All Episodes Talk

[jsbt]

I'd forgotten Roger actually did this promo.

 

[Dandesun]

Ah, the singing joke.

 

Look at how wee KA is!!

 

I laugh at how Kassie wasn't a part of the promo... she was probably somewhere throwing up out of sheer nerves/terror. She did amazing but she talked a lot about how scared to death she was during the whole thing.

[jsbt]

That is the one thing that's always made me laugh. She's been so lauded for her work that week (and it's what made me turn the corner on her, after being sick of Blair for several years), but as far as KDP is concerned it was a nightmare she never wants to face again. They still should have done it annually!

[Dandesun]

She probably would have been much happier if she had been able to sing. Singing live? No problem! She's been doing that all of her life! Probably where Roger's joke came from to be honest.

 

And you're right, she got loads of praise from everyone for that week and she was scared to death and hoped she never had to do it again.

 

Probably why we don't see her doing live theater.

[Melgaypet]

The other thing I remember about Live Week is that the Emmys came at the end of it and OLTL won Outstanding Drama Series for, if I recall, the first and only time. Not for those performances, obviously, but still, an excellent capper for the week.

[jsbt]

Probably why we don't see her doing live theater.

 

Didn't she do "110 in the Shade" during PP OLTL in regional theater with JDP a couple years ago?

I remember she missed some event to do that show, and that the print ads were lettered in such a way as to make the title read as "Ho In The Shade".

Edited May 15, 2015 by jsbt

[Dandesun]

That's right she did! But... also, it was a musical. So she did live theater (well after Live Week if I recall -- maybe JDP convinced her to face her fear again) but she had actual singing (and her husband) as a means of dealing I suppose.

[TeeVee329]

Who were the dead/off the show characters who flipped the end credits during OLTL's Live Week?

[Dandesun]

Oh... hell...

 

Off the top of my head, I remember that they actually used Ty Treadway in one of them which was a joke because he was currently on as Troy even though Colin was dead.

 

Guy who played Sloane. Also, guy who played Michael Grande (which made me squeal - Michael Grande was one of my favorite villains...)

 

Who else did they have?

[TeeVee329]

Off the top of my head, I remember that they actually used Ty Treadway in one of them which was a joke because he was currently on as Troy even though Colin was dead.

 

HA!  I was actually thinking it would have been funny to have Ty Treadway do it wearing a sign that said "Hi, I'm Colin!".  That's cool they actually did!

[UYI]

Who were the dead/off the show characters who flipped the end credits during OLTL's Live Week?

 

Here you go!

 

Monday: The Mystical Cornpone Bitch. I mean, Luna. She actually did great, though.

 

Tuesday: Sloan Carpenter. Did the worst, by far. Too damn slow.

 

Wednesday: Michael Grande. The most obscure choice of all.

 

Thursday: Megan. Had the most fun doing it, easy! It was all over her face.

 

Friday: Colin. Ty Treadway even had on a lab coat specifically saying he was Colin, NOT Troy. And then he took his shirt off!

 

All of them (save for Ty, obviously) also had cameos during their respective episodes. I still remember seeing SB at the one of the slot machines that Monday and thinking, "Is that Luna?" 

 

And Eddie Alderson (Matthew) channeled his inner Haley Joel Osment saying "I see dead people", every day before the credits started.

 

I was 13 in 2002 during Live Week, in the seventh grade, and yes, I still remember everything about the credits. It was awesome.

 

That, and Max's epic scream when he realized he was married to Roxy. LMFAO! 

HA!  I was actually thinking it would have been funny to have Ty Treadway do it wearing a sign that said "Hi, I'm Colin!".  That's cool they actually did!

 

The word "LIVE!" was painted on his chest at the end. 

The other thing I remember about Live Week is that the Emmys came at the end of it and OLTL won Outstanding Drama Series for, if I recall, the first and only time. Not for those performances, obviously, but still, an excellent capper for the week.

 

 

Not only that, but half the cast and crew didn't show up, probably out of pure exhaustion. In fact, I still remember Kassie being quoted as saying that she was NOT going to be there that night!

 

Fiona, Tonja, Patricia Maurceri (Carlotta), Barbara Garrick (Allison), Mark Derwin (Ben), and the Aldersons were there, though, and Kamar de los Reyes and Sherri Saum presented the show's Emmy montage. 

I'd forgotten Roger actually did this promo.

 

 

I absolutely remember this. This is the first time I've seen it since then, actually. 

She probably would have been much happier if she had been able to sing. Singing live? No problem! She's been doing that all of her life! Probably where Roger's joke came from to be honest.

 

And you're right, she got loads of praise from everyone for that week and she was scared to death and hoped she never had to do it again.

 

Probably why we don't see her doing live theater.

 

Which is funny, because I think JDP's first love is the stage. He's done basically nothing but plays since leaving OLTL.

 

He and Kassie did a production of Love Letters several years back, though. 

Edited May 16, 2015 by UYI

[UYI]

Todd & Gabrielle during Live Week (starts at 3:16). This is from May 13th, which was that Monday. Interestingly, that Friday, May 17th, which was also the day of the Emmys that year, is Fiona's birthday.

 

I always liked Todd & Gabrielle's scenes together. Roger & Fiona played off each other well. 

 

There's also a funny part at 7:13 where Roger makes fun of Fiona's accent and then SHE speaks with an American accent and mocks him! I miss her so much. :'(

 

[Dandesun]

"I don't care how I feel, I just want Blair back!" Oh, Todd... you great big idiot.

 

I really did enjoy Gabrielle/Bo. It was not a pairing I expected to like at all but it really worked for me.

[TeeVee329]

I really did enjoy Gabrielle/Bo. It was not a pairing I expected to like at all but it really worked for me.

 

Ditto.  Especially since it followed Bo's pairing with Lindsay's sister Lanie, which was the worst.

 

I laughed at Gabrielle suggesting that Todd not use the word "toast" when discussing the Dead Baby Lie with Blair.

Edited May 16, 2015 by TeeVee329

[annabel]

I know this sounds terrible, but I still think Dead Baby Lie as the title of a storyline is hilarious.

[UYI]

^^^^It's okay. I still laugh when I hear DeadBaby!Jack described as a Can of Dirt, which may be worse. 

[TeeVee329]

Damn it, Ron.  My default mode is to be dismissive or disgusted by your tweets, but then you go and do this (the context - a picture of them kissing at Dorian's Big Gay Wedding was used as a stock photo for an article about gay marriage):

 

Ron Carlivati @carlivatiron
.@Queerty Fish & Kyle know what's up. They always did. #OLTL

Edited May 20, 2015 by TeeVee329

[UYI]

I forgot to mention a story I've heard about Live Week: There was a rumor that some of the cast of ATWT wanted to run streaking through the remote the show did at Central Park, but obviously that never happened. 

[AndySmith]

Gabrielle is sent to prison, March 1991.

 

Gabrielle was always a favorite of mine. Even when the writing was crap (especially during her second run), Fiona could always be counted on to rise above the material. I always wonder what show dicked her over more, OLTL or Guiding Light.

[UYI]

Max & Gabrielle were not only my favorite couple on the show, they truly were also my favorite characters. There was just something about those two that just always made me want to watch them and see what they were doing. Objectively, I can say that Bo & Gabrielle were a decent couple that worked out far more than I ever expected them to, but Max & Gabrielle? They were MY couple, and the fact that they didn't end up together still feels wrong to me sometimes. I DO, however, love that Max was back in Argentina by the time of Asa's funeral, instead of North Carolina, where he moved right after Al's death to raise Frank & Leslie (who had been living with Luna's relatives). I hate that Gabby's name wasn't mentioned at Asa's funeral, but knowing Max was in Argentina again made this M&G fan's heart very, very warm.

 

As for OLTL vs. GL? It's pretty close, but I'd still say OLTL, based on Gabrielle's bathroom stall murder alone. Still, she didn't get great treatment during her second stint at GL, either, which is strange because Paul Rauch--who hired her at OLTL, and basically gave Fiona her career--was EP there at the time, and I would've thought he would have made her shine the way he did at OLTL. 

 

Fiona has been silent on social media since 2012; I wish she'd give an interview to someone like at We Love Soaps, the way JDP did in 2009 about his soap career.

 

I agree, though: Fiona always gave her all, in every performance. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Had the OLTL of the late 80's not been known for campier storylines like Eterna, there's no way she wouldn't have been nominated for an Emmy at one point (she was nominated once, but as Jenna on GL--HBS beat her for the gang rape story, actually!). I don't think it's a stretch to call Fiona the most criminally underrated actress in daytime history. Not at all. 

Edited May 23, 2015 by UYI

[jsbt]

Fiona refused to be interviewed by Jeff Giles for the incredible OLTL oral history Llanview in the Afternoon - she's just apparently a very private person.

[UYI]

That's a shame; I'd love to hear her stories. I can believe her to be very private, though. I think she and her husband are running a regional theater somewhere in upstate New York now.

[TeeVee329]

In completely unrelated news, Josh Kelly and his new Lifetime show came up over in the GH thread, which reminded me that I wanted to post this:

 

[AndySmith]

I never understood why they didn't just choose to write out Gabrielle by having her reunite with Max before they both left town. Both actors were gone within months of each other in 2003, so why not just have Gabrielle depart sooner or keep Max around for a few more months? It would have been a much more satisfying ending for both characters, that's for sure.

 

Then again, this was the early 2000s; soaps in general were at a really dark point, story wise, and the balance for a lot of shows between drama and fun was off.

Edited May 24, 2015 by AndySmith

[dubbel zout]

I was wondering if Marti Noxon would strip down Josh Kelly the way she did James Marsters on BtVS, and it seems she is. Poor guy. He shouldn't have to be the vehicle through which she works out her weird issues.

 

That said, I'm definitely going to watch at least the first few episodes. The cast is surprisingly good.

[vacante]

 

Fiona refused to be interviewed by Jeff Giles for the incredible OLTL oral history Llanview in the Afternoon - she's just apparently a very private person.

Roger Howarth and Trevor St john refused to be interviewed as well. The book was disappointing for me cause it didn't have enough juicy details. I want someone (particularly from the late 90's era and early 2000's) to write their memoir with no censors so we can get the real story.

[vacante]

In James Depaivas interview in 2009 with We Love Soaps he says this when asked about a return as Max---I don’t have any reason to go back, do I? Like Blair is ever going to leave Todd for me? Geez, you couldn’t pay me enough to play that again. God, that was painful.

 

 

Now was he referring to the storyline being painful or that acting in that storyline with certain others was painful?  Anybody got the dirt?

[AndySmith]

I'd like to think he was referring to the storyline. And I do see his point. What would Max have done had he returned? "Blair, I love you. Come away with me. Even though you turned me down during my last visit." "Um, no. But thanks for the offer!" "Ok. Take care!" "See ya!". Most of the older people Max interacted with were gone by that point, and he was never really attached to any of the newbies from around the time he left, no?

Edited May 25, 2015 by AndySmith

[UYI]

I absolutely believe they could have found a way to bring Max back, at least for the end of the show, and made it work. Cord & Tina had just remarried--he could have returned to congratulate them and catch up, and remember both Luna and Gabrielle. Roxy was still around--he could have said hi to her, or Marcie when she came back briefly; they could have talked about missing Al. Renee was like a second mom to him, he could have absolutely come to visit her. He and Luna were the "wedding police"--along with Hank & Sheila--when Bo & Nora got married; he could have come back to say hi to them, too, and remembered Gabby with Bo. Hell, he could have buried the hatchet with Starr! A return for him didn't have to just involve Blair; there were ways to make it work. Maybe have him leave Llanview when he hears a tip that Gabrielle might be alive, or have her revealed to be alive when he returns to his hotel room and then reveal her to everyone else.

 

A missed opportunity was his chance to confront Carlo Hesser, who got Gabrielle to cover his ass and go to prison instead of him, because he threatened Al's life if she exposed him instead of keeping quiet. This, along with Gabrielle sleeping with Tony Vallone (Fiona's RL husband) in order to keep him quiet about one of her deeds, are the main reasons he and Gabby divorced. It's a shame Max never confronted Carlo over any of this; I would have LOVED to have seen that. 

Edited May 25, 2015 by UYI

[Rick Kitchen]

My all-time favorite character was Luna, they could have brought her back for Max.

[AndySmith]

I got the impression JDP wanted to return but to actually have something happen. Most of what you listed, while nice, doesn't really have Max doing much. Granted, it would have been nice character porn, but unless they did a last minute one month long storyline where Gabrielle was alive and then reunites with Max, I was happy* with what we got as far as closure with Max, given what else had happened to others Max-related at the time.

 

The Carlo stuff really should have happened when Gabrielle returned in the 2000s, but oh well...

 

 

*Maybe better to say satisfied?

Edited May 25, 2015 by AndySmith

[TeeVee329]

I was wondering if Marti Noxon would strip down Josh Kelly the way she did James Marsters on BtVS, and it seems she is. Poor guy. He shouldn't have to be the vehicle through which she works out her weird issues.

 

That said, I'm definitely going to watch at least the first few episodes. The cast is surprisingly good.

 

To be fair, there's very similar ads featuring two of the female stars.  

 

Hoping this is a success for Kelly, he's a talented dude.

[Dandesun]

The stuff with Max makes me sad. They really put him into a corner for awhile and I've heard that JFP  basically promised JDP that she was going to ruin him but... I don't know the whys or wherefores on that score. Have to say... she did a thorough job what with making him a fake Buchanan and turning him into a joyless louse. Say what you will about Max over the years... there was always something vibrant about him but when he bought into his own scam on being the son of Asa everything that was fun about Max went right out the window. Then, of course, Todd came back to Llanview and started pursuing Blair and... well... once you become the obstacle for a popular couple it's hard to come back... especially in the 2000's and beyond when the shows stopped caring about building up characters on the losing end of a triangle. I think Malone tried... but by that time JDP was expensive and very outspoken and the network/showrunners decided he wasn't worth the trouble.

 

It's too bad, too... I think they were working at a decent redemption arc for him when Gabrielle returned with Al but then they pulled the plug on Max/Gabrielle for some reason I still don't fully fathom. Then they killed off Al and Gabrielle... which continues to make absolutely NO sense to me and made Max the heavy in Todd/Blair's story AND Gabrielle's story (before they killed her off) and only seemed to be interested in getting him back to his roots with the Roxy marriage and the mentoring of Natalie but... it didn't last. Again, by then, he was too expensive and too outspoken.

 

It was nice to see him come back for Asa's funeral -- at the very least for Renee who he had a good relationship with but it always frustrated me that Blair wound up being his default. I never liked Max/Blair which is strange in a way because I really loved all of Max' love interests up until then. (I doubt I would have been too into Max/LeeAnn but... whatever, I was in school and didn't see any of it) I always felt like Blair was a distant 5th to his top four (Gabrielle, Tina, Luna and Megan) and that Max/Blair wound up being a 'well, they're married in real life so let's just throw them together again!' situation which, really, didn't do any favors for either one.

 

For all the shitty things that Todd did to Blair over the years, I never actually LOST Blair in that relationship. She was always able to play the beats of rage and heartbreak and vengeance but, for some reason, with Max she withered into something unrecognizable. I remember Todd being utterly disgusted by what Max had done to Blair when he returned, "Look at you... you're ordinary." One thing you could always say about Todd... he saw Blair as truly exceptional and unique and appreciated that about her when precious few others did.

 

And it always pissed me off that Blair would go and be sympathetic to Max when things happened to him but if they happened to her, Max would laugh in her face. It was not an equal relationship. Ever. And I'm glad that Blair loved Todd (even Not!Todd) enough to never truly be tempted by Max again after it all went down between them. (I haven't forgiven Max for drugging, stripping and getting into bed with Blair. That's assault, people. I can forgive backstabbing and shooting people in the back when they're crazy but that was too much for me to ever want Max near her again.)

 

I think it was sheer laziness that they made Max' possible story about Blair for his returns. It wasn't fair to who Max was and, yes, I would have LOVED to have seen him with Cord and Tina one last time. That would have been magical.

[UYI]

It really is crazy to think that the last time JDP's Max, Gabrielle, Cord, and AE's Tina were onscreen together was in 1989 or 1990, before AE left because of her stalker. Technically the four of them were onscreen together when NW was Max and KW was Tina, but obviously it wasn't the same.

 

It is such bullshit that the only thing the show seemed to care about in regards to Max returning after he left in 2003 was putting him with Blair, and I do wonder if the fact that they are married IRL had something to do with it. I mean, I'm sure Jim & Kassie LOVE getting to work together whenever they can, which makes sense, but I remember reading in the OLTL trivia book that, after they became a couple/were married, neither of them ever even once asked for their characters to be paired again onscreen because of their real life relationship; that just happened because the writers came up with that story on their own (and JDP kissed his wife onscreen the way he would any other actress). I can definitely respect them for that.

 

I can't remember, was RJ still on the show in 2007, when Max came back for Asa's funeral? I always loved their friendship and would have been happy to see them together one more time. 

Edited May 26, 2015 by UYI

[TeeVee329]

I did think it was beyond bizarre that Cord and Tina just, poof, disappeared right after they remarried.

[UYI]

I guess it can be assumed they went on a long honeymoon of some sort, but I don't even think that was mentioned! Viki name checked them at Thanksgiving shortly after their wedding, but I don't think she said where they were. 

 

 

And it always pissed me off that Blair would go and be sympathetic to Max when things happened to him but if they happened to her, Max would laugh in her face. It was not an equal relationship. Ever. 

 

 

When Addie was almost killed at St. Ann's in 2003, there was a very brief but nice scene where Max found Blair in Angel Square and asked her about Addie's condition. It may be the one exception, but it was there. 

Edited May 26, 2015 by UYI

[Dandesun]

I recall KDP mentioning that when she and Jimmy were paired it made things easier in a sense that their schedules were the same.

 

The truth is that Kassie sold every single romance she was in like it was the absolute ultimate of anything ever. So she sold the hell out of Max/Blair just as she sold Sam/Blair and Kevin/Blair and any other pairing they handed her. I think, for her, Max was Blair's first love so that was going to have some precedence over other relationships... and I can appreciate that. I do feel that Kassie played Blair having a soft spot for Max no matter what due to that. On the other side of that coin, Jimmy did not, I feel, play any special connection for Blair... which also made sense. He had a history with her, he married her, that was evident but he never seemed to play it as though Blair were the upper echelon of love interests in his life. When it came down to it, she's the one who was just there towards the end.

 

But when you compare it to, say, his chemistry with Fiona... that was something entirely different. As was the chemistry that Kassie and Roger had. So even though I could buy Blair having a soft spot for Max... and even for Cord (I'm still ragingly bitter we didn't get any full on Cord-Tina-Blair-Todd scenes before the end) but her relationship with Todd was at a completely different level. And it's that completely different level that made Max as even a suggestion of a spoiler (especially at the end) ridiculous. Blair was going through a long dark tea time of the soul at the ONLY time Max was a remote temptation... and even then, I don't believe it was Max himself so much as Blair's deeply wounded pride after the mess with Max and Skye that prompted her to want to get one over on Max. And combine that with the fact that Todd could barely be bothered to touch her during this period and Max started in on the seduction routine.

 

After that mess, I believe that Max completely ceased to be a temptation at all. It's kind of funny to look back on the period between Todd's return and the beginning of the Dead Baby Lie... Todd was fucked up in his own way but kept invading Blair's bed and personal space as a means of getting to her. Blair was swinging back and forth between revenge on Max and wanting to fix things (better than this devil I know than whatever Todd is bringing to the table right now?) and it's like the second Blair kissed Todd at the Sun he realized he really REALLY wanted her which, after his celibate period since Ireland, seemed to freak him out even more. I recall Todd being horrified when Blair suggested that even if he wanted to be with her, he couldn't... because Tea had spread it around that he was impotent.

 

Any time Todd turned on any sort of seduction Blair's way the memory of any other man went flying out the window. I suppose, in a sense, they had to come up with ridiculous reasons to keep them at odds because the way Roger and Kassie played Todd and Blair... there is simply no other person for either one and if they are on the same page that's it. They're together no matter what.

 

So, yeah, the idea that Max would come on towards the end of the show and... what, attempt to lure Blair away? No. I do feel they missed a major hit by not bringing him back to maybe help in getting Cord and Tina on the same page and back together again but having him do anything with Blair and Todd would have been pointless. They were already having their difficulties with Team Hater, they didn't need to add Max to that mess.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Dandesun

[TeeVee329]

I do feel they missed a major hit by not bringing him [Max] back to maybe help in getting Cord and Tina on the same page and back together again

 

But but but there was no time, not with the vitally important story of Rick Powers managing Starr's pop career and scheming to make her and Nate look like a couple in the press demanding our attention! #eyeroll

Edited May 26, 2015 by TeeVee329

[vacante]

the show runners also had to fit in the ever so important rex and gigi morasco fiasco. Now that was must see tv.---major eye roll

 

I am still pissed at how much time was wasted before TnB had any scenes together in 2011. How many months went by?  It was torture watching and waiting. Fuck you Ron.

[TeeVee329]

the show runners also had to fit in the ever so important rex and gigi morasco fiasco. Now that was must see tv.---major eye roll

 

Oh yes*, the time wasted on yet again asserting that Rex and Gigi had the greatest, time-traveling, death-defying true wuv of all  - especially since they weren't going online - definitely deserves an #eyeroll.

 

* though I did enjoy Kim, Cutter, and the Kish mentions.

[Dandesun]

Time heals some wounds... all I can even remember about the Morasco Fiasco (ALL of it) was Kish, annoying Rex, and Gigi's lipgloss.

[dubbel zout]

I remember that for a time, FF's hair and makeup matched each other, and it was all a very blah beige. It was so weird and unattractive.

[TeeVee329]

I remember Cutter disguising Stagigi so he could sneak her into the Halloween party and I was like, "Dude, her super glossed lips are, like, a dead giveaway."

 

Edited May 26, 2015 by TeeVee329

[UYI]

Don't hurt me, but I kind of wanted Cutter & Gigi and Rex & Aubrey to be the endgame couples. I liked each of them together. *ducks* 

[TeeVee329]

Don't hurt me, but I kind of wanted Cutter & Gigi and Rex & Aubrey to be the endgame couples. I liked each of them together. *ducks* 

 

Oh I totally hear you.  As per usual, Farah Fath had more chemistry with the interloper than she did with JPL.  And while I hated Aubrey, TC and JPL had a decent spark too.

Edited May 26, 2015 by TeeVee329

[Dandesun]

I could have gotten on board that train in a lukewarm kind of way.

 

I mean... it wasn't Rex/Gigi which was a pairing I pretty much loathed.

 

As to the picture above, I remember at TWoP people were making fun of that shit all over the place. 'The ten pounds of lipgloss is a dead giveaway! How is Rex not seeing that shine from across the freaking room?!'

[Melgaypet]

I remember Cutter disguising Stagigi so he could sneak her into the Halloween party and I was like, "Dude, her super glossed lips are, like, a dead giveaway."

 

I remember Serial Drama made fun of that, too! They said Rex especially should have recognized her because her lipgloss was Gigi's most defining character trait.

[UYI]

^^^^Well, that and her ever-changing hair styles/colors. She was rocking the Kate Gosselin cut at one point. 

[TeeVee329]

Recent events on "General Hospital" reminded me of this, the ridiculousness of Dr. A Brain Is Not A Foot announcing he's Destiny's father in his second-to-last appearance:

 

Edited May 28, 2015 by TeeVee329

[Melgaypet]

Does anyone recall how Danny Wolek left the show? Did he have an exit storyline or did he just fade away like Larry?