Behind The Scenes OLTL

[dubbel zout]

Not to mention Rex himself was no prize.

Edited December 9, 2015 by dubbel zout

[ulkis]

Frank didn't get OLTL killed, that was all ABC.

 

I hope I'm not pouring salt on the wound, but I remember hearing about all the horrible stories in 2010, the Jessica stuff, and the Fords, and the ratings were low. They only rose once cancellation was announced. I was a little surprised when OLTL and AMC got cancelled, but only because it was one of those things where you didn't actually think they'd have the guts to go through with it, but otherwise it wasn't entirely unexpected. I remember reading a ratings thread in twop around 2009 that said if the ratings didn't improve AMC, OLTL, GL and ATWT would be cancelled within 5 years, and they were.

 

I do think if one soap was gonna make it was reasonable it was GH. The only time ratings grew higher for OLTL than GH was when cancellation had already been announced, like I said before. However, was one of the reasons GH was able to maintain higher ratings because Frons and JFP were taking money that should have gone to the other two shows and giving it to GH? It's probable and in that light the cancellation of AMC and OLTL was totally unfair. 

[jsbt]

I don't know if that's ever been confirmed about the money. I know some people (not at OLTL) have vehemently denied it. I personally have my doubts about those denials. I know GH was supposedly overbudget a lot in those heady years when they kept experimenting with CGI and sweeps disasters, and that Bob Guza's GH was Brian Frons' major priority.

 

2010 was the Year of Fords, when they flushed the gays and minorities (Kish had caused OLTL to take a ratings hit) and refocused everything around ME, KA and a family of young wooden hunks RC (and Jean Passanante) invented overnight. Also in that mix you had TSJ/Todd, Gina Tognoni's incredibly fucked-up return showcase and more Rex and Gigi. I think that's a big part of what sealed their fate, along with the short-but-still-too-long Teen Jessica story.

 

I think FV worked very, very, very hard to save OLTL, but he still went with these choices and stories which helped handicap their struggle. I think it's 60/40 or 70-30 who killed OLTL, with 60-70 being the network, who wanted it dead. Frons had to beg ABC not to cancel GH with the other two because he was so deeply enamored of it (and Bob Guza).

 

I do think the show was on a huge upswing despite some glaring problems in 2011. While there were consistently some terrible storylines there were also some very strong ones, and I think OLTL went out looking stronger than most other soaps cancelled or not. The thing is that before and after it was cancelled, OLTL still had a real energy and propulsive drive that most other soaps at the time did not (and often still don't). GH had that for awhile under Frank and Ron, then it became rot.

Edited February 10, 2016 by jsbt

[TeeVee329]

I think it's 60/40 or 70-30 who killed OLTL, with 60-70 being the network, who wanted it dead.

 

No argument that the focus and favoritism Frank showed handicapped the show, but at the end of the day, I think the network wanted it dead no matter what the creative choices and decisions were.  GH was their "cool, mob, primetime-esque" show that was gonna be the last one standing.  And I think they might have hung on to AMC, the Susan Lucci one, but couldn't justify canceling OLTL over it.

(Kish had caused OLTL to take a ratings hit)

 

Kish took the blame for that ratings hit, but the show had been sliding most of that year thanks to Stacy Morasco and the non-fallout from the rapemance.

Edited February 10, 2016 by TeeVee329

[jsbt]

All I know is the version of the story I'd heard at the time was that AMC was on utter life support by the time they dragged it out to Los Angeles - Julie Carruthers supposedly had it overbudget and this was their harebrained attempt to stop the bleeding. (This is also why a weeks-long dance contest on one set covered part of the move onscreen.)

 

They didn't like OLTL, they hadn't for a long time and they knew they were going to have to axe AMC but, be it cognitive bias or branding bias or whatever else they couldn't excuse doing so without also taking out OLTL, even though OLTL was operating at cost or beneath it (unlike the other two soaps). That was hardly the only reason for axing both, but it figured into the equation.

Edited February 10, 2016 by jsbt

[jsbt]

Kish took the blame for that ratings hit, but the show had been sliding most of that year thanks to Stacy Morasco and the non-fallout from the rapemance.

 

No, I agree. But I feel I'd be dishonest if I didn't mention it, because I've heard it from too many people who loved Kish as much as we did. They took a beating in certain numbers because of the bigots, and at that point those weren't numbers OLTL could afford to lose. Frons called the shot and FV, who is hyper-pragmatic about everything (or was back then - GH is often another story given his biases) and was focused on numbers and survival at all cost, dropped the hammer. There may or may not have been issues with one of the actors but that's another story.

Edited February 10, 2016 by jsbt

[dubbel zout]

I think OLTL went out looking stronger than most other soaps cancelled or not.

 

Ironically, I think OLTL went out so strongly because of the end date. Even with PP taking over, Ron still had to tie things up enough so that fans got some satisfaction. He wrote some really good episodes at the end; it's a shame he couldn't wrangle stories more consistently when there wasn't a final date looming.

 

We discussed this in the GH thread, too: Ron wrote some really strong one-off episodes when he had to (the various anniversaries, for instance), and they were successful because he had to focus. Same with the final date for OLTL.

[jsbt]

There was still a lot of bad shit all throughout 2011, but the overall stride made up for a great deal of it. You're right, though, that Ron has talked a number of times about ideas or stories he curtailed for the sake of the finale - like Tina getting framed by Todd for Victor's "murder" and getting carted off at the altar while marrying Cord, and that being her (presumably not final) exit. I know there was talk about one version of the final months ushering FL/Téa out. I don't recall whether they were supposed to have changed that before PP stepped in and claimed they'd continue the show or after, but Téa's actual final weeks of material definitely looked like a setup for a triangle with her, McBain and Natalie.

 

The Two Todds saga, though, was something they were doing cancellation or not, and for all its lunacy it was a huge part of what made 2011 strong. Also the big finale of stuff like Viki/Charlie and Echo, even if it did mean ruining Charlie and writing him out - there was great, great material that was mesmerizing.

Edited February 10, 2016 by jsbt

[TeeVee329]

No, I agree. But I feel I'd be dishonest if I didn't mention it, because I've heard it from too many people who loved Kish as much as we did. They took a beating in certain numbers because of the bigots, and at that point those weren't numbers OLTL could afford to lose..

 

Yeah, that's what I wanted to make note of, that it's not like the ratings were gangbusters and then fell off a cliff when Kyle and Fish started kissin', but that they had been on a downswing most of that year. 

[dubbel zout]

I thought it was really gutless of TPTB to get rid of Kish. I have a hard time believing that many viewers were offended. Kish was grosser than KA doing her "Jailbait" video? Or Teen Jess? I wouldn't be surprised if Scott Evans's supposed problems BTS was more of a catalyst to get rid of Kish than the supposed viewer outrage.

[Melgaypet]

I have doubts those problems actually existed, even knowing he was arrested for trying to buy coke - three years later. Still, I think 'gutless' is the perfect word, dubbel zout. Not to mention ineffective - I don't recall any magical ratings rebound after Llanview became a No Queers Allowed zone.

[AndySmith]

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but, here is something you don't see much of...bloopers! The best part is the cursing :)

 

 

[TeeVee329]

Renee Elise Goldsberry talks about her time on "One Life to Live" in these interview excerpts:

http://michaelfairmansoaps.com/news/renee-elise-goldsberry-talks-the-frustration-joy-her-eventual-decision-to-leave-oltl/2016/08/16/

Frank Valentini talks a little about Kish in this After Ellen interview about "General Hospital's" Kristina/Parker storyline:

http://www.afterellen.com/tv/497953-general-hospital-decided-explore-kristinas-sexuality

[boes]

Shitty, terrible news about Kassie de Paiva.......

http://michaelfairmansoaps.com/news/kassie-depaiva-discloses-her-battle-with-leukemia/2016/08/25/

[UYI]

How sad. Wishing the best for her, Jim, J.Q., and Dreama! (Her stepdaughter.)

Anyone interested in talking about the Great Revamp of 1991? I almost feel like it deserves its own thread.

Edited August 25, 2016 by UYI

[jsbt]

All my love. I hope things go as smoothly as she expects.

The revamp always interests me, but I think we should keep the talk here.

Edited August 25, 2016 by jsbt

[hcs]

 Poor Kassie I wish her all the best and hope things work out for her..

[Gigi43]

I just read about Kassie, at least she seems hopeful but that's just just terrible. All my best to her. 

 

I hate to be stickler because obviously there's a far more important issue here but both the Today Show and Yahoo articles -one probably copied the other- said she played Blair "for ten years", and because KdP/Blair is my favorite , it's bothering the shit out of me. 

[ulkis]

22 hours ago, UYI said:

How sad. Wishing the best for her, Jim, J.Q., and Dreama! (Her stepdaughter.)

Anyone interested in talking about the Great Revamp of 1991? I almost feel like it deserves its own thread.

What's that?

I, uh, came over here because I was wondering if anyone was discussing this:

http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/103078255.html

NSFW topic discussion.

[Dandesun]

Okay. I'm at work so... who's naked in that link and what are they up to? (Educated guess.)

[UYI]

10 minutes ago, ulkis said:

What's that?

 

The switch from longtime Executive Producer Paul Rauch--who had been there since 1984--and the then-most recent writing team of Leah Laiman and Craig Carlson (and the year before that, the death of HW S.Michael Schnessel, who wrote a lot of the late 80's glory years), to Linda Gottlieb as EP, and novelist Michael Malone as HW, that summer and fall. The former had produced Dirty Dancing and worked primarily in movies beforehand, and the latter's hiring? You certainly wouldn't see a novelist brought into daytime now.

The show experienced almost a complete makeover, in stories, in costume design, in lighting, in the cast (several people were let go/brought in), and while it largely saved the show, some of the long time actors weren't so happy. Erika Slezak herself said she didn't think she was very good for the show (at 11:34):

http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/erika-slezak#

 

And that sarcastic part where she said LG was going to transform daytime television? So much SHADE. 

Edited August 26, 2016 by UYI

[ulkis]

7 minutes ago, Dandesun said:

Okay. I'm at work so... who's naked in that link and what are they up to? (Educated guess.)

People are trying to figure out if it's David Fumero in some gay porn.

[jsbt]

I was reading about that. I don't think it's him. There were rumors about David back in the day, but he seems devoted to Melissa.

The show changed overnight in '91, much like when Gloria Monty came back to GH the same year for her disastrous revamp of that show, featuring the Eckerts, etc. It was ultimately for the better but my understanding is there were some false starts with some attempts at short-term telenovela plotting that didn't always work out. There are a lot of episodes from that period on YT but it's not always easy to get a cohesive picture of the sort of rocky evolution if one wasn't watching at the time. They introduced a lot of new people very fast, some of whom were lasting stars in one form or another (Marty, Blair, Andrew Carpenter, etc.) and some who were short-term players for short-term stories that didn't work or became something else. They began seeding long-term stories and new ideas and couples, but I don't think the whole picture really became fully formed until the Megan death story in early '92. I have vague memories of the Rauch era (and the theme song) when my babysitter watched the show, but I didn't really start watching OLTL until I think just after Marty's rape in '93, maybe weeks later. It worked, but if you look back at the airdates vs. story turnaround people might freak out today - I think Andrew came on in maybe September of '91? And by October or November he and Megan were very tight, he was falling in love with her and he has a huge role in her final story while her husband Jake, played by Joe Lando who by then had a primetime show, only comes back for a short-term run. And (Asian) Blair comes on somewhere around the fall, immediately insinuates herself into Cord and Tina's life and then is with Cord when he 'dies' and John Loprieno leaves the show after the better part of a decade. It was a lot of whiplash. But they made a lot of it work with great writers and actors, at least in the eps I've seen. That being said the seams clearly showed.

And yeah, a lot of people really did not like Linda Gottlieb, particularly Erika, who's usually so politic but who went out of her way to say she liked her neither personally nor professionally. But the woman was a genius for the show. She changed the medium, top to bottom, music to editing to production. She did what Monty had done in the '70s, but with only a fraction of the same noticeable impact - a lot of the stuff was more behind the camera than in front of the camera with big supercouples or epic adventure stories, though she definitely honed social issue storytelling.

Edited August 27, 2016 by jsbt

[AndySmith]

Well, Kassie seems optimistic, and having a good attitude does help when fighting cancer. Hopefully she will be all clear in a few months time.

Yeah, the early 90s were definitely an...interesting time for the show.

[UYI]

Linda Gottlieb apparently recommended Wendy Riche for GH after Gloria Monty was finally let go. She knew her in the film industry. 

Gottlieb also did something very interesting when she first got to OLTL--she asked the casting director at the time to send in any actors who she felt would be good for the show so she (LG) could interview them, and Malone could come up with a character based off that interview. This is how Susan Batten (Luna), Mark Brettschneider (Jason Webb), and Mia Korf (the original Blair) all got their roles on the show. They may have been the only ones hired this way, though. 

Both OLTL and GH are good examples of soaps where the 80's ended after 1989, especially in terms of their opening theme song (OLTL's below). OLTL in 1991 with Gottlieb and Malone arriving, then officially with the New Age theme replacing the Peabo Bryson theme in 1992, and GH first with Monty being fired/Robert & Anna being "killed off", and then officially in 1993 when the Autumn Breeze opening was replaced with the Faces of the Heart opening on its 30th anniversary.

Edited August 27, 2016 by UYI

[UYI]

One thing that didn't change right away was the theme song. It must have been so jarring in late 1991 to have so many scenery changes while still being greeted every episode by this:

 

Of course, it must have been even MORE jarring once January 2nd, 1992 (after the New Years weekend of college football games, of course) came along and fans were greeted with this 30 second soft core porno, I mean new opening sequence. I always thought the blue eyed woman here looked like Karen Witter (the "other" Tina): 

Edited August 27, 2016 by UYI

[Chairperson Meow]

On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 1:12 PM, ulkis said:

What's that?

I, uh, came over here because I was wondering if anyone was discussing this:

http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/103078255.html

NSFW topic discussion.

I came here to talk about that!  I literally just found out about it!  It made it to Blind Gossip, who claims they've seen the tape.  I googled it and literally a lot of other sites are just openly talking about it.  I think I'm good today.  I have a lot of homework, so I don't need to see Christian Vega having sex today.  Now, if it were Kevin or Joey, then I'd be down.  Or even RJ.  Eh, Fumero?  Meh.  I do adore Melissa though on her new show. 

Weird side note though,  I learned that the guy who played Starr's boyfriend is gay too.  Remember Ford's brother?  I'm not surprised, as the bumper he had literally reminded me of gay porn, but he's adorable on twitter with his bf. 

[UYI]

5 minutes ago, Chairperson Meow said:

 

Weird side note though,  I learned that the guy who played Starr's boyfriend is gay too.  Remember Ford's brother?  I'm not surprised, as the bumper he had literally reminded me of gay porn, but he's adorable on twitter with his bf. 

That does not shock me in the least. 

BTW, Nic Robuck (James) has always reminded me of Taylor Lautner, and he was playing James when TL was at the height of Twilight fame as Jacob. 

[Chairperson Meow]

2 minutes ago, UYI said:

That does not shock me in the least. 

BTW, Nic Robuck (James) has always reminded me of Taylor Lautner, and he was playing James when TL was at the height of Twilight fame as Jacob. 

Same.  Tbh I'm happy for him.  He looks super happy and content.   I think he did a few tv movies or a tv movie, but whatever he's doing, it looks like travel and being content. 

[Melgaypet]

3 hours ago, Chairperson Meow said:

Weird side note though,  I learned that the guy who played Starr's boyfriend is gay too.  Remember Ford's brother?  I'm not surprised, as the bumper he had literally reminded me of gay porn, but he's adorable on twitter with his bf. 

I also am not at all surprised. Nic Robuck was...well, pretty obviously not hired for his acting skills, but James was probably the least objectionable Ford, duh face and asinine storylines aside.

This is adorable, I must say:

https://twitter.com/NicRobuck/status/745819417351585793/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

[jsbt]

Nic Robuck was basically out during the run of the show. Why they chose to hide it on ABCD was beyond me.

[TeeVee329]

13 hours ago, Melgaypet said:

James was probably the least objectionable Ford, duh face and asinine storylines aside.

I think Lenny Platt is probably the best actor of the three, but he was really miscast as Old Man Nate and the propping Nate got on Matthew's shoulders was anger making.  Crybaby James was dull, but I found all of Starr's romances dull so it was really just more of the same.  So yeah, I'd say he was the least objectionable. 

Sad news about Kassie, hoping for a full recovery.

[AndySmith]

Linda Gottlieb came on with Michael Malone in 1991 and while the first year or so was a bit shaky while they retooled things, once the got going, the show was on fire. I love ES, but I have to respectfully disagree with her. Under Gottlieb and Malone, the show entered something of a golden era (or, IMO, a second golden era, counting the Rauch years of the 80s as the first golden era). And even after Gottlieb left in 1994, Malone kept the show going until 1996. The show declined after the left, and while there were some decent stretches after, it never quite reached the heights of those two eras again. And post-Malone, we got the Jill Farren Phelps-era, which was one of the worst eras of this show, ever. It almost killed my interest in the show. But, to each their own.

[Adeejay]

Funny how one person's "golden era" is another's "crap fest".  In my humble opinion, when Gottlieb took over OLTL, it went downhill.  After she fired Nicholas Walker (Max) and Joe Lando (Jake), I was out.  The biggest joke was Blair changing from Asian to Caucasian without any explanation.  Blech!

[UYI]

Was Joe Lando actually fired? I thought he left on his own. 

[Melgaypet]

That was my understanding, too, UYI. He got a better offer from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. (All right, shut up, all of you. My mom loved that show, okay?)

And while going from Mia Korf to Kassie dePaiva (or Wesley, I guess she was then) was...jarring, I can't regret it. There was a reason KdP's Blair became a tentpole character, despite the often shitty writing.

ETA: Hee, having mentioned that makes me look around for a certain TWoP poster and his truly bizarre theory that every storyline Kassie ever got was punishment for the, er, dubious start of the relationship with James dePaiva. Including the pairing with Todd, which may have been the show's last true supercouple. He just would not budge from that theory, no matter how many people pointed out that most actresses would kill to be "punished" by being paired with the show's then-most popular character, or wondered why TPTB, through multiple headwriter and EP changes, would even give a damn about the dePaiva's relationship drama! He was committed!

I don't mean that quite as bitchy as it may come across - that poster wasn't a jerk, and he knew a lot of interesting soap trivia - but that kind of drove me crazy after a while.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Melgaypet

[UYI]

12 hours ago, Melgaypet said:

That was my understanding, too, UYI. He got a better offer from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. (All right, shut up, all of you. My mom loved that show, okay?)

And while going from Mia Korf to Kassie dePaiva (or Wesley, I guess she was then) was...jarring, I can't regret it. There was a reason KdP's Blair became a tentpole character, despite the often shitty writing.

ETA: Hee, having mentioned that makes me look around for a certain TWoP poster and his truly bizarre theory that every storyline Kassie ever got was punishment for the, er, dubious start of the relationship with James dePaiva. Including the pairing with Todd, which may have been the show's last true supercouple. He just would not budge from that theory, no matter how many people pointed out that most actresses would kill to be "punished" by being paired with the show's then-most popular character, or wondered why TPTB, through multiple headwriter and EP changes, would even give a damn about the dePaiva's relationship drama! He was committed!

I don't mean that quite as bitchy as it may come across - that poster wasn't a jerk, and he knew a lot of interesting soap trivia - but that kind of drove me crazy after a while.

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman didn't begin until 1993, though, and he left OLTL for an extended period in mid-late 1991, and came back in early 1992 for Megan's death/funeral. Did he have another short-lived show before Dr. Quinn?

And the poster you're talking about is doguncle/Simba's Uncle (he changed it at one point, I guess). To be fair, the DePaivas--if the situation is the way it looks it is--did break up two marriages in order to get together (see also: John Callahan & Eva LaRue on AMC, at about the same time--and their OWN marriage ended because John supposedly cheated on Eva!), and I would imagine it did cause some tension on the OLTL among those who knew Jim's second (yes, second--Jim had a brief marriage before even that) wife, Misty Rowe (former Hee Haw Honey/Playboy model/mother of his oldest daughter, Dreama, who was a toddler when her parents divorced--and Misty & Jim married the year before Jim joined the show, so I imagine she knew a lot of his co stars back then). I'll never forget when they appeared on The View the day OLTL left ABC in 2012, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked how they met/if it was love at first sight. It was awkward as hell, because there's the very real possibility that they cheated on their former spouses to be together (and I've always wondered if part of the reason Max & Blair's sex scene in Atlantic City was so hot was because Jim & Kassie were subconsciously giving into their RL feelings on camera before they could offscreen--but they may have separated from their spouses by then, I don't know). Fortunately, they had an out: they had met in 1990, a few years before she joined the show, when she was performing at a bar in NYC (and he tried to compliment her, but she thought he was being insincere and wrote him off as a cocky jerk--and again, they were STILL MARRIED TO OTHER PEOPLE. Dreama wasn't even born yet!), but it was still VERY uncomfortable to watch, knowing some of the back story of how they got together.

I mean, at the end of the day, is it any of our business? No. And they've been married for 20 years as of this past May 31st, and it's possible they truly did begin their relationship after separating from/divorcing their spouses. But as someone who is uncomfortable with the concept of cheating and then leaving your spouse to marry another (and as a proud member of Team Aniston, hee), I can't help but be somewhat uncomfortable with the supposed beginning of their relationship, especially when I go back and read some of their interviews/see some of their photos together around 1993-1994. They...weren't exactly subtle.

Edited October 15, 2016 by UYI

[Melgaypet]

I get it, UYI. I wasn't trying to excuse the (probable) cheating so much (though, personally, I was never Team Aniston or Jolie (though I do find the latter hot), but Team Are We Still Talking About This and Team Brad Pitt Really Ain't All That - and I was right!) as I was making fun of the idea that the show would twist itself around to give Kassie certain storylines (including a supercouple, for god's sake) for the express purpose of punishing her for the (probable) cheating. For over a decade. That's crazy.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Melgaypet

[UYI]

No, it is crazy. I mean, I SUPPOSE there were some behind the scenes who weren't crazy about them being married at first--although the story goes that many on the show didn't even know they were together until they showed up with wedding rings on, but it could have been a case where their relationship was a badly kept secret--at least in the early years when Kassie first joined and Malone was still there--but yeah, not for over a decade, even if they were plenty of people backstage who may have been around for that length of time. And I can see, even with the chemistry, how some weren't pleased seeing Blair paired with a gang rapist. Even as a fan, I do get it. 

I really think Kassie's biggest issue was being too kind and professional to speak up, even if it would have benefited the writing for Blair had she done so. Then again, Jim got fired, and he was NOTORIOUSLY outspoken--I can see why she would keep her mouth shut, especially after that.

BTW, I'm AMAZED that OLTL's TV Tropes has Thorsten and Susan listed for Romance on the St couples, but not the DePaivas. The latter are, I think, the first couple most people think of when it comes to RL relationships on this show:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/OneLifeToLive

Edited October 15, 2016 by UYI

[Melgaypet]

17 minutes ago, UYI said:

BTW, I'm AMAZED that OLTL's TV Tropes has Thorsten and Susan listed for Romance on the St couples, but not the DePaivas. The latter are, I think, the first couple most people think of when it comes to RL relationships on this show:

I could buy either couple as being the first-thought-of, so I'm mostly amused that Kaye and Haskell are described as married, when they are not.

[UYI]

1 hour ago, Melgaypet said:

I could buy either couple as being the first-thought-of, so I'm mostly amused that Kaye and Haskell are described as married, when they are not.

I think it's less that they aren't married and more that they're coy about whether or not they actually are, because reasons.

Unless I missed something.

[Melgaypet]

Yeah? I figured they're the "we don't need a piece of paper to legitimize our relationship" types. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. I could be mistaken, though, I don't pay all that much attention.

[UYI]

I've honestly lost track at this point, myself.

I'd be curious to hear about what happened when Susan Bedsow Horgan/Michael Malone left in 1996, and how Maxine Levinson and Leah Laiman got their jobs after that. Talk about a shocking drop in quality. 

And, for that matter, what Pam Long wanted to write in 1998 but JFP vetoed in favor of something else. I somehow don't think Pam Long--who, for all of her faults, could be great when writing for women (even if their name was usually Reva and they were on Guiding Light)--came up with the idea to have a woman dare her husband to rape her and have her get punched in the face as a result. And, you know, have her marry him again afterwards, for love instead of some sort of revenge. 

ETA: I don't know how accurate it is, but OLTL's Wikipedia page actually has a list of all the EPs and HWs, complete with dates of how long their tenures lasted (usually by month and year).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Life_to_Live#Executive_producers_and_head_writers

Edited October 15, 2016 by UYI

[AndySmith]

Quote

JFP

A dark reign indeed.

[ulkis]

It would almost be an iteration of what was attempted early on in the Linda Gottlieb era at OLTL around 1991, but they abandoned that quickly. It can be done with more care and less newbies.

@jsbt , what did Linda Gottlieb attempt?

[jsbt]

She attempted arc-driven storytelling in her first few months, I believe - more episodic short storylines, I think a few weeks or a month at a time? There was one with a friend of Viki's daughter Megan who was being abused by her husband, who later took Viki and Megan hostage. Thing is that the friend and her husband hadn't existed before said storyline so it went over like a damp squib with the audience.

They also began layering in a bunch of new characters (at least 5-10, which would get you killed today) who became major parts of the show: Luna Moody, Andrew Carpenter, (Asian) Blair, etc. But it wasn't until the show got away from the more arc-driven stuff that it became the golden age - I think it was Megan's death arc in early '92 that really made it soar. And the famous Billy Douglas/AIDS Quilt story of that following summer, while also something of an arc-based storyline, was focused as much on the existing cast and relationships as it was a few new players.

In point of fact, I'm not sure how much of Gottlieb's arc-driven storytelling ever fully left during her tenure - they were still doing stuff like Marty's rape, etc., which was very hyper-focused. But the key was how many longstanding storylines, romances, triangles, evolving stories were woven through those big arcs. Sarah's death led to Nora falling for Bo while she thought she'd killed Sarah, etc. That's all standard soap stuff. But in her way I think Gottlieb was ahead of her time. I think arc-driven storytelling, interwoven with longer-term planning, is what could save soaps on streaming today.

[bannana]

Watched Bright Lights re Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.  I had no idea that Carrie's brother is married to Catherine Hickland (Lindsay Rapport).  I was so surprised when she showed up in the doc.

[Melgaypet]

No way! I had no idea, either. I'm even more sad to realize that Cat Hickland has lost family. Man.

[Pete Martell]

Daytime Emmy nomination reveal from 1993 with a partial RSW interview. 

[TeeVee329]

Take ALLLLL of this with a grain of salt because Nathan Varni is an idiot, but Varni - who works at GH, although his title is somewhat unclear to me - apparently had this to say about OLTL/AMC characters on the show in a recent podcast interview:

Edited June 9, 2017 by TeeVee329