OLTL: Discussion for the week October 19

[oltl1]

Congratulations to OLTL for creating a strong, realistic family that transcends race, in the Evans family. Kudos to the casting department on the 2 actors who play the parents. When Mama Evans called Greg out on going after Rachel and then slapped him was AWESOME and right on target. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to do the same thing to that actor.

Also, how nice was it to see Kevin again. Loved all of his scenes. I'm really liking this Matthew storyline and I think Eddie Alderson has really come into his own with this story. I don't know if it's intentional on the actors part or that of TPTB or both, but the character displays so many "Asa like" qualities that I can't help but like Matthew even more.

[Juliajms]

I can't speak for Carl, but I was referencing Starr. Although Kristen herself still looks like a baby to me and seeing her in sexual situations is like watching a child.

[Scotty]

I have to agree with you there. KA certainly does not look her age.

[DRW50]

I loved it when the Evans mother smacked Greg. She needs to go around slapping all the annoying characters on the show.

I thought the girl who plays Destiny was good today, she seemed very believable, especially when she was telling Shaun to slow down.

[Ann_SS]

Great to see Dan Gauthier.

"I smell a photo op, but I don't like the smell of the homeless." David is so funny.

Damn, Greg's mother don't play. She is right that he needs to stay away from Rachel. Rachel needs to tell Shaun the truth and end it before things get out of hand.

[Marc]

Well let's examine the list given...

Greg/Rachel:

Decent. They don't keep me on the edge of my seat, but I find them serviceable enough at this time. The whole Shaun angle bogs it down a bit, but I have nothing really bad to say about them.

Markko/Langston

Boring. Yes they're inoffensive enough, but they are SO lightweight, mundane and inconsequential. Their happenings and drama is like lettuce at a meat buffet. I don't see them as necessary to the show. I feel like they could disappear like Eli Trager and OLTL wouldn't miss a beat with them gone.

Cris/Layla:

To me they are another Markko/Langston. Every time I see them together, I never forget that they were thrown together simply to give these two backburner-prone characters something to do. Maybe if they were paired sooner, I could get into them...but I generally don't like B-character romances...and after seeing them both in habitually empty pairings prior to this, I have no faith that this one will be any more exciting.

Brody/Jess:

They are just a younger version of Viki and Charlie. They're too "cutesy" together. It's like watching two toddlers play.

Fish/Kyle:

All hype for publicity. Kyle has gone through too many character metamorphous since his introduction that I've yet to bond with who he is, because every time I get used to one angle, another one comes. Meanwhile Fish is sooooo sympathetic that he's too gushy and vulnerable for me. I'll be honest, I'm more interested in Stacy being knocked up with his kid and the playing out of that than I am of him and Kyle.

Jared/Nat:

Gross. Any pairing with Natalie is gross. I hate her. Hate.her. And Jared is so snide, cocky and quasi-sleazy. Their only redeeming quality is that they kept Natalie away from John.

Charlie/Viki:

Boring. So average. I think this is Viki's dullest pairing. Hell, at least with Sloan, there was the cheated on Clint angle. Charlie and Viki are too middle of the road. They don't have any couple conflict or angst. They come off like a sunshiny senior couple on a Viagra commercial...merrily dancing in the moonlight, all happy because he can get a boner now.

David/Dorian:

I've never liked the Dorian/David pairing. It's too comical. Too slapstick. I like knife-in-the-back, icy-cold, vindictive villainess Dorian. With David, Dorian loses too much of her edge and becomes too silly. Dorian is best when she's paired with sophisticated, upstanding, quasi-selfrighteous men like Herb or Mel, because they're personalities contrast with hers and makes her dark side more pronounced. David is too much of a goof and he brings that out in her, and like I said...I like "evil" Dorian more than "slapstick" Dorian.

Bo/Nora:

I was a fan of Bo and Nora years ago...and for years I wanted them back together...but I've grown weary of the tap dancing. Every few years it's hinted that a Bo/Nora reunion is coming, only for something to derail it. Strike when the iron is hot. They've been divorced for 10 years. If they were going to be reunited, it should have happened five years ago. I used to be a fan, but I don't care anymore. They've waited too long.

[DeeeDee]

Dan Gauthier :wub: :wub:

[DRW50]

The problem with evil Dorian is that she really has no purpose other than being a foil for others. Like last year, she went way out there to ruin Charlie's life, and in the end, she became an afterthought in a storyline that was supposed to be about her.

Slapstick Dorian isn't my favorite either, since she exists only to be degraded, but there's no reason the show has to write her this way. They could have her together with David, and then have David leave on his jaunts, and Dorian can have stories that aren't about her love life. The way it is now, where he just pops into town every 3-4 months and stands around in the background, being sneered at by the Buchanans or dancing with Dorian, that's when he seems superfluous.

I think Ben/Viki is the dullest Viki pairing ever, and the one that drastically rewrote her personality. Charlie/Viki isn't exciting, but ideally should have worked, because it would have been a contrast between Viki's love life and her always chaotic family life. The problem is they don't play up that much family or professional drama with Viki, the way they did in the past.

I think they have made Fish so weak because they want the focus to be more on Stacey and her baby. Stacey is the Frons favorite, not the gay guy. That and it's just an easier writing choice to have him moping all the time. The big personality rewrites for Fish and Kyle, along with the fast pace of the story and the few scenes they actually have together, have taken most of my interest away.

[chyti]

Greg/Rachel, Jared/Natalie, Cris/Layla have some potential but when you barely get airtime or story what do you expect. OLTL has some of the worst couples I have ever seen anywhere: I either don't know why the female would even be attracted to lest of all fight to be in a relationship with the male or the love seems more like obsession then anything else.

[Ann_SS]

OLTL is the most poorly cast ABC soap. It is full of bad and mediocre actors and has a headwriter who writes mostly bad stories. It is the definition of potential never fulfilled.

[JackPeyton]

YES!

So much of OLTL could be good if this, that, and the other were different.

[Sylph]

Wait. Where's the potential then if the actors are bad & mediocre and the HW is horrible?

[JackPeyton]

because the stories all start out wonderful, and then just suck. unlike other soaps where the stories start out as bad and just get worse, at OLTL they start good. and there is usally a good solid episode every week, and thats saying more than most soaps.

The actors are just used wrong. Some re outright awful and need the ax, others would be fine in a supporting role, and some are great bu just on too much.

there is tones potential all over the place, but bad choices ruin it.

and i wouldnt say RC is horrible, just needs some guidance or something.

[MichaelGL]

I think OLTL has some of the best couples out there right now, for me much of the pairings make sense, I just believe the potential for them is being squandered.

I don't think RC is a bad HW per se, there are worse if you look at the rest of the soaps. I just believe that he lacks guidance, and along the way in his stories, they start off good with plenty of promise, then get boring or repetitive, and end either on a good note or wrapped up too quickly.

I think the only time Dorian had a story that didn't portray her as this caricature was actually under RC, and that was both during the discovery of Langston's parents being dead, and how Dorian fought endlessly to keep Langston from Ray. I think the show missed a opportunity with keeping Ray around for her. Unlike David, Ray brought out a refreshing side to Dorian one that isn't slapstick and etc.

Not always has David and Dorian's relationship been a comical one under RC; I remember for a brief moment during the David-is-a-Buchanan reveal that David expressed his sense of betrayal at Dorian for having kept his paternity a secret and having basically used him. However the whole thing was glossed over the next week when the two moved into the Buchanan estate.

[DRW50]

Michael, I think the tone is one of OLTL's problem areas. The show abruptly goes from slapstick to serious. Some moments are unrelentingly depressing, and yet in no time at all we end up having wacky fun. I feel like the Todd storyline is the biggest culprit -- it's hard to believe that only a year ago, we were getting the Tarty story, and the doctor who was so guilt-ridden about her role in the death of Starr's baby that she blew her brains out. Then when they did manage to win over some fans by having wacky fun times with Todd and Tea, they also reversed course from that and have now made this into martyrdom and crying jags and secret children. Did anyone really want to see this turn in the story?

And this gay marriage story -- are we supposed to take this seriously, or are we supposed to laugh, are we supposed to care about any of these couples we barely know? This has all gone by so fast. I guess they are still struggling for Dorian stories because A Martinez was fired. At least it's better than no Dorian story at all.

Couple storylines are often rushed through. Rex and Gigi burned through years of story when he immediately forgave her for lying to him about Shane and Shane almost immediately accepted him as his father. And this left their story to be very empty, yet they have dominated airtime for over a year now playing out this empty story.

They also don't have any major consequences to most of their storylines. There was no consequence to Tarty -- a few people were killed (most of whom had nothing to do with the crime), Marty got her memory back, big shrug. There was no real consequence to Dorian getting BE. Or to David being a Buchanan.

Stories are often dropped or rewritten on the fly, although that might be due to Frons.

I don't think the cast is bad at all, but I think some of their worst actors are constantly put in lead roles. Other actors who are OK but not great are put in stories which don't suit them, like Kristen Alderson.

I think the show has a lot of good but can't put it all together. I agree that the show is watchable on a day to day basis. It's the long term which is a mess.