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OLTL Outside Llanview: The Cast In Other Roles

Chairperson Meow

By Chairperson Meow
in One Life To Live

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TeeVee329

TeeVee329

On 7/27/2023 at 6:31 PM, Panopticon said:

Still, I kind of hate that she’s coming back as part of an influx of “the ABC head writer will have his ABC stars.”

How much control does a head writer have over this kind of thing versus a producer?  To pull a OLTL example, I feel like we heard that Frank was the one who signed up Kim ZImmer and Ron had to write to it, not that Ron had all these big plans for Echo DiSavoy going in.

I also think it's just Soaps now, that these shows will do the easiest/laziest thing to draw any extra eyes in and so they hope time and time again that bringing in stars from other soaps - and their preestablished fanbases - will move the needle.

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jsbt
jsbt

Christ, what a year for soaps. Kamar de los Reyes is gone. Cancer. Kamar had a complicated history on OLTL, but I was absolutely spellbound by him in his first stint on the show. As a somewhat sh

CanaryFan98
CanaryFan98
Grinaldi
Grinaldi

This is so sad. I remain grateful we were able to get her back toward the end of the run once they had a new studio. For those that may not know she left the show in the 80s because her longtime

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Panopticon

Panopticon

(edited)

From what we know about Albert Alarr’s taste, I’d be surprised if any of them were his picks. As he would say, Kassie can’t even remember what it’s like to be young and vibrant (he said that to Martha Madison, for those not following the Days meltdown). And while the GH stars do have their own potentially portable fanbases, does JPL? 
 

Although if you’re correct and this is Alarr rather than Carlivati, my original thought doesn’t really change: I hate this for Kassie. She was making some headway in making Eve her own, and that’s a harder battle if she’s coming in as part of an identifiable group of invaders. 

Edited by Panopticon
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UYI

UYI

(edited)

So I started watching Y&R earlier this year--a soap that I'll admit that I NEVER would have seen myself getting into in the past; I guess time really DOES make fools of us all, hee!--and I'll say it: I am LOVING Trevor St. John as Tucker. Whatever issues I had with him on this show, I definitely don't have any of them watching him as Tucker. Granted, he's not playing a character that is being portrayed as almost everything that he logically shouldn't be this time around (to the point where the original actor is brought back to undo the damage and TSJ's character is revealed to be someone else), but still. lol 

Edited by UYI
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ihavenoidea

ihavenoidea

21 hours ago, UYI said:

So I started watching Y&R earlier this year--a soap that I'll admit that I NEVER would have seen myself getting into in the past; I guess time really DOES make fools of us all, hee!--and I'll say it: I am LOVING Trevor St. John as Tucker. Whatever issues I had with him on this show, I definitely don't have any of them watching him as Tucker. Granted, he's not playing a character that is being portrayed as almost everything that he logically shouldn't be this time around (to the point where the original actor is brought back to undo the damage and TSJ's character is revealed to be someone else), but still. lol 

I always liked Trevor so he's fine on YR to me too, but honestly I don't see much difference between Tucker and VicTodd, his acting is basically the same. He looks bored half the time, but that's just him. I think it's just easier when we don't have an investment in the character relationships. When we thought he was Todd his indifference toward people we knew he should care about was annoying, but Tucker wasn't as engrained into YR as Todd was OLTL, and I'm not as invested in YR as I was OLTL.

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UYI

UYI

50 minutes ago, ihavenoidea said:

I always liked Trevor so he's fine on YR to me too, but honestly I don't see much difference between Tucker and VicTodd, his acting is basically the same. He looks bored half the time, but that's just him. I think it's just easier when we don't have an investment in the character relationships. When we thought he was Todd his indifference toward people we knew he should care about was annoying, but Tucker wasn't as engrained into YR as Todd was OLTL, and I'm not as invested in YR as I was OLTL.

This pretty much sums it up for me, too! 

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jsbt

jsbt

(edited)

For a brief update: It seems possible to likely Blair will be the mystery ex-wife of Michael E. Knight's character, Martin Grey. Martin is a semi-shady Southern-fried lawyer and the half-brother of Port Charles' own beloved Mayor Laura Spencer Collins (Genie Francis). He has been having a romance with Lucy Coe but has hidden elements of his past from her, which led the snooping Lucy and Felicia Scorpio first to Pine Valley (where they met AMC's Jackson Montgomery) and next, who knows.

I don't see anything potentially character-crippling offhand about Blair having wed (and divorced) Martin Grey, but it still isn't a great thing for GH which has never been able to let go of OLTL actors or characters.

OTOH, there's also rumors of Ted King returning to GH, so hey, who knows.

Edited by jsbt
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jsbt

jsbt

2 hours ago, TeeVee329 said:

Blair!

So when last we saw her on GH, she was going off with Tea and Skye to look for Tomas slash maybe Alcazar, right?

Yes, but things kind of changed on OLTL 2.0. Not that I expect them to acknowledge that. I will be legit shocked (but mildly dismayed) if Frank insists on returning to the Alcazar/Tomas bit.

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TeeVee329

TeeVee329

I'm torn like a thousand ways about this. 

On the plus side, after the years of having her heart used and abused by the likes of Todd, Victor, John, etc., I guess I like that Blair is sticking the gears to Tad Martin Gray, being a bit more of a schemer.  I'm excited the storyline will have her in scenes with Tracy and Lucy Coe versus Carly or Sonny.  And I'm just happy to see her and get any Llanview tidbits she wants to share.

On the negative side, I can't remember what has been said about Tad Martin Gray's ex-wife the last year or so, but it's probably not flattering to our Blair.  Also, it's so odd that they didn't bring in one of Michael E. Knight's love interests from AMC to play this part.  Even Jamie Luner would have more sense!

 

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jsbt

jsbt

(edited)

As I said in the GH thread:

Spoiler

It honestly doesn't register for me at this point if Blair is no longer with Todd. She's a tertiary character on GH and Todd, while I was an invested viewer re: him in his heyday, is a serial rapist who a soap is never going to be able to feature again. He's a part of the past, and any imaginary calculus I had of Blair's life today since the MeToo movement assumed he would not be in it were OLTL still on air. The fact that they are featuring Blair as an apparent troublemaker in a business world that is relevant to her own character history is more appealing to me as a fan at this point. Whether the material onscreen is any good remains to be seen, but I do like that she's just not Todd's arm candy.

If it was me I'd simply leave it at Todd being dead/'dead'. That doesn't invalidate anything. But assuming he is mentioned as being alive, Blair and Todd broke up many times and still loved each other. Nonetheless it's all the past and I just don't care. I'm just grateful Carlivati isn't around to find a way to reignite the Blair/Todd/Tea wars via background dialogue, because he would.

I like that Blair's being featured with Tracy and Lucy and apparently harkening back to one part of her career background. Beyond that I'm just glad to see her and sympathetic to the GH fans who are beyond sick and tired of OLTL shit. Poor non-actor Patrick Gibbons being dragged out constantly to play opposite Howarth is too much as is.

She definitely doesn't need to be part of this silly subplot and for GH fans it seems like yet another OLTL character/star is just insult to injury, but so far I'm not seeing anything really ruinous to Blair myself.

Edited by jsbt
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TeeVee329

TeeVee329

(edited)

Slightly OT, but quite the coincidence that just as the "Again With This" podcast hit the era of "Melrose Place" with Rena Sofer as Amanda's retcon friend Eve...

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...that Rena Sofer is coming back to "General Hospital" to play with my girl Amanda Setton (Kimberly Andrews).  I feel like Setton hasn't gotten anything good or meaty since the "baby swap" with Maxie so hopefully this gives her a storyline I actually want to watch.

Edited by TeeVee329
jsbt

jsbt

(edited)

I am slightly surprised they don't given the amount of forced scenes Frank loves to play with various OLTLers (the endless scenes with Howarth and Patrick Gibbons' recurring gag character) but I also am grateful, because Austin is just dreadful. Franco would've been worse.

Apparently Sam and Jack get mentioned, and I would assume Blair mentioning Sam is in college is also a cute nod to Patrick Gibbons going off to college. I believe Blair sold either 'her company' or the Deceptor concept to Tracy, or both which means Melador was around again. In any event she looks great.

 

Edited by jsbt
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jsbt

jsbt

Just to be needlessly anal: For the sake of audience exposition, Tracy seems to be unaware of who the Cramers are, which in terms of ABC Daytime soap continuity, where characters always kept up on this kind of stuff (pre-lawsuit), I have a hard time buying. Tracy is a shark. She would know about Dorian Lord and the other power players in Llanview as a matter of principle, and she also used to have a less than above-board business relationship with Llanview's own Marco Dane when Gerald Anthony crossed over in the '90s; she would've looked into him too. She also researched everywhere Rae Cummings had ever been when planning to take her and Skye down when she came back to the Quartermaine family fold in 2003 (a task she quickly accomplished, clearly with great relish by Bob Guza whose writing made it eminently clear he could not stand the crossover). I'll just pretend Tracy was dummying up for her own cards-to-the-vest purposes.

She also would know Starr, Michael's college sweetheart, but I would hardly blame Tracy for forgetting Michael's one other live girlfriend exists.

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TeeVee329

TeeVee329

(edited)
47 minutes ago, jsbt said:

Just to be needlessly anal: For the sake of audience exposition, Tracy seems to be unaware of who the Cramers are, which in terms of ABC Daytime soap continuity, where characters always kept up on this kind of stuff (pre-lawsuit), I have a hard time buying.

I made very similar complaints in the GH thread when Lucy and Felicia visited Jackson Montgomery in Pine Valley and we were to believe Lucy wouldn't know a former Mr. Erica Kane if she saw one.  As if.

And it is weird they didn't at least bring up the Skye connective tissues given, I'm pretty sure, the last time we saw Blair on GH, she took off with Skye and Tea to look for Tomas slash Alcazar.

But I'm still looking forward to watching her scenes.  Thank gawd she's with grownups like Tracy and not like, stupid Sasha.

Edited by TeeVee329
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jsbt

jsbt

(edited)
2 hours ago, TeeVee329 said:

I made very similar complaints in the GH thread when Lucy and Felicia visited Jackson Montgomery in Pine Valley and we were to believe Lucy wouldn't know a former Mr. Erica Kane if she saw one.  As if.

I can buy Lucy not knowing. To the general public Erica's had like 80 husbands.

I wouldn't be shocked if they bring up Skye on Monday but I'm also not sure it's super relevant. Skye has not been on since 2012 IIRC (which I think is a mistake - she works much better as a recurring schemer coming in to make trouble on GH than she did on contract on either GH or OLTL). I am fine with them never bringing up the Alcazar/Tomas stuff again, but if they do bring Ted King back as rumored (which I would welcome, I liked Lorenzo) it would be nice to toss off a line of dialogue about him having a fed imposter or something.

Allegedly,

 

Todd will not be mentioned. Which is fine with me. My take in my head had the show ever returned was always that Todd would simply be dead/presumed dead after taking down the evil cartel from the Prospect Park run, you could hypothetically explain that in a single line of dialogue since that whole conspiracy started on the network run. And if you wanted Todd to appear in some limited capacity for guest runs in some far future much later on, fine. 

Knowing Frank though, this is him keeping his options open for Howarth even though ABC has recently said Todd is verboten.

Edited by jsbt
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jsbt

jsbt

On 9/12/2023 at 9:09 PM, jsbt said:

I'm not seeing anything really ruinous to Blair myself.

I spoke too soon!

Blair apparently sleeping with David is up there. She'd never do that to Dorian.

I'm just gonna blame it on alcohol and grief for both parties or something and assume everything is good back home now. Woof. It's still not as bad as fucking your stepson to death.

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Grinaldi

Grinaldi

Mondays scenes are on YouTube from the official gh account

And yeah, no way do Blair and David ever hook up. Maybe he says they did to cover for her doing something worse. But she would never do that to Dorian. And honestly neither would he.

The whole GH thing was pointless. They should have gone with Cady McClain or something for wife #3, not Blair.

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Melgaypet

Melgaypet

Bye, Roger.

It's a little ironic - Austin is the kind of character I actually wanted to see Howarth play. A long-lost Quartermaine, a doctor, a very non-Todd person. (I also wondered what he'd do as a recast Tom Hardy, though maybe he's a bit too young?) But after years of Franco, the well was truly poisoned. I was no longer capable of giving a shit and I don't really need to see Roger Howarth onscreen ever again. I can wish him well in life and remember his Todd with fondness (and other feelings that are not fondness, but liking Todd Manning has never been uncomplicated) and that's enough.

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jsbt

jsbt

Ellen Holly has passed away.

Despite a daytime career of indignities, Holly was a legend in her own time. The fact that OLTL had a central Black heroine and storyline early on - and then lost her, only touching base with the same old press photo of Carla in her hospital gown whenever an anniversary came around - both fascinated and ate at me as a fan for years. It's always been my most fervent wish that OLTL could have properly honored her or her character's family in some way when both the show and the performer were still with us, though she allegedly turned down several opportunities to return in her later years (possibly also in the final months). I still haven't let go of that dream in some way, really; silly of me. I remember seeing one of her last film performances in 10,000 Black Men Named George. She still had grace, presence and authority - but it's her multi-part Television Academy interview on YT everyone should see. Sharp, funny, expansive, richly detailed and beautifully eloquent.

The advent of YouTube has, at least, given us a window into some of her surviving work on OLTL as an actor finally, letting us get to know Carla - and on the stage. I believe her King Lear with James Earl Jones, GH's Rosalind Cash, AMC's Lee Chamberlin, AW's Douglass Watson and more in Shakespeare in the Park is still on there too. I know more of her is out there somewhere waiting to be found. And her memoir is stunning. I'm glad we can never forget her.

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UYI

UYI

(edited)

One story of hers that has always stuck with me is one she told for Jeff Giles' Llanview in the Afternoon book (nerd that I am, I just grabbed my copy off the shelf to share that excerpt here below):

Quote

In July of 1983, One Life celebrated its first 15 years on the air. There was a party at the Tavern on the Green--a big, lavish event where Lillian Hayman [who played Carla's mother, Sadie] and I were celebrated as the show's only remaining original stars. A lot of people looked at that, including Agnes Nixon, and said "No, we're not going to have two black women as our only original stars forever and ever. We're not going to have Erika Slezak sitting around watching this happen." And Erika Slezak said to Agnes Nixon, "Get those two black bitches out of my face." Agnes turned around, and bang-bang!

Overnight, [then-OLTL EP] Jean Arley was gone, and Paul Rauch, the Terminator, was there in her place.

Erika, for what it's worth, VEHEMENTLY denied Ellen's allegations in the very same book--which is to be expected, to be sure, but I've always wondered what went down there. I certainly don't like the idea of dismissing the story of a black woman and her experiences with a white woman, but this also does NOT sound like something Erika would do, ever (not that I know her personally, of course). 

In any case, it was always clear Ellen REALLY did not like Erika--and I don't think it had anything to do with the character of Viki, at least not at first, because I do know that Ellen LOVED Viki's original portrayer, Gillian Spencer (and I want to say she had praised Robin Strasser at one point, too?--I've never read Ellen's memoir--something I hope to rectify someday!--but I read a review of it years ago which mentioned the Gillian/Erika stuff, and I have a vague memory of her saying good things about Robin, too).

What is clear, though, is that OLTL's biggest and original sin was the lack of respect and reverence paid towards these characters and actors who were/are every bit as important as the other characters and actors who DID get that respect and reverence from the show--arguably more so, given the barriers they broke in daytime.

One other story I remember from the review I mentioned above is that Ellen was asked to attend the 25th anniversary party in 1993, but by that point, she had become a librarian, and she turned it down out of embarrassment--not that there is ANYTHING wrong with being a librarian at all, but I could see her feeling like her stock in life had sunk since she had been a leading lady on the show.

In the end, I just hope she found some happiness and peace in her life. She certainly deserved it. RIP, legend. 

Edited by UYI
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jsbt

jsbt

(edited)

I know that story and I remember Erika's blunt response when asked about it in her newsletter ("yes, that's bullshit") - while still respecting Holly and her experience.

I really love Holly's own memoir and she's right about many, many things (her comments about the all-white close-ups at Carla's wedding to Jack Scott were proven true on YT decades later, and her Television Academy video interviews, which are more recent, are very detailed). But that oral history story (not from her memoir) felt like off-the-cuff projecting, and some of the things she said in print in those early 2010s years got really rancorous and dark. Holly has made it clear she was blindsided by Jean Arley being pushed out after rehiring her and Rauch coming in, and has said she was emotional about it and not fully aware of the business machinations BTS til it was too late. So I believe Erika. It's just unfortunate there was that cloud between them, because I would've killed to see them onscreen together. There was and is a lot of meta-commentary you could've scripted onscreen.

Edited by jsbt
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UYI

UYI

One thing that EH & ES DID share was their disdain for Arthur Burghardt (Dr. Jack Scott). Erika openly called him out for being one of the only actors on the show that she found unpleasant to work with, and of course Ellen didn't want him to be hired in the first place (for those of you who don't know, a pre-fame Morgan Freeman was up for the role; EH BEGGED the producers to hire him, to no avail). 

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tessaray

tessaray

I hadn't heard of Ellen Holly's passing until today. I'm sorry she didn't have the best experience on OLTL but she was amazing to watch. I was pretty young but remember so clearly the reveal that Carla was Sadie's daughter and then was a Carla/Ed shipper before I knew what shipping was. 🙂 It was all riveting.  At the time I didn't understand the complexity of the race aspect of the story but I understood that these were amazing actors. 

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jsbt

jsbt

(edited)

Christ, what a year for soaps. Kamar de los Reyes is gone. Cancer.

Kamar had a complicated history on OLTL, but I was absolutely spellbound by him in his first stint on the show. As a somewhat sheltered little white boy he first intimidated me, then broke my heart for Carlotta in their early scenes, then swept me away with the unlikely relationship with Andy that I loved, however mawkish it got; I quickly found him the sexiest man alive.

His second run was a mess for so many different reasons, but I always felt they should've given him a better sendoff than how he was quickly shuffled off-canvas near the end amidst I think a contract dispute. What a tragedy. My sympathies to Sherri Saum.

Happy holidays - even in sadness.

Edited by jsbt
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UYI

UYI

On 7/10/2023 at 10:25 PM, Grinaldi said:

"Am I too late?" Is a top ten moment in all of soaps. I think Karen on the stand is the only OLTL moment that tops it.

Late to responding on this one, but I think "I Tina, take thee Cord" at her non-wedding to Max has to be up there, too. I wouldn't be surprised if "I Ross, take thee Rachel" at his wedding to Emily on Friends was directly based on this scene.

Damn, Andrea, Ellen, & Kamar, all in one year. I was always fond of Antonio & Keri, and hated how her character got trashed in favor of Antonio & Jessica later on (a couple that shouldn't have existed on the basis of Cristian & Jessica's teenage romance alone, but I digress).

Poor Sherri, having to deal with this on Christmas Eve, along with their kids. 

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Melgaypet

Melgaypet

When I was 14, I thought Kamar/Antonio was the hottest man I’d ever seen. I was so into Antonio and Andy, I can’t even tell you. GH’s Tom/Felicia’s sex scenes had made me cringe, I watched the A-Team’s* avidly. 
 

I couldn’t stand most of Antonio’s 2000’s run, but that can’t all or even mostly be put Kamar. I enjoyed parts of Tonio/Keri, though the writing was often dire (remember Carlotta’s rage over Keri’s bad credit? lol.) And he worked very well with Talia, even if it there were echoes to the relationship with Andy. Of course, that’s when TPTB, in their infinite wisdom, killed her off and let Kamar walk. 
 

*Yes, I remember their dumb couple name, before those were really a thing. Come to think of it, this may have been the couple who introduced me to online shipping.

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