Mark Lamura, who just joined OLTL as Dr. Doug Kline, Viki's new love interest, recently spoke out against his former Soap.

This is from Raven's column

Although LaMura played Mark on and off from 1976-1989 and has made several appearances since then, he says that he hasn't been watching his alma matter as of late. "I think they've run amok," he opines. 'Dismissing Julia Barr in the fashion that she was let go is disgraceful. She deserves far better... What can I say about that? Karma can be a dreadful thing....One thing he likes about OLTL is its apparent respect for the actors. "They allow the people who have actually been there awhile to actually have a say, and that's a good thing."

Edited March 23, 200718 yr by Jay

Your post goes really wide right

Anyways he's entitled to his opinion, but I find what he said to be classless. Even Cady didn't diss the show after she left.

I bet he gets canned, I guess he forgets he works for Frons

I don't think what he said was wrong. AMC is a sad state of affairs. He may feel he owes them no loyalty.

Good for him.

Good for him. I would love to hear more of them speak out about the sad state of affairs.

Don't know it it was classless, but it wasn't a very smart move. I hope this doesn't hurt his future too much.

It wasn't a smart move, like someone said it's classless to diss one show and prop the one you're on. ABC is the one who let Julia Barr go, he works for ABC

He'll probably get scolded by ABC for that comment, but he is right....OLTL has the only one that hasn't been firing vets lately. And they are actually starting to get some more airtime now.

I just have to say: Go Mark LaMura! I hope the more people that speak out about that injustice, the more pressure the show has to change.

The funny thing is that Mark left AMC under similar circumstances. He was part of the big exodous in 1989 of a lot of AMC's legacy characters because the ratings were in the dumps, and the show needed to revitalize.

Pash

His friend was driven off the show by a bunch of disrespectful blowhards, I think he has a right to express his opinion. What this means for his future on OLTL, who knows?

Look at how Cady was treated and she didn't diss the show when she left, although she could have. IMO this guy is burning bridges fast, won't be surprised if he doesn't last long at OLTL

Frons views all three shows as one entity. I don't think he'll think to much of Mark's slams on AMC but I am glad Mark did speak out. OLTL is the only show that seemed to spare the vets.

GH canned Damon and AMC canned Barr.

Who knows. Maybe they are just waiting for some contracts to run out? Didnd't Strasser accept alot less money last time? Maybe next time there will be no money at all.

Not that I want any vets axed, but why is OLTL immune to this? That's what surprises me

Not that I want any vets axed, but why is OLTL immune to this? That's what surprises me

I agree...and it surprises me too. While I hope that OLTL does not axe any vets anytime soon, I can't help but wonder why they are the only ABC soap that hasn't done so in several years.

Robin Strasser didn't take a lot less money - she just didn't get what she was hoping to get. She took a lot less to return to the show when she did, and is still not making what she made when she left years ago. She did actually get a raise just not what she expected to get.

I think one of the reasons that maybe OLTL is losing the vets it has left is that it really wasn't high-paying vet heavy.

Erika Slezak, Robert Woods & Philip Carey are really the only 20 plus year vets on that are making a lot of money.

Robin Strasser still is not up to what she was making years ago. Hillary is probably making good but the rest have been back and forth on recurring and stuff that they just aren't where many of the otehr ABC vets were.

So many of the legacy characters on OLTL are actually played by people who have not been on the show for a bunch of years.

So that probably helps them in their vet situation.

Patricia Elliott is just now at 20 years but she is probably not making a lot either.. Next are Kassie & Hillary who probably make good but Kassie probably is the higher paid of the two based on recent years airtime.

The rest of their cast is pretty much late 1990's or 2000's with only about 10 years at the most on the show.

You look at AMC which was is still pretty heavy with people who have been with the show for more than 20 years, plus still 2 original actors from the show: Susan Lucci who definitely makes way more money than Erika Slezak, Ray MacDonnell, Michael Knight, David Canary, Eileen Herlie, James Mitchell, Walt Willey, are all still on contract not counting the long-time vets like Jennifer Bassey that still recur from time to time.

GH still has a lot too: Leslie Charleson, Jane Elliott, Anthony Geary, Kimberly McCullough, Jacklyn Zeman, plus several stars with 17 years now on. Both Steve Burton & Maurice Benard have been on for 17 years now, and I am sure they are highly paid. There has never been anything about Jane Elliott and Anthony Geary taking less money to come back like it was with Robin Strasser so you have to assume they make good. Kimberly McCullough has a lot of years on but probably doesn't make what she would have if she had stayed all along.

Plus GH has Robin Christopher who even though is new to GH probably has some deal with ABC that counts all her time with the network.

Add to that the ones who recurr like Denise Alexander, John York & Rachel Ames and the returns of Kin Shriner and John Ingle.

My best guess is maybe they are trying to get AMC & GH down to the level that OLTL is. I hope not but just looking and comparing that would be my guess.