OLTL Discussion: Week of March 5th

[NYC123]

OLTL is really boring now....

It has been like thats for months.

They need a new storyline

[KMan101]

OLTL has been improving so much. I find myself actually trying to watch at night on SoapNet!

[chrishntr]

I think its gotten so much better the last couple of months, I mean there was a time that it was so hard to watch the show.

[BetweenHeaven&Hell]

I think she went to Genoa City and borrowed that from Dru.

[Scotty]

IA.....OLTL has gotten much better lately. They still have a long way to go, but they're headed on the right path.

I agree. There was a time when it was so painful to watch the show. It was completely and totally Michael Easton. And while he's still on a lot now, a lot of the focus has been shifted away from him and on to other characters.

But for time, you would think he was the only actor on the show.

[BetweenHeaven&Hell]

The only other soap besides OLTL that I ever record when I'm at school is Y&R (which I record 2-3 episodes of per week, whereas I record all 5 of OL). The main thing I notice about Y&R that OLTL absolutely needs to learn is how well Y&R balances the character's screentime. It might be one week where Colleen/Korbel dominate, the next week it's Dru/Neil, then Katherine/Jill, then Amber/Kane and so on. But on OLTL it's Natalie/John, followed by more and more and more Natalie/John. If they balance the amount of screentime each person gets, the show would be much, much more enjoyable. But now it's McBain Overkill.

[BetweenHeaven&Hell]

To add to my last post, the main reason, for me at least, that the John dominance is incredibly annoying is that he hasn't earned it. He's only been on the show since 2003. Going into your fourth year on a soap does not give a character the right to have 90% of the screentime. Especially when there's Dorian, Clint, Viki, Asa, and Bo who have been on the show for 20-40 years. At the risk of sounding like a kindgartner: it's not fair. He hasn't earned the right to be the most seen character.

[Scotty]

IA....nice post. You make a good point....Michael Easton hasn't earned the right to have all that airtime. Wait until he's there 20 or 30 years and he might an argument for it. But certainly not now.

[BetweenHeaven&Hell]

I'm glad to know I'm not just an "old soul" that believes in working your way up the ladder. I think part of the tradition with soaps is the seniority involved. And even with seniority, it's simply overkill when one character gets that much time. Even the vets Viki, Clint, and Dorian can't sustain that much time. It's not that those three don't deserve it, it's that I don't want to watch five hours a week of one character. That's called booooring. No matter how "wildly popular," as ME's site describes his PC character, you are on ABCD, enough is enough.

[Scotty]

Oh I agree...it doesn't matter who the character is, they do not need to be on every day or nearly everyday--whether it's a newbie or a 25 year vet.

There needs to be a balance in the airtime....the longer you are with the show, the more airtime you get.

What makes the Michael Easton thing more hard to believe is the fact there is on the show more than others who started around the same time as he (give or take a year or two).

It's a sad fact that he regularly receives more airtime than anyone else on OLTL. And why? His presence causes no rise in the ratings. In fact, it works to do the exact opposite.

[Honey]

I enjoyed John/Natalie on Friday too. Sometimes I just wish Natalie would walk out on him and then they kiss like that and I am a goner. It's just a soap. Give me more kisses like that and I'm happy.

I liked all the Nora scenes this week, even the ones with Asa. Minority opinion, but I have never much liked Asa. I loved Lindsay and Nora, the show needs them on more than once a month though! What's up with that.

Lord, I almost peed my pants laughing when that twit Evangeline told Todd she didn't want the necklace then walked into the Palace wearing it. What a fool! LOL

I am enjoying Michael finally having a story, though I have to laugh that MArcie is pretty much excluded. I'm not a Marcie fan, but aren't those 2 married? Shouldn't she be more involved? She's busy playing teen counselor instead. That makes no sense to me.

I loved the David Vickers scenes! He and John were funny. He and Dorian were so adorable. Tuc and Robin are amazing.

The Miles scenes were just okay for me. The only thing keeping me interested at this point is the actor because he is very appealing. Also the hope that the writers have something in mind regarding Mitch Laurence. I loved Mitch. Hope they bring Rosco back. I am not into Marty/Miles at all. Two newbies just don't hold that much appeal to me. They should have Miles interact more with Todd, Blair, and I also liked his scenes with Natalie the week prior. Marty is a dud.

They need to send her and Cole back to California.

I like Talia. She could also help make Antonio a viable character again. He rocked back in the Andy/Antonio days, but I think his pairing with BW has dragged him down. I've never been a fan of the BW/KdlR pairing.

Don't care what happens to Jess and Nash. They suck.

Overall, I enjoyed the week of shows considering a few months ago I was fast-forwarding everything, now I only fast-forward half the show. That's a huge improvement.

[Scotty]

^^Nice post...I have to agree with most of what you said.

[BetweenHeaven&Hell]

I'm more disappointed by Miles than I am Marty. The scene with Viki learning Miles is Mitch's brother had the potential to be HUGE.

[chrishntr]

It really did and as excited as I was for it to happen, it kind of fell flat for me.

[ZaraB]

ITA. The need to have John front and center is probably one of the biggest problems the show has. How many stories have been hijacked to feature him? They upstaged Michael and Marcie's wedding and then stole Todd's revenge story all in favor of who killed a never-known cop with no ties to Llanview 25 years ago. The Killing Club should have been Marcie's from start to finish, but it ended with Natalie in a pit because somehow the killer refocused on John. And Haver terrorized almost every Llanview lady to torture an itinerant FBI agent who shot him...5 years ago in Atlantic City (WHILE Haver killed his fiance). I'm surprised they didn't allow John to upstage Todd's execution - I suspect they were trying to.

GH has become six degrees of Sonny, but at least he has some history or tie with the other major characters. What exactly is John to Todd? to Antonio? to Blair? to Viki? to Nora? to Nash? to Rex? to Bo? I'm not saying he hasn't shared scenes with them - or some nominal relationship, but most of them don't really make sense. And they have only recently given Michael and Marcie the kind of depth to give him ANY substantial family tie. The only situation where this type of focus really makes any sense is in half hour Bold and Beautiful, where virtually every character has some type of relationship to Ridge - and even there it gets fans annoyed.