Love of Life Discussion Thread

[Khan]

Thanks again, @dc11786!

For sure, if LOL had managed to stave off cancellation at least for a little while longer, CBS would have pressured Cathy Abbi/Ann Marcus for more action-oriented storylines similar to the ones that had been successful on GH.  Already, you can see with the disco set how LOL, like every other soap on the air at that time, was courting the GH audience.  A star-crossed romance between a skinny white boy with a frizzy perm and a flaxen-haired, chubby-cheeked girl ten years his junior was sure to follow.

And I can just imagine uninitiated viewers tuning in for the first time after watching those promos, thinking they are going to watch another Y&R and getting BAMBI FACES LIFE instead, lol.

[TVFAN1144]

When did NBC shop this show?   Mid 60s?

Wonder what they would have done with it.  They haven’t had a good track record with keeping shows 

It might have worked well airing after Another World 

[danfling]

NBC considered airing this show in the 1960s?   I never knew that.   I do remember, though, that NBC had rights to the show after CBS cancelled it.   (And, I am thinking that American Home Products re-purchased it from CBS).

 

I think that CBS should have hired Harding Lemay to write the show after he left the shows on NBC.  He could have used the same practice of hiring many theatre performers to appear as characters on the show and kept the veterans who, in his opinion, were great.

[Paul Raven]

 

[dc11786]

The conversation regarding Jean Holloway's run led me down a rabbit hole. I pulled together some summaries from Lynda Hirsch and Jon-Michael Reed's columns as well as adding some clarifying relationship details to try and make sense of the final years of LOL. I will break the summaries down into three parts:

(a) January-May, 1978: we are in the thick of Gabrielle Upton's two year run. This material is not very strong. I am not sure I'd say it was as bad as Jean Holloway's run, but it is a very forgettable run of episodes highlighted by a lot of bad tropes such as a dying husband trying to pair his wife with his friend, a frontburner couple's main source of conflict coming from an offscreen former romantic interest, and a series of forgettable characters introduced by Upton in the previous year. 

(b) June-September, 1978: this is Upton's last stand and seems to be an improvement on a lot of her previous run. Maybe the goodwill on my part stems from it being sandwiched between two forgettable periods, but Upton shows some real promise here, but it may have just been a case of too little, too late.

(c) October-December, 1978: This is the transition period. In either September or October, Cathy Abbi is installed as producer with Jean Holloway joining in either late October or early November. November sees the departure of a slew of characters (probably close to ten) with several new charactes introduced in December as Jean Holloway´s story starts to materialize. 

For the sake of phone users, I´ll put it as a spoiler hoping that makes it easier to manage. If it isn´t helpful, I can always reformat.

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[Soaplovers]

It sounds as thought Upton was the one to remove Arlene from the Ben/Betsy orbit.. and instead of keeping her with Tom.. decided to put her in the Ian/Ray/Bambi orbit.

To your point before, I viewed the very last scene of Arlene walking out of the room as Ray says 'he cares' as a symbol that she was finally through with Ray.  It sounded like Marcus had a multi-part story planned for Ray/Arlene starting with the November plane crash, and the Feb 1st episode signaled the start of the next chapter/part in their story.

 

[dc11786]

I´m not always perfect on the time for 1976. I think Paul and Margaret Schneider handled the departure of Christopher Reeves' Ben in May/June, 1976, when he went off to prison. I believe the recasting process began right away so the plans were already in the works for Ben´s October, 1976, return. I think the hand off from the Schneiders to Gabrielle Upton is Septemeber, 1976, so it is Upton who handles the return. Early in September, 1976, Ian Russell is introduced. Initially, I believe the setup is for a Arlene/Ian/Meg triangle, but either Upton scrapped it altogether or she grew bored and dumped it at some point. 

From what I can gather, Arlene lingers in the summer of 1976. Because of her seedy past, she is having trouble holding down a job and Ray does offer her a hostess job in some place he´s connected to. Ian offers the prostitution/sugar daddy situation later in the fall. It´s not entirely clear to me when Arlene / Tom started, but I suspect it was 1977 under Upton, but it could have been earlier. In the meantime, Betsy is with Jamie. 

Upton introduces the Marriott family in January, 1977, which shifts the story for Ben almost immediately. He runs over Jim Marriott, which leads to his death. The guilt leads him to spend time with Andrew Marriott and acts as a surrogate son, while also growing closer to Mia. Mia had a secret as well; Jim had run off the night of the accident after confessing his love for Mia. This seemed to bring the two together. I can´t remember what happens with Betsy while Liz Kemp´s contract is running out because I think Ray Wise leaves in December, 1976. 

After reading your post, I also rewatched the final episode. Ray needed to go. I don´t know where they would be going next with Ray and Arlene, but I would hope a trip to divorce court was on the horizon. This was the episode leading into sweeps so I would suspect that Arlene would make her choice about her future in the next few weeks. 

Originally, I found it odd that Marcus brought back Hal Carson, but when I thought about it more, Hal was probably heavily featured in whatever material Marcus was given leading up to her hire and just assumed Hal was a long term character and only learned he was gone when she arrived. I think the Hal / Ray dynamic makes sense due to Ray´s criminal tie and, with the large contingent of lawyers, having a police officer around would have been good if they relocated Hal to Rosehill from New York City. 

***

A few more comments about the first set of 1978 summaries... 

While it was nice to see Van, Meg, and Bruce in a front burner storyline, the storyline itself it so overwrought. I think Meg and Van fighting over a man was interesting as I don´t think that had been done since Tudi Wiggins arrived. I do wish it was someone more exciting than Ron Harper´s Andrew. 

The Rick/Cal/Michael/Mary Jane stuff is just bad. It does feel like Marcus reused some of this material with Rick and Cal´s fights over Cal having a baby mirroring the conflict between Ray and Arlene (though that really isn´t an uncommon conflict). The emotional situation at the lake leading to Michael´s drowning seems to echo itself in the Betsy/Ben boating incident. 

I don´t care about Dory. 

Ben and Mia fighting over offscreen Betsy is such a non-story. I do think there was potential in Mia´s car accident as it could echo Jim Marriott´s death and it does seem to set in motion two story threads in the next set of summaries. 

Arlene is quite unlikeable given the situation with April Joy. Ray manipulates Arlene to his own means. which would be fine as long as it was played like Ray was scummy, but I´m not convinced he is. Tom´s drinking problem had potential, but it doesn´t go anywhere. 

 

[TVFAN1144]

Although 3 years later CBS would bump LOL to 11:30 for Where the Heart Is

[danfling]

 

 

 

Actress Bonnie Bartlett (Vanessa #2) has written her own autobiography.

Edited April 2, 2024 by danfling

[Mona Kane Croft]

That's great.  I wonder if she recounts much about her starring role on Love of Life.  I first remember Bonnie Bartlett from St Elsewhere, I believe.   Audrey Peters was the only Vanessa I can personally remember from Love of Life.    

[DRW50]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/darryl-hickman-dead-grapes-of-wrath-leave-her-to-heaven-1235908481/

I remember being surprised to learn Darryl was an LOL producer via looking through old soap magazines and seeing him sporting a beard. And of course married to Pamela Lincoln at the time (she is briefly mentioned in his obit).

[DRW50]

RIP Tony Lo Bianco.

Tony Lo Bianco Dead: 'French Connection,' 'Seven-Ups' Actor Was 87 (hollywoodreporter.com)

[DRW50]

A 1960 sitcom pilot starring Pamela Lincoln, among others. This starts with one of those odd actor/character introductions.

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[jam6242]

Birgitta Tolksdorf (Arlene Lovett) died on Sept. 13.

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/st-louis-mo/birgitta-hutig-11987854
 

 

[Bright Eyes]

Sad to hear. Thanks for letting us know.