OLTL Tribute Thread

[Khan]

Long also wrote the story involving Kevin, Cassie and Barbara Graham, played by Sonia Satra.

[soapfave06]

I didn't know Eileen Siegel ws also a guest on AMC. What did she do?

As far as I know, only Larry appeared. And before that, GH's Steve. Hardy was a guest on OLTL.

I would like to see the earlier years as well. Anything with Gillian's Viki/Niki or the Carla passing for white would be a dream come true but I have honestly lost hope.

[DRW50]

Eileen was a friend of the Martin family, I believe. Eric would know more but if you go to Agnes Nixon's site that episode is available.

That OLTL episode aired in primetime because of preemptions, I think. It had a "film" look which Marlena de la Croix, I believe, described as the camera being dipped in dirty bathwater. It was a hammy mess, but then, with Roger Howarth around, what else do you get.

[soapfave06]

Wow! Thanks, I had no idea that episode was up. Can't wait to watch.

Edited April 26, 2013 by soapfave06

[saynotoursoap]

Eileen had been a schoolmate and best friend to Joe's late wife Helen, who had died in 1968, shortly before AMC premiered. Eileen's kids Timmy and Julie were also friends with Tara Martin, Joe's daughter.

[saynotoursoap]

No, the stint with Pam Long did not work out. For starters, Pam had been trying to move away from daytime to write and produce her on nighttime dramas, but she could not ignore the allure of the cash ABC offered. She and Jill Farren Phelps possessed two completely different visions of what OLTL should be in tone. Pam wanted something earthier, more family and friendship driven, with her patented touch of sentimentality. Jill wanted the status quo of darker, edgier, with the music montages and so forth she had honed on GL and AW. Pam's philosophy was that in order for a series to be successful, it needed a single vision. The vision could be the writer's or the producer's, or they could agree to a collective vision. But, in this case, she and JFP disagreed. In the end, she felt it better to leave and let Jill have her own vision.

Pam also said that ABC Daytime in the late 90s was a very toxic environment. During the story meetings, writers and management were openly hostile to one another, which she did not like. Also, she had a great deal of trouble writing for the actors. She said that Roger Howarth was a particular nightmare, because ABC wanted the main storyline to revolve around Todd, but Howarth had a list of things he absolutely refused to act. Pam felt attempting to write for him was like walking through a minefield. She had to tiptoe around all of his demands, and even then, there was no guarantee that he would play what she wrote.

[Khan]

For sure, JFP's vision created one of the least appealing eras in OLTL's history. However, I'm not so sure Pam Long's vision was appropriate for the show either.

Thanks, saynotoursoap, for the insight and background regarding Long's stint. It surprises me none to read about Roger Howarth's attitude during this period or that relations between management and "creative" were piss-poor. All you had to do, really, is watch one episode to realize there was bad blood all around BTS.

[DRW50]

Thanks. That doesn't surprise me. Howarth was probably at his most conflicted with Todd in the late 90s and you could see the schizophrenia in what they were trying to write for him and what he would play. The Labines and Long were both stuck with this because it was kind of obvious that someone wanted him to have more of a sexual relationship with Tea, and he didn't want to play it.

I don't have a hard time believing that most of that OLTL was JFP. I can't see Pam Long writing scenes like Rachel being beaten bloody with a phone receiver.

As the years have passed I've come to respect Long as a writer more, through her GL work. I'm sorry that she never had a good chance with another soap.

Edited April 26, 2013 by CarlD2

[Soaplovers]

I don't think either Long's or JFP vision for OLTL truly fit... though I think Long's version might have fit a little better then JFP's vision... just a little bit though.

I looked up her stint and saw it covered most of 1998, and I do think that matches up with Lindsay's arrival, her initial friendship with Dorian, and her marrying Clint. She and Nora were hostile, but not as toxic either from what I recall of her first several months on the show.

It seemed like once Pam Long left, that was when Lindsay's focus changed to breaking up Bo and Nora, messing up the paternity results, then having the memory erasing drug injected into Nora. It just didn't seem to fit the Lindsay of the first several months of her stint.

[Khan]

Oh, God. Don't we accuse Ron Carlivati all the time of doing things like this on GH?

[Vee]

I don't see a problem with any of that.

[EricMontreal22]

Yes, she is on one of the episodes on Agnes' website--she's a family friend of Joe's (this was before he married Ruth, so very early on, I think in the first month) and stops in as she said her husband had some business or an appointment in Pine Valley. I wonder if it was advertised or anything to try to get OLTL viewers to try out AMC.

I didn't know OLTL 's primetime episode only happened due to pre-emptions. I remember it was seen a sa big deal that "poor" OLTL got a primetime special.

Pam Long's run at OLTL was not very good IMHO. I think it was on Brandon's Buzz that Long mentioned that she just didn't fit at One Life under JFP. THen we got a muddy period where JFP seemed to be writing stories (she may have already been dictating some stories to Long and later McTavish, going by the style.)

[DRW50]

I might be wrong. For some reason I thought this was the reason for both OLTL and GH around this point. I think it being summer was also a factor.

[EricMontreal22]

What were the circumstances of Larry coming on AMC?

[Khan]

Wasn't there also a period when Harding Lemay served as story consultant?