OLTL: The truth about what is being done to Todd Manning

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

How do I word this the right way??? THERE MAKING TODD THE STAR OF THE SHOW LIKE HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE!!!!! I'm hearing, well reading a lot of people saying that by putting Todd in all this [!@#$%^&*], with everyone hating him for his actions, they are ruining him. No, this is the way they are going to make him the star. Kinda like Sonny on GH. All of his women have gotten hurt because of him. Some died......His son is in a coma!!! People get hurt, Sonny hates himself, everyone goes mad over Sonny sonny sonny.I guarentee you Starr wont end up in a coma. What's worse than that? They have to give him drama to make him the star, and if drama means him being mean and bad and making people hate him and making him hate himself, then thats what the show is going to do. Some of you will disagree, but it's cool. What do you guys think about what is being done with Todd?

[SoapQueen89]

IMO There is no drama for the good boys of a show. Good boys are boring. With that said, I think they are finally bringing Todd back to what he used to be. He is the one who sold his own child on the black market. He is the one who 'killed' his own child when he 'killed' Margaret. He is the one who raped Marty those many years ago.

Todd Manning is not a nice man. I'm quite happy to see them writing him like the S.O.B. he is.

[Graciecat]

My main, and possibly only complaint about RC's writing is the way he's writing Todd. Yes, Todd has done some horrible things in the past, and he's not a good guy and shouldn't be, but I think it's clumsy writing to have him be this awful. I mean, all of his actions for nearly a year have been consistently unredeemable. I don't think they should be writing a long-term, legacy character, who is 1/2 of one of the show's only supercouples as unredeemable.

[JackPeyton]

listen, i HATE todd. and not in a love to hate him kinda way, in a turn the chnanel when hes on kinda way. i feel the exact same way about him as i do sonny on gh... except TSJ is fab and can act, unlike Mb....

however, i do understand what thy are doing with todd and why. i get that most people like it.

thats all, just wanted to throw that out there.

[Cheap21]

IDA. I think Todd has only started becoming "unredeemable" since RC left. I put that term in quotes bc he's completely redeemable. The Todd before was someone who tried to chance and become a better person and make a good home for him and his family. Once RC left, GT came in and started turning him into more of a monster with little redeeming qualitites. Unfortuently thats the story that RC was left with by the time he returned and now has to run with it bc it wouldnt have made sense to all of a sudden make Todd do a 180 as far as Starr/Cole went.

[Vee]

Todd has done so far worse than this in his earlier years that it's not even funny. This isn't even close to over the line. Try Todd bombing a yacht and accidentally killing a man, then never paying for it.

[dragonflies]

For me I never found Roger's Todd unredeemable, I think it's the acting and the writing for the character now that makes him that way.........

It's not my one and only complaint, but other than that ICA with your post

[TC]

Todd is the epitome of "his own worst enemy"

Try as he might to avoid it, he repeats many of the same mistakes made by Victor Lord.

[marceline]

First, disclosure: I love Todd Manning. I've loved RH's version and TSJ's. That said...

Todd shouldn't exist. He was brought on as a short-term villain and they wrote him that way. He was disgusting and hateful. A lying, raping, racist predator. But then something happened, RH made Todd...interesting and fascinating so the show decided to keep the character around and the redemption campaign began. Since then Todd has been written as angel, demon, Dumbledore or Voldemort depending entirely on the regime du jour. He's committed as many heroic acts as heinous and viewers pick and choose depending on whichever version of Todd they connect with.

My point is that a lot of people talk about Todd as if he's a complete and defined character, like the Phantom of the Opera or Will Darcy. But as long as he's a "work in progress": there is no real Todd. You can pick Todd as anti-hero, anti-villain, Clark Kent or Lex Luthor and there's "evidence " to back up that version as the "Real" Todd. It would take a spectacular writer and an unwavering commitment to maintaining character integrity for Todd to continue to be a viable character. Those things just aren't there.

[DevotedToAMC]

Dr. Jay I agree. This is how Todd should be and Ron understand his character

[Vee]

I think most of the fans would disagree. Todd is still a massive draw for OLTL and always has been. And every soap commentator on Earth has talked about how Malone and Griffith worked to make him viable. It's when Malone's (and other writers) discipline towards maintaining Todd flagged, including Malone's plan to pair him with Marty, that Todd fell into choppy waters. From there he's been bendable by everyone. Sometimes he's been written well. Sometimes he's been written badly.

But the fact is, plenty of hugely popular, volatile characters (Luke Spencer, etc) have lasted through good writing and bad. Todd is no different and to OLTL and many fans, losing Todd would be like losing a limb. For the many that hate him, there are always three to five who at least love to hate him, be he RH or TSJ.

[MichaelGL]

I did notice a change in Todd's character once RC left. Anyone remember when Toddd stopped Ramsey from killing Gigi and her son? I thought that was a very redeeming moment for the character. However this teen pregnancy storyline has not shown Todd in the best light IMO. I at least hoped that the show would delve more into why Todd thought Cole had raped Starr, but GT glossed over that. I was happy to see this issue brought up in a argument between Blair and Todd.