OLTL: Discussion for the week of January 17

[Vee]

Yeah, it's clear and was a while ago that someone either at OLTL or at ABC was more intrigued by Josh Kelly, and decided he was "too good" to play someone as "lame" as Joey. And that's disgusting because it indicates that somewhere, someone had already decided to not take Joey's character seriously - again.

I agree with the reasoning of why so many Joeys and other characters like him are built to fail by this current network regime, but I don't accept that that can never change. This started with Don Jeffcoat, who was told by JFP to "shut up and do your job" but it doesn't have to continue in that vein forever. Which is why I'm always talking about it, and why I think Kelly in the role might have been better. With a demonstrably versatile actor, the show might have been forced to accommodate them. It has happened with JJ's Lucky on GH, to an extent, although that has been far from perfect - the stories are a mess, but because they respect Jackson, Lucky is much less of a dope than previously.

[DRW50]

I think if the actor was versatile in a role which wasn't supposed to be that way, then he'd probably just be fired, because he'd be seen as a threat. It's tough to think of a young actor on ABC Daytime in recent years who was really rewarded for showing acting talent or charisma.

[Cheap21]

I was one of those whow as initially against JK as Joey bc he is younger than his onscreen sisters, but now taht Ive seen him on air, Id have rather seen him in the role. I think it might have worked

[MontyB]

About Joey. What are ya'll babbling about? Really, I don't get it.

[jul21]

that's sure true. It's only about "hot men" now. Jason Tam was certainly thrown out with the dish water and he had tons of untapped talent which could have made his character interesting. Instead Markko lost his edge and turned dumber than dumb. It's just happened faster with Joey. It's really too bad. All designed I guess to prop Cutter who's the new Ford. Perhaps he'll get in a nasty romance with Kelly and then get to be truly in love as a nicer than nice guy by next Valentine's Day! The show has turned into a very repetitive merry go round afterall.

[MontyB]

He is?

[DRW50]

Sleazy, one-note, more about how hot he's supposed to be and how hot it is that women are pieces of meat to him, a nice guy is degraded to remind us what a stud he is, etc.

[dragonflies]

Josh Kelly who plays Cutter was originally going to be NuJoey but they recast instead with Tom Dengan and created the role of Cutter for Kelly who they liked

[aMLCproduction]

OLTL was very good today. I just don't like the short innercut scenes that this show seems to do.

[alexisfan07]

He was absolutely not on that day

[Scotty]

I don't believe he was on that day either.

[ReddFoxx]

Bo should have knocked Clint the heck out, but pulling his gun on him was good too.

[fanOLTL]

I think a big problem with OLTL is what everyone seems to be touching on: We, the audience, are not rooting for the character we're supposed to be rooting for. I agree with the other posters: I like Aubrey more than Kelly, I like Cutter more than Joey, I'm more sympathetic to Marty than Natalie. Heck, I'm even more sympathetic right now to Echo than Viki.

As for Marty's breakdown, I'm sure she'll be back in tip-top shape just in time for February sweeps to reveal that Brody is Natalie's baby daddy, something that I hope is actually true, and not a result of Vimal's DNA tampering.

[SFK]

Sex-starved Kelly falling for con-man Cutter is only going to do further damage to the character. We need a writers room intervention on Miss Kelly. She's sinking. Fast. (Cheap/Carl: She's sunk. )

Well that was a nice little quick reconciliation btw Bo and Nora. Kind of refreshing how fast the show came with it, having Inez spill the beans. We're on the road to Clint's punishment/redemption it looks like, those scenes with Echo and all.

I actually kind of like the Aubrey/Ford bit of backstory, it works and isn't as terribly contrived and convenient as other soapy examples. Still don't like Ford though, and I don't think Cutter's nearly as insiduous as Ford's presence has been to the show.

[Vizion]

Ehh, I actually think this story is the best thing they've done with Kelly since she returned. How is falling for Cutter going to damage her character? That makes no sense. If anything, what this story, that I previously had zero interest in, is doing is creating an interesting dynamic that I didn't really anticipate. Do I really care about Aubrey or Cutter? No, but if they must stay, I am not at all opposed to things getting messy with some confused and mixed feelings involved.

Aubrey starts to develop real feelings for Joey.

Kelly starts to develop real feelings for Cutter and vice versa.

Joey and Kelly find out the truth about Cutter and Aubrey and the ish hits the fan.

That works for me. What wasn't working for me was what appeared to be OLTL trying to tell me who I should root for to end up together in this quad, but today it all became a lot more interesting. Aubrey seems to be having some second thoughts about this con, Kelly has started scheming a bit more to the point that she will

, and Cutter is becoming more jealous of Joey and Aubrey by the day while I'm sure he'll eventually start to really like Kelly. Hell, the least interesting member of this quad is Joey himself. I want to give the actor a chance, but he's not doing it for me so far. I need him to be able to convey something other than lovesick and stupid. It's nice that both Aubrey and Kelly are being given some shades of gray. While a manipulative hobag, Aubrey clearly has a conscious and is starting to feel a little bad about what she's doing. And while Kelly may be doing this because she thinks Joey will get hurt, she's doing it just as much for herself and because a part of her is hoping that Aubrey's past does send Joey back to her.

I like GT, she's quite amazing with good material, but OLTL has been shoveling horse manure her way for a year now (and this is the first time in a year GT hasn't looked absolutely bored to tears). This is the first thing they've done that has potential and I'm sitting here wondering why they wasted all of their time on those pointless scenes with John, Todd and Reed instead of just going with this from the get go (did DC turning them down effect the timeline)?

And I would take this story over any of the Fords, Langston, Inez or Gigi and Cristian's pointless asses.