OLTL: Thumbs DOWN

[Leia]

I know I'm still enjoying it and I do think it is still the best on the air.

[AMCHistory]

I agree that the show needs more established supporting characters, this was always key in Agnes Nixon's type of storytelling. For something to be truly dramatic, their needs to be something funny. For their to be sadness and devastation, there needs to exist extreme happiness. Supporting characters and their storylines provide that foil.

[Leia]

I think Moe, Noelle and David Vickers are supposed to provide that balance. They aren't quite working as well as they did before.

[DRW50]

Comic relief characters work best if they have some type of purpose or a balance. Moe and Noelle are just idiots with very forced ties to a handful of characters. David is, simultaneously, a complete moron and also the most evil man in creation according to the Buchanan family. The show doesn't care about him as anything other than a plot device, and viewers aren't given a reason to care about him.

I'd give Roxy as a good example of comic relief people can care about, but after what they've done to her in this Stacy story, I don't know anymore.

[rangethatrover]

bingo!

[Vee]

First of all, let's be clear: This totally needed its own thread. I can't imagine what would have happened if we had just folded this discussion of the show into the regular OLTL thread, in which we discuss the show.

Second of all, I think the show is a mess. There are good ideas and good stories bogged down by one thing or character or angle or another. Shane's cancer/Who is Rex's dad - Good. Stacy and her scheme - bad. So so bad, it practically wipes out anything else good about the story. The accident story with Bo and Nora and Marty and Matthew - Good. Starr screaming and crying throughout - Bad. Starr and Schuyler's chemistry - Good. Starr and Schuyler's actual storyline - Terrible so far.

I like Jared and Natalie, Ray and Dorian, Tea playing the field with new clients, etc but these ar goode characters and ideas all wrapped up in messy stories. The serial killer story barely holds my interest thanks to John and a completely unrecognizable Todd; if it had managed to do a mystery about the KAD rape without John or the quadrangle, I might care more. The baby story has good potential, and Brody and Jessica are great, but the endless waiting and long scenes with Starr yammering to herself about Hope kill it.

I do not agree with what Carl said about David, however. This show has always cared about David, except during the Higley era. They've made a point to feature him. Yes, he is often comic, but he almost always has been, and the audience loves him - they've never been disconnected from the character. And the Buchanans viewed him badly, but that was a little something called their in character response; it was not meant to be how we were ever supposed to feel about him. If it had been, we would never have seen David's softer or sweeter side.

As for Rachel: I checked the new girl out on YouTube and she seems surprisingly good for a Passions alum. Know what you talk about before you open your mouth, even if it might be less entertaining.

[bellcurve]

LOL. And McNuggets Lovin'.

And range, I love your posts too. LOL. We'll run it into the ground and still think the stuff's funny!

[bellcurve]

I don't know why it's a bad thing to mention that she was on Passions? Everyone knows Passions was notorious for it's green younger talent.

There were some great/passable actors and actresses on Passions, but that doesn't shake the reputation that they have as being "bad."

[DRW50]

My real problem with the writing for him was we never got to see his side of most of these stories. He was kept in the dark about the heir secret until a few weeks before he left town. Most of those few weeks were focused on David and Dorian throwing the Buchanans out and then the Buchanans winning out in the end. I think David had one or two days where he got to talk about his feelings, this after years of Renee, Clint, Jared, Natalie, and Nigel telling viewers in great detail about David's evil ways. Then when Bo found out he was David's father, a higher priority was given to Bo letting Rex know that he wanted Rex to be his son than was given to the relationship between Bo and David.

I think Tuc is very good at fleshing out what he's been given, but I don't know if David is anything but an afterthought to them. What depresses me the most is how stupid they've made him, more with each return. You don't have to be stupid to be funny.

I know Tuc's absences affect the writing, and I know what you're saying is probably true, but it's just some weird feeling on my part, that RC has little respect for David as a character.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Not to mention, this Rachel recast is 32 (looks younger than that), when Rachel should be damn near or past 40 by now.

Soap casting directors tend to miscast horribly these days though, so nothing new.

[Vee]

So she was slightly de-SORASed; we've never heard of that before! They did it to Todd too.

[leevo64]

Um, Vee, I can't tell if you were being sarcastic or not. I didn't want to put this in the weekly discussion thread because that is usually about the actual episodes.

At any rate...

David, to me, is a showpiece for OLTL. He's always involved in some sort of hilarious farce and I think that it's funny that the Buchanans hate him.

[rangethatrover]

Whenever I hear that an actor was on Sunset Beach, Days, B&B, and especially Passions, I automatically think: BAD.

The new Rachel seems very attractive and I will take Vee's word for it. The rumored combo of her and Real Andrews is HOT.

[rangethatrover]

I think Vee was being sarcastic. Vee is generally a UNTC. It takes getting used to. I'll let you unscramble.

[leevo64]

I've been at SON for a long time, I just try to avoid drama. LOL