OLTL: Discussion for the week August 4th-8th

[NYC123]

That was funny; Tess telling Tina to get out of there.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Just when I was starting to like Shane.........

[Toups]

Loving Tess' outfit.

[Scotty]

Yeah, that's what I meant. Dorian told Viki that Victor had sexually abused her as a child.....that's why I meant thanks to Dorian. If she hadn't blabbed the truth to Viki, she may never have found out.

[detroitpiston]

Tess!

[Juliajms]

Today was really good. I'm glad Brody gave GiGi the money to get back to 1968. I'm starting to root for him. I wonder if Tina will figure out she's dealing with Tess. I notice Vikki said that Nikki/Tina had a relationship. Maybe Tess/Tina will too.

[Gordon24]

I thought today's eppy was good.

BUT why did Brody give Gigi the money? Besides him loving a woman who does not reciprocate those feelings, me thinks he has a plan up his sleeve.

I am not sure when anyone will find out Jess is Tess but I can't wait until Natalie does!

John as commish, oh joy. Hurry back Bo!

[Juliajms]

^^ You may be right. I thought Body had a change of heart and really wanted GiGi to find Rex, since that is what would make her happy, but he could have something up his sleeve.

[DeliaIrisFan]

I think there are similarities with the regime at GL in that a new team came in - or, rather, was promoted from within - and seemed to be doing a good job cleaning up the mess that the show had been previously, and they brought back characters from the show's history that gave viewers some hope. However, I think what happened in both cases is what's been happening at every soap for over a decade: Once the old stories were wrapped up and it was time to roll out the new stories, they ended up being micromanaged by the network higher ups and rewritten based on the latest market research twice a week, just the same as the previous writers' work. And as soon as the stories for the long-awaited returning characters were revealed to have the consistency, depth, and complexity of processed Swiss cheese - just like the stories for the characters who never left - the novelty wore off and the excitement was gone.

(Sigh) I think these soaps have all become too much of a financial machine for any of them to have stories that are actually moving in any kind of creative direction, and they are losing too many viewers (i.e. ad dollars) for the suits to ever stop operating in panic mode for even a second. And it's a vicious cycle, because I think that's what is killing them and driving away the viewers who are tuning out NOW (as opposed to the 70s when women started entering the workforce in droves or the 80s when cable started offering so much competing programming during the day).

I had hopes that Ron may have finally bucked the trend and figured out how to please his bosses while delivering something viewers could enjoy and not be insulted by on a daily basis. Come to think of it, Kreizman/Wheeler at GL were the last team to give me that hope. That is probably because both were promoted from within, knew the show's history, and had to be invested in the current characters enough to write for them when someone else was calling the shots. (Unlike say Malone, who came back in 2003 convinced he knew how to "fix" OLTL and ended up alienating some viewers off the bat by getting rid of stories/characters that some of us actually thought were working.)

Well, I would have liked to have seen what Kreizman could have done at GL or some other soap 15-20 years ago. I know his reputation has been tainted by a lot of destructive decisions at GL in the past few years that make what's been going on at OLTL look benign in comparison. I haven't watched GL since Holly was in a cage in the Dominican Republic, so I can't really begin to even speculate as to how much of the blame for all that he deserves.

As for Ron Carlivati, in hindsight he had the unique opportunity of cleaning up someone else's mess twice: Higley's and the scabs'. So I had even longer to get my hopes up that he could make an impossible situation work. But I'll say this much: He didn't become a scab like his predecessor, he seems like an intelligent person from interviews, and it seems like people who have worked with him found him to be professional and a nice guy. So I have every doubt that under other circumstances he would not only be living up to the standards his intitial work as head writer set, but surpassing them as he moved the show into a place where he was telling his own stories rooted in groundwork he himself laid.

And you know what? I believe that he genuinely loves OLTL, and I bet when he was growing up watching Andrea Evans' Tina and the other stories/characters from that time, he really did dream of getting to write for this show someday. (I highly doubt that what the Mendorra and 1968 stories have turned out to be were the kinds of stories he dreamed of writing then, or that his initial story proposals that he submitted to ABC bore anything but a superficial resemblance to what ended up airing, but nevertheless.) I didn't even watch OLTL in the late '80s and from what I have seen of it, it's not even the kind of thing I personally tend to like in soaps. But I watched enough soaps growing up that made me think, "wouldn't it be fun to write for that someday?" Well, I probably would not have had the talent to actually do that, but someone obviously though Ron did, and he no doubt worked really hard to make his dream come true. So if for no other reason than that I get a vicarious thrill out of seeing Ron get to (sort of) do his thing, I am still pulling for him.

OK, now that you mention it, the similarities are eery. Probably because Mendorra was originally the creation of Paul Rauch, who also gave us San Cristobel. However, I must say, if Christopher Cousins/Cain had been involved in that horrid GL story in any way, it could have at least been somewhat tolerable as a Mystery Science Theatre type of thing; just about every actor involved in that disaster played it as if it were high Shakespearean drama. Maybe I'm rationalizing because I want to like Ron, but I think CC's presence and the dialogue he's been given shows that at least Ron and Co. had a more intelligent, tongue-in-cheek take on Mendorra, even if the execution failed for various reason(s).

I agree that it was probably something that got taped accidentally, but it stands out as a symptom of the larger problem. Not two months ago, this show won Emmys for writing and directing, and so many people involved in this show, at every level, seemed to be rising to the occasion and attempting to do their work with precision and attention to detail. Now actors are seemingly clowning around on camera, the director did not seem to be reining them in, and the editors either didn't notice or didn't bother to cut that part. And who can blame them, really, when Jessica feeding Todd was not even in the top 50% of inexplicable things that happened in that episode (probably not even in that scene)?

[DavidEvanSmith]

Very much enjoyed today!

Liked:

- Delbert Fina & Madame Delphina -

I think Lea Delaria is fantastic. Are both characters very campy? Yes. BUT, the oddball characters give soaps great flavor. AMC's Opal, OLTL's Roxy, GH's Spinelli (though he really wears on me). And while campy, I do feel like it adds a new dimension to OLTL (and I ain't talking the dimension of 1968). It gives way to the notion that there is a supernatural, a spiritual, an otherworldly side to Llanview. And it really taps into the raw core of characters that just need a little hope sometimes. Would we see the scared, lonely woman inside Dorian if not for Delphina's channelling Mel? Would timid Gigi boldly delve into her feelings for Rex, take the leap that she's about to take, if Delphina hadn't proven herself by knowing the truth about Shane's paternity? Delphina's all-seeing gaze strips the pretense away from these characters and shows their raw core, and that's valuable in a town with so much duplicity, scheming, and backstabbing.

Naturally someone who sees all and knows all can be corrupted by so much knowledge, and so I love the sinister edge of Delphina, that comes out in her outrageous demand of $5000 from poor-as-dirt Gigi. Things like that make you doubt Delphina's credibility, believe she's a con artist and grifter, only for her to reveal something that she shouldn't possibly know, and give someone hope again. I actually could see myself investing in this character, wanting to know the reasons why she IS so detached from people, can play with peoples' emotions so easily, and just turn around and walk away when they can't produce $5000 in a matter of minutes. Why, if she doesn't care about people, is she in the business of hope, giving people a chance to be connected to the dearly departed or to the self they have buried deep inside? I want to see Delphina's tricked-out version of Bo's apartment and I want the dejected and the lonely to seek comfort and hope at her door when all seems lost. Or maybe Delphina's running the biggest hoax game Llanview has ever seen and got her hands on that "box of secrets" from the "Go Red Ball" and is using it to con everyone in Llanview out of all their money... but wouldn't she have to still have "powers" to match the secret to its keeper?

And Delbert Fina is just fun. All the little details and mannerisms and speech patterns are a completely different avenue than Delphina. Lea Delaria is a very versatile performer, and I heard quite a popular musician in Europe as well! I'm probably the only one on this board, but I hope she DID get a contract and will stick around for the long haul.

- Tina's BACK! -

So happy that Tina Lord is back on Llanview soil and MIXING IT UP with Jessica and Natalie. It just made the Tess story more interesting, and I hope Tina is involved heavily with Natalie, Jessica, and this secret room Tess wants to construct. I fell asleep on the episode where Tina and Viki reunited (I had a long workday), so I'm going to HAVE to set my VCR this weekend for OLTL's marathon on SoapNet and catch it. Sorry to hear that Tina didn't interact with human David Vickers!

- Keys! -

My favorite sexy man is BACK, just in time to get fired. I was completely disappointed that he was revealed as straight by wanting to see Blair in that nightgown. I've seen a million guys like him at the local gay bar! I guess every hot man on soaps needs to be left straight in case their popularity takes off and the role expands so they can be viable leading men. But damn if I wouldn't have loved to find out that what Keys really wanted was to model the nightie for Blair! Come on Keyshawn! At least have the decency to be on the down low!

Didn't like:

- Sarah -

I'm starting to not enjoy Sarah that much and I didn't think it was possible, but Tina has made Sarah MORE bland by returning to Sarah's life. I was dying since the days of Flash and Midnight Logic for an EXPLOSIVE Sarah/Tina reunion, and now all I want to do is turn the channel until Tina's in a scene with some other family member that has something interesting to say to her. Who the hell thought it was a good idea for Sarah to be all gushy and happy to be reunited with Tina when the YEARS of backstory had Sarah calling her mother "garbage" and telling stories of how Tina ruined Sarah's life to run off with Cain, etc.? It makes no sense to me and it's not even creating any kind of dynamic relationship for them, and with Cristian for a love interest, Sarah needs SOMETHING dynamic in her life pretty damn soon.

- Layla -

Don't get me wrong, I like Tika Sumpter. I won't forget the talk she gave Adriana, telling her that her marriage to Rex being built on lies would go nowhere, and boy was she right. And I enjoyed the "oh no you didn't" scenes where she found out about Vincent. Though I wouldn't have minded Vincent's squeeze on the side being Keyshawn Riddick. If you're gonna write Vincent out over an out-of-nowhere affair, why not go all the way! But anyway, what I am not buying about Layla, still, is this roommate/friendship thing with Sarah (and Talia). I don't know if I missed all the episodes where these three gals had their slumber parties in their PJs and did each others' nails and gossipped about boys, but it's such an awkward device that has done nothing to boost story or character for any of the three roommates. And did Layla even get to talk about her Vincent breakup with Sarah? Layla needs a better support system in her life, she lost her sister, her best friend Bitchy Bangs, and her man to some low rent hoochie. Layla needs to start kicking some ass and taking some names, and START by sleeping with Brody who is too hot to be chasing uninterested Gigi, giving her $5000 to go find another man, and sleeping alone on the couch, AND giving up drinking! Give Layla her groove back! Layla and Brody are two people who've been shitted on by life, so they need to start commisserating and having some sympathy sex FAST. Then Layla can get pregnant and Shane can have a new half-brother that it turns out won't be related to him at all, and then Shane gets sick and needs his "new brother's" bone marrow to save his life, only for THAT to finally expose that Rex is Shane's biological father! Besides, Layla knows the truth about Rex and Shane, so she'd be a fun wild card in this story. Damn, that's the best idea Layla has ever inspired in me!

[Vee]

I would agree with a fraction of the Ron Carlivati/David Kreizman comparison, since I discussed it earlier today with someone else, but the difference is, Carlivati not only seems to relish in careful long-term planning, but does not make already-onscreen stories contingent on the availability of actors who had cut all ties to the program...something Kreizman did twice, with Peter Simon and then again Grant Aleksander. Those two potentially amazing stories blew up in his face, and he's slowly devolved into garbage since.

I think a huge part of why the summer has stalled is number one, the simple fact that it's summer, and stories tend to stall and drag to play for time until the preliminary pre-November period, leaving them stuck with a tiresome, network-mandated pregnancy story and number two, because they had to deal with an anniversary period. Summer will always be there; a big anniversary bash won't. I'll be glad to hit September and just get away from all the hubbub of 10,000TH EPISODE-STRIKE-END OF STRIKE-ANNIVERSARY, and back to just plain soap, which I think is beginning to happen. I felt Ron managed to turn the Marcie/Tommy fallout into his own storyline over the course of last September to January, and I feel he's more than capable. But boy, do some of these current lame turns in the story need to end. Such as John and Blair.

[Dale]

I have to admit....I am very intrigued with the idea of

[MTSRocks]

Is it just me or do things seem kind of predictable now?

[Desertrose]

I agree with you...I've been enjoying DelFina immensely! Knowing a number of psychics over the years, I really have to chuckle at a lot of what she does and how she does it- she's dead on some of the stuff. I think she's a nice change and as you say, this s/l does give that bit of spiritual questioning as does Vicki's death & visit to the afterworld. I really enjoy that OLTL has had the courage to do that.....

[rhinohide]

Pretty sure that was the shirt she was wearing when Jess first tried to seduce Jared (pretending to be Tess). Could be wrong.