Reception
For her portrayal of Marilyn, Symons was nominated for "Best Actress" at the 1999 Inside Soap Awards. That same year saw Symons named one of the twenty greatest soap stars of the 1990s by All About Soap. They said "Dizzy, vibrant, gaudy and bizarre, Emily Symons won over our hearts as loveable Marilyn Chambers in Home and Away.
Following Marilyn's abrupt departure in 1999, the show was "bombarded" by fans demanding to know what had happened to her. Holy Soap have said that Marilyn's most memorable moment is "Realising she had fallen in love with school principal Don Fisher and eventually marrying him". On Marilyn's relationship with Donald, Chris Middendorp of The Age said "While it lasted, it was one of the oddest couplings in television and fun to watch. They were like what would happen if Lawrence Olivier got hitched to a page-three girl." Yahoo! placed Marilyn and Donald on their "Best-ever soap couples" list and TV Week named them one of soap's "Odd Couples", saying "Who could forget grumpy old Donald Fisher with kooky young Marilyn Chambers in Home and Away?" The Sunday Mail simply brand her as "the dizzy wife of stuffy headmaster Donald".
A writer from Inside Soap included Marilyn and Donald in their feature profiling unlikely couples. They branded her a "half-wit hairdresser" and him a "haggard head" who found happiness together. The writer added that "at least Marilyn Chambers had a good excuse for her bizarre decision to go out with the aging Donald Fisher - she was as mad as a mongoose."
Series producer Cameron Welsh said that there had been a "positive reaction" from fans to Marilyn's return in 2010. The Daily Telegraph said that the show needs Marilyn, "a sweet-natured good woman", after the scandals of last year. A columnist from Inside Soap called Marilyn a legend and said her return to Home and Away was the "best news ever". They added " is so amazing in the show, we even prefer her to lovely Romeo's six-pack." The Birmingham Post stated some viewers felt Home and Away was not the same without the "curly haired Sheila". In February 2011, Marilyn was nominated for "Best Comeback" from the All About Soap Bubble Awards.
Jaci Stephen writing for the Daily Mail said Marilyn's return was great news and branded her a "much loved face". She claimed to admire her so much that she branded the "dipsy beautician" as one of the best characters in the history of Home and Away. She agreed with her "dizzy blond" label. After Marilyn prepares to die, Stephen commented "Marilyn's demise is the longest in Summer Bay's history Oh, hurry it along, woman." However she opined that Mity's lie gave Marilyn "a new lease of life". Stephen also said that she has had some "bizarre storylines in her life"; and concluded that asking Alf for clothing advice for her date with Sid was the most bizarre.
Read more about this topic: Marilyn Chambers (Home And Away)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)