OLTL: Discussion for the week January 18

[SFK]

Terrance Mann also did AW in the late '80s, he was on when I first got SoapNet.

[DRW50]

I do think Tina went too far, but after Todd did the same (or worse) and after a few months Viki was giving him advice about his love life, the contrast is jarring.

Terrence Mann on AW:

http://www.igs.net/~awhp/mc125.jpg

He played a ballet teacher who flirted with Olivia Matthews but was also an evil spy. I remember the big climax at the ballet when he shot Michael Hudson and someone shot and killed him.

[EricMontreal22]

Back when people on soaps had interesting careers like ballet dancers... (he is an amazing dancer)

[EricMontreal22]

I get your point, I just feel like they've used him twice to try to redeem Todd now--and the last time felt especially false.

I do think Vicki took the thing with Tina a BIT too far considering Tina felt her daughter was at risk--she shoulda been mad, kicked her out, sure but disowning her, etc, etc, when Todd runs around? *rolls eyes*

[DRW50]

Yes, Olivia and her quest for ballet, and her shame at being in a podunk town like Bay City when New York was where she could meet her dreams of being a prima ballerina. I think they even had him wear some sort of demon mask at one point during the ballet, just to remind us of his evil ways.

That story also had Rose Ailao as Michael's former secret agent partner, who forced him to work with her again, not knowing she was actually a double agent. I think she eventually tried to kill Michael (sadly she didn't succeed). Rose was on OLTL about 4 years before that as an evil nurse when Tina was in Statesville. She also had good roles on RH and GL. She deserved a better soap career than she got.

[EricMontreal22]

Was this when Swajeski wrote? LOL I do think soap characters used to have more diverse even exotic careers--something Malone did seem to (half heartedly) bring back to OLTL--but I miss it.

[SFK]

I really hated that blip of an interaction (a bad one at that) with Viki and Tina, I mean ALL of those damn years, and you expect us to be happy with THAT!? I really don't think bringing back Tina to "carry" the summer in Viki's absence was a good idea, seeing her with Viki again was what a lot of us were looking forward to the most. Not even one scene with Dorian. Le sigh.

An agent once told me that I reminded him of TM, and a. I do not agree at ALL, and b. I was not exactly flattered.

Carole Shelley as Iris is a great example of a big Broadway thee-uh-tuh actor doing a soap. She was the toast of Broadway as Mrs. Kendal in The Elephant Man.

IIRC, this was about a year before Lemay's return, so pre-Swajeski.

[DRW50]

This was Swajeski. 1989-1990, somewhere in there. She used this to further her Donna Love hate, as Donna slept with Jake while Michael had split up from her (his secret agent role forced him to break up with her, and he had to lie to her that he was having an affair). This all ended in Donna being blackmailed into giving away their foster son and generally being written into the ground.

I saw a little of her AW run. When the guy who was doing a Cory takeover but was actually a killer came into her penthouse and took her prisoner. She had to do a fainting scene. She was very...theatrical.

[SFK]

I haven't seen her besides a pic on Eddie's site but I remember from conversations at WoST people saying that she was bird-like and affected a bizarre southern accent (??), she was definitely not Beverlee McKinsey's physical match. I'll say it again, Sandy Dennis as Iris!

My bad with the Swajeski foul up, for some reason I thought the stuff with Olivia and Terrence Mann happened before Iris came back.

[DRW50]

Did Rauch bring any theater people onto OLTL? In Lemay's book he says both he and Rauch went to the theater and found various names there for AW and Rauch talked in later interviews about his love for the arts but I don't remember seeing a lot of that type of theater talent on OLTL at that time.

Yes, she did have a Southern accent. I guess she was trying to copy Bev's Southern accent?

Sandy Dennis as Iris would have been divine. Or as a Frame. (Bev played both, why can't Sandy). She was neurotic enough to be a Frame. She can be Cathy, the Frame who rarely contacts the family because her analyst told her not to.

I don't blame you, a lot of that runs together. As some have said, Swajeski's writing is generic.

I think I remember it more because I really liked Olivia, for some reason. She only had a few bits here and there with Iris, I think when she and Jozzzzzzzie were modeling rivals, and I guess when Olivia was with Dennis; I haven't seen any of those episodes.

[SFK]

Oy, not off the top of my head... I think Rauch's *tastes* had changed by then. Was Uta Hagen pre-Rauch? On the other hand, a lot of the actors were trained, and Robin Strasser (Yale School of Drama) and Judith Light (Carnegie Mellon), along with Dorothy Lyman from over at AMC, did theatre after hours. Ellen Holly had an extensive theatre resume, not that he cared. But all of these people were there before him anyway. BTW, Gerald Anthony and Justin Deas totally remind me of Michael Dorsey (Tootsie) types who would have been a part of that late '70s/early '80s downtown theatre scene.

Gyahhd, that made me laugh out loud.

[DRW50]

I think Uta Hagen was Rauch.

And of course, how could I forget, Pat Elliott.

[SFK]

BM had a bit of a twang IRL, I've heard it on blooper reels. Eddie has a transcript of Beverlee, Erika Slezak and others on Donahue, I really wish I could hear/see it! I've never seen BM in an interview where she was just being herself. On the GL primetime special, she's doing her Alexandra voice.

Oh duhhh, and her predecessor, Phyllis Newman (who I've never seen).

[EricMontreal22]

Terrence Mann has had a few good looking moments I think I wouldn't be too insulted (and he's a massive talent--dramatic, vocal and dancing so maybe that's what they meant )

Lemay returned and worked with Swajeski, right? (I really don't know my 80s-90s AW)

[SFK]

She took over when he quit, I think P&G or the network was (wait for it...) propping her during the strike and Lemay never returned. Carl?