EricMontreal22

Also this:

No matter what the intentions of the writing staff of General Hospital were at the time, the thread of Cole (and possibly Hope) being alive will not be picked up by the new online reboot of One Life to Live. Executive producer Jennifer Pepperman had the following to say when discussing the opportunity to bring back the characters:

"I was really shocked as a viewer when Cole and Hope were killed and I know on soap operas people say you can bring people back from the dead, but that is something that I feel strongly, and Prospect Park feels strongly about, and that is not bringing people back from the dead. That is one of the things that never really feels right, but I am afraid that ABC killed Cole and Hope, and also Victor Jr. III (Tea and Victor Jr. son) and those are real losses for the show."

And the Tea saga of her time on GH between the OLTL finale and the reboot (I totally forgot they were gonna have a connection between Tomas and GH's Alcazar.)  So I think Todd just followed her back to Llanview--but I don't remember on GH if anyone asked why Kiki and nuFranco looked like Starr and Todd.  WHAT A MESS.

n May 2012, a heavily pregnant Téa arrives in Port Charles, the setting of General Hospital, to provide legal counsel to Starr, who had held mobster Sonny Corinthos at gun point. Téa quickly discloses that she was hired by Blair. On June 1, she collapses in the parking garage and is found by Todd, and goes into labor. Todd crashes their car off the road during a rainstorm and delivers Téa's baby, a boy, in the rain. When the baby is born, he is not crying and Todd takes the baby and goes for help. Todd runs into Heather Webber, who in turn says the baby is unable to be saved. As Todd goes to tell Téa the unfortunate news, he discovers Sam Morgan lying unconscious with her own healthy newborn son nearby. As Todd attempts to return Sam's baby to her, Téa arrives and falsely assumes the baby is hers. Heather leaves Téa's stillborn son in place of Sam's. Todd later returns Téa to Llanview with Sam's baby.

Heather Webber arrives in Llanview in September 2012 at Téa's house, introducing herself as "Susan Moore." She offers to be a nanny for the baby. Téa is thankful and hires her. John later arrives in Llanview, and secretly takes a DNA sample from the baby after Sam's husband, Jason, begins to suspect that Sam's baby was switched with Téa's. The DNA results are a match, and John goes to Llanview to tell Téa the truth. However, before he can tell her, Téa realizes that the baby and her nanny are gone. When John tells her that "Susan" is really Heather, a mental patient who escaped from Ferncliff, Téa is shocked. When Téa finds out that Heather is in Port Charles, she heads to Todd's house. Todd pretends to get a phone call from his P.I. telling him where Heather is, and he and Téa leave to go find her. When they get there, however, they find John there with Port Charles Commissioner Anna Devane. Téa listens as John and Anna punch holes in Todd's story, but is too worried about "her baby". Anna gets a phone call that Heather is at General Hospital, holding the baby hostage on the roof. John, Anna, Todd, and Téa all head to General Hospital. Téa wants to go be with "her son", but John stops her. Todd stays with Téa, while John and Anna confer about the situation. Téa overhears them saying Sam and Jason are on the roof with Heather, and wonders why they are on the roof with Heather and "her son". Téa tries to go to the roof, but Todd stops her. Téa watches in horror as Heather jumps from the roof with the baby in her arms. However, Jason manages to save the baby.

Téa is relieved, and anxious to see her son, but is confused when Todd and Anna keep stopping her. Eventually, she runs inside, and Todd chases after her. She gets out of the elevator, and sees John with Jason, Sam, and the baby. When she goes to get him, John and Sam hold her back, and she becomes even more confused. When Sam and Jason walk away with the baby, Téa is furious and demands an explanation. John and Todd explains to her that her baby died and the child with Sam and Jason is Sam's son. At first, Téa is in disbelief, thinking they're lying to her, but when John shows the DNA test that was run and tells her that the baby who died had hemophilia, a condition that's in Téa's family, Téa finally realizes her baby is dead. She goes to baby "Victor's" room, and tells Jason and Sam she will not take the baby away – she just wants to say goodbye. Sam agrees, and Téa says a heartfelt goodbye to "Victor". Afterwards, she leaves the room, and the hospital, in tears.

Téa comes to the police station after Todd is arrested in connection to the baby switch. Téa asks him flat out if he had anything to do with the switch. Todd denies it, but Téa warns him that if he did do this, he has hurt her more than he could ever have. She goes back to Llanview, but not before telling Starr about the suspicion surrounding Todd. Téa is shown in Llanview again with Blair, when Todd arrives with Carly Corinthos and Skye Quartermaine. Carly and Skye claim that Tomás is actually an international arms dealer named Lorenzo Alcazar. Blair calls Tomás to come home, but a CIA agent shows up, saying Tomás has left for another mission. Téa leaves with Blair and Skye to find Tomás.

18 hours ago, JarrodMFiresofLove said:

On Prospect Park's wiki page it says part of their lawsuit against ABC alleged that a OLTL character had been killed off on GH. Which character was killed off?

 

For the 2013 series I assume that Roger Howarth filmed his role of Todd while on a break from GH, right? In the second episode Viki asks him about his life in Port Charles. But when Prospect Park halts production of the series, did Howarth go back to playing Todd on GH...or is that when he started playing Franco? Was his last performance as Todd on the 2013 series of OLTL?

 

Did GH ever say what happened to Todd and Star, when they were written out because of the lawsuit with Prospect Park? I guess what I am trying to figure out is where Todd would be today...is he supposed to be living in Llanview again or is he off somewhere else, or are his whereabouts unknown?

OK

This is all so fuzzy--especially as I only sorta paid attention to GH, but...  The characters killed off were killed off--Starr was driving to Port Charles (I think?) and was in a car crash that killed Cole and Starr.  Hughes (2nd Cole) returned briefly with Starr--they had to stop in Port Charles due to a storm on the way to Llanview (why they were going there is beyond me since Cole was in hiding).  There was a dumb part where Cole told Starr all about the history of Luke and Laura, the Cassadines and other famous Port Charles people (and so I guess filling in new viewers?) which he knew about because it turned out (unless we knew this already) that Ian Thornhart on the soap Port Charles was his uncle being Patrick's brother.  The crash was involved I believe because they were in the middle of a shooting planned by Sonny, or so it seems (of course).

I can't even find details on how Todd exited, but here's Starr's storyline from her year on GH (so many oh so typical Ron Carlivati plot points here): 

Upon Cole and Hope's deaths in Port Charles, New York, the setting of General Hospital, Starr is rescued by Michael Corinthos. Blair soon arrives to tell Starr that her family is gone. The main suspect in their deaths is Sonny Corinthos, Michael's father. Michael lets Starr stay at his apartment during the trial. When Sonny is acquitted, a distraught Starr takes him hostage at gunpoint; Michael is able to talk her out of it but later has her arrested. However, Todd later blackmails Sonny and Michael into dropping the charges. Johnny Zacchara blackmails Rick Powers into letting Starr out of her contract and she signs another deal with him. Starr and Michael soon begin dating and he disapproves of her new roommate, Trey Mitchell. Starr initially clashes with Michael's sister, and Trey's girlfriend, Kristina Davis. Starr and Michael follow Trey and Kristina to Las Vegas and are shocked to find Kristina and Trey have eloped as a publicity stunt for their reality show. It is later revealed that Kate Howard's alternate personality, Connie, was the shooter the night of Starr's accident. Starr severs all ties with Johnny when it is revealed that he secretly married Connie to keep her from being committed and helped cover up her involvement in the shooting. Todd soon confides in Starr about his involvement in the switching of Téa's stillborn son with Sam Morgan's living child. Starr and Michael nearly make love for the first time on Halloween when he is confronted by his presumed dead biological father, A. J. Quartermaine. She begins sleeping on Michael's couch when she and Trey get evicted from the apartment. As she offers supports to Michael, Starr blackmails Todd into helping Sam's sister, Molly Lansing get her book published. Starr and Michael make love for the first time on Christmas Eve. In January 2013, Johnny finally admits that he was behind Hope and Cole's accident. When Johnny is sent to prison, he gives Starr his half of the Haunted Star making her partners with Michael's cousin and sister-in-law, Lulu Spencer-Falconeri.

Starr is seen grieving on the anniversary of Cole and Hope's death, as well as lamenting the day she met Michael and starting a relationship. As they leave the gravesite, an unknown figure walks forward and gazes sadly at Cole and Hope's gravestones. It is heavily suggested that it is Cole and he survived the accident; however, it remains unknown. On March 20, 2013, Starr receives an emergency call from Langston, telling her to return to Los Angeles immediately. She leaves Michael and tells him she will be back soon. A few days later, Starr calls Michael and tells him she is not returning to Port Charles, and breaks up with him without an explanation. It is implied that Hope and Cole turned up alive in Los Angeles and Starr went into hiding with them.

Agreed.  In hindsight I think maybe focusing so much on the Todd/Victor Jr stuff hampered them, but I get why they felt they had to deal with that story.

DEFINITELY Natalie.  I think Susan Lucci even mentioned Brooke and Natalie being *the two*. 

(Barbara is a good third choice, though...  But really, it would be easier to make a list of female friends Erica *had*)

I see your point but I'm not sure I agree.  It felt natural for me the way Brooke grew up and matured--I believed it.  (I also fully believed that Erica... didn't.  OK she did, but not nearly to the same extent.)

As for being outside of Jamie's orbit, well that was largely due to when they really used Jamie Brooke was already gone, IIRC.

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

i just jumped online to grab a quick look at a PP episode.

Maybe Mal Young should do the same.

The sets, lighting, staging, costumes etc outshine today's Y&R.

Surely the budget of online OLTL was less than Y&R ?

What was the taping schedule of OLTL ?

Yeah it's bizarre how relatively professional and good they looked even compared to network soaps nowadays. 

Here was the taping schedule.  Obviously they never did do another batch after this:
"She reveals that All My Children will film episodes at Stamford, Connecticut from late February. The former ABC daytime soap will film for two weeks before taking a break during which One Life to Live will film episodes at the studios. After five weeks OLTL will take a break and AMC will resume filming.

A source told Soaps in Depth “They’ll be alternating back and forth until each show has completed 17 weeks of taping. Everyone is looking forward to seeing each other again.” It is unknown what will happen production wise once each soap has completed 17 weeks of taping; whether they will both go on hiatus or move to new studios."

Actors did mention that the hours were significantly longer (also, because of limited space for sets, Erika S mentioned that she had to stay the full day, though saying she didn't mind as it made the cast closer--I guess she had had a deal where they would shoot ALL of her material in the morning of the days she came in and then she could go home) however, they also got those five week breaks to pursue other projects.

1 hour ago, JarrodMFiresofLove said:

 

I

This doesn't feel as experimental as it did five years ago. In some ways I think it was ahead of its time. I love how there are almost 28 full minutes. A half hour show on network television would have been around 22 minutes to allow for all the commercials. So I feel like we're able to go more in-depth, have more scenes and variety with those extra minutes. This is how the British soap EastEnders is, since it's funded by tax dollars and does not have to worry about advertisements.

 

Another thing is how professional it seems. When GL changed its production model in 2007, it became very amateurish. But the online version of OLTL smartly combines in-studio filming with outdoor filming and doesn't make it look cheap. A lot of care and money went into these episodes. It's really a shame it didn't last beyond 40 episodes.

Actually I believe a 30 minute soap now in the *daytime* (which has even more commercial time than primetime) comes to 19 minutes of programming--I know hour soaps clock in just around 38.  So yeah, as some mentioned at the time, you don't really get all that much less per episode. 

I def think they were ahead of their time.  I know they were ultimately done in by PP's poor business stuff, but i really think if they had happened even just a year later they may have lasted longer--and someone like Netflix might have been more keen to pick them up.

Just now, Darn said:

Thanks @Khan and @EricMontreal22. Damn shame, Julia Barr is a treasure and Brooke meant as much to the fabric of AMC as Erica, even moreso to Pine Valley as a whole.

Yep.  But you know, she was old.  Didn't fit Frons' Sex and the City vibe for AMC I think a number of other vets did go on recurring around then.

I think from the premier I woulda largely agreed with you on all fronts.  I can't say more because some of those thoughts about what worked and didn't vastly changed over the 40 episodes (well this is maybe a small spoiler but for example I forgot Rama was even in it...)

Oh absolutely agreed about the southern gothic element--although I do think from the four novels I've read that he also has that urban bent.

30 minutes ago, Darn said:

Does anyone remember how Brooke was written out of the show initially? Was she written out or did she just stop appearing? I keep running into AMC clips and Brooke/Julia Barr is a much more important character to the show than the last decade would make you think. I so wish they had cast stronger actors to play Laura and Jamie, it could have kept Brooke relevant for longer.

She stopped appearing--though I think they did make some acknowledgement of her traveling (maybe visiting Laura in China or wherever...)?  Frons didn't renew her contract but offered her recurring--she (quite rightly) decided without a contract she wouldn't bother and quit.  She was prob my fave female character, so I was really infuriated (I remember--this is embarrassing--having dreams where she would return to the show!) so I was thrilled when she came back for the final months and then the reboot.  And yes she was absolutely one of the key players in the 80s and 90s.

Just now, Khan said:

 

I just don't think Michael Malone ever belonged on OLTL.  I know he's a good writer and all, but tone-wise, it was never a perfect match for me.  IMO, he'd have been much better off working on a show like LOVING, or DAYS, or even AMC, although I worry how his peculiar, Southern flourishes would have worked on a show like AMC.

Really?  I think his mix of styles--when kept in check like the first run, is an *ideal* match for OLTL which should be more urban, etc.

I don't remember that--who did Claude Akins play?

I haven't read her book in ages, but I do remember enjoying it (she also had bits of a Ryan's Hope script I think?)  What a great interview--her enthusiasm is contagious.

6 minutes ago, Vee said:

 

I'd actually still have welcomed Malone as a consultant at a new OLTL - just a consultant. He can't be allowed to be a HW without massive smart oversight and a strong team in place.

 

 

IIRC a Killing Club tie-in was mandated from the start when ABC commissioned the book, but Malone was gone by the time it kicked off. Higley got the job based on her one sentence pitch to Frons: "Jessica has DID". Beyond that she never wrote long story or bibles, which drove Frank Valentini nuts. She was apparently a nightmare to work with everywhere she's ever been.

Completely agreed about a consultant.

Higley doesn't seem like she has the forethought to plan long term stories, so that doesn't shock me.  I just assume if Malone had stuck around he might have actually put some effort into making the Killing Club story as seen on the show have *some* relation to the novel.

Out of some masochistic urge I googled the Love Project and found some fansite that has praise for the story and a few pics (though this seems to be written just as the story started)  http://frostbitten4.tripod.com/id41.html

3 hours ago, Khan said:

 

Maybe he had hoped that Tate would become so popular that they'd change their plans?  Plus, he was probably still smarting from how his previous stint at ATWT had turned out.  

I completely forgot about this character and story, but now I distinctly remember Beetem speaking out about his unhappiness with the writing.

9 hours ago, Vee said:

 

And the irony is all that only came about because he took off with the audience despite being a bit player for Flash's band originally. He was used to give her something to do before she exited because fans preferred him to her and Joey (her cousin!), then clicked with Jessica Morris. He was still wasted on her extremely minimal talents - I always liked him and regretted his exit, as he'd become like a son to Nora and a brother to Matthew.

 

 

No - Flash was gone by then. The Love Crew debacle was summer 2004: Marcie, Jen, Riley, Julie Tanaka, jock Nick Messina, Shannon McBain (who I'd forgotten existed until just now and who was played by Mrs. Jensen Ackles, Danneel Harris!), and yes, Matt Cavenaugh as token gay non-core character Mark Solomon. Rex and Adriana also orbited it.

 

The Love Crew mess was so bad: Retrofitted youths thrown together overnight, most of them new, all of them struggling in this incredibly earnest, embarrassing ploy for teen viewers. There was even a bizarre ghost story/past lovers angle with Lord and McBain ancestors thrown in that Malone mercifully was forced to ditch before it went anywhere, and which was rewritten as R.J.(!!) faking a haunting so he could claim the land. But somehow Higley's story the following year was worse - the Killing Club murders, based on Malone's lame IRL book(!!), in which Marcie whined and howled her way through a storyline featuring all her Love Crew pals being brutally murdered until finally the show realized fans were pissed enough at Marcie that they actually trotted Viki out to sit her down and say (and I quote) "please stop it" and told her it was her fault.

God, those were some rough years.

I will say I woulda taken years more of Malone/Griffith crazy (and awful)-ness over the bulk of Higley--at the least I had fun trying to figure out exactly WHAT they were trying to do, and on some level appreciate the ambition (though I have to wonder if some of the Gothic-ness was cribbed from their bible for 13 Bourbon Street like reportedly some of Malone's AW was). 

Ha I forgot about the Love Crew specifics and yes Shannon!  Wow.  And then of course Mark returned because I guess they needed to reuse their token gay for the Colson story (?) and not a new one--cuz, y'know, that shows Higley knows how to write soap.

However, I will argue one of your points.  I actually thought The Killing Club wasn't... half bad (yes, I read it--to my credit I picked it up in the remainder bin on a whim).  It's credited in the small print as being written by Michael Malone based on an idea by Josh Griffith--and Malone obviously knows how to write mystery novels, so that probably explains it.  The irony is the OLTL show's story with the murders based on Marcie's story (I can't even remember who the killer on the show was) has virtually NO relation to the novel. Like even the way that the victims are murdered is different.  I assume Higley just decided to do her own mystery and in the show claim it was connected to this book viewers could buy?

Ha yes!  Living pictures--I suppose though it may have been the first opening with cast "photos".

Thanks for bumping the Proposed soaps thread--I had forgotten about it.  And I do remember Vendig getting that credit--

Ha did you see my post (page two) with the 1950s Heart of Juliet Jones soap pilot?  I didn't make the connection (it's been a long day) but it was written by Gussman and I posted that exact same obituary there

Yep Jay Wilkison was kinda wasted--I thought Riley was one of the more compelling characters of that time (though the detail that he was named after Joe Riley struck me as bizarre and just a random pointless connection to the past) but he basically got stuck in his father, Daniel Colson's horrible plot which led to him (I think) going back on drugs, being arrested and leaving for rehab.  Wilison did go on to do some Broadway--he was in Rent for the final years and is on the filmed final performance that was released and I remember him on Nashville for a while...  Flash was just one of those characters that probably looked good on paper from that bizarre Malone/Griffith era, but never worked (partly due to the actor and all the reasons Vee gives).  Was she originally part of the LOVE Center crew?

Bright Eyes I loved Student Bodies!  lol

45 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

I just saw this article today after following him a few days ago on Instagram. It's an op-ed by Bobby Steggert (ex-Sam Grey) on why he's taking a break from acting for the unforeseeable future. And reading his Wiki page (I know!) I didn't realize he came out of the closet publicly. I followed him recently because I just re-watched Sondheim's Birthday Concert (which is finally in my possession for me to watch at my leisure) and remembered at good he was on it. I wanted to add Matt Cavenaugh (ex-Adam Munson, ATWT/ex-Mark Solomon, OLTL) as well for the same reason, but he doesn't seem to have one, unfortunately. 

 

https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F%40bobbysteggert%2Fan-open-letter-to-the-artist-cbcb6fde016e&e=ATOankNLWHqTaQ30NIW9ff352zyhqBqWEcLfyaO35j-aPjI3N0W1PvvcVG3HOqaelRhFB0f3

Ah that's too bad--I've seen him on stage (in the off-Broadway gay musical Yank!--good show, bad title) and of course being a Sondheim freak I've seen him do a few of his songs in various concerts, and have always been impressed.  He was kinda wasted and dropped on AMC but he was very good there too (one of those young actors I'm always surprised can actually act...) 

Poor Matt as Mark and what Higley did to his character on OLTL...  So much for progressive gay plots!

1 minute ago, Vee said:

Yeah, it's all her.

As a teen I admit I was guilty of giving credit to anything I liked on AMC to Nixon and anything I disliked to interference or other writers...  I'd like to think I know better now and have accepted her faults (or at least less successful story foibles...)

I think it is an Agnes quirk you do just have to go with.

I think they--at least Wildwind, were meant to be right outside Pine Valley but umm yeah...  (To be fair didn't they claim WIldwind had been shuttered down and only now Dimitri was returning to it?)

Fascinating that Charles Gussman (who?) would get both a title card credit and an announcer credit.  Did anyone else in that era, aside from Phillips, get one?

One of Nixon's last umbrella stories, really.  Of course it also led to so much other story (the whole Wildwind stuff including Edmund's parentage, etc, as well as the who killed Will murder, etc).  Wildwind itself in some ways was similar to what Nixon and Washam had done when Cortland Manor was introduced (same Gothic/Victorian story tropes, the mysterious housekeeper, etc--although Wildwind went into the whole Jane Eyre thing with the wife in the attic...)

Someone was talking on FB about anniversary episodes starting with the 25th.  But was there a 30th anniversary episode?

Also--has this been posted?  Probably but it's new to me.  Is this actually a few seconds of Gillian Spencer's Vicki?  (Obviously filmed badly on a camera phone at the Paley Center)