OLTL: Utilizes Its History (Article)

[AntiNWO]

Busted To Blissful (December 1, 2006) Written by Lelseyann Coker

Blissful: OLTL Utilizes Its History

The big reveal on One Life to Live that teenage Cole is the son of Marty Saybrook is genius on so many levels. It’s a real treat whenever a show can reward long time viewers with a stroll through its own history, and the more characters involved, the better.

The history this particular story encompasses is long and complicated, and ties the past to the future through two generations. When Todd was in college, he raped Marty, and they have both suffered the consequences in the intervening years. Flash forward to the present, and Todd and Blair’s daughter, Starr, is a Freshman in high school. She develops a crush on Cole, a Sophomore transfer student who is the star quarterback of the football team, and unbeknownst to everyone, also happens to be Marty’s son.

Cole has a dirty little secret -- he has been taking steroids. In a moment of ”roid rage,” he attacks Starr for being a tease and leading him on. He doesn’t rape her, but definitely scares her. The police are called, and Starr has to go down to the police station and make a statement. Then Cole’s mother enters. Of course, Todd and Blair think Marty put her son up to the attack as revenge for what happened. Marty assures them this is not the case, and has to explain the sordid truth about her past with Todd to her clueless son. This also makes for an awkward conversation between Todd and his teenage daughter.

The show is brave to reintroduce one of its most controversial storylines of all time to a new generation of fans. The fallout from this story has been a goldmine for the actors, too.

Trevor St. John (though he wasn’t playing the role at the time of the rape) has owned every scene he’s in, as Todd tries to reconcile the person he was in the past with the person he is today. Not only for himself -- but for his daughter. The always reliable Kristen Alderson has shone in her first real adult scenes, while Starr struggles with how the father she adores could do something so heinous, and how she can still love him anyway.

Christina Chambers had the difficult task of taking over for Emmy winner Susan Haskell as Marty. She has managed in just a short amount of time to display a quiet yet forceful inner strength, critical to the character.

The always mesmerizing Kassie DePavia (Blair) has come out swinging against her longtime nemesis, Marty. Since DePavia is the only original actor of the three pivotal adults in this storyline, her conviction to the material really helps make it work, and sells the story to the rest of us. If Blair is hopping mad, then we’re hopping mad too.

Could the story have been ratcheted up a notch with Haskell as Marty and with a stronger teenage actor as Cole? Absolutely. But by revisiting the past anyway, OLTL has taken a chance that has paid off. All it took was competent actors, fascinating character development, and referencing the show’s vast storytelling history. Other shows should take note of this winning formula.

-----End of article-----

I'm surprised by C. Chambers' performances. I thought she would be miscast as Dr. Marty Saybrooke, but she proved me wrong. I still would have preferred S. Haskell reprising the legendary role. Early 90s was a great period for OLTL. I get chills watching the opening theme (1992-1995).

K. DePaiva & TS John hit Higley's mediocre material out of the park, and they have help from a very good directing team, and an improved writing team. Higley still has to go!

OLTL, unlike many other shows, has taken the serious issue of rape, and has woven it into a complex, entertaining fallout that changed the lives of many Llanviewers forever. Their openness with this topic is commendable.

As a returned OLTL viewer, I've been entertained by the show more so than AMC, B&B, ATWT & DAYS combined.

[KLN]

Only a month and a half old. You're gettin' closer!

[DruRocks]

Come on man...

All this information is too overwhelming...

[DH23]

I actually agree with everything this article says and I'm glad you posted it. I agree the acting has been wonderful and I <3 Christina Chambers as Marty.

[KLN]

Miss Blinketty-blink?

I only liked her on Spyder Games.

[DH23]

She's improved - a lot in my opinion.

[DruRocks]

I just meant all the article are overwhelming but what the hell...

IMHO there is no Todd and Marty without Roger Howarth and Susan Haskell. Can't stand this punk ass b.tch masquerading as Todd Manning. And I haven't seen enough of Chambers to make a fair assessment. But from the little I have seen she seems capable, but if the original dynamic was there in this story, she looks like she would be blown out of the water.

[2shane8]

Well, the use of history would be more laudable if character ages were accurate.

One thing this article gets right: Kassie Depaiva delivered in spades, and I am glad we get to see the Blair-Marty feud reignited.

[Scotty]

I have to applaud OLTL for remembering more and more of the their history lately....the Jessica/Marty friendship, Addie, Nora/RJ/Lindsay...

but I agree that it would be a little more believable if the characters were the correct ages.

[Antoyne]

I personally love TSJ as Todd.

[Scotty]

TSJ isn't bad as Todd....I like it when he's funny. That cracks me up.

[poohbear19]

Agree... I still don't like how Cole is Marty's son, when she left Llanview she was pregnant with a daughter. A simple explanation would be adoption, but they haven't even seem to make that a possiblity. And this article is making it seem like this is the first time they resurrected this part of history...

[Chris B]

Christina Chambers is the worst actress on soaps right now and the actor playing Cole isn't much better. He seems a little slow. IMO Trevor St. John is a better actor than Roger Howarth. I saw the last couple years of RH as Todd and he was good, but on ATWT he is VERY hit or miss, more often miss. Currently he's giving some of the worst performances in all of daytime! I can't believe how awful he is.

[DH23]

I respectfully disagree about Christina. I can name so many actresses that are worse than her and half of them are already on OLTL

[Scotty]

Yeah...post #2,500!

Agree...they have yet to explain that one...unless Cole had a sex change.

This isn't the first time OLTL has resurrected a part of their history. But they need to do it without seriously re-writing it in the process.

A prime example of that is when they brought Victor Lord back from the dead about 4 or 5 years ago, after he had been dead since 1976 when he died onscreen.