OLTL: Discussion for the week December 21

[MichaelGL]

The scene at the end with Matthew showing up at the door with Bo and Nora is what got to me. I don't think a paralysis story has ever gotten to me like the one with Matthew has. All the beats were played well and the story was played over a signifcant amount of time. Very good job by the writers on this.

[SFK]

I also thought it was a great episode today, warm without being maudlin, forward-moving without sacrificing the spirit of the holiday. I am looking forward to seeing Rachel at the Evanses for dinner. Damn, I hope that's not something that happens off-screen.

Dare I say it, but I fear that once Dani loses the chip on her shoulder, she will be Snoozeville. She's still finding her way, but it'll be interesting to see how her character will evolve because given her parents, I'm sure she'll be around for a long time. I'm also curious to see how they'll balance her and Starr.

OLTL really is a good show, and I don't want to turn this thread or anything, but with all the stuff that seems to be floating in the air lately, my Christmas gift will be a well-written letter of support copied and sent to TPTB. Say what you will about the power or point of letter writing, but I figure it's the least I can do as a fan, and hell, it's 2010, and I am so over woulda-coulda-shoulda.

[DRW50]

I think Danielle would be more interesting without the edge, because it's such a bad crutch. All of the scenes where they try to show how she's just like Tea and Todd, which apparently means random yelling and some sort of confused semi-sneer, clang to the floor. That story seems like predictable filler somehow pushed to major status because they don't have anything else for Todd to do.

I'd have rather seen a teen who is relatively normal and struggles with life around her, like Langston. They should have brought her in as one of Langston's relatives, one of the sane ones. She reminds me more of Langston than of Todd or Tea.

I agree with you. It's hard not to surrender to the "what will be will be" way of thinking, but I've still written a letter, and I'll write some more. It's always difficult to know what to say. You want to say, "I will never watch so and so program again if you cancel my soap," but I guess that doesn't work. Or the personal stuff, I've been watching for this many years, please keep the show on.

There's always the advertisers.

[SFK]

Right. Blowing your top and sounding like a soap crazy is like asking for the opposite result, the more intelligent the letter, the better, and it *is* difficult not to delve into schmaltzy sentimentality.

I agree with you on the advertisers. This is a different kind of story, but there's this website with viral videos that I enjoy going to, and I began to notice that a lot of the videos being posted had a racist agenda. The things being said in the comment section were even more deplorable. Have procrastinated as usual, but my gut instinct was to hit 'em where it counts and write the advertisers, telling them that I (and others) will continue to boycott their products as long as they're being advertised on said site.

[Cheap21]

I think that would be incredibly boring. The show is lacking a bad girl on the show and Dani is filling that void. She provides tension, drama and has potential to move stories and drive scenes. She's doing it with the lame young teen scene and she's providing a new dynamic to the overdone Tea/Todd/Blair stuff and Im sure they'll work her into Starr's sphere, who has gotten boring. Having Dani come on as some relatively normal goodie just wouldnt be as interesting. Why write her like Langston when we already have Langston? That would make her highly redundant and she wouldnt stand out.

[DRW50]

I don't see a new dynamic with Todd/Tea/Blair. Todd is painted as the loving father longing for a chance, which we already got most of this year. Dani is the extremely generic brat who pouts on cue but will, in time, see him as the ideal dad. Until then it's lots of very forced scowls and dead line readings. She's all contrivance and zero character, and the girl who plays her seems to struggle more and more with this stuff. I'd rather just see her written in a more subdued way, a teenager who is struggling on the inside and trying to deal with the insanity around her. I think the actress would be better at that.

[Cheap21]

Tea as a mother to her own child is something new. Its something that bonds her and Todd in a new way. The arrival of Dani has caused a change in Blair's attitude as she views her as a way in which her actions have affected a child's life. She's been showing signs of maturity and genuinly seems sorry for how she manipulated things. She and Tea hugging and talking things out after the Dani bombshell,was a much needed breakthrough after all the fighting and drama of the last few months

So you want her to go from generic brat to generic bore? Considering that her father was just killed right in front of her, her mother has been lying to her for the past year and now theres this crazy man thrown into it all and she has no idea how he fits in, I think her reaction to everything makes complete sense. It would feel right if she just held it all in on the inside. She's angry and she's lashing out at Tea and Todd and thats her right as a result of all she's witnessed in the past couple of weeks. Her anger, confusion and pain is justified. We see her normal and subdued around Matthew and she gets worked up around her bio parents bc she is an emotional mess right now. I think the actress is doing a good job at playing both sides of Dani's character

[DeeeDee]

Amen.

[DRW50]

I guess I don't see a difference between generic brat and generic bore.

I agree with you that someone who has gone through trauma would be more upset and angry, but the show has repeatedly told us that her bad attitude is based on having the genes of Todd and Tea, not on any problems in her life. So are we supposed to feel for her and assume she will get better in time, or are we supposed to be amused by the constant tantrums, as we are supposed to be when her parents behave this way?

The whole "____ is certainly a child of Todd" stuff lost most of its spark for me when they used this to turn Jack into a smart mouth who pervs over Tea. They ignored the real conflicts Jack should have gone through with his father to make him a caricature, and I don't enjoy the thought of it happening a second time.

[MichaelGL]

I agree with this. Blair doesn't see Tea as just the souless beyotch who teamed up with Todd to take Starr away from her, in a way, she has come to sympathize for some of the stuff she's done to get back at Tea. However I think the rival torch might be handed down from Tea/Blair to possibly Starr/Dani.

[DRW50]

Tea and Blair have never had a genuine rivalry. It's always Blair loses, Tea wins. They even turned one of the few entertaining moments of the first Blair/Tea rivalry, Blair shoving her out a window, into a joke, where poor Tea is falsely accused of shoving evil Blair out a window.

I think Dani and Starr are both too generic and green to make a rivalry believable, although I could be wrong. I just hope they aren't going to have them hate each other because this is supposed to be good drama. Good drama is organic, not forced. So much of the drama with this family is now forced.

If they were going to have any female rivalries among the younger set I would go with Natalie/Kim.

[DeeeDee]

Nat & Jess Vs. Kim!

[Toups]

Can someone post the OLTL Christmas credits? Thanks!

[Cheap21]

Tea ended up the big loser in 2002, a fact that gets brought up alot these days

IA that a rivalry between Starr and Dani would be forced but Im sure that wont stop the writers from going there.

[Khan]

That's what happens, I guess, when you don't allow characters to evolve...or even better, leave town.

Seriously, does anyone else believe certain characters' continued presence (and annoyance) on this show is a Frons mandate, pure and simple? The writers have exhausted every story possibility for Todd, Blair, Tea, John, Rex, Gigi, and a number of others; yet, there they are, still stinkin' up the joint. Even worse, now they're violating rules of daytime (not to mention, mathematics) in the creation of daytime's newest insta-child, Danielle. You can't ask me to believe Carlivati is excited still to be writing for these characters, especially when his most successful storyline thus far (IMO) is a love story between two male supporting characters who haven't been on for very long.