Hi all,

A while back we'd designated September 20th as Andrew's observed birthday.  Because last weekend was an off week for JABB, I thought I'd dedicate this weekend to the celebration.  Below are a series of questions and answers all about Andrew.  Some were covered previously but I'm revisiting them.  Some, hopefully, are completely new.  I honestly don't know because as we approach 700 newsletters, I've made myself accept that I can't track everything and some repetition is going to happen.

Enjoy a favorite treat in honor of the birthday boy!

God bless,
Jenni
Questions and Answers All About the Birthday Boy

Question: So why was September 20th chosen?

Answer: Because it's relatively close to when TBAA typically premiered.  It just seemed nice to have a "holiday" around that time.  Plus, it was unlikely I would have gone along with October, November, December, and January because they're just plain too busy already with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and John Dye's birthday. 

Question: So what drew you to Andrew to begin with?

Answer: Well, it helped that John Dye was a very attractive man.  But it's hard for me to pinpoint exactly why I started fixating on Andrew.  I know that when I first started watching TBAA, I thought Monica was awesome.  Her wardrobe was something I fantasized about and even tried to replicate.  I know that during the post- Season 3 re-run season, I really became drawn to Andrew whilst watching "The Journalist."  And at this point I'm a little confused about whether I saw "The Violin Lesson" for the first time "live" or during that re-run summer.  Regardless, those two episodes really made an impression on me and my allegiance pretty swiftly switched to Andrew.  Something I've come to realize about myself is that while I'm a very feminine person, I tend to relate more to male characters on TV shows.  I think it's because they're often portrayed as more stoic and rational, even-keeled.  I feel like in my family life and my work life, that's the role I have to play to keep the drama at the most manageable level.  So I'm very drawn to those figures and I think Andrew would be a great poster child for that firstborn, low-drama, responsible person.  I felt like if he were a real person, he would get me.  And, thus, the crush began.  I just really liked how compassionate he was.  With the exception of "The Sign of the Dove," Andrew never really made his assignments about himself the way Monica sometimes did.  I mean he really was very nearly faultless.  What wasn't there to like?

Shortly thereafter, my grandpa passed away and that was the first major loss in my life.  So the idea of an angel of death like Andrew became really attractive.  So, yeah, the crush was set.

Question: What made you decide to depart from the character to the extent that you did with the stories?

Answer: There were lots of reasons.  As I've mentioned before, family drama is my favorite genre so the only way I was going to keep myself entertained and interested was to turn Andrew's post-TBAA adventures into a family drama eventually.  Also, as much as I loved TBAA, that format was never something that was going to keep me entertained for the several hours a week that I sometimes spend writing.  It was great for watching a show for forty minutes a week.  But I don't want to spend all that writing time creating a bunch of new characters that we'll likely never see again for every story. 

But I think the main thing was just the feeling I was left with that Andrew's character never really took off in a way that I think he could have and that John Dye could have acted the heck out of.  "Beautiful Dreamer" was a fantastic episode but it's one of the very few in which we really learn anything new about Andrew.  There were also precious few episodes where we got to delve into his inner workings.  Whatever I was going to do, I wanted to really look into who Andrew was as a person.  How does he think?  What does he want out of life?  What are his deepest fears?  And I just couldn't imagine Monica and Tess being the ones bringing all that out of him. 

I have some significant regrets about how I wrote early JenniAnn.  Looking back, she was sometimes a bully.  I think I over-corrected.  Whereas I saw Monica and Tess as not caring enough about Andrew's emotions, JenniAnn wanted to hear all about his emotions... OR ELSE!  But as her character evolved, I eventually did end up with the deuteragonist I needed to bring those more complex feelings out of Andrew and put them on display.  And, eventually, that shifted into the whole anam cara thing.

I have a problem remembering chronology well.  Like I can vividly recall certain conversations and experiences but would struggle with whether I was 22 when they happened... or 29... or 35...  So I don't really remember what came first but somewhere between wanting a family drama, wanting to write a love story that removed sex from the equation, reading the Book of Tobit, and reading Anam Cara by John O'Donohue; the whole idea of angel/human anam caras developed.  I really didn't set out to make Andrew anyone's soulmate.  The original Dyeland finale in which JenniAnn is married to Eliot and Andrew is a single dad who adopts his assignment's orphaned daughter is testament to that.  But all of the above conspired to put me on that path with the stories and they grew from there.

I do genuinely miss TBAA's Andrew and still get wistful sometimes, wishing there'd been TV movies or something to give him a better send-off.  But Asteriana Andrew is a nice way to keep that spark going.

Question: What are some of your favorite Andrew scenes that you've written?

Answer: The first one to come to mind is the scene between Andrew and Yeshua in the Praetorium in "The Carpenter."  I remember being pretty emotional writing that.  It's sort of a wish fulfillment thing.  I wish the real Yeshua had someone like that in his last hours.  And just the idea of it was so haunting to me.  Imagine being there, knowing Yeshua is going to be crucified, and holding that together in your mind with a memory of him in all his heavenly glory... none of which he remembers.  And he doesn't even remember you.  That's quite possibly the scene I've lost the most sleep over!

Another scene that was really moving for me is in "Abide With Me" when Andrew and JenniAnn go out for dinner.  A man gets pushy with JenniAnn while Andrew is getting the car and, still struggling with PTSD and TBI, Andrew comes back and starts to go off on the guy.  I'm not sure what it was but while writing that scene I was like "Oh...  Like...  They're an actual, grown-up couple now who have to face the world and all its weirdness alone together."  I mean, obviously, they have God and their friends and family.  But in that moment it was just the two of them dealing with that fall-out without Vincent or Joshua or Tess or anyone to react for them in the moment.

I also really like the part of "Flowers Never Bend" where JenniAnn joins Andrew at the piano.  I think it really sums up how Andrew's life experience impacts how he feels about his family.  Just to have some sort of normalcy, I think they'd all have to sometimes set aside that Andrew is an angel of death and has witnessed countless things over thousands of years... if not more.  But then when a historical event happens in real time, Andrew really needs to grapple with his own history.  Also there's just something really Romantic about the idea of Andrew being able to play Simon and Garfunkel ballads on piano.

Andrew taking on the demons in "Shadowlands" is also pretty cool, in my opinion.  We never really get to see much of Andrew in action mode on the show... computer bashing aside.  So that was fun to write.

Question: What do you think Andrew's future will be like?

Answer: That answer is ever-evolving but some information has come out since I last addressed this.  Even though I don't think it's explicitly stated, I had imagined that JenniAnn was at Josef's funeral.  So that means she lives until at least around 2070.  So by the time she dies, she and Andrew will have known each other for around 70 years and have been together for over 56 of those years.  We have every reason to believe that Andrew is the sort of person who would keep his promise to her to remain with their kids for at least a year after her death.  So... what's Andrew doing by, say, 2075?

I don't entirely know.  I will say that I'm less fond of the idea that he goes onto be the principality of Asteriana which was something I planned for a long time.  For one, I feel like the entire experience of building a life with JenniAnn, raising kids, having grandkids and great-grandkids, etc. would make him an even more incredible AOD than he ever was.  So it seems like a shame to think that after all those experiences, he ceases to be an AOD.  For another, with the exception of Hahana, I think I inadvertently made all the principalities male so I'd like to balance that out and have the principality of Asteriana... whomever that ends up being... be female. 

Honestly, my favorite theory for right now is that after he's tended the descendants for a year, Andrew goes Home for a well deserved rest.  And then, eventually, he resurfaces as the AOD we all know and love... just even wiser, gentler, and more compassionate than before. 

One interesting option is that Shelby goes onto publish a successful series of books called The Anam Cara Chronicles that's a thinly veiled saga about Andrew, JenniAnn, and the Friends.  Who knows what media will be like by the 2070s but I think it's possible that the books are successful enough to warrant a TV series.  Thus, it's very possible that everything comes full circle and Andrew ends up as a TV character again... albeit under Shelby's chosen alias for him which is Jonathan.  I really like the idea that TACC becomes the TBAA of its day and people start reporting that they were visited by a "real life Jonathan but he said his name was Andrew."  And Shelby and all the surviving Friends know the truth behind those sightings.

Anyhow, happy birthday to Andrew!!!


This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye for bringing such a beloved character to life!

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