in another book, it feels to me like you are kind of getting to play cath up with them.

  3. Wendy Chen says:

    I love crossovers as well, I think because I can never get enough of the characters when I enjoy a book.

  4. Jen says:

    Great topic Heather! I love seeing everyone’s thoughts.

    I remember *AHEM* when I was younger and Charlie’s Angels would guest star on the Love boat. Or the days that Fonzie from Happy Days, would pop in and take Laverne & Shirley out for a night on the town. I loved seeing my favorite casts interact. I think crossover is wonderful. It can feel like old friends have popped in to say hello. I think making it seem organic, a true reason for the characters to be there, is really important.

  5. Janet Lane Walters says:

    I do a lot of series and yes, I have the characters reappear sometimes for a long guest appearance. I often wonder what happened to the characters after the story ends.

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