So I started watching OLTL

[EricMontreal22]

And you just described a functioning alcoholic She certainly WAS an alcoholic in the usual sense of the word when Natalie as a kid would have to put her to bed, etc. But even now there have been many times (more than with most soap characters even though it is a usual soap device) where Roxie has done things--like mary Nigel or Max--cuz she let it get out of control. Not to get too technical but having worked a lot around substance abuse, there are functionin alcoholics out there who it doesn't really seem to hurt those around them, or themselves (except ultimately in health) although rarely is it something they can handle for life (though by some modern standards--which I don't agree with--everyone in a show like Mad Men would be a functioning alcoholic...)

[TC]

I am so glad you are enjoying it. It is my last one and it will probably not be around much longer. It's not STEAM, but in some ways it's closest network daytime can come to it.

[aMLCproduction]

Thanks TC. I don't think OLTL and for that matter ATWT don't have a lot of time left. I give both shows one year.

[Vee]

Both - Kevin (the one appearing with Bo and Nora), Joey and Cord (not seen onscreen of late) are American Buchanans living in London, so I could easily imagine the compound being built to their (or the late Asa's) specifications.

[TC]

Not even that, Vee.

If we are going to play the architecture and decor game, there is a lot that is off with all American soaps, even within their American surroundings.

What I saw was not all that different from the London, or the Edinburgh, or the Dublin, that I remember from about 6 years ago. Or maybe not all that "off"

The Abbott home on Y&R? I find it too cramped to be the home of multimillionaires. The house I grew up in was bigger and less cluttered, and we were "wealthy," not "rich." My mother sold it for close to 2 million last year. It was a great house... but we weren't fortunate enough to live in that HOTBED OF FASHION and COSMETICS and PUBLISHING that is Genoa City, Wisconsin. The Abbott house is a lot like mine. chicque and cluttered and cheap. And just like the Abbott house, in mine you have to walk through one room to get to the other. To me that is Y&R's biggest set failure. The homes are not big enough. ... oh, it's ranch...

Coronation St. overdoes (or underdoes) the "working class" tacky decor on its own soil.

[dragonflies]

I also hate how Todd's rapist past is made light of by the writer's. I also hate how they turned Todd into a romantic hero when he shouldn't be any thing of the sort. Now I see why RH ran as fast as he could from this show.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

I have no doubt that FL is only here for Tea to prop Todd. Blair and at least one other woman always have to.

I agree. OLTL is the hardest soap for me to get into despite liking so many things about it and it's because of Todd and the pathetic losers that they make Blair, Tea, and so many other women act like over him.

I marvel at the fact that this show has Viki & Charlie, Dorian, Clint, Bo, Jessica & Brody, Kyle & Fish, Gigi & Schyler, Roxie, and now Kevin and soon Kelly but Todd and the idiot women who love him are STILL the big story that gets most of the airtime and attention?! It boggles my mind!

I'd watched OLTL my whole life until Todd started eating the show alive. It's even worse now because while Todd was always a horrible excuse for a leading man, at least Howarth was keenly aware that Todd was a sociopath who hated himself and played him accordingly. TSJ plays this character like he's just another stock soapy bad-boy and seems to think that his shenanigans are cute. Why they didn't take advantage of Blair, Marty, Starr, and everyone else in town despising him last winter and killing him off in grand murder mystery fashion and then re-focusing the show where it belongs, I'll never know. This show's obsession with all things Todd is dragging it down yet again. Todd, particularly TSJ's, is nowhere near as interesting as someone seems to think he is.

As for the sets, I stuck it out until the bitter end with Guiding Light's new production model so OLTL's sets look like Buckingham Palace by comparison.

[DRW50]

I think they backed themselves into a corner because Todd is a very popular character. A lot of people do watch the show for Todd and won't watch if he goes. I think they may have wanted to keep going with Tarty, but decided not to, so then they moved on to Todd and Tea.

What I don't understand is why they have to write the story this way, why Blair has to be involved, why this is something which has to go on for months and months, these same beats.

[TC]

I hate Zack and Kendall.

To each his own.

[Doyen]

I can easily answer that question: they'd lose viewers if they got rid of Todd. Todd and Tea are basically the only reason to watch. Everything else on the show is shlocky or mundane. What am I going to do, watch bratty Matthew pal around with gumpy Destiny; Markko act like a timid eight year old boy who is afraid of his a straight out of the Eisenhower 1950s father who disapproves of everything; everyone reassuring drippy, self-conscious Oliver that it's okay to be gay...while Kyle conspicuously transforms from Michael Mancini to Harvey Milk; Jessica (who up until about eight months ago I liked) go through yet another crisis, while sappy lovestruck Brody holds her coat; that arthritic zombie named Shaun gushing over Rachel ...as if she's the only woman who ever agreed to go out with him; Rex, Gigi and that brat of theirs looking like fools as they continually try and fail to present themselves as the Cleavers; the never ending saga of if Bo and Nora (who is turning into a real ditz) will get back together; Screeching Starr and Constipated Cole acting like they are the only two people who ever had a baby; Roxy (in between being Kyle's faghag) stupidly mispronouncing words while clumsily tripping over herself to keep the answer to the now very stale question of who the hell Rex's father is a secret; Viki and Charlie being about as exciting as a Hallmark card; Cristian and Layla...*snicker*...yeah, as if; or worst of all, the show sending onimous signs that a tacky John/Natalie reunion very well may be coming (as if they ever used to be good) while John's girlfriend Marty seems either oblvious or unconcerned at what's going on there.

Please.

Todd, Tea, Jack, Danielle, Dorian, Blair (even though I usually can't stand her), Ross, Kim and Stacy (when she's being mean) save OLTL. Without them, the show is nothing but room temperature water leaking from a rusted faucet.

[TC]

I am plunging an index finger down my throat and listening to (in another window) Bartok's No. 5 String Quartet as we speak!

[aMLCproduction]

That's called bad writing. They should have had 2 other leading men to fill the void. Just like in the 60's and 70's, writers took time to build up characters. No writer is able to take their time any more. Just phase Todd out slowly. Soaps should be ensemble cast and not rely on a set of characters or storyline. SO when losing big stars the blow isn't as hard.

[Cheap21]

Id have to agree. I find myself watching mainly for Todd and Tea. I find the days when their story is on to be a ton better than when they arent onscreen. The two were incredibly popular in the late 90s and they still are today. Easily the best couple on the show and Im really intriguied by their story

[Vee]

Oh, ACEM, never stop being flagrantly insane. Todd and Tea are everything that's wrong with the show at the moment. Both are horribly written of late, inconsistent and slapdash from day to day, saved only by FL's balls-out performance of a character the writers inexplicably are trying to paint as a victim - something Florencia does not believe Tea is - while they try to remodel re-rapist Todd into a cheery babe magnet. That storyline is the worst on the show - I only care about the Matthew/Danielle and Blair/Ross portion. Tea has once again fallen far from her antihero heights last December.

[tina m]

Not CRAZY about OLTL, but I think things will pick up

. I'm glad to

, but I'm not crazy about this whole wedding thing, especially because Dorian is doing it for ALL the wrong reasons.

I do love Matthew's new storyline w/ Tea's daughter, Bo/Nora and even Layla/Cristian.

Something feels off about the show right now, so I can't say it's my favorite to watch.