Members Dr. Jay S.W. Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 Believe it or not....Frank Valentini really has no power. Frons is basically writing OLTL. He is dictating what is going on. Its Higley and Frons. Really the only EP on ABCD with some real power is JFP at GH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cal3 Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 I don't think Tomlin is the answer. In fact firing him may be the one thing I agree with Frons on. If anything the only reason I lasted the last several years was the news that he was out and Malone was back and the characters I loved returning. Of course that was a bad joke but Tomlin's Llanview had many of the same problems for me that Llanview has now which is I consider it pretty much unrecognizable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dr. Jay S.W. Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 Tomlin's OLTL was the only OLTL that ever won an Emmy for Best Drama Series. What didnt you like about it, if i may ask? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cal3 Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 There wasn't much about it I did like. The only thing that kept me watching was Viki/Jess/Mitch and they had pretty much worn thin. Nat could have been a refreshing addition to the show but there was a huge hole in the story without Clint, Kevin and Joey. Then they ditched all the things that could have made her addition interesting for me. Gabby's return was a disaster. Roxie is pretty much a small dose character for me. Pretty much my interest has always centered around Viki, Kevin, Joey, Jess, Dorian, Kelly, Cassie, and Blair. I'd give David, Nora, Bo and Asa honorable mentions. Take away the characters I care about and you take away the reasons for me to watch. Tomlin didn't give me many reasons to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scotty Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 My personal belief is the the promoting of Ron Carlivati to Co Head-Writer was the first step in eliminating Dena Higley. I'm assuming they signed her to a three-year contract when they hired her back in 2004, but I could be wrong on how many years were on her contract. According to Wikipedia she remained with DOOL as a Script Writer until November 26, 2004, and that she took over OLTL writing duties on December 13, 2004. Ron Carlivati has been on the OLTL writing staff for more than 10 years. Claire Labine recommended him. His presence on the writig staff has netted OLTL the following: According to a quote released by Frank Valetini upon Carlivati's promotion, he mentioned that he was responsible for Walker turn out to be Todd, and several other creative things. He also mentioned that he was very dedicated to OLTL, and had always wanted to write for the show. All that being said, I think they are setting things up so that a new head writer can take over when Dena's contract is up later this year. This is just speculation on my part, but I think they chose him because he is someone who has been around for awhile and knows the show and the characters and has written for them for several years. This way he can start to have more input on the direction of the storylines and get a feel for where Dena's storylines are headed. This would also be a way to help wrap up her storylines and groom things and get them ready for when she leaves. By doing this, they would have someone competent in charge of the show until they can find a new head-writer. They may make Ron the sole head writer, or they may keep him at co-writer, but I don't think they would bump him back to associate head writer though. As for other changes.....it has become obvisious to everyone that John/Natalie/Evangeline/Cristian/Antonio/etc. are not drawing in the ratings. Michael Easton has done nothing to spike up the ratings despite being on nearly every single day. As long as the focus of the show revolves around a select group....I don't look for any changes to occur. If they want to draw in more ratings, they will have to focus on the characters that are nearly non-existant now....Viki, Dorian, Clint, Lindsay, RJ, Nora, Bo, Roxy, Marcie, Michael, Asa, Renee, Matthew, Nigel, and a few others....Lately however, the combined airtime for all these characters outranks that of the disastorous group I mentioned in the previous paragraph. The show has been improving. The writing seems to have gotten a little better, we are seeing more character interaction, the seldom used cast members are seeing a slight increase in airtime....but more changes need to happen before I will be convinced that ABC is seriously committed to fixing OLTL. But I think they are starting to head in that direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scotty Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 That's true....in 2002. Also, Tomlin's OLTL brought us the successful Live week of show (with an appearance by a long-time fan fav. in each of those episodes), the very good Babes Behind Bars and Trading Places episodes, the return of Dorian, Gabrielle and a few others, and a level of entertainment and enjoyment to the show. You could tell then that the cast was happy and enjoying themselves. Sure, some of his stuff was campy...but it's a soap....and he didn't insult the viewers like the present EP does. I can also remember some other little things he did for the show....the little inside jokes, the little play on words (like each scene picking up with the last word spoken in the previous scene), how many different ways to get Ty Treadway shirtless, and other little things that were done to bring a level of fun back to the show. I was sorry to see him go....Frank Valentini is a sorry excuse for an EP.... we need Gary Tomlin back like yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jess Posted March 8, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 I agree that you could tell performers were having fun with Tomlin. I do agree with Cal that I would have liked to have seen Kevin, Joe, ect. during the Tomlin era. Then again, I don't see them now either. Scotty, I remember the show where actors picked up on the last word of each other's scenes. That actually was done by Griffen and Malone. It was funny the different ways they tried to get Ty Treadway's shirt off. One of the funniest things I read about during his tenure was the red Speedo. Apparently there was this red Speedo that it was almost a rite of passage that the men had to wear. Ty Treadway said no once and said next thing he knew the second Sam (the one who once played Jamie Frame) walked into a scene with it on. Anyway, I agree Frank Valentini is not a good EP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scotty Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 Oh ok...that's right...that was Griffin and Malone. But it was still pretty cool. Thanks for clearing that up for me. It seems that no matter who is the Head Writer/EP of OLTL, Viki's family never seems to be around. Would it kill them to have Joey, Kevin, Natalie, Jessica, Viki, Tina and Todd all around at the same time? Apparently it does. But how great it would be to see all of Viki's family around her again....and on more than one day a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jess Posted March 8, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 I know. The Buchanans are such a great family. The next generation of OLTL is in good hands. Let's see Viki and all her family and Todd and Tina. Since we are on the topics of come backs, I'd love to see Tina return. Maybe she can come back with Tomlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scotty Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 They should also bring back Dr. Larry, Cassie, Max. Alex, Carlo and Hank...along with more airtime for Andrew, Addie and RJ. They can also bring Gabrielle back from the dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BetweenHeaven&Hell Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 What are your thoughts on adding Will to the list of bringing back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scotty Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 I was never a big Will fan....but he doesn't irritate me nearly as much as John and some others..... And if Will were around, then it would mean more Lindsay; which wouldn't be necessarily be a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BetweenHeaven&Hell Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 I think it would thicken the world of Jessica - Nash, Antonio, Will, Cristian: having all three of them in her life could make her head spin faster than Linda Blair's. Just think of the possibilities. And, like you said, Will = Lindsay, and Lindsay = Nora and possibly RJ. So I'm all for it! I'd rather see him come back than Carlo, most definitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scotty Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 I agree....boy that would certainly muddy the waters for Jessica. And I really like Carlo. I would give anything if they would bring him and Alex back. They were great. You know, it wouldn't be bad if we saw more of Carlotta either. They could bring her back full-time and do a storyline explaining whatever happened to Eli, the boy with AIDS she took in back about 10 years ago.......and was never seen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jess Posted March 8, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 One of the many mistakes under the current tenure was killing off Jennifer Rappaport rather than just allowing the actress to leave the show and the character to move. It also is another of Frankie's famous quotes: We've developed a fun exit for Jennifer. It would be nice if they could figure out a way to bring Gabbie and Max back. You know they were so very hot. It would also cause some nice conflict for Blair possibly if Max came back. I personally have had it with the character formerly known as Todd. I agree that Will would be a nice return. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of having the show based almost entirely on aging characters anymore than I am on the current well overdone influx of newbies and under 30s, combined with 40 year old men who pretend to be under 30s. But there seriously does need to be a lot more of the 35 and olders than we are seeing now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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