The *quality* of performers was generally fine, it's the question of
diversity. We felt we were seeing the same faces again and again over 2 years
and the pilot. Casting directors tend to have very defined areas of
interest. And, again, she was working on lots of other projects. So this
year we changed casting directors to Fern Champion (yes, that's her real name,
and she's from New York, so watch it), who's been great, and is giving us a
real breadth of actors, particularly in terms of a wider ethnic range, which
is something I've been pushing for for two years, and never felt I was getting
as well as I'd've liked.

jms