Which Cecily did you like?

If there was a way to put Harmony Cramp and Molly Atkinson in something and mix the two together (Harmony's sweetness with Molly's skills and overall grit), I think you'd have the perfect Cecily--which is what was found (IMO) in the books.

* * * * *

Be prepared, now. Rant coming!

My biggest gripe isn't really how either actress portrayed Cecily (I think both did well, given what they had to work with). My pet peeve is that Cecily wasn't written well to begin with. In LMM's books, Cecily was sweet; but she had limits and could tell her sibs off without being a beyotch about it. Not to mention she was more of an equal. In the series, especially in the early years, she was reduced to just staying home and looking after Digger and/or Daniel. Cecily was never given a featured storyline; and even in Harmony's final episode ("Thursday's Child"), where Cecily is supposed to have the featured storyline, more of the focus is on Felicity's woes about her future and how the town and family reacts to Cecily's illness? What about Cecily herself?!

In "Christmas in June" (Molly's debut as Cecily), Cecily is, pretty much, Felicity-meets-Felix. She somehow gets the snobbish attitude that young Felicity exhibited in the early years as well as Felix's ability to get into trouble constantly. They did so-so with Cecily's storyline in "Homecoming"; but I think the writers could've done a lot better with Cecily as a whole and should've explored her character a lot more.

An odd note about Molly: She and Gema Zamprogna (Felicity) are about the same age (Gema will be 29 in May). "She's too much like Felicity!" is a reason often cited by those who don't like Molly's Cecily. At the time Molly was cast, she was around seventeen or eighteen. The character of Cecily, at the beginning of the sixth season (when Molly took over), was around thirteen or fourteen.

Okay. Rant over. :)
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I like Harmony-Cecily best. ^_^ (Youngest/cutest/truest/most genuine. ^_^)

And I agree almost^_~ completely with everything everyone else in this thread
said/wrote (about Molly being a different type, etc.).

Having Cecily die wouldn't particularly have gone with the style of the show
(they didn't really have very young people dying, mostly). But actually, I
thought that the whole "Cecily's illness" theme didn't necessarily go very
well with the rest of the style of the show either. (They didn't really "need"
the whole "invalid" storyline, and they also didn't really "need" to have Cecily
diagnosed with a particular [and particularly famous] illness, instead of being
just generally delicate etc. [Now that I remember, though, they did use the whole
"Cecily's illness" storyline to inspire a lot of the "Felicity thinks she wants
to be a doctor" storyline (which may not have been entirely^_~ "necessary"
either, actually! ^_~).] Oh, well. They changed a whole lot of things much too
much anyway, I thought! ^_~ [What I consider their "official departure" from
the storyline as originally created by L.L.M. is when they had Sara's father
die. That was almost like an official announcement saying, "We're NOT going to
even TRY to SORT OF present the original story any more, we're going to make (up)
our own instead." It was already "different" before that, but not SO different! ^_~
(Of course, in the books, Sara's father was NOT some stuffy businessman, he was
extremely, unusually imaginative, sort of like Jane's father in [Jane of]
Lantern Hill. Also an important difference...but suddenly killing off Sara's
father was just a HUGE departure, and a kind of "point of no return".)])

I liked the earlier episodes best anyway, except that I also really liked some
of the very last episodes, with that whole "we wish we could cling to the past"
feeling that WAS a lot like the books in some ways (the style/feel of it, NOT
the EVENTS of it, of course! ^_~).

And yes, they DID make Cecily sort of the "cute little sister" type (but I thought
that maybe that was partly because they found someone so young who really did
fit the part in so many ways! ^_~ [and they actually also DID show little Cecily
occasionally standing up to Felicity, saying what she thought, etc. (they just
always had Sara and Felix and other people standing up to Felicity a lot MORE! ^_~)]).
They also made Cecily about 4 years younger than Felicity, instead of
about 1 year younger. (Note: In Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series,
Felicity and Felix and Aunt Hetty and Peg Bowen have all somehow^_~ or other
been introduced into Anne's neighborhood-world, during Anne's childhood. Cecily
isn't there, and Felix is a LITTLE brother, and Felicity looks and acts really
mean [not bossy-but-still-really-okay like the live-action-series Felicity].
[In the series Avonlea (or Road to Avonlea, or whatever) Davey and Dora (the
brother and sister who were orphans) somehow^_~ found their way out of Anne's
life and into Sara's. ^_~ Cute, but sort of a weird change too (mix-and-mingle
characters/situations/etc., fanfic style! ^_~) (series and miniseries and suchlike
do tend to do that a lot! ^_~).])

All in all, though, I thought it (Avonlea) was a MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better series
than most other TV series based on books about family sagas (such as the old
Little House on the Prairie or even the new one [2005], for instance! ^_~).

I would've said/thought that what was best to do with Cecily was just to let
her grow up naturally/normally/etc. (and maybe have her go away to school or
to live with other relatives or something, when Harmony Cramp left the show).

Speaking of really odd "differences" etc.: Did anyone else notice that in the
"Christmas in June" episode at the sanitarium, when she was always wearing the
medal/medallion/pendant except when it was supposed to be missing, she had it
on once when it WAS supposed to be missing? (I have three theories: Either the
scenes weren't filmed in order, or she accidentally forgot and wore it when
she wasn't supposed to and no one noticed, or someone else [probably an adult]
THOUGHT she'd forgotten TO wear it and put it on her! ^_~)

Kit =^__^= (the Avonlea^_^ expert^_^? ^_~)
=^___^=

I would agree with most of what ya'll were saying, especially the first "rant" and what someone said about if you could mix the two actor's styles together. As it was, I found both Cecily's to be annoying in different ways (again, I agree that in the books she was different and likeable).

I'm glad someone mentioned the two Colleen's from Dr. Quinn. The first one was sooooo much better!!!! A similar circumstance was the two Denny's (it was a girl) in Snowy River, the McGregor Saga, if any of you ever watched that. Same thing, the first one was waaaay better than the second one. Hmmm, three great period shows that all made poor choices when switching actors!

I like the first Cecily the best. I think it is because she is quiet and shy which I think is the type of person not often portrayed on tv. I think she added a little bit of reality in her part because many family's have a child who isnt the most outgoing, and doesnt talk too much. I think I also like her because I always felt kind of bad for her. Everyone kind of ignored her and she was always left alone when excitting things happened.

There was a 2nd Cecily? I remember her getting ill and being shipped off. I guess I may have graduated by then and had quit watching.

I like the first one played by Harmony. She was sweet and innocent. I did not like the second one at all. She annoyed me.

I really don't think HArmony couldve carried more dialogue or screentime. You see in earlier episodes she CAN convey character and act natural. Even in Thursday child, if you watch closely, she's very good with facial play with Janet.

She was a good child actor, but started to show inexperience as a teen actor.

Harmony is only a month older than Zach btw

The first, she was adorable.