Gordon Russell's Work on OLTL

[EricMontreal22]

Wikipedia listed Sam Hall above Gordon Russell as HW for the late 70s-1980 period, and I reversed that to give him proper credit (and reflect what was shown on screen in the credits)

You know--I stand by saying he was my fave of the DS writers... But yes, he certainly had WAY WAY worse writing circumstances at DS.

[Paul Raven]

Russell's work from late 77.

Dorian has once again gotten her way. She likes nothing better than to needle Tony and in Paul Kendall she has found the perfect means for this end. She knows Tony would like nothing better than for Paul to leave town, so she makes sure Paul will be around for a long, long time. She offers Paul a job at The Banner. It’s a three-year contract for a job of manager of the Lord Press. Dorian smiles to herself as she hears Paul tell her he’ll accept her offer. Now, maybe, if she’s really lucky, Paul will succeed in winning back Pat’s love. It’s her ultimate revenge. Tony will not get what he most desires. He will not get Pat and their son Brian.

Jenny tries to talk some sense into Sam. She tells this very confused eighteen-year-old that she doesn’t love her father; they’re just friends. What Sam observed in the restaurant was just an innocent encounter. Will may love her but she doesn’t love him. Sam doesn’t buy any of it. She tells Jenny she plotted to get Will. Her naïve innocence is just an act. She’s as calculating as any hustler on the street. She saw the look on Jenny’s face as she was talking to Will, and if that’s not love she doesn’t know what is! Sam’s conception of Jenny’s feelings is correct, but Jenny still refuses to confront her emotions. She will not yet admit to herself that she’s in love with Will, not his son Brad.

…THOSE RESTLESS URGES

Karen likes to be at the center of her man’s life, not at the periphery. She can’t adjust to the fact that Larry dedicates more time to his medical practice than he does to her. She’s glad she wasn’t found pregnant, but maybe if she was things would be different – bust as it stand now she’s in desperate need of ego massage – and she knows just the man to quench her thirsting desires. It’s Gus the plumber. She sends out the necessary signals, Gus picks up on them and a day or so later (when Larry is out of town for the day) they wind up in her bed. Afterwards, Karen feels very dirty. She wishes she could control this other person living inside her. She doesn’t want to wreck her marriage.

Llanview has a new resident. She’s a young woman named Edwina – and she seems to be an old flame of Richard Abbott’s – at least she glows a lot whenever she hears his name. Will she play havoc with Richard and Becky’s blossoming relationship?

Meanwhile, Richard has gotten Becky a job at The Banner. Becky is ecstatic. It’s her first paying job. She’s thankful to Richard, but she’s still not too hepped up on going out with him. She appears to have a checkered past. One night she tells Richard she’s not as innocent as he thinks she is. Richard will not be put off. He’s very attracted to Becky’s naïve country ways. He likes protecting and sheltering her form the cruel world.

Once again Brad has told Lana it’s over. She showed up drunk at the health club one night and almost broke things up between him and Jenny.

A CRUSHING BLOW

Lana is shattered. She tells Brad he’s a cold, unfeeling monster. He told her he loved her. Were all his passionate words lies? Brad doesn’t reply and this non-verbal retort leaves Lana ice-cold. She seeks comfort and advice from her friend Cathy. Cathy consoles Lana and tells her to be strong. Brad is a louse. She’ll meet a better man – one more deserving of her sweet, sensitive nature.

What about the cold, calculating cad? Well, Mr. Golden boy, (Mr. Wonderful) is very…very…happy. He’s gotten Jenny to agree to marry him. He’s won her away from his father. Lana cries for Jenny. She feels this kind of gentle woman will be getting the short end of the stick very, very soon.

Learning about the engagement, Will begs Jenny to see him. In his heart he feels she’s making the wrong choice, but he doesn’t say so to her face. He tells Jenny he’s going to try and forget her. He’s not going to both her anymore.

Lana prays her dizziness and nausea isn’t what she thinks it is…but the doctor confirms her worst fears. He tells her she’s pregnant. She’s into her second month. Lana’s world comes tumbling down around her. Cathy puts the pieces back together (Cathy well remembers being in the same situation) and sets Lana on the right course. Lana decides to keep her baby, but says she’s not going to tell either Brad or Jenny that she’s pregnant. It would be humiliating to tell Brad, and if she told Jenny, Jenny would break up with Brad and Brad would hate her (Lana) for being the cause of the breakup. She’d rather have Brad treat her coldly…than not treat her at all.

Becky Lee Hunt is on her way to becoming a big country and western star. She auditions and lands a job at a local C&W joint, The Blue Ridge club. Her success is the result of her new image. It was two little items that made all the difference: A blond Dolly Parton-type wig and a flashy and glittering dress. She looked smashing and wowed the audience…except for one rumpled young reporter. Richard didn’t approve at all and he tells Becky so. Becky’s temper erupts in ferocious flames and she tells Richard what he can do with his comments. It now seems very clear to her that they don’t understand each other at all. It may be best that they don’t see each other any more. Richard doesn’t agree with Becky’s capsule description of their problems and her solution to same, but he can’t get her to change her mind. She’s determined that they’ll never be a twosome.

Edwina has finagled herself a job with the Lord publishing empire. She’ll be working as Paul’s assistant at The Lord Press. Paul is immediately impressed with Edwina’s good looks and great intelligence. Will a new romance be blossoming in Llanview? Will Paul forsake Pat for Edwina?

Sam tells Marco she’ll never go to bed with him. When she loses her virginity, she wants it to be with a man she admires – and he’s far from that man. She knows that now. She doesn’t want a cold, calculating hustler; she wants a conservative, kind, gentle, mature man.

Is there such a man in Llanview? You bet there is! – and Sam has already picked him out. It’s Tony Lord. He’s perfect…but how is she going to get him? How is she going to make him think of her as a woman…not a little girl.

COUPLES

Trying very hard to forget Jenny, Will asks Nurse Robin Crosley, a very attractive thirtyish divorcee, out to dinner. Robin felt she didn’t have Will’s full attention so she seeks advice and counsel from Jenny Siegel. Is Will in love with someone else, Robin asks? Robin’s probing questions leave Jenny…confused…frightened…and desperately needing an escape hatch, and that night she takes the necessary self-preserving step. Jenny tells Brad she’ll marry him.

Brad’s joy pops out of him, like air from an exploding balloon. He has never been so deliriously happy. He has won the woman he loves!

It’s a joyful moment that seems to last only seconds. The next day Brad gets a visit from Lana. She tells him she’s pregnant. It’s a kink in his life he can well do without, and hesitating not a second, Brad tells Lana he’ll take her to New York and she can have an abortion. Lana explodes. She tells Brad she’s keeping the baby and she doesn’t care that by doing so she’ll be destroying his perfect little world. She’s not going to hide the fact he’s the father.

Lana leaves the health club half-hating Cathy for persuading her to tell Brad. Why didn’t she follow her instincts and remain quiet? She expected Brad to humiliate her and that’s exactly what he did.

Dorian gives Paul a pretty meaty assignment for his first task as manager of The Lord Press. He is to come up with a new idea for a magazine. She is assigning Pat, Edwina and Richard to help him with this project.

Paul calls a meeting and Richard goes into shock when he enters the office and sees Edwina sitting in the chair right next to Pat’s. Edwina coolly rises from her seat and sweetly tells all gathered that she and Richard new each other at Princeton. In fact, at one time they were both up for the same journalistic prize, which Richard ultimately won. Edwina’s voice hints that she wasn’t exactly happy that her old friend scored this win. Wonder what secret lurks in their past?

Each passing day leaves Pat more and more…confused…torn…and troubled. She knows her loyalties lie with Tony, but she can’t deny she still feels something very strong for Paul. Their evenings together at home are so right; so perfect. It’s like he never left. She doesn’t want to hurt either Tony, Paul or Brian…but someone is bound to suffer great anguish. What is she to do?

[Scotty]

Oh yeah, that and at Dark Shadows, they just kept right on filming unless the actors made a major flub, to save money. And it showed in what actually made it air.

[Vee]

They did try to do a hell of a lot with Cathy Craig - she went from Dr. Jim's overweight, geeky teenage daughter early on to a liberated young writer who fucked Joe Riley, a man twice her age. I always wonder what happened to her, but I privately fanwanked that she was Daniel Colson's first wife, the mother of Riley Colson. Daniel once explained that his wife had come up with Riley's name because she'd worked at The Banner with Joe; that set off a red flag for me. Incidentally, OLTL was keen to salvage Cathy presumably when Jennifer Harmon left - they offered Robin Strasser the role in the mid-'70s but she refused it, finding it too commonplace.

I think Russell's take on Pat (or rather, the prefab Tony/Pat supercouple) early on was different than what came later with the advent of Joe Stuart and the Buchanans. Stuart wanted Viki out and gave Jacquie Courtney a bunch of frontburner storylines to steer Pat towards taking center seat for good. One wonders how that sat with the old guard for as long as they lasted.

I recall reading that in his early days, Joshua West (Hall) was dealing prescription drugs to Joe's sister Eileen in the wake of her husband Dave Siegel's death. And yet he ended up Ed and Carla's good boy and lingered on the show into the late '80s. That must have been interesting. As for Ellen Holly, I remember her being nothing but complimentary of Russell and Doris Quinlan, the original EP.

[EricMontreal22]

Nope. Besides flashbacks (fake ones) Erika actually didn't play Nicki until Peegy O'Shea brought her back (in a much loved storyline--in the 1986 or 7 Paley Center seminar with Agnes video on her website, there are a LOT of questions about the story which they love and she admits she didn't have any real involvement in except to consult lol. Though one person wonders why Nicki before had a blonde wig, now she has a red lol)

[DRW50]

I think Russell's Tina was just a generic ingenue, there to provide problems for Viki because Viki had to help her out, or had to deal with her sleazy father.

It's funny how former DS writers and directors did so much for OLTL, and for Ryan's Hope. (was Russell involved with an of RH?) If the Internet were around back then I wonder if fans would have bemoaned people from a canceled show converging on their soaps.

I didn't realize Gordon Russell was at OLTL all the way back to 73. That's so many different eras. The 70s were a huge decade of change for OLTL.

I wonder why they let Cathy Craig just fade away. Did they decide she was played out?

There's still so much history they could explore with the Craigs. I think it would be interesting if Kevin, living in London, met Cathy Craig, and fell in love with her daughter. How would Viki react to that? Would it bring back memories of when Cathy kidnapped Kevin, and the baby Cathy had with Joe? Would Cathy have some ulterior motive?

[EricMontreal22]

They also had a lower budget than most soaps even at the time--which is miraculous given what was on screen. Agnes Nixon has said many times how she wished she had been as wise as Curtis to keep all the episodes on tape (which I guess in itself was very expensive at the time)

[Y&RWorldTurner]

These end credits from 1979 list Sam Hall and Peggy O'Shea after Gordon, though it looked like they were his Co-HW's, or there was some transition about to go on.

[Scotty]

I agree....they had the perfect opportunity with Daniel and Riley to really tie them to the past but, as usual, they dropped the ball. I think they should bring them back to OLTL at some point, and reveal that connection. Could create some good story.

[Vee]

Russell may have been better than Sam at DS, but honestly after seeing the whole show it all bled together for me after a certain point. Rhythms and cadences to language and character almost always gave way to plot and there was hardly ever a chance for me to distinguish a script unless it was Violet Welles, who was amazing.

[Scotty]

Agreed...it's a wonder there were not more major gaffes then what there were. I know that Nixon demanded ABC start saving episodes of AMC when the show moved to an hour....but I wonder exactly when the network began saving episodes of OLTL?

[DRW50]

Did Josh have any stories in the 80s?

I never knew that about Robin and Cathy.

How much influence did Gordon have over casting? Was he involved with Robin being cast as Dorian or was that all ABC?

What were the producers like at this time.

Oh, and Paul Raven, thanks for those recaps. I love how detailed they were back then.

That Lana McClain story must have been so heavy for viewers at the time. That and Naomi Vernon's suicide attempt that worked far, far better than she ever had in mind. Talk about dark!

[Vee]

The original Tina appears to have just been a variant on your typical teen heroine, but I imagine that then, as it is now with Kristen Alderson and Starr, she was very popular with the youth demographic, otherwise why keep recasting or bringing back what was seemingly an otherwise relatively bland character until Paul Rauch and 1984-5? There's a lot Rauch did wrong, but also a great deal he did that is legend, good bad or ugly, at the show, and Tina is number one with a bullet. There would not be a TINA, bold font, without him.

[EricMontreal22]

I know Cathy was recast a bit--and her actress too (the main one) was very outspoken--in one of those NYTimes articles I have she says frank out that she's proud to play the most "liberated" woman on soaps but that there's so much more she wished she could do. It's funny, the early 70s seemed to really make her the focus, and she's utterly forgotten now, unless someone mentions in passing the Odyssey House story...

While you're right so much changed at OLTL in the 70s--I'd argue that... I mean certainly more did in the 80s and 90s? I think the 70s actually kept one fairly consistant tone, even with the Buchanens (I wonder how much Russell was pressured to be more Dallas there?)

What's the connection between DS and Ryan's Hope? It is funny--I bet if the internet was around the worry would be less about writers from a canceled soap coming to their beloved OLTL, but that it was people from that "vampire show". threads like "Will vampires invade Llanview!" LOL Then again, I've read that OLTL benefited a lot when it started from DS fans--younger audiences liek they wanted, I guess OLTL aired right before (or after? I know it was late afternoon back then).

WHat are the exact dates OLTL was 45 mins, does anyone know? The Birth of Kevin episode on Daytime to Remember was squeezed to 30 mins--ans was 1976, does anyone knwo if it was edited from a 45 min episode or not? (of course those DTRemember episodes, as greateful as I am we got them, made tiny edits in every single one to fit in more commercials and Reba...)

Yeah I think (as usual--it's so hard to make a full list) wiki is a bit off the mark with exact dates and names. Peggy O'Shea (who I have the utmost respect for, especially the quality she managed even under Rauch ) was there from an early time.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I heard they were all surprised at Karen Wolek's popularity with the audience, especially Jackie Courtney, who thought she was going to be the new Queen B at OLTL.