Back then, I heard about Jessica being Viki and Mitch's about a month in advance. Only at the time it was being floated that she was actually Niki and Mitch's, which would have been really interesting. What I was told at the time was that Broderick and Whitesell came up with this. Malone and Griffith certainly didn't bother undoing it, however, which is what fans really wanted and what RC was on track to do last year before the strike - I still think he may do that.

I thought Mitch's last run was embarrassing. Funny and very memorable, but it drove OLTL to a place it didn't really recover from for years. It turned into JER's Days. Terribly written, ridiculous [!@#$%^&*] every week; compared to last time's reign of terror, endless body count and crazy setpieces, Mitch's current madness seems like an episode of Ryan's Hope. And why Malone brought back Victor I still don't know - RC tried to undo that as well when he took over, but has not referenced it since.

I think this turn with Mitch has been okay, up til the stabbing. Now all he does is lie on the bed and whine about John and Natalie to service the latest Frons Big Idea story. I'm more interested in his machinations with Dorian and Stacy.

Only at the time it was being floated that she was actually Niki and Mitch's, which would have been really interesting.

But...Niki's really Viki, right? Unless, there's something else about this story I don't know. LOL!

And why Malone brought back Victor I still don't know - RC tried to undo that as well when he took over, but has not referenced it since.

Presuming that old man wasn't really Victor (and I'd hate to think Viki was so stupid that she mistook the guy for the bastard who made her life a complete hell), who was he? Why did he need "the heart of a Lord"? And (gulp) is he really dead, or is he just faking to avoid all these unanswered questions?

Edited December 23, 200915 yr by Khan

Yes to number one - the implication was that Niki, Viki's alter, had consensual sex with Mitch. Of course, that didn't make it onscreen.

We have no idea who that Victor was. RC clearly wanted to invalidate the story, and did, but didn't elaborate. He certainly did need a heart transplant though, which is why he got Mitch to try and cut Natalie's out for him. I guess it's a fair assumption that Mitch could've hired a dying actor to pose as Victor in order to get a transplant and then fake a will giving everything to Mitch.

Yes. They went into great detail on his last return about his parents and his background. I don't think it worked. Mitch has always worked best as a one-dimensional villain. He's there to stir things up. I don't think pseudo-intellectual analysis works all that well with a lot of villains, especially on soaps -- it ends up with nonsense like Franco on GH.

I still don't think he's taking the fall for a bad story so much as his return was probably planned to only have a limited run.

I think someone like Stacy is more along the lines of taking a fall for a bad story.

Carl I have a ton of respect for what you say about soaps--but I don't get how you think this run is turning out better than his Bhadra Diamond days--to be honest. We'vehad the shock moments (which make no real sense like the coffin) we've had the claims the California cops can't do ANYthing (which again make no sense) and having him take Stacey out of the picture just when I kinda like her a tiny bit more wont endear me to him anymore

Of course, that didn't make it onscreen.

Thank. God.

It's one thing to say Mitch raped Viki in the Llanfair living room, but for TPTB to insinuate that Niki would have had consensual sex with the man responsible for the murder of her boyfriend, Harry O'Neill, is simply too jacked-up for words.

Edited December 23, 200915 yr by Khan

I hated most of her stories when JFP took over. That was also the first of her mental illness stories. I think there was still a chance for her if the stories improved. Like the early feuding with Natalie. The revelation of her being a product of Mitch raping Viki, then the Tess stuff, and dead Nash and the dead baby, it has just built up so much and I barely see a character anymore, only endless tragedy.

Khan, are there any characters not destroyed at all in your books? or that you can get over>?

For me it was the ugliness of Higley's stories--the whole Nicki took her out and didn't care if guys molested her cuz she was too drunk is, I think, one of the worse character assassinations on ANY soap (and this is for an alter!) and doesn't make much logical sense the way, at least, Malone's stuff with Vicki/Nicki did

Khan, are there any characters not destroyed at all in your books? or that you can get over?

First of all, is that actually directed toward me? Because, you quoted Carl, and not me.

Secondly, um, no. To both questions. ;-)

Perhaps, I am just a hard-ass, but I do take character motivation and development very seriously. It's the reason why I eventually decided not to pursue a career as a soap writer. I'd spend entirely too much time demanding to know why "my" characters had to behave according to network standards, and not according to their own; and too little time actually writing the damn shows.

Edited December 23, 200915 yr by Khan

Carl I have a ton of respect for what you say about soaps--but I don't get how you think this run is turning out better than his Bhadra Diamond days--to be honest. We'vehad the shock moments (which make no real sense like the coffin) we've had the claims the California cops can't do ANYthing (which again make no sense) and having him take Stacey out of the picture just when I kinda like her a tiny bit more wont endear me to him anymore

The story works better for me because it is about a very controlled Mitch manipulating others. We see them freak out, but we also see them fight for control, and attempt to remain balanced. The tension in that fight makes the story more believable for me. For instance, we got a break between the time Mitch came back and had Jared and Natalie/Jessica, just more normal scenes of Jared dying and the family grieving. Then Mitch reappeared in the coffin. This shock-normal life-shock pattern made it more believable and harder to watch when they had stuff like Charlie falling off the wagon after trying to stay sober after Jared died.

The last time around was constant over the top hysteria. There was no balance and no attempt at control. Mitch was roaring through town with all these bizarre pseudo-campy masks and diamonds and his big mansion and corpses of the week. Then it got really bad when Mitch was accidentally blinded and we had the OTT blinding scenes and so on.

As for AMC, I actually thought bringing Jesse back was a decent idea, as the Hubbards were a big part of AMC's success in the 80s and Debbi and Darnell proved they still had chemistry when they were on Loving/The City. AMC needed a revival of their black characters, and they had so much history which could be mined in Frankie, and in Cassandra. The return story was, by soap standards, not too bad. I think the letdown was Pratt, who just gave Jesse horrible, horrible material. I hope something can be done to fix it.

Exactly!

If Darnell would perform "Pure Satisfaction" just once more, though, all will be forgiven. ;-)

I'm with Carl. This story is controlled; the Bahdra diamond/Lion's Heart Mitch was just hilarious. It added a ridiculous degree of supernatural crap to the Lords, too. They attempted to tell (lame, truncated) social issue stories at the same time Mitch was on the canvas, too, and regular romantic triangles, like parodies of Malone's old work, and meanwhile Mitch was rampaging through town like Freddy Krueger, living in the sewers and setting people on fire. "We just can't get that damn Laurence! BTW, Viki, I'm concerned about Joey and Jen. And what about Marcie's anti-war protest?"

And then, oh God, Jessica comes by to pick up Clint's Mustang and spills "chemicals" (a.k.a. water) in Mitch's face; I will never forget the hilarious scene with Roscoe clutching his face in the garage as Bree's Jessica stood there like a bump on a leg, with Mitch yowling as water splashed on his eyes. "ARRRRRR!!!"

And then Jessica, Natalie, Dorian and Blair spent weeks exploring an entire [!@#$%^&*] underground labyrinth below Llanfair. It was ridiculous.

Those first six months forever crippled Malone and Griffith's second run, and their reputations.

Edited December 23, 200915 yr by Vee

Perhaps, I am just a hard-ass, but I do take character motivation and development very seriously. It's the reason why I eventually decided not to pursue a career as a soap writer. I'd spend entirely too much time demanding to know why "my" characters had to behave according to network standards, and not according to their own; and too little time actually writing the damn shows.

So you decided that being a soap writer wasn't an option because you still believe in the basic tenets of good storytelling. That's heartbreaking. Understandable but heartbreaking. I also think it explains why there's been so little fresh blood in the genre.

Sorry OT, I know.

I also think it explains why there's been so little fresh blood in the genre.

People having principles being the reason there's no fresh blood? Seriously?!

People having principles being the reason there's no fresh blood? Seriously?!

More writers wanting to actually write as opposed to regurgitate.

There's no fresh blood in daytime, b/c, frankly, very few want to hassle w/ TPTB anymore. Like Justin Deas said in his interview w/ TV Guide's Michael Logan, it's 2009 (going on 2010), and they're still skittish about letting two grown women kiss on-air! How are writers suppose to reflect viewers' realities in an environment like that?!