OLTL: Thoughts on Ron Carlivati

[Vee]

I've said it before and I will say it again: I think generally the day to day writing on OLTL is excellent, and often saved the more bum periods of 2008. Compared to ATWT, GL, GH, and OLTL of recent years past it's great.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think ATWT and GH are HORRIBLE story-wise and are in dire need of a Head-Writer change, but the scriptwriting on both shows is generally stable IMO, GH especially. As bad as GH's stories are, their scriptwriters tend to be the saving grace of that show, IMO. The plotting and stories themselves are bad, but GH's dialogue tends to be as natural and realistic as soap dialogue can be.

OLTL's dialogue feels too convoluted, and the scriptwriters try too hard to be funny, IMO. Everything feels so forced.

[DeliaIrisFan]

OK, as someone who has never been able to get into the Bell shows, which incidentally have never had this revolving door of writers like all the others until very recently so it's unchartered territory in a lot of ways, I find it so bizarre that Y&R and its new regime have become the new flavor of the week at the same time that people line up to say that all the hype about OLTL a few months ago was only hype. And comparing similar corporate takeover stories? Really? I've probably discovered my new favorite soap of the week in much the same way in the past, and I'm admittedly biased about OLTL/Carlivati. But I'm completely detached about Y&R and know very little of the background, having never watched more than five minutes of it at a time, so it's kind of fascinating to hear the speculation and the expectations of what this regime will do. At the same time it's extremely sad because I know if Y&R faulters again it will be another nail in the coffin of daytime soaps.

I'm sorry, but Hogan Sheffer was Ron Carlivati less than a decade ago (or at least a heavier, foul-mouthed version thereof) when he was the new blood brought in to revitalize ATWT. That lasted about six months...by the time he left, viewers had been calling for his head on a platter for years. Then the same thing happened when he was at DOOL. This long-lost Bell relation is an interesting addition to the mix, but again in a year's time she will have a history to be dissected too. I feel like it's been shown time and again that in today's soap climate, it's possible for a soap writer to come in and wrap up the old stories with flare, but to actually set in motion compelling stories that sustain over a long time is pretty much impossible. I don't think I'm ready to jump on another bandwagon.

One thing I do know though is Paul Rauch's history, and we can debate which stories in recent years that various writers were forced to write or to change midstream or what have you, but I don't think Rauch was forced to have the parking attendant at OLTL tell an original cast member (who happened to be one of the only people of color in the cast) that she was fired. Just what has been written about the man in the Ellen Holly and Harding Lemay autobiographies - which presumably are true or they would have been sued for slander - is pretty disturbing. I was one of the viewers who initially thought Rauch improved GL a decade ago. From what I've seen on YouTube he did the same thing at OLTL a decade before that, and God knows his AW was the stuff of legend. But every show he has produced, going back to AW in the '70s, has witnessed one (or more) of its most recognizable female stars getting fired or quitting after reportedly being mistreated by this man. Robin Strasser, Ellen Holly, Jacqueline Courtney, Louise Sorel, Maeve Kinkead...I don't think even Jill Farren Phelps has such an impressive roster of daytime legends whom she has alienated. It's very paradoxical because usually at the same time there are other veterans whom he showcases ad nauseum in increasingly ludicrous stories. If it were anyone else I might tune into Y&R to at least see what all the hype was about - I finally checked out OLTL after months of hearing about Ron, just in time for the writers' strike unfortunately - but I feel like I already know the ending to this story, and I just can't imagine it will be pretty. I don't know enough about Melody Thomas Scott to predict whether she will be escorted from the studio by security or play her own clone, but with Rauch on-board I don't imagine it will be anything less dramatic than either of those outcomes.

I'll stick with Ron Carlivati's OLTL - it has its ups and downs and I'm sure his hands are tied in many ways, but he seems to steer clear of drama and I get the sense that he has a genuine affection for this show and for just about every character that's been on longer than three years.

[All My Shadows]

I agree as far as scriptwriting at ATWT is concerned. This show can have wall-to-wall bad storylines, yet still somehow manage to put out a really, really entertaining episode about once every week or two. It boggles the mind.

[dragonflies]

He made a story out of it? NO it's about nothing but propping Todd the rapist. He's the one who will be made the victim in the end and Marty the bad guy for wanting revenge. It's already begun with Tea in court

A good writer? Maybe about as good as Guza is................Maybe he does care for his show, but that doesn't make him a good writer

[Vee]

I think the years of Zendall montages have fogged your depth perception, my dear. Tea and her defense have been presented as pretty despicable.

[leevo64]

They've been making Todd look like a deranged nut. As for comparing Carlivati to Guza... Guza writes by the seat of his pants with no payoff, no character development and no respect to history. That's like the opposite of Carlivati.

[Sylph]

Yup. Only... He's not good, he's... Mediocre... Tending towards bad.

But impossibly overrated describes him perfectly.

Co-sign.

[R Sinclair]

Oh, please. I suppose Agnes Nixon would be a "hack" herself if she sipped the "Kool-Aid" and "propped" Tarty, right?

Just because of that one story, he gets downgraded to being lesser than Dena Frickin' Higley? I swear, some people are impossible to please -- because they just. Don't. Want to be.

I absolutely agree. I've always felt that. And I feel that way about another writer who used to work on this show, but shall remain nameless.

[R Sinclair]

Exactly. Guza's the ABC King of Dropped Storylines.

Richard Culliton was on his way to claiming that crown back during his 15 month HW stint at AMC.

[MichaelGL]

I agree that RC's writing team sucks.

His team of writers seems to filled with either interns, former head writers of ABC soaps, and/or veteran writers who have lost their stride (Michelle Poteet Lisanti). There are a few bright spots, like Culliton, Page, and Croal.

I'm still waiting for the guy to hire his buddy Tom Casiello, but it appears as if that won't be happening.

I serisouly thought at the start of the year out of all the HW's who would battling it out to bring on good decent writers onto their shows, it would be Hogan Sheffer and Ron Carlivati. Seems as if I was wrong for the most part.

It boggles my mind that Valentini is still at OLTL. Or maybe it shouldn't knowing who's in charge of ABC Daytime. Mendorra could have been good, but the day to day writing and the even the production values for the story even sucked. Practically all of the Mendorra storyline took place in a bleak colorless castle that has the same curtains as Dorian Lord.

[rangethatrover]

OLTL's dialogue feels too convoluted, and the scriptwriters try too hard to be funny, IMO. Everything feels so forced.

Oh man. I could not disagree more with nearly everything you said about OLTL's scriptwriting....

Y&R has some of the worst scriptwriting imaginable, but I LOVE it on that show, it just works with the tone of the show...Always has... Bold and the Beautiful has the worst scriptwriting imaginable- cliche after cliche after soap cliche....

What I LIKE about OLTL is that the scriptwriting doesn't sound like a soap. Its more contemporary. Especially playwrite, Aida Croals..

But I agree completely about GH's scriptwriters- I think they may be the best in the business. And I don't like ANYTHING about GH, but damn if that show isn't on every day after OLTL, and I always feel like I am watching REAL conversations unfold. Its a shame that the stories are all mobby and boring. And the show is just ugly.

[rangethatrover]

And can someone please tell why everything has become Y&R vs. OLTL??? Why not Y&R vs. AMC ?

I love both shows.

Y&R is the show that you can't say one bad word about- people are under the assumption that it is soap perfection (Visually it absolutely is)...

OLTL is the soap that has more polarization. We can trash it days on end.

[miajere]

OLTL has always been like this- love it or hate, never an in between. Part of Ron's problem stems from how poorly maintained the show has been in the last 6-8 years by previous writers.

[Sylph]

Aham, aham, interesting... Drop the name.