OLTL: Discussion for the week September 7

[teplin]

I have to say that David Fumero has actually been quite charming these past few weeks, too. He'll never be a great actor, but he at least seems engaged with this material, and with Tika as his co-star. The respite from Rex-Gigi-Stacy the past few days has been really nice.

[Ann_SS]

I like Sergei. He is deliciously evil. They better kill him off. If not, they will turn him into the next Todd.

[DRW50]

They must be going back to the Higley era of having Todd tortured to generate sympathy. We get this beatdown so we'll remember he's the good guy.

I still don't see any chemistry between TSJ and FL.

I wasn't looking forward to David's return but so far I've really been enjoying him.

[ChitHappens]

I like Sergei and his quips are delicious; however, the last thing this show needs is another Jerry Jax. I am fine with Sergei expiring at the end of this story.

ANDREA

[Ann_SS]

Another option is that Sergei and his henchmen escape, return next sweeps to terrorize Landview and get away again. Next time around, Sergei could beat the crap out of John. He just cannot stay in town for an extended period of time.

Anyone know anything about the actor playing Sergei? Love him.

[Scotty]

The actor's name is David Vadim and he was born and raised in the Ukraine.

Here is some more info.:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0883008/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vadim

http://actingreacting.com/home

Also, he has appeared on OLTL before...a couple of years ago during the whole Cristian Vega boxing stuff. David Vadim portrayed a guy that he was in a boxing match with.

Um...well...

[Vee]

I agree it's ridiculous that they don't promote these people, especially in urban areas. I think if they would actively promote Kish, as well as Layla's role therein and with Cris, and the Rachel/Greg/Shaun story they'd get interest. Y&R always knew how to utilize its black canvas when it was strong, and ATWT certainly pimped the hell out of Nuke. Today OLTL's brightest new couples don't get much promotion, nor do recent exciting ones like Jared and Natalie or Viki and Charlie. Even Jessica and Brody, who I also like, have gotten very little.

It was astonishing to me today when I saw the scenes bounce between Rachel, Shaun at La Boulaie, and Vivian Wright and Greg at the hospital to realize that OLTL now has a larger and more substantial black canvas than Y&R. I don't think every character is perfect or as full of potential as Rachel, Greg, and Layla - Shaun is still tertiary, Destiny desperately needs a recast and better writing, and I think they could stand to add others who were less flimsy than those two - but it's a real show of commitment.

[Ann_SS]

Scotty, thanks for the info on David Vadim. I'll follow his career, see if he goes on to bigger and better roles.

[Scotty]

You're welcome Ann.

Glad I could help.

[Toups]

These past two episodes have been amazing! Once again it was vintage Ron Carlivati. Why? Because the stories interconnected and there was cast integration. You had Viki's mayor storyline which involves Lowell who connects to the drug storyline.....then that storyline connects to Shawu/Rachel/Greg triangle because of Shaun protecting Starr/Hope and him getting shot gives a whole new angle to the Rachel/Greg kiss......and what led up to the kiss were the courtroom scenes which is the Bo/Nora/Matthew story - and then you play the Rachel/Tea and Nora/Tea beats. Back to the drug storyline which now involves Bo, Nora, Todd, Marty. Todd's trying to get a hold of Blair to tell them about Starr but Blair's with Ross who's coming back to Llanview. I''m sure I'm missing more, but yeah, everything just connected this week.

I was surprised to see so much blood! There was blood on everybody, blood on the floor.

OLTL out did GH, in a good way, with all this violence. This is how you do mob violence - you have the bad guys as mobsters and the good guys as cops. I'm glad OLTL isn't like GH's upside down world.

David was hilarious in Tuesday's ep!! So many great lines. I literally LOL when David said: "Hey, that's my pa you're talking about." I bow down to Tuc's comedic greatness.

D.D.

Word!! I really wasn't into the Greg/Rachel/Shaun triangle until last week too. It was when Shaun said something like, "Greg may have my parents brains, but I have their heart." (I need to get the right quote because it was way better than that. LOL), and when Tea went after Rachel in court, and then the outdoor scenes. Now Shaun getting shot brings the triangle to a new level.

Yeaa, Sergei rocks!

I didn't see it like that and I don't see how Todd's being written as the "good guy." If Todd was the good guy, he would've been the hero and killed Sergei and rescued his daughter/granddaughter. If Todd was on GH, that's would've happened.

[Ann_SS]

I didn't see it as Todd being portrayed as a good guy either. If anything he and Dorian are being blamed for Sergei going after Starr and Hope. While I think Todd and Dorian were wrong to go to the Mayor, I blame Cole for the whole debacle. It is his drug habit that set the chain of events in motion. Back to my original point, the story seems set up for John, Cole, Bo and Fish to be the heroes who rescue Starr and Hope not Todd. I haven't read any spoilers, it is just how it felt to me.

[Toups]

That's what I think too.

[rhinohide]

I haven't watched the show, much less the promotions in ages. I just keep up through various boards. But one thing I've always noticed about the promos is they focus on the same characters over and over again. It would make more sense to me to mix it up a little bit. If the promoted couples are all that, and the only ones who supposedly draw viewers in and make them eagerly anticipate what is coming next on the show, what's the point of having all these other characters anyway. If you only saw the promos, you'd think there were about four or five people on the show. I've never understood OLTL's promotional strategy. It's like they promote couples who need a boost, but if people who are already watching the show don't like that couple, promoting them just backfires and discourages them from watching.

Obviously there are many characters and couples and stories other than those being promoted that keep people tuned in, and I just think it would make sense to feature those now and then.

[Ann_SS]

It must be an ABC marketing strategy because General Hospital also features the same 5 characters in most of its promos.

[Vee]

Exactly - it's not OLTL's promotional strategy. It's ABC's strategy for them. That's why ABC has a promo department.