Although I don't watch OLTL I still found this funny as it seems to be one of those many pointless stunts that turned out to be coffin nails. MAB will probably do the same down the line, ala SFT's own live episode.

OLTL LIVE: BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE FACT

by Tom Smith, June 14, 2002

Back on March 11, when first discussing the news of live OLTL, I said “Will this improve the show? No. Will this have any long-term effect? No. Will this get a lot of people to watch, thus ensuring great numbers for May sweeps...? Yes! Let’s face it. I don’t care how much you think OLTL sucks right now, you’re going to watch every bit of live week....”

As it turns out, I didn’t have the luxury of watching OLTL LIVE--well, live. I ended up getting a real job, and watched the festivities on Soapnet’s 6 pm replay. But, watch I did.

As too often happens in the soap world--hell, in entertainment period--the hype was more exciting than the finished product. Going in there were a lot of questions--can the cast pull it off? Who will have the most flubs? Who’ll be on all five days, and who won’t be on at all? What storylines will explode during the week? And, of course, what will the ratings be?

Some of these questions were answered ahead of time. In a May 10 piece for TV Guide Online, Tomlin said: “"When I came on OLTL, I knew we had a cast that was more than capable of doing it. (Going live.) We've already done four test shows, where we taped them in a one-hour time frame, in sequence, with the music slugged in and everything. So everyone is running on a certain level of confidence."

This begs the question: If Tomlin had a pretty good idea that live week would go off without a hitch, why did ABC promote that contest where viewers could spot the flubs and win a prize? Those who thought the contest guaranteed fake flubs were proven wrong, but did anybody actually win the contest? Phil Carey didn’t think much of the contest, as he told the New York Daily News’ Carolyn Hinsey on May 10’th: "If it goes smoothly, no one will know the difference if it was live or taped," Carey said. "But if they're going to promote [possible] mistakes to get an audience to watch, then they're going to be looking for people to make fools of themselves. I don't think that's the business I was hired to do."

Carey was more right than he may have known. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t there, able to watch as it happened, but to me, Live Week felt like anything but. I wasn’t looking for actors to forget their lines and stumble (hey, Howarth does that enough on taped days--he was actually better here than he’s been in years), but there’s an intensity and theatricality to live television that just wasn’t present here. Part of that may be because of what was presented during live week. Let’s go back to Tomlin’s interview: “One story that promises to be emotional is when Blair learns the truth behind Jack's parentage. ‘Viki and Todd air all five days; Blair airs four,’ Tomlin previews. ‘Erika Slezak (Viki/Niki) usually doesn't work five days a week. But she came into me and said, 'I just want you to know, if you need me to, I'm willing to work the five days.’ “

In fact, the big story that was being pushed in every outlet was that the “Dead Baby Lie” was going to be revealed during Live Week. Sometimes, the fact that OLTL was going live seemed to be an afterthought to the fact that Blair was going to learn the truth! It’s as if Tomlin decided that he wanted to go live during May sweeps, then looked through the breakdowns, and chose May 13-17, because it had the most action.

But, outside of the Dead Baby Lie exposure, what did we get? Painfully unfunny, repetitive Las Vegas hijinks among the teen set. (Although, the fact that it was done live may have proven the we have the best set of young actors in daytime today. Even Jessica Morris proved herself to be a flawless line memorizer.) Max and Roxie got married, which is kind of amusing, better than average filler. Carlotta learned the real deal behind Keri’s credit card “debt”. We were all sweating bullets over that one! In a show already saturated with schemers, new con artist Rex showed up and made small talk with peripheral characters Shawna and what’s-her-face. Bo declared his deep deep--friendship for Gabrielle. Nora got it on with Troy.

OLTL was live May 13-17, but it played like an average week. When the biggest storyline going was the long overdue end of a tasteless plot, I just can’t get that excited. Yes, we now know beyond all shadow of doubt that OLTL has the best cast in daytime--but I was already impressed with the cast! I wanted to be impressed with the writing. Tomlin created a hell of a gimmick to get people watching, but he couldn’t just count on one bombshell to carry the week. He needed plot explosions and great dialogue writing for everyone across the board. Tomlin had a unique opportunity to hook new viewers on OLTL for years to come; instead, I doubt most curious onlookers stayed the whole week.

But, wait! The week wasn’t totally average. Clearly, Tomlin had to do some reworking in order to fit Erika Slezak in all 5 days, especially since two of them played like total filler. Niki’s storyline and dialogue have become very one-note, and having her on every day only magnified the problem. If TPTB insist on dragging this out, can we at least bring some other alters into the mix, for variety?

And, hey! Wasn’t it clever of Tomlin to juxtapose “live week” with all the dead characters showing up? Yes, there’s Dennis Parlato as Michael Grande, even though I can now only think of him as fake-Roger Thorpe! Oh, and here’s lame-ass Sloane Carpenter holding the credits! While I’m sure two days of Jessica Tuck’s Megan is still giving Spicy George continuous wet dreams, I can only think of how DAYS and GL are having extended sequences with beloved characters from the past, and the best OLTL can do is Tea and quick sequences with a bunch of dead and largely forgotten characters.

Well, as you know, product quality is job none at ABC. It’s in how you hype it, and what the ratings are. So let’s fast forward to what happened after Live Week. Many pundits were suggesting that the ratings increase would be enough to knock Y&R out of 1’st place. I thought that was absurd, but figured OLTL, if lucky, might be able to grab second. Here are the final numbers:

HOUSEHOLD NUMBERS: 5/6-10: 3.0 (tie for 5’th); 5/13-17/02: 3.2 (tie for 5’th);5/20-24: 2.9

WOMEN 18-49: 5/6-10: 2.4 (4); 5/13-17/: 2.6 (3); 5/20-24: 2.4

There you have it. If Tomlin was trying to impress the hell out of everybody with his great cast and technical genius, he succeeded. If he was trying to blow the lid off the ratings, he’d have done just as well skipping the nerve-wracking live week, and taped a week of Erika Slezak picking her nose. He’d have posted the same increase. Anybody who expected a big increase was flat out wrong. That includes yours truly.

Of course, it’s worth repeating that the cast did a fantastic job under the pressure, and the technical crew was superior. If you were looking to watch a disastrous live telecast---well, you had to wait until the Emmys.

I don't think the live week was a coffin nail. It was basically just a stunt. The real problem on OLTL at this time were the stories -- Niki's 2002 return was one of the worst stories in OLTL history. The only real bright spot in terms of major stories was Blair finding out about the dead baby lie.

I'd forgotten that they had people show up for cameos. I kind of wish they'd do that now. If they had Brynn Thayer walk through a scene with the 30 year old Fords I might pay more attention.

Thing is, Gary Tomlin tried this [!@#$%^&*] before @ SEARCH FOR TOMORROW. (Remember the conveniently destroyed tape that caused the show to go live again for one day?) And the ratings experienced only a little bump then, too. People don't care if a show's being transmitted live or not -- and they're certainly not gonna watch just to see if anyone will screw up (on purpose)!

If they had Brynn Thayer walk through a scene with the 30 year old Fords I might pay more attention.

You want me to give a damn about Ford and James, OLTL? Well, revealing Jenny Wolek as their mom would be a start. (The rest, of course, is up to the actors. Oops, nevermind.)

Edited July 24, 201015 yr by Khan

I didn't find this stunt to be all that bad, let alone a coffin nail. It actually was a bright point for me as a viewer, showing just how capable the actors of OLTL were as well as the writers at the time who used the week as a climax for some of their stories.

Coffin nail? Hardly. It was something FUN and DIFFERENT

Coffin nail? Hardly. It was something FUN and DIFFERENT

Exactly...I think the live week is right up there with the Babes Behind Bars and (especially) the Trading Places episodes. It was something different. And it was rather enjoyable.

Trading Places was awesome.

Babes Behind Bars not so much.

Trading Places was awesome.

Babes Behind Bars not so much.

Agreed.

And Trading Places won OLTL its first and only Daytime Emmy for Best Show in 2002.

Rae: "I was in the oddest place."

Viki: "Port Charles?"

Rae: "I was in the oddest place."

Viki: "Port Charles?"

LMAO Roger as Erika is classic. He nailed it.

LMAO Roger as Erika is classic. He nailed it.

Oh no, not a tall.

Oh no, not a tall.

WIN.

Rae: "Why don't you act like your real selves? You know, people that are sane and logical and normal and decent."

Bo as RJ (laughing): "Where do you think you are Rae, Pine Valley?"

Rae: "Why don't you act like your real selves? You know, people that are sane and logical and normal and decent."

Bo as RJ (laughing): "Where do you think you are Rae, Pine Valley?"

Me as Me, circa '02: "Have you visited Pine Valley lately, Bo, er R.J.?"

Edited July 25, 201015 yr by Khan

Rae: "I'm back in Llanview. There's no place like Llanview."

Viki: "That's right...there's no place like Llanview."