Gordon Russell's Work on OLTL

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Since many of us ended up discussing Russell in another thread, I thought I'd start a thread for his work on OLTL, which seems to intrigue many of us here.

He never seems to get much credit for his groundbreaking work on OLTL, and though Agnes Nixon trained him for a bit before he took over OLTL, he had a distinctive writing style of his own. Much of what could have turned into a convoluted mess with a baby switch, and the adventures of a prostitute and her pimp turned into some of the most compelling character psychoanalysis that ever graced daytime.

A lot of us here love the clips we've seen from this era. Perhaps if he didn't die unexpectedly, and had other lengthy writing stints, he would be better remembered today and mentioned with many of the soap opera writing greats.

Anyway, discuss his work on OLTL here...

[Scotty]

August 1972-September 1973 Russell wrote OLTL along with Agnes Nixon

September 1973-October 1978 he was the sole head-writer

November 1978-March 1980 he wrote the show along with Sam Hall

[TC]

Thank you

[DRW50]

So he helped introduced Clint. Did he bring in any of the other Buchanans? I've always seen that era as sort of the next step beyond the Russell era.

I love what I have seen of his era. I love the overlapping stories, the community thread, and the complex characterizations. The Karen story was so long and multi-leveled. What impresses me the most is that this new character, who had been pretty much nothing until Judith Light reinvented her, was used hand-in-hand with Viki, the show's lynchpin. There was no new replacing the old. This story also roped in Jacquie Courtney as Pat Ashley. These were three very different women who represented three very different eras of OLTL, Viki was the originator, Pat was the "holy crap our ratings are falling, bring in a name!" era, and Karen was the more self-loathing but still sympathetic and compelling era.

I know there was a move away from the diversity of the original OLTL but it seems like the Woleks and Halls may have already been on their way out. I don't remember what stories the Halls had at this time.

[Scotty]

Even though this was before my time, didn't he come over to OLTL right after Dark Shadows got cancelled? I know several members of the DS cast turned up in Llanview during the 70s and early 80s.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

This particular era of OLTL seemed very rich in dynamic, yet very different female characters. He of course introduced Dorian, Pat, and Tina. Karen and Jenny were probably his muses, and there was of course Vicki in the middle of it all as the moral figure.

I was also shocked at how realistic he wrote Viki. He seemed to point out how judgmental and high and might she could be, which is unintentionally done these days. I was shocked to see Vicki working from a series of clips I've seen from this era. She seemed like a very realistic character back then.

This era seemed to invent a lot of the soap cliches and plot devices, like the baby switch, which would go on to be overdone on soaps years later. However, it didn't seem to rely too much on stunts, there was a deep understanding of character analysis and character psyche. Even in the most ridiculous of situations, the characters seemed realistic and multi-dimensional.

When I think of OLTL's true golden era, I don't think of Rauch or Gottlieb/Malone's eras, Russell's era is the one that most stands out to me.

[Scotty]

Well (looking it up), Carla Gray married Ed Hall in 1973, but divorced in'79 when she married Dr. Jack Scott. Also Carla and Ed adopted the orphaned street kid Joshua West.

[DRW50]

Yeah, I would love to see more of this era of OLTL respected and used in the show, or even just among fans. I think among fans it's regarded highly but also seen as somewhat far away, since we see little of it, just some of the baby switch and Karen on the witness stand.

I remember in late 1997 when the news was broken that David and Jenny Renaldi were killed in an avalanche (David wasn't actually dead but they didn't know that at the time) and Viki had to leave the room because she was so upset. A lot of fans had reactions like, "Who is Jenny? Who is David?" It just shows how much upheaval OLTL had undergone over the decade before that.

I wish that era could be brought back in some way. They could have referenced it during the Chloe/Hope baby switch. As it is now OLTL's history seems to start around 1987.

Thanks. I remember hearing about the Josh West story, and a little about Jack Scott. It doesn't sound like a lot, but then I guess there was always going to be some limit. I wonder what might have been if Rauch hadn't come along. Or if anything would have really happened. I know some have said that Carla was already a minor character by then.

[Scotty]

I agree with that.....just look at RC's 40th anniversary tribute to OLTL. About the only reminders we had of the show's first 20 years or so was the original fireplace opening and the maid who was watching the tv at the Buchanan ranch with 15-20 second Viki/Victor clip....everything else involved the last 20 years of the show's history.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Russell's stories were very slow burner too, right? Didn't the bayswitch take years to unravel? It seems like he paced his stories a lot slow than Agnes Nixon typically did.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I wonder what his original intentions with Tina were. His Tina seems like such a different character from the one that's popularly known.

[EricMontreal22]

Though it was disappointing reading Sam Hall's recent attitude to working at OLTL, his period was largely a follow up in tone from Russell's (just not as good). I guess they were used to being a bit of a team from Dark Shadows.

I'd love to know more about him and Agnes Nixon's relationship. She has said many times how brilliant she found him (and such a nice man)--she speaks higher of him than almost any other soap writer except Irna. She obviously trained him and worked with him meticulously (which is why it's silly for any OLTL fan to feel she abandoned her show--she left it in the most capable hands she possibly could find and obviously picking who was to follow her was no light decision--which is not true of many other soap operas when a writer is replaced). His vision certainly complemented but expanded from Agnes'. (Some have said he focused less on social issues--could be true since Agnes' OLTL was almost obsessed with them, but he didn't drop them by any means). I do wonder though why the fascinating heroine Cathy Craig (truly the first true feminist icon on soaps I think--screw ATWT's Kim ) was kinda dropped by the mid 70s--bad recasting?

[Scotty]

You're welcome. And that's what I've heard...that Carla was pretty much a minor character by the end of the '70s. Ellen Holly left OLTL in 1980, only to return again in '83 before being fired by Rauch in '85. And Al Freeman Jr. was dropped to recurring status around the same time, and hung around in the background until 1988. Although he did return very briefly in 2000.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Russell never tapped into Vicki's personalities, right?

Except for of course that story about Marco gaslighting her into believing Nikki was reappearing.

[Vee]

I've said this before but I often think it's night and day comparing Russell's day to day hackwork at Dark Shadows to what he ended up doing at OLTL. I'm not sure how much lead time he had at the latter but it had to be more at DS where they just eked the show out, day in and day out, after a certain point, and it showed. He did fashion a legendary era in OLTL history and it's a shame more of it is not available.