OLTL: Discussion for the week July 21st - 25th

[EricMontreal22]

I need to buy that book--I have the same author's for AMC, from 1998, and while it can't replace an updated full anniversary book it did have a lot of great little facts, etc and I hope this does too.

BTW for those talking about recasts thru the years, this site, http://www.geocities.com/onlitoli/recasts/Major_R.html has photographs of most of the major recasts including Vicki (including her temporary recasts).

*deep breath* OK I hate to sound like a grump but I really dunno what I think fo the anniversary episodes. First things first--I have the 1998 and 2003 anniversary episodes on tape and theyw ere both very underwhelming (I believe the 2003 only had a series of montages set to music with no dialogue and almost entirely based on fairly recent stories--each happening at the end of a section before a commercial)--at the time I thought that AMC *always* did anniversary episodes better even if their 30th and 35th ones were not as great as their 20th and 25th. (that said in '92 Malone did that whole week of flashbacks--when Vicki was telling a dieing Megan about the past of Llanview that was so well done...)

Anyway so I really appreciate that they went out of their way to do something that showed so much love and affection for OLTL. I *loved* Agnes' involvement--even if the whole "HEaven is a tv station with an elevator" concept completely elludes me (and since we got that massive, huge sets, Heaven story 20 years ago--and Vicki didn't even make an in joke of "this seems familiar" it did kinda look bargain budget). But it was great to see AGnes--and although she looks MUCH older than even 3 years back when she was on AMC she still looks healthy and was a pleasure to see--I especially liked that her role at OLTL was emphasised since I know so many fans who feel like she abandoned OLTL.

I gotta agree with some on here--it felt kinda odd that most of the tribute/anniversary 2 parters was so campy. Is it a space/time problem if the characters in 1968 are WATCHING OLTL (confused?!). I loved Dark Shadows when they'd do different timeline scenes, and I know OLTL had the present actors playign different roles in the 1988 time travel story, but this time it's done SOO campy, I hope it doesn't go on too long. And I hope they don't somehow kill off David Vickers by having "asa" not sleep with his mom.

It feels kinda odd to go back to 1968, the year OLTL started and feature characters who weren't even conceived when OLTL started--feels like a missed opportunity to see the characters of the time or something. Similarly last time Vicki was in Heaven she saw virtually all her old friends and family. This time she sees Asa, Nicki (?!) and Ben? Oh and a grown woman who's meant to be the dead grandaughter she never saw. If I were her I'd feel short changed. I guess Ben, a man she never even had kids with, has completely replaced Joe Riley in her heart. As others said I woulda loved even just an aknowledgement of some of the older characters.

I liked Dorian and Mell. Mendorra kinda confused me--Carlo putting her in a boat just felt so convulated. And was Carlo even around when Tina fell over the Falls?

And I wanted more clips :( The only clips we go were that odd random Megan one and then a Ben/Vicki montage (half of which we couldn't even see cuz they felt it would be more interesting to film Ben and Vicki watching it than show us close up on our tv...) I mean come on. The Soapnet 1 mintue video feature had more interesting clips. This owuldn't bug me if SoapNet or ABC did a primetime special as a companion (like AMC did back in '95 I think) where we heard about the old stories, saw clips. Is Soaptalk not even doing anything?

Anyway they were fun episodes--and I'll see how the week plays out. But yeah I'm a bit disappointed I hate to say--and it seems so random to make the 40th anniversary largely a tribute to 80s OLTL, and then the Jill F Phelp era of 90s OLTL (Ben)--hardly a huge fan fave in that case. (And I hate to sound like Nelson whatever his name is but I do agree that knowing in such detail about the anniversary episode spoiled some of it--my own fault but I dunno why Ron C felt he ahd to give away all his secrets)

[rhinohide]

I totally agree Vee. It was such good fun, and I don't think we were intended to take it so seriously. I am still laughing over JoB butchering the Spanish language on Monday with his "Buenos Tardes Maria". I looked at this whole anniversary episode as a fun and welcome break from the Quad and the teens and Tess, who are beginning to bore me to tears.

[Ryan]

I stayed out of this thread out of respect for those who thoroughly enjoyed the anniversary episodes. I did not want to ruin anyone's happiness (not that I could) of the show. I cannot say that I was one of those people. Monday's show was a cluster f for me, and the only thing that saved it was Erika Slezak & Robin Strasser (though I had my own issues with Dorian being lucid and having a regular conversation with Mel).

Tuesday's episode was much better in my opinion, but the Mendorra stuff weighed it down. I'm very disappointed with the way the way it played out, and even if I hadn't known what was going to happen, I would have been disappointed.

If I can take away the campy scenes and at times bad dialog, it was a good show, and definitely much better than GH's anniversary montage. I just.....had higher expectations.

I would have loved to have seen a montage dating back from when the show first started to now. I would have loved to have seen classic clips from popular stories. Don't get me wrong, I liked the shows, but I was expecting....more.

[UKBoi]

Do you think the hype might have let it down a little, Ryan? Like if none of this had been spoiled and this is what we got, do you think it would have been a nice surprise? But because it was made clear EXACTLY what was going to happen, people get high expectations and are ultimately let down by what translates on screen?

I think the anniversary episodes were good, for what they were. I dont like that Andrea Evans is basically playing Rebecca from Passions...like what you said on In The Zone, those scenes in Mendorra...Tina was Rebecca, Carlo was Alistair, Sarah was Thereas and Cristian was Ethan... I totally agree, so campy and not in a good way. I understand what they were going for, but it fell flat to me. I'd have far rather seen an event celebrating the characters and storylines they have now...I did like the touch of Agnes being god and heaven being a TV studio that produced OLTL, but it would have been nice if they'd made a reference to something about being between heaven and hell, like the working title of the show, especially if they were going for the heaven thing.

I think it's nice that they're going back 40 years and showing us what characters who werent on the show back then were doing, but something was missing, it didnt seem like it was being taken seriously, like it was being played for the camp factor. I didn't get that. Still, I do give them props for paying homage to their history like that rather than just sticking a montage onto the end of an episode.

PS, Ryan, I love your signature...Casey/Emily is HOT!

[rhinohide]

I too enjoyed the show, but had, perhaps not higher expectations, just different. I was mildly disappointed that Viki's trip to heaven was more about her forgiving Charlie than anything else, although thankfully, Niki did drop a clue about Tess. Hopefully Viki will wise up. I thought Meghan's message to Viki should have also been more about Viki's daughters, instead of about forgiving Charlie. How moving it would have been if Meghan, Viki's daughter she'd forgotten she had, had given her a message about Natalie, the other daughter Viki forgot she had.

I thought the Mendorra scenes were pretty bad.

I loved Mel and Dorian and I only vaguely recall their history. Robin Strasser made me tear up.

I think they could have done so much more with the 1968 story, but I think that story is continuing for awhile so perhaps they will. Thus far it's all being played for grins. MA's Spanish accent IS atrocious, but it made me laugh and I suspect is intended to. But the entire concept of Bo living in Asa's skin for awhile should be about Bo coming to grips with his relationship with his father. That story has been building slowly since Asa's funeral.

[Ryan]

I agree with you UKBoi. I think the hype did let me down a bit. Rhinohide I agree with you too. Everything.

And thanks UKBoi for the sig comment. Cougar lovin is wonderful, lol.

[jinx_avery]

For me, seeing Derwin and Torpey again just didn't provide the same gut wrenching reaction that seeing Lynn Benish's Meredith or Julie Montgomery's Samantha did during Viki's other trips to Heaven did. Maybe it's the technology that allows one to go to YouTube and see them anytime one wants. Maybe it's they were never big favorites of mine. Maybe they've gone to that well one time too often and next anniversary some character besides Viki should make the trip.

The Mendorran waterfalls was okay for what it was: an homage. Of course, it came out of no where and seemed too forced and too rushed a stunt designed only to fit the artificial anniversary deadline instead of being the epic culmination of years of story that Tina's original was.

I'm okay with "1968" compressing 15 years of Buke backstory into a single year as long as it turns out to be a dream to teach Bo a Dorothy Gale type dream that he has only one life to live and that he can't please everyone, so he's got to please himself. Minor quibbles: Patricia Mauceri would have been a better choice than January LaVoy as Maria's mother and Bree Williamson, sporting that big blonde bouffant she wore to the Emmys a few years back, would have excelled as the Elly May Clampett like Emma Bradley.

I really don't give a rip about Agnes Nixon pretending that she gave Llanview a second thought once AMC got on the air. The show hasn't had anything to do with her or her "original vision" since Joe Stuart took over from Doris Quinlan as producer.

[nhee]

The best part of yesterday's show was the David/Dorian/Mel story. Loved Dorian looking a Mel over David's shoulder. David was so great with is worry about Vicki, saying how he needs her.

1968 is campy soapy fun. JPL was great with all his reactions.

The Mendora stuff is painful to watch. Carlo is good/creepy, but the rest are wooden.

Too much Ben in heaven. They should have stayed on Asa's floor! ET didn't do much for me. She just has a dumb grin on her.

It's weird seeing the Ben/Vicki flashbacks how different they look. It doesn't seem that long ago to me, but man there is a big change.

[SFK]

That's one of the pics of Joanne Dorian I was referring to in my post yesterday. For some reason that site wasn't loading yesterday so I didn't link it, but did you see the other more recent pic of her?

Remember, she saw (a red-haired) Niki in Starship Heaven too:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hP4mjpLzqOc

I agree, Heaven looks pretty enough this go round, but it's far from the grand sweeping spectacle Paul Rauch produced. This is Heaven lite. Also, I would have liked them to go a little overboard with the lighting and makeup for Erika Slezak. She was obviously younger back then, but she looked so spectacular in those '80s Heaven eps. They went to town with Torpey's 1/4 inch of makeup so I think for her second trip to Heaven, Slezak deserved to look the best she's looked in recent memory.

Eric, as I posted back thread, that Gillian Spencer color ep is available for viewing at the Paley Center in NY (where SoapNet undoubtedly borrowed it from). I watched it one afternoon. I can only judge from that one ep, but Spencer's Viki was very self-contained/self-possessed. Viki has definitely lightened up over the years. It was easy to see how that Viki was harboring a Niki Smith below the surface.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Oh I agree sooo much!!

[detroitpiston]

I do too, but for awhile there I thought the r was a c and kept wondering why Em would "Cock the cradle" seeing as she "supposedly" didn't have one LOL.

[Toups]

Title: "Divorce, Llanview Style"

[NYC123]

Me Dorian.

[dragonflies]

Todd grows more disgusting day after day

OMG he did NOT just say that

[Toups]

Quick flashes to praty girl Marty....then Todd tells Marty they "slept together." Woah!!