OLTL: Discussion for the week March 16

[chrishntr]

I always love the scenes between Viki and Dorian, because I love seeing Viki always have the class that she does when Dorian tries to start something with her. But as much as I did enjoy their scenes, I miss my Viki and Charlie. ALOT!!

Love Jared, and I love him with Natalie. For the first time since Cris I love the pairing that they have Natalie in and I cannot wait to see what is in store for them next.

It was SO nice to get a break from Stacy, just don't like her at all. And THANK GOD, I got a break from Starr and her whining self.

Am really enjoying this Matthew storyline, but it's a shame that they won't allow Viki to be there for Nora, it makes no sense what so ever.

Loved the scenes with Addie and Dorian.

[rangethatrover]

Damn! I just saw JPL actually ACT!! And he was good!

And another thing, the scriptwriting today is excellent.

[rangethatrover]

Wow. To quote Karen Walker- I wish someone would pull a lever and crush Gigi with a safe. Around 23 minutes in for DVR watchers, that is some bad, bad, BAD acting. On the other hand, HBS, SH, and BB and Eddie are awesome today.

[DrewH]

It's a damn shame when Jack has to be the dad in scenes with Todd.

[rhinohide]

Thanks for the heads up. I was seriously considering just deleting without watching today, but I'd forgotten about the Cole/Matthew scenes and Nora/Marty. Four characters I generally detest, but here's an example where with the right story, I'm interested anyway. It's been very good.

[DavidEvanSmith]

Glad Nora got to be a bitch for no reason to Marty today. I mean, all the tirades against Marty won't change the fact your son's "crippled" Nora. Get it together. Loved her calling Cole a son of a bitch, though! She's reacting like a real mom. 110% I like the writers positioning Marty and Cole as mother/son town pariahs.

Did Matthew get mauled by a wolverine while he was waiting to be found in the woods?

Farah Fath is ridiculous.

John McBain STILL feels shoehorned into this show like he doesn't belong. At least to me.

Could Rex's father be Peter Manning? What became of him? I'm thinking of what was mentioned earlier about Shane asking if any other family had leukemia and the Starr storyline. I mean, Starr isn't biologically related to Peter Manning, but he's a bad father and it would connect Rex/Todd.

[jinx_avery]

The way things are going, Rex's father could be anyone from Ivan Kipling to Morris the Woodchuck. Whoever he is, I get the feeling he'll also be Schuyler Joplin's father.

[Leia]

FF is pretty bad and I'm not sure what's happening but it's like she is getting worse. JPL was really good today. Really good. But HBS and SH were the best part of the show for me today. This show is getting so good. I have a sinking feeling that Rex and Schuyler will somehow end up related and I have no idea why I think that.

[rangethatrover]

I know you are not an huge Marty fan. She is bearable today I swear.

I have only watched the show 2/3 times in the last 2 weeks but today was really, really well done.

Really great dialogue and performances

And then there is Farah- Tell me what you think in her scene with Brody when she attempts to cry. Her eyes are dry as a bone but she does the old cover your eyes with your hands and screech and scrunch your face.

Sweetie- if you don't feel it then don't try to fake it. She is so likeable in humorous scenes and so terrible in dramatic scenes. I hate when bad acting makes a story all the more bad. Ahem. B&B.

JPL was awesome today. In 7 years I have never seen this guy do anything more than mug sarcastically. Today he acted and was good.

Haha Maybe its Roxy's beaver!

[Scotty]

Shh....some of us haven't seen today's episode yet.

I taped it....and listened to the local radio station this afternoon as my high school alma mater, the Grayson County High School Cougars, played in the Kentucky State Championship Sweet 16 today for only the third time in school history.

The third time must be a charm, because they won!!!!!!!!! They are now 1-2 in state tournament games. They place again on Friday morning. Go Cougars. Everybody help me by wearing orange and blue to cheer them on.

As for OLTL, while I was listening to the radio broadcast (ironically enough on TV, since we have a channel that scrolls city information with audio from the local radio station), I worked on typing up next week's previews.

Be on the lookout, I will be posting them at the top of the hour (5 pm et).

[rangethatrover]

Sorry Scotty, I should have done my post with the spoiler things.

[Scotty]

That's okay....I already know what happens from my own spoilers that I typed up...but Toups may not like it, since he's spolier-free and everything.

[MichaelGL]

With the exception of the obvious two weights on the show (ME and FF), everyone brought their A game today. Maybe it was because Frank directed today's epsiode? lol

Today's show was emotionally heavy and it even brought me to tears. I always knew Eddie Alderson had it in him, and today he proved me right. He nailed each and every scene I as the viewer was able to buy his portrayl as a kid who blames himself for the accident. The scenes between Nora and Marty kept me glued to my television screen. Their scenes were similiar to watching a sport, such as tennis (or whatever you fancy), and not knowing who was going to come out on top as the cleanest. In the end both managed to take the blame for what happened, and I was left in awe for the writing of those scenes. Kudos to HBS, SH, and Elizabeth Page for bringing such a powerful scene to life between two very complicated characters.

Go Tea! I'm so happy that she's wised up about Todd.

The music montage was just icing on the cake.

On a shallow note, how handsome did Mark Lawson look today in that coat?

[rhinohide]

Congratulations to the Cougars! I'm a huge basketball fan (I have two bball players of my own -- a daughter that is stretching to 6'1" and she's only a freshman! Hee! My son is only 6' 3", but he swears, as a sophmore, he has one more growth spurt.).

As for spoilers, I thought the rule was if it's aired, it's not a spoiler? Toups even comes in and comments on that day's episode. The fact he hasn't shown up, tells me he's avoiding the thread until he watches himself.

I despise both Marty and Nora. Has nothing at all to do with the actresses. I promise. The funny part is they were both at their extremes today. Nora was all self-righteous indignation and passing the blame and moralizing to Marty. Marty was her victimized poor poor me, all I'm so guilty, and responsible, and I deserve everything you throw at me. I mean today they both were at the most obnoxious of their characteristics I HAAAAATE about them. But what really made all that work for me was the writing and how the scenes were constructed. We started out with cold hostility, then it heated and amped up to this crescendo, punctuated with Nora telling Marty "None of this would have happened if you'd just stayed dead!" Then there was a denoument (sp?) where Marty took the wind out of Nora's sails by agreeing with her! We'd all be better off if I'd just stayed dead. And told Nora what her friendship meant to her, and how much she appreciated that Nora was a good mother to Cole when she couldn't be. And then Nora became deflated and defeated and admitted how happy she was when she learned Marty was alive, and how much she loves Cole. The dialogue was great! The performances were better. Their embrace at the end, and the sad conclusion to the day's scenes with Cole seeing their embrace, then being led off in handcuffs while John watched was perfection!

Ilene Kristen gave an interview recently where she complained that most scenes on soap operas today are "drive bys" vs. the good old days when there was a beginning a middle and an end. Drive bys are quick, snapshots that promote plot. Today's episode reflected the good ol' days. Nora and Marty's scenes took the viewer from this cold place, then lifted us to this heartwrenching apex, and then let us down slowly and carefully to a firm conclusive scene. Yes! We're still waiting to see what comes next, but we're not left hanging. It was satiating. Satisfying. God I've missed that.

As far as FF's scenes went. I FF'd a lot of that. LOL. Bless her heart! Her initials are "unfortunate". But as far as crying scenes go, I'm a fan of Melissa Archer so I probably have a different take than many people. I don't think crying scenes are supposed to be pretty. I thought Hillary was hideously gross today. I don't think SH cries pretty. Crying is deeply emotional . . . It's as raw as it gets and that's usually not pretty. I applaude any actress who makes me believe the raw emotion. SH and HB did so today. FF's mistake is she doesn't feel her material, she acts it. Even worse she tries to cover her lack of "feeling" by overacting. I cannot understand why a director doesn't step in and tell her, "this isn't working. I want you to play the strong stoic mother keeping her emotions under control" She might be able to pull that off.

ETA: I also want to give Frank Valentini, who I've previously considered a lightweight, credit for today's episode. After listening to Ilene Kristen's interview where she gives FV a lot of credit for putting his stamp on the show, I think he and Ron Carlivati have finally had a meeting of the minds that results in a fantastic collaborative effort. Today was good SOAP!

[Vee]

I thought Farah was fine today. She was barely on. People are running this into the ground. Soon it will be time for the Farah Fath double backlash.