Predicting OLTL's Demise....why?

[dragonflies]

Poor Kelly, I hope she's ready to be part of Todd's harem

Really? I always thought it was the other way around, that OLTL was the step child of the line up

[You're Soaking in it]

And in that case, I hope the barf bags are ready for us.

[Adam]

Well historically yes you would be right, but in 2002 when Frons took over he admitted in an interview to not really knowing anything about AMC while gushing about OLTL and GH.... considering all the crap that went on at AMC when he first came aboard I think its fair to say his heart was in OLTL more.

[DeeeDee]

But at least Heather GOT Kelly.

Her Kelly was an actual character instead of a plot driven Mary Sue.

Gina's Kelly is just there.

[DeeeDee]

It wouldn't be too bad if Starr & Cole actually had to deal with being parents on their own.

But even in a crowded apartment with school & work they still have no understanding of actual responsibility. Starr has enough time to counsel Todd about every little thing that happens in his love life but doesn't act like being a Mom to an toddler isn't a struggle.

[Adam]

Truer words never have been spoken.... there are a few people on OLTL right now "just there."

[DeeeDee]

How do you define Kelly as a character?

It's easy to define Addie, Cassie & Blair or Starr, Adriana & Langston.

But Gina's Kelly is just nothing.

The most value she has is whatever relationship she's in at the moment.

[NYC123]

OLTL is going to be the first ABC Soap to go and it's sad to see. OLTL isn't good right now and really OLTL yes are cutting supporting characters but still keeping people like Gigi/Rex/Hannah/Ford/ect...When AMC moved to L.A. and OLTL was the only soap left in NY I felt that was it. Espically since they havn't taped in HD. ABC isn't invested in its soap but from what it seems now, Frons favors AMC/GH more then OLTL.

OLTL right now is BORING. Nothing is working and I feel this whole Seria Baby storyline will not payoff especially now that

.

OLTL needs to get someone to Co-HW with Ron.

[LoyaltoAMC]

I really don't think that OLTL is at any more risk of imminent cancellation than AMC. I think both are safe for at least the next couple of years. Yeah, OLTL's HH numbers are rock-bottom, but it's essentially tied with AMC in the 18-49 demos, which, as we know, are all ABC cares about. They brought back Gina Tognoni. Would the network have shelled out big bucks for her if cancellation was around the corner? The Kish stuff did tank the ratings. Obviously they are trying to turn things around. If the show were about to be cancelled, I would think they would just play the Kish stuff out until cancellation day. Plus, is there any viable replacement for it? That Aisha Tyler pilot tanked, and I don't think there's anything else on the horizon. Also, I don't see ABC breaking up its 30+ year historic block of soaps just like that. Without OLTL to bridge AMC to GH in most markets, those two shows could go down in flames. I'm just trying to make an arguement for ABC's keeping the show around for a while. I could be wrong, but I've got a feeling the show is safe for the foreseeable future.

[Cheap21]

In the mid 90s when the show was big on the 3 Cramer girls, Blair, Kelly and Cassie, they each had distinct roles. Cassie was the good one. Blair was the bitch. Kelly was a mix of the two but was wild and crazy. She was the fun Cramer. Somewhere along the line though she got weak, cried alot and became a victim. Then after that they turned her very sanctimonious and judgemental. By the time Gina left the role, Kelly had become boring and generic and had lost any spark she had when she first came to town. TM and HT's take on the character was an attempt to make her unbalanced, unstable and unpredictable. The character was a mess but she had a role. GT's only been back for a few weeks so I will wait to see what they do with Kelly now but so far like others said, she's just there and hardly stands out

[Eric83]

I think OLTL may be the first to go, but it isn't going to happen anytime soon. It will probably last into 2011 at the most. AMC got moved to LA, and got all these upgrades. Why cancel it???

GH, unfortunately is safe.

Bye-bye OLTL.

[evermore]

I've been watching the show since 1985, and week after week I read the next-week spoilers and wonder why I should keep watching. Even worse, I wonder why any new viewers would find anything in it worth watching. Case in point: I loved Mitch Lawrence's stories in the 80s and am happy to see Roscoe Born (and Barbar Garrick!) on screen again, but their current stories are not that interesting to me, and more importantly I haven't seen anything in their current storyline that would seem interesting to newer viewers who aren't familiar with Mitch or Allison

There are some horrific actors on the show right now, but the larger problem is the storytelling. Good actors like Scott Clifton and bad actors like Farah Fath all seem to be stuck in thankless roles in uninteresting storylines, while other plots are redundant (Todd and Blair) or make no sense (Todd and Tea breaking up and getting back together, again and again, for the lamest of reasons). There have been an enormous number of disappointing storylines since Ron took over as HW: Tina's return, Marty's return, 1968, Rachel's return, the big gay wedding, Mitch returning (again!), everything have to do with Stacey Morasco (whose storyline has ruined the characters of Gigi, Rex, Schuyler, Kyle, and Fish)... even Kelly Cramer's return so far has been unremarkable.

One of the only things that has kept me watching has been the performances of the actors: even with lousy scripts and storylines, Scott Evans and Brett Claywell have been a pleasure to watch. David Fumero and Tika Sumpter have been more enjoyable than I would have guessed. Erika Slezak and Brian Kerwin are always interesting, even when the material written for them sucks. (And it often does.) Jerry ver Dorn and Amanda Setton have been perfect lately, tho that has been a combination of good acting and, I'll say it, good writing. But it's been only one story out of 10 or so, and the other 9 all suck.

I think the recent firings were short sighted... the writing team should have been fired before any of the actors. No matter who is acting on the show or how talented or untalented they are, One Life to Live will never regain its footing until Ron Carlivati and his team (and Valentini and Frons too, if they have any say over the storylines) are given their walking papers. And I hope it happens soon, because without good writing no show on TV has much of a future...including the ones I've been watching for 25 years.

[Vee]

There's a difference between creative death and physical death, a distinction Days of our Lives proves everyday. I think that like DAYS, OLTL may be attempting to cut costs and "streamline" in the worst way possible, in this case weeding out everything new and diverse that speaks to OLTL's personality, while clinging to washed-up male leads and tired, overplayed couples that don't work anymore (John and Natalie, Starr and Cole). Yes, I fear that OLTL may soon be creatively dead. Physically dead? I don't know about that. I think this has been done to salvage the show from cancellation, though I do not agree with their methods. The question of whether or not OLTL is creatively dead will depend on what they do from here, and for now we just don't know. I stopped watching many times before - under JFP, Dena Higley, etc. - when the show seemed a shell of itself, and I am prepared to do it again if necessary. We'll just have to see.

For the record, I loved the big gay wedding, Kish's romance, Rachel's introduction, the accident story, Clint and Kim, etc. There have been good stories in the last year, more in the last two or three. It's just that most of them have not been the headliners Frons is prepared to push and salvage. Everything with Todd, John and Rex is toxic and the show is incapable of making them work.

[dragonflies]

I can see ABC waiting till awhile after ATWT's cancellation before they cancel OLTL. Basically wait till the backlash against that dies down.

[Ann_SS]

The repetitious couples that ABC does on its soaps are so tedious and lazy. Why do Natalie and John and Jessica and Christian AGAIN? Give it a rest take these characters in new directions with different love interests. AMC and GH aren't any different in this regard. This is only one of the reasons that I think that Days is superior to other soaps. With the exception of Bo and Hope, Days is experimenting with new pairings to freshen up the canvas.

I think that it would be fake for Starr and Cole to have issues with the day to day parenting of Hope. They both have money and have supportive families so any issues with raising Hope would be fake. I'm surprised that they don't have a nanny. Being teen parents or a single parent is only a issue when you are working class with no family support. This is why it never made any sense to me when TPTB claimed that they were dealing with the social issue of teen pregnancy when Starr got pregnant. I never saw the point of her giving Hope up for adoption either.