OLTL: Michael Logan's Rant about Carlivati

[dragonflies]

From the new TV Guide:

Were we too quick to proclaim sainthood on Ron Carlivati? I fear so. The lawyer-turned-soap scribe performed a miracle at One Life to Life last year when he transformed the sad-sack serial into an intelligent, romantic, richly emotional delight. Then this summer he trashed the show with goofy gimmicks-Bo and Rex timetravelling to 1968, the political chicanery in mythical Mendorra-and now we're left wondering about our wonder boy. How can someone so clearly gifted go so wildly off track?

[Southofnowhere]

That's what happens when you enter the Frons-Zone!

[oltl1]

I think Logan is going a little over board here. Yes, I agree the summer was not the best but it's no way near the crap AMC/BB or GH shovle out on a daily basis. With the summer storylines now over One Life is getting back on track.

[rhinohide]

The fall from grace appears to be a doozy! Unfortunately, I agree.

[koos]

It's like 1992 JER turning into 2004 JERk in the span of a month.

OLTL was fantastic back in the spring and early summer, and I got sidetracked from watching it. I turned it back on during the time travel mess and it looked and felt exactly like Passions, or maybe even a Passions parody, if such a thing is possible. Needless to say, I haven't watched it again.

[AddictedToSoaps]

I agree with everything he said there.

[Greg's GL]

I've said this before, but I was a new OLTL fan before the 1968 SL. That made me tune out. Permanently.

[Cheap21]

IA. The show was on fire but it all fell apart once the anniversary hit.

BTW, I had no idea he was a lawyer. How did he go from that to soap writing?

[JONNYSBRO]

Carlivati has been with OLTL since 1996 in every capacity and was promoted last year to head writer. The sad thing is I think Carlivati is talented. I do not mind the Tarty storyline because he is doing exactly what it is supposed to which is be debated. I thought OLTL was great when Carlivati took over last year. Then during the strike things fell apart but the first two months was fabulous and then things went south when Carlivati wanted to pay tribute to OLTL's 40th anniversary. The 1968 storyline should have lasted for one week at most and it was way too long. The Mendorra storyline was just terrible. The Tess thing has been kind of a dissapointment because it has been very plot driven. The show needs to get back to what it was. Carlivati is talented but he fell off track. Hopefully during the fall he resumes what was working before these stories did not work.

[David_Vickers]

I agree, it's hard to believe that ONE LIFE is being head-written by the same person that it was last year.

[SoapQueen89]

Sadly I agree. I came back to watching OLTL full time when RC took over and now, well, now I'm left wondering WHY?

[kandbar]

Well you can't please everybody.

[Billoltl]

Exactly - it's an hour a day I don't have to think about anything else. The show beats most everything in prime-time, story and acting-wise.

If you don't like it, take a break. I took a couple years off from the show and started watching again a few months ago. The show is much better than it was when I quit; enjoy it while you can. If the ratings continue to fall, you'll only be left complaining about the show not being on anymore.

that's right.

[miajere]

Yeah, I don't mind walking away from the show and I hope it's on still a few years from now....but I don't know about better than primetime...I for one think it's rare to enjoy an entire soap with nothing worth fast forwarding.

I just think it's pathetic on the part of tptb that some people would rather watch nothing than this show.

[Jess]

Well I admit, I don't like him because he killed off my favorite character just because he wanted to and he wanted to prop his favorite newbie, Jared. But, at the time, when many people complained about him firing Forbes March, he made the comment that fans might be unhappy, but people die in soaps, people die in real life. I interpreted that as a pretty arrogant comment, and one that told me it did not matter what I thought as a viewer, he knew what was a good story so to hell with me.

It doesn't come as any surprise to me that he is now writing a bunch of stories that he thinks are good and to hell with the fact that viewers think they are campy and stupid. A couple of weeks ago, he was quoted in regard to the Todd and Marty story and he pretty much said, he didn't understand fan complaints and that it was a good story. So to hell with viewer opinion it's a good story.

He's always been overrated. That is just my opinion though and perhaps I don't know as much about a good story as Ron C. Regardless people vote on entertainment with their feet or their remote. They simply go to another channel or turn off the show.