The Best and Worst of One Life to Live

[UYI]

I didn't mind Cutter and Kim being Alex's kids at the end of the day, but at the same time, after so many years of being one of the few women on the show NOT to have any kids (and even getting her tubes tied at one point), I honestly was okay with Alex being childless.

 

But oh well. I wound up liking the idea later on.

 

Speaking of the tube-tying thing, Carlo and Alex's wedding being interrupted by Asa in 1996 had to do largely with the fact that Alex wasn't pregnant--she was wearing padding to appear like she was, and Asa pulled it out! I saw the clip quite awhile ago on YouTube, but now I can't find it. 

[TeeVee329]

For your consideration, I submit this scene as Best Head Exploding Reaction To Finding Out Your Father Married An "Interpretive Dancer" From Las Vegas:

 

(oh, do yourself a favor and skip to 3:45 because the early part is boring Natalie/John whining)

 

 

Everything about this is awesome.  Clint wagging his wedding ring at Natalie and Natalie's "I'll cut that bitch" reaction.  Viki's eye roll when Clint insists to Natalie that Viki respects his judgment.  Miss Manners Viki cutting Natalie off when she goes to express what she believes Clint is thinking with.  Kim's faboo Cruella de Vil coat and her throwing it on Natalie.  Kim sticking her foot in her mouth re: how Natalie grew up and Natalie immediately punting it back at her.  Just glorious.

 

Sadly, I believe this aired after we already knew Amanda Setton was leaving.  I still maintain that Natalie and Kim could have been the next Viki and Dorian.  The parallels were there!

Edited October 30, 2014 by TeeVee329

[Melgaypet]

Man. How cool would have it been if Natalie and Kyle had teamed up to (not-entirely-successfully) break up Klimt - Kyle to keep her from using Buchanan money and influence to get custody of Sierra Mist and Natalie to get her away from Clint -  and became scheming, snarky friends in the process? Of course, that would've meant keeping Amanda Setton and the Kish boys on the show.

 

Then, later on when Natalie had her WTD drama, Kyle would've been her go-to guy for DNA test shenanigans! The fun trouble they could have caused together! With poor Fish never knowing whether to be amused or appalled! The missed opportunities still make me sad.

[TeeVee329]

A world of yes.  Brett Claywell played off Michelle Archer (and John Brotherton) really well the few times Kyle and Natalie (and Jared) interacted.  My favorite was when reinstated hospital intern Kyle walked in to tend to Jared's wounds after he got jumped by Jessica's stalker and Natalie was all, "Nooooooooooooo, not youuuuuuuuu."  Heh.  I so wanted Kyle and Natalie to bury the hatchet and become buddies who went out for drinks and snarked on people they didn't like and gave each other grief (and Natalie of course would be sure to tease him about stripping at her bachelorette party in front of a flustered Fish).

 

And yes, Natalie and Kyle teaming up to go after Kim would have been delightful.  I've read rumors that one version of the Sierra Rose custody story, before it was cut short, would have been Kish vs. Klimt.  Kyle and Kim going all-out for their respective teams would have been so fun to watch.  Siiigh.

Edited October 31, 2014 by TeeVee329

[TeeVee329]

Ron's blatant ripping off of Todd and Blair's "Hell No" wedding with Franco and Carly on "General Hospital" this week got me interested in seeking out clips from the original, which I'll dub Best "Hell No" Wedding Featuring A Character Played By Roger Howarth.
 

Here's the promo for that week:

 

 

This one contains the actual "Hell No" moment:

 

 

And this one contains Todd blowing up the Skye/Rae and Max/Asa/Ben secrets:

 

Edited November 2, 2014 by TeeVee329

[MSquared]

I think I saw elsewhere that RoHo played this same scene as Paul on ATWT.

 

I sought out the clips myself earlier today.  But where Franco has lots of actual proof Carly cheated on him with Sonny (and hell, she was even thinking of him at the altar)  Todd and Blair were set up for it all to blow.  Max drugged her, put her in bed naked with him and she was clueless about that, and what Todd was talking about as he was "hell no"ing.  I suspect we'll have more plagiarized scripts on Monday, as he'll be alluding to her and Sonny's sex tape, but, he was right for once.  Carly is a lying cheating whore.

[Melgaypet]

Speaking of weddings, five years ago today there was an eventful one in Angel Square:

 

[hcs]

Comparing the two "Hell No" weddings is like comparing Gold to Brass .  I can't believe that the 2 other show runners  tried to do it by not realizing that what sold it wasn't RoHo's Hell No but it was Blair's absolute devastation when he did.. I mean sure his blowing Ben Max and Skye's Parental secrets out of the water was amusing but watching Blair trying to figure out why he had turned on her.. And then of course their was the jail cell kiss .  And then Max got thrown into the cell with them, Awesome. but it was far more than just RoHo.. It was everyone involved,

[Dandesun]

Show runners had a tendency to completely ignore Blair's influence on things.

She so got screwed during that wedding... And Todd stupidly and stubbornly refused to see that he was set up for way too long.

I don't even feel that annoyed about Ron trying to replay it... It's not the same at all and it never will be. He's one of the worst about dismissing Blair and it's fairy evident in how he writes Carly as well. As far as Ron sees, if he can have Roger playing a character that's "like" Todd (even if he's not) then he can insert any female opposite him and he'll be able to recreate Todd and Whomever... Because it clearly all rides on Todd.

Jerk.

Edited November 3, 2014 by Dandesun

[TeeVee329]

I don't even feel that annoyed about Ron trying to replay it...It's not the same at all and it never will be.

 

It's definitely not identical (I feel like the volumes of secrets is different - yes, the Sonny killing AJ one is big, but it only affects a tiny knot of people while Todd zinged a large swath of Llanview with his reveals), but it's been painfully obvious that Ron was ripping it off and then actually having the gall to have Roger Howarth deliver that line...it really ticked me off.

[jsbt]

I think he thinks this is the coup de grace - this, plus Franco resuming a Todd-esque mischief maker role opposite soap royalty! Michelle Stafford will finally put Franco over on the GH audience. It can't fail! They're both stars and they are so good at being bad, you see!

[Dandesun]

I watched the whole 'Todd gives himself therapy' scene yesterday and found myself quite torn.

 

On the one hand, I felt like it was TPTB just giving Howarth free rein to do whatever and he ran with it. Switching positions on the couch to be 'him' and 'Rae' -- messing up his hair when he was playing out 'Rae' -- it felt so over indulgent when I was watching it. However, when he stopped with that bullshit and was just Todd it got much better. He wasn't fucking around he was just acting. Meanwhile, Blair was with Kelly trying to explain the way Todd was and how much she loved him even as they were putting together a plan that Blair knew would drive Todd away (the fake being pregnant with Max' baby plan that Blair wound up really playing when she a) realized she actually was pregnant and b) that it was Todd's but she said it was Max' to keep Todd from going to prison for her; as he volunteered himself to Nora in order to save Blair. Very 'Gift of the Magi' inspired, obviously.)

 

Todd went from refusing to believe that Blair loved him; that he had made it all up in his head; to realizing that she absolutely did. He talked about the beautiful things she said to him, about him, and about them at their non-wedding while all he did was stand there thinking she had betrayed him. He berated himself for not considering that they had been set up while she was saying all of those beautiful things. He said he should have trusted her... then that he knew she loved him because he could see it in her eyes and 'see it in her... pain.' Then vowed that he was going to show her that she could trust him because he was going to save her and fix everything.

 

It was just a frustrating time. Rumors abounded at the time that though Howarth wanted to be strictly paired with DePaiva's Blair (which makes sense to me because they never wavered from that the entire time he was present in those years save for that blip in the South Pacific that ended... how? "Oh, I do... I do love Blair.") but had that ridiculous stance on love scenes. I don't know how much of it was true but he did have a certain amount of sway back then and could easily get whatever he wanted from the showrunners. At any rate, it was frustrating because there was never any real reunion in all of that. Hell, they barely ever kissed back then! Most celibate couple ever... which is kind of a travesty because RH and KDP were both looking good at the time. They should have been naked a LOT more.

 

For all that they tried to make Todd this stunted creature... and they mostly succeeded at that... it was always kind of nice to hear Todd recognize not just that he knew Blair loved him but he loved her, too. It was very clear how much he wanted her in those scenes... even if they were dampened a great deal whenever he got around her and wouldn't remotely act like he wanted or loved her.

 

Anyone who ever wonders why I write fanfic that focuses more on what Blair feels and what Blair has gone through just needs to look at the show. They ignored her thoughts and feelings and agency for years and she was just as messed up and complicated and interesting as Todd ever was. 

[jsbt]

I honestly can't watch any of that again. I hated it at the time. They did more with less in that era because the dialogue got so bad under Tomlin - that one scene where people just shut the fuck up, when Todd and Blair were in jail and then kissed through the bars, said more to me than pages of dialogue.

 

I will say that seeing some of 2001-2002 again recently, I do think Howarth always sold the pathos with a look or something, even when it was some sort of sad puppy thing, even when he was fucking with the rest of the script. That's something that TSJ dispensed with fairly quickly, focusing in on how sick and twisted the character really was, intellectually - which was a welcome breath of fresh air, for a while, until it wasn't.

Edited November 4, 2014 by jsbt

[Dandesun]

 

I will say that seeing some of 2001-2002 again recently, I do think Howarth always sold the pathos with a look or something, even when it was some sort of sad puppy thing, even when he was fucking with the rest of the script.

 

One of the reasons I was relieved when Howarth left. I was so sick of him dicking around, out-right sabotaging scenes in some cases and then pulling out the woobie face to show some pathos for a split second about once a month.

 

It's one of the reasons I was very hesitant about him coming back. He earned my good will again when he returned just as he earned my absolute Howarth fatigue back in 2002-03.

[hcs]

 With Howarth I always how much of it is the show runners letting him get away with stuff. He was stellar on PP and their was no hamming it up  and very little of the woobie face ,  he only used it with Viki one time . So how could he be so good on his return to OLTL and so god awful on GH. Was it ES and KDP influence on him .  Is it that he will always be Frank's white whale for leaving for ATWT instead of playing out the Michael Malone heart of the Lord story so Frank gives him whatever he wants.

  I will be interested to see  what Howarth does on the Flash.

[Dandesun]

So this weekend (while take a break from packing) I revisited Todd and Blair's first reunion... the one that led to their oft mentioned Golden Balloon Wedding. The stuff in the stables and all of that but, most importantly, the whole Marilyn Monroe Plot dreamed up between Dorian and Blair to catch David in the act of adultery while pilfering Irene's Diary so that David could be ditched without Dorian going back on Death Row and giving David 75% of her money.

 

You have Todd and Blair being so open and free with each other and Todd not jumping straight into revenge mode after seeing Blair kissing David (with Tina egging Todd on in his anger) -- his asking for honesty from her and Blair giving it, only asking that he keep it quiet in return so they can deal with David. All of their interactions are warm and loving and beautiful... and then you have the David/Dorian/Blair stuff which is just flat out funny. Blair's utter disgust at David was there from jump and never changed... something I always loved. She had absolutely no use for him and, also, never found him remotely attractive, either. She's utterly and completely disgusted that Dorian suggest she sleep with David. "God! YUCK!!" I mean the whole thing creeps her out so much that the lead up of that conversation is Blair just growing more and more uncomfortable as Dorian gets closer to the request. It's great. And it's not only because Blair has just started to put her relationship with Todd back together that she won't do it... she doesn't want anything to do with David at all.

 

Wiping her mouth and spitting after he kissed her goodbye in one scene always makes me laugh.

 

Blair in that storyline, thinking on her feet when she's with David and Dorian keeps getting delayed, that was the woman I loved so damn much. That was what made latter stories with her so frustrating. Blair was a canny creature... she was never stupid and it always pissed me off when they wrote her as such. (Todd was a sharp thing, too... which made his inability to a) count to nine and b) remember that he and Blair had slept together while she was pregnant with Jack particularly infuriating. He should have known he was in the running for Daddy Sweepstakes. He should have latched onto that and pursued it to the ends of the earth.)

 

Also... their hair was so pretty!

[hcs]

 That was still Malone writing , I think? I loved his vision of Blair as the pull herself up by the bootstraps vixen . She was nobody's victim but Todd's willing partner.  I still think his version of the show is my favorite . Shh I even mostly liked his second go round despite his Antonio and Santi fixation . But the early to mid nineties was really special  and then JFP came.

[TeeVee329]

I wasn't watching much during Blair and Todd's first, early heyday, but it always kinda surprised me that the writers would fail to grasp that it's more fun to watch two characters like them scheme together against a common enemy rather than constantly going to war with each other.

 

Same deal for Dorian and David.

[TeeVee329]

For those who don't venture over to the GH board, Ron is claiming in an SOD interview that he, like, totally wasn't thinking of Todd and Blair's "Hell No" wedding when he wrote Franco and Carly's and he doesn't even remember it.  I'm sooooooooooo sure!

 

Digest: Was Franco's initial, "Hell no," kicking off, "Hell no, why would I want to marry a lying, cheating whore," a deliberate nod to the previous "Hell no" wedding that Roger played [as OLTL's Todd, who in 2001 dumped Blair at the altar with the same phrase]?

 

Carlivati: I gotta tell you, no [laughs]. I heard people say "the 'Hell no' wedding" and I was like, "What are they talking about?" I mean, I honestly ... I've been doing this since 1996 and sometimes, you forget these moments. I don't know if it was something I remembered subconsciously, but no, it really was not [intentional]. I mean, I work with other people who worked with me on the other show you are referring to, and nobody said, "Oh, wait — this!" From the moment I had him propose and her say yes, I knew that I wanted to get to the altar and have him say, "The hell I'll marry you!" But the exact line, in all honestly, was not meant to echo any other scene he may have played in the past. I honestly forgot all about that.

[UYI]

I can't remember if I've posted this here or not (I'm SHOCKED if I haven't :P). but here's Max & Gabrielle's wedding! It would've been a LOT better with JDP as Max (and if Cord & Tina had been there!), but it's still pretty good, and incorporates a lot of their history. The actual wedding is in part 2:

 

 

 

Also, did you know Gabrielle Medina is a saint? LOL In all seriousness, Fiona actually wound up in therapy because she had to cry so much as Gabby that first go round, so this scene must have driven her crazy (of course, her first marriage was falling apart at the time, too):

 

[kristabell]

I wasn't watching much during Blair and Todd's first, early heyday, but it always kinda surprised me that the writers would fail to grasp that it's more fun to watch two characters like them scheme together against a common enemy rather than constantly going to war with each other.

 

Same deal for Dorian and David.

Exactly! I think at some point the writers decided constant triangles and lies and affairs were just easier; and never wrote anything else. You're right, it's much more fun to watch a couple fight an external foe, and it makes the audience root for them.

I think it was a particular tragedy that the writers went this way with Todd&Blair because the basis of their relationship imo was always friendship and an us-against-the-world mentality. Trying to write them in stories where they are working against each other undermined both characters; and it just got worse with each successive set of writers.

[hcs]

I remember when TIIC at ABCDaytime announced the Mannings were coming to GH and I was so excited that Todd and Blair were going to come to PC together and create havoc together.  Oh ABC it took me over 20 years but I eventually learned you never give me what I want. Sigh...

[kristabell]

 That was still Malone writing , I think? I loved his vision of Blair as the pull herself up by the bootstraps vixen . She was nobody's victim but Todd's willing partner.  I still think his version of the show is my favorite . Shh I even mostly liked his second go round despite his Antonio and Santi fixation . But the early to mid nineties was really special  and then JFP came.

I agree. I wasn't too crazy about Malone II, but overall Malone I was great. He had some problematic aspects, particularly his desire to romantically pair a woman and the man who engineered her gang rape. But, honestly, I think that was the last time I was interested to watch the whole show. I had my faves, but I enjoyed all the characters. Malone I think (while he had his favorites) was good about giving all the characters their due and giving them all at least a little bit of a point of view. That was probably one of the last times (on network at least) that I really saw the characters acting in-character. KDP has said that Malone was the only one who really knew how to write Blair (or, in my opinion, even cared to). And even though I didn't like some of Blair's actions under Malone, they were pretty much all in character. I didn't necessarily like it, but I believed it. I don't think I can say that about any of the subsequent writing regimes.

[MSquared]

TnB under Malone in 1994-95 were good, but then he had to screw it up by trying to send Todd back to Marty.  Which, next to Rapemance, was one of the worst story ideas I have ever seen out of the writers of OLTL.

[jsbt]

I think it's somewhat true about Malone and Blair. When he and Josh Griffith came back, one of the few things they got right - mostly by default, I suspect, since Roger Howarth took off immediately and left them holding the bag - was spending a few months where Blair (and then Dorian) were literally the only people in town who could go after Mitch Laurence. Everyone else was either the cops or Viki and they weren't gonna get it done. So we got to see a lot of Blair scheming and plotting, going after Mitch with an axe, etc. while still being a mother to her children and a cornerstone of her family.

 

I think those two elements - the killer, scheming instinct and the family loyalty - are the two very different components of her character that very few writers have fully understood or gotten right. Because Blair had matured a lot more than Todd, she had grown out of a lot of shit. She put her kids and her family before everything else, which is why she became the sap in the pairings with the two Todds for many years, because a lot of writers saw her as the victim or the clueless wife. But for a few months in early 2003 they had no Todd and no recast so Blair had to do a lot of heavy lifting for a lot of people, and she could. They never really let her do that again, though, and I say 'somewhat' about Malone and Blair because they quickly settled into the same old schtick with the new Todd where Todd lies and schemes and Blair is colossally stupid and buys all of it. I loved TSJ as the recast at the time, I thought a lot of the work he did was excellent, but I always thought the actual storyline was goofy from start to finish - the whole Atlantic City thing with Walker Flynn, all of that. Everybody running around the slot machines and neon pink lights asking which TSJ is which. Fun but ridiculous, and Blair came off so stupid for buying it. If Linda Gottlieb had still been there that storyline would've looked very different.

Edited November 14, 2014 by jsbt

[Dandesun]

KDP has said that Malone was the only one who really knew how to write Blair (or, in my opinion, even cared to). And even though I didn't like some of Blair's actions under Malone, they were pretty much all in character. I didn't necessarily like it, but I believed it. I don't think I can say that about any of the subsequent writing regimes.

 

 

I think those two elements - the killer, scheming instinct and the family loyalty - are the two very different components of her character that very few writers have fully understood or gotten right. Because Blair had matured a lot more than Todd, she had grown out of a lot of shit. She put her kids and her family before everything else, which is why she became the sap in the pairings with the two Todds for many years, because a lot of writers saw her as the victim or the clueless wife. 

 

Excellent points... it was far too easy for other writers to just make Blair 'the Whore' and leave it at that and that was a huge injustice to her. Did she use her body? Of course she did... it was all she had for the most part. She didn't have a family to fall back on growing up. She didn't have money, family, connections... she didn't have anything so she used the one thing she did have: her looks. Man, there was this whole scene between her and Todd before they had sex the first time where Blair really opened up about her life and who she was and even what drove her.

 

She grew up with nothing, less than nothing, and she wanted it all... clothes, money, furs, jewelry... but it wasn't until people started telling her how pretty she was that she started to get things. "I even got me a millionaire." But she also acknowledged that in getting said millionaire she gave up what was most important. And that was love. You can certainly say that Blair wanted all of the material things because she never had anyone love her and figured if she was going to live that way she'd at least have the creature comforts she never had as a kid but when she fell in love it changed her significantly... just as finding her family did.

 

Her family became everything to her... Addie and Cassie first and then Dorian. She never had the same level of loyalty to Kelly or the later girls but they were family and she respected that at the very least. And when she had kids, they took precedence over everything else... even the love of her life. If the choice came down to choose between her kids or Todd -- Blair would choose her kids. (Ron in particular did not have an understanding of that with the way he wrote Blair and her relationship with Jack.) There is a line and TSJ's Not!Todd crossed that line... she gave him a warning and then she froze him out when he crossed it again.

 

And the other thing about Blair is the love... when she loves someone, a part of her always remembers that even if the love is gone. It's why she continuously had a soft spot for Max even when he was treat her like shit. It was frustrating to see Blair being nice to a man who laughed in her face whenever things went south between her and Todd but it was true to her character. And, of course, Todd... she always saw the best in him even when he didn't deserve it. She was never able to let go of those perfect moments between them... and they were perfect... and he held onto them, too.

 

Blair didn't attach herself to anyone after she and Todd split the first time and was grossed out at the mere thought of bedding David for Dorian's sake... if anyone else had been writing her, she'd have been chasing after men left and right. Blair was mercenary, she had to be, and Malone is the only one who got that... given that he created her it made sense, but very few other writers managed to understand it. It's why whenever I write fanfic about those two, I do focus a lot on Blair. She's just as interesting to me as Todd ever was and she never got the spotlight from the writers that he did. I always thought that was unfair... because there were definitely times Howarth did not deserve all the time devoted to his character so he could mug it up and ham his way through...

[TeeVee329]

I've been rewatching some of the reboot lately and I love how unapologetic Clint is in this scene about thinking John is pond-sucking scum when he tells Natalie and Viki that he indeed did file the restraining order keeping John away from Liam:

 

http://www.hulu.com/watch/501862

 

 

Edited November 23, 2014 by TeeVee329

[jsbt]

I loved all that drama, those was great scenes. The only issue was that they had apparently initially planned on having Michael Easton for four or so weeks of taping just like Roger Howarth. Evidently, Natalie's major storyline was to originally involve John and presumably their reconciliation, while, I'm assuming, investigating the whole tattoo thing, detectives in love. When things fell apart with their careful negotiations with ABC, Easton's deal had not been signed. OLTL had to scrap the big arc with John and Natalie and hastily rewrite a lot of stuff, primarily Natalie's material, which is why her story is very intermittent on PP. They were speeding into production and literally didn't have time for anything else.

 

It's a shame, because I much preferred Natalie the single mom making her way in the world, and wished they'd been able to devote full time to her and that, as opposed to the stuff they had to throw together at the last moment. I think the show was quite good but flawed, and one of its biggest flaws is the trouble with those GH-tied characters, especially the ridiculous waste of Todd, Blair and Téa in the hotel stuff in the back half of "Season 1" - unlike Natalie, there is IMO little excuse for that, although McBain and Natalie may well have been tied into that action initially. Had they had a fuller story for Natalie I think the show would've soared higher. I did love her little romance with Cutter, but the story did not get the time it needed. I think it would have had they gone on, but they didn't. The other thing was that they clearly signposted John as still being the man Natalie could not get over - I assumed they were making a gamble that they could always make a deal with ME later, much as they left Roger Howarth's exit open-ended.

 

For me, had things gone on, it would have been enough to bring John in for 4-6 weeks, play out a story and send him back to Port Charles for good (and maybe some visits). IMO John doesn't want a home and a family with Natalie and Liam. Like Al Pacino in Heat, all he has ever been is what he's after. Sometimes a case, sometimes his past, sometimes a woman.

Edited November 23, 2014 by jsbt

[TeeVee329]

I loved all that drama, those was great scenes

 

I remember, at the time, thinking that these scenes were a little shortchanged as far as the screen time it got, but yes, anytime you have Melissa Archer and Jerry ver Dorn squaring off, it's gonna be a good time.  And you got to love Viki's little horrified, "Home Alone"-esque "Clint!!!!!!!!!!!!!" when he confesses.

 

Not gonna lie, it sucks it affected Natalie's air time, but I'm not sad at all John stayed away.  I adored the early part of the season where people kept ducking in and out of Natalie's lab at the LPD to tell her that John was an asshole and she deserved better.  She does!

Edited November 23, 2014 by TeeVee329

[jsbt]

As much as I never bought Natalie at the LPD (I much preferred her at BE, and wanted her to get back into that - still do), I did love that it made her a little more involved in the story and I loved that they gave her a little set and had her spend time with Bo in the cop shop.

[TeeVee329]

While I would have liked to have seen her back at BE (though her absence there did leave room to build the rapport I enjoyed between Clint and Robert Gorrie's Matthew), with John and Rex gone, it was nice to see her and Bo working cases together.  Hell, it was nice to see Bo and Nora more involved with Natalie, period.

Edited November 24, 2014 by TeeVee329

[eXiled]

I've been watching full episodes from 1999 on Youtube. Nothing much happened that year. Even the way the show was taped/directed was boring. Too many Rappaports. Blair sniveling after Max. Cold Kelly Cramer, no longer the chirpy fashion dud ditz, is now lording it over the other Cramers. Max spends a lot of time on Asa's sofa looking smug. Viki's transformation into Ben's Blondie would be cute, I guess, if I thought they were a good couple. Ben is so blah. Lindsay's in trouble. Again. She's on trial for running over Jessica. Nora appears to be helping Lindsay's case. This must be before Lindsay went psycho and made ruining Nora's life her #1 hobby. Dorian's guilt about nearly killing Jessica has made her help Ben get hired at the hospital, I suppose. I think I remember Tea playing pool with Sykes in one episode. I felt sorry for the both of them. Not because I liked either character, mind you. It's just that their anti-chemistry was almost terrifying. Their scenes appear to have all the wrong kinds of tension or something. Not sexy. Just wrong. I kept waiting for Tea to start breathing fire or something. Then Sykes would have had to shoot her. Bad scene.

[TeeVee329]

Lindsay's in trouble. Again. She's on trial for running over Jessica. Nora appears to be helping Lindsay's case. This must be before Lindsay went psycho and made ruining Nora's life her #1 hobby. 

 

Wasn't the whole thing that Lindsay couldn't provide an alibi because, at the time Jessica got run over, she was switching the DNA test on Matthew?

[eXiled]

Wasn't the whole thing that Lindsay couldn't provide an alibi because, at the time Jessica got run over, she was switching the DNA test on Matthew?

Probably. I can't swear to it because I've not watched the videos in any particular order. I've bounced around a bit, often stopping after several moments of thorough mind numbing boredom. I just didn't care for most of the storylines. The few characters I still cared about were stuck in plot hell. I remember 1998-1999 being the year I walked away from soaps for a good long time (Guiding Light had started sucking badly as well, imo). I didn't start watching full time again until around 2005.

[TeeVee329]

I've always said that I really started watching "One Life to Live" during Natalie's introduction storyline, but it must have been earlier because I do remember very vague bits and pieces of Dorian running down Jessica and Lindsay going on trial. 

 

Was that before or after all the Colin/Troy stuff?

[Dandesun]

 

Was that before or after all the Colin/Troy stuff?

 

Right in the midst of it, I think.

 

The whole thing is weird... I remember Colin kidnapping Nora and taking her back to his place and there was this whole episode that I quite liked about Bo and the cops coming into the place and it's just creepy as hell because Colin was so obsessed with Nora and wanted to make her his and all that. (This was at a time when Nora would get called a 'goddess of love' by one of her paramours... Troy? Colin? Sam? I don't even remember but I do recall being put off by it. I love Nora but what I always loved about her was that she was so quirky and strange in her way. She wasn't a goddess of love by any stretch... it took some of that unique shine off of her when the writers would go overboard that way.)

 

I remember Bo seeing the bedroom with rose petals and sheets torn asunder and he just had this sick look on his face and said 'What did he do to her? What did he do to her?!' This was also at a time where it seemed that Bo and Nora were irrevocably split (I think he was with Lanie the Boring at the time) so it was particularly nice to see Bo on the edge of losing it over Nora.

 

Meanwhile, the kids... Jess, Will? Cris? Jen? I don't know anymore? had stumbled across Colin somewhere and, believing they were in a stupid horror movie, covered his body up with leaves and ran. I don't know if one or several of them thought someone among their group was responsible for killing him. THEN there was the scene of Dead!Colin sitting up from said pile of leaves (which gave me infinite amounts of joy with the thought of Zombie!Colin lurking here and about.)

 

The bones of the tale had potential, the obsession, the dark and stormy autumn night that it all went down (it probably was Halloween), the crazy stalker house of luv... but I still have no idea how the kids entered into it. Was Colin blackmailing Jen? Or am I confusing that with a fanfic I was reading at the time? I don't even know anymore.

[TeeVee329]

Was Colin blackmailing Jen?

 

I do remember Colin blackmailing Jen.  What it was about, I don't remember, but it made Jen a suspect in the eventual whodunit.

[UYI]

I've always said that I really started watching "One Life to Live" during Natalie's introduction storyline, but it must have been earlier because I do remember very vague bits and pieces of Dorian running down Jessica and Lindsay going on trial. 

 

Was that before or after all the Colin/Troy stuff?

 

 

Dorian ran down Jessica in 1999, just as she was going into labor with Megan (who died shortly after she was born), while Colin was brought on in 2000, and killed off in the spring of 2001, with Troy showing up shortly thereafter.

 

1999 was the year that JFP was the de facto head writer of the show, with former AW head writer Harding Lemay serving as some sort of consultant. Pam Long had been fired as HW sometime before that, and Jill went on her own until ABC finally forced her to hire someone, and she brought on Megan McTavish.

 

Jen was occasionally spoken about by the Rappaports in their earlier days, but wasn't officially an onscreen character until early 2001. One of the last things JFP did was hire Jessica Morris.

Edited November 28, 2014 by UYI

[jsbt]

I think Pam Long got fired shortly after Roger Howarth left, in late '98. I can't be sure on the timeframe.

 

I think Lemay consulted throughout '98 and maybe some of '99. I have no idea why he loved her show so much, it was dreadful.

[Melgaypet]

Jen was occasionally spoken about by the Rappaports in their earlier days, but wasn't officially an onscreen character until early 2001. One of the last things JFP did was hire Jessica Morris.

 

How sad is it that I actually remember Jen's first scene? Jessica found her in Will's bed, wearing only a shirt, (Will was not present) and she taunted Jess by not admitting she was his sister. Morris was a terrible, blank, non-actress from the start.

 

Then a little later she bought a fake ID from Cristian and stupidly got alcohol poisoning, causing Will to get all obnoxiously self-righteous and Cris to feel guilty about it, which annoyed me, because I hated Will and loved Cris, but also because it was pretty much the end of Cristian working for RJ, which was a dynamic I was enjoying a lot, not least because it made Antonio's head explode on a regular basis. Poor Cris was then stuck in boring-ass Jen stories until Natalie. Although, the whole hottiebaresall.com thing involved much unintentional hilarity.

[UYI]

Jessica sees her sister Megan and her baby Megan while in her coma, 1999. Regardless of whether or not Jessica would/should have gotten pregnant, or the quality of the show back then, this scene can make me cry like nothing else.

 

For that matter, here's adult Megan's funeral. Um...I know she wanted her funeral to be a party, but...yeah.

 

[TeeVee329]

How sad is it that I actually remember Jen's first scene? Jessica found her in Will's bed, wearing only a shirt, (Will was not present) and she taunted Jess by not admitting she was his sister.

 

Oh man, I sorta remember that too.  So Jen showed up in early 2001...when did Natalie show up, later that year?  Because Jessica would have had to have been done with Will because Seth was part of Natalie's plans.

[jsbt]

Natalie showed up in the summer. IIRC, her first day had no lines or next to no lines - she was just a pretty girl Michael Tipps' Al fawned over. I saw her and thought she was remarkably beautiful. When she opened her mouth I knew she'd be a star.

[TeeVee329]

My fuzzy first memory of Natalie is her like jumping out of a bush or something and scaring Jessica lol.  I think Natalie had faked her car breaking down so she could contrive a meeting with Jessica.

 

Of course, my first clear memory of Natalie is this, which I'll dub Best Deployment Of A Red Dress Ever:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL-id5-bC_4

[jsbt]

Yeah, the initial storyline - Natalie and Seth's scam, led by Alison, leading to the baby switch reveal - was, IMO, masterful, and well-plotted if not always very well dialogued. They had some shitty scripts in the Tomlin era and no taste. But the plotline was great.

[TeeVee329]

And it all started, IIRC, because Rae (the world's worst psychiatrist, even by soap standards) had been treating Alison and convinced Viki to meet her.  And then there was the nonsense of Ben going undercover as Dave in the nuthouse and Alison having a crush on him.

Edited December 1, 2014 by TeeVee329

[jsbt]

I didn't mind Ben/Dave. I mean, Ben was pretty much an idiot. And Mark Derwin was always much better with comedy. Offscreen, in interviews, he seemed like a sweet, hilarious guy - they never let him play that much on OLTL. I think he did actually have lovely chemistry with Erika, and I liked them a lot early on, but the story and the character did not work. I did laugh at Jeff Giles's oral history book, where Derwin and HBS appear to be telling the same story (in veiled terms) about fucking with Kale Browne (Sam), who allegedly did not like to learn his lines and just waited for cues.

Edited December 1, 2014 by jsbt

[TeeVee329]

I really can't remember what I thought about Ben.  I feel like I remember him being at least semi-supportive of Natalie and I liked that.

 

But whenever I see Mark Derwin in something else, it's always, "Oh, that's Ben."

Edited December 2, 2014 by TeeVee329

[Dandesun]

I couldn't stand Ben until I saw Mark Derwin in an interview. He was funny as hell because it was at the time of Niki defenestrating Ben and his reaction to the clip was kind of hilarious. Plus, he admitted how much fun it was to try to throw a pro like ES... but she was more than a match for him in that category. (The behind the scenes stories about her and Roger and the 'Word of the Day' game... yeah, that lady could handle anything.)

 

Ben was always so ragey and jaw-clenchy.

 

As for Natalie's arrival... sigh... okay, I'll be frank. I wasn't a fan. I really hated how Natalie blamed Jessica for 'stealing her life' while she somehow totally excused Allison who was the one who actually did it! I just rolled my eyes thinking 'Yeah, Jessica Buchanan: Infant Life-Switching Mastermind!' It wasn't until Roxy showed up and was absolutely vile to Natalie that I started to feel sympathy towards her... that and she started giving the side-eye to the actual people responsible for her growing up in the skids of Atlantic City (read: not Jessica).

 

And I'll state my unpopular opinion of: never saw what the big freaking deal was with Natalie showing up in a red dress for Asa's 'funeral' (he wasn't dead.) It didn't read triumphant at all to me... so much as a desperate 'look at me and fuck all of you for something that wasn't any of your fault!' 

 

That being said, I'm sorry we didn't get a little more of Natalie with Asa. I would have liked to have seen that relationship develop but I imagine Phil Carey's health was an issue in those years.

[MSquared]

 

(The behind the scenes stories about her and Roger and the 'Word of the Day' game... yeah, that lady could handle anything.)

 

What?  Do tell,please!