OLTL Tribute Thread

[Khan]

I understand Brynn Thayer's reasons for not returning to OLTL with MZ...but I so wish she had.  I feel like watching Jenny and David grapple with his ALS together would have been very touching to watch.

[Vee]

I think the way that was done, and by Thayer's own choice IIRC, they left the door wide open for Jenny to turn up alive someday.

[Khan]

Yeah, it was by her own choice.  IIRC, Thayer didn't want her potential return to overshadow Zas' return OR his desire to shed light on ALS.  So, JFP or the writers devised the explanation that Jenny was presumed dead in an avalanche.

It's just a shame that OLTL went off the air before they could bring her back.

[John]

Brett Claywell (Kyle) is interviwed by the One Tree Hill Actresses Sophia Bush, Joy Lenz (Michelle, GL) & Hillarie Burton

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-brett-your-life-w-brett-claywell-aka-tim-smith-ep221/id1571792783?i=1000560006948

Brett comes in around 27 mins in

He talks OLTL starting about 50 mins in

Edited May 11, 2022 by John

[victoria foxton]

@John Great find. 

May 6,1992

[Contessa Donatella]

If I dig in here will I find the story of Michael Zaslow returning to OLTL & playing out an ALS storyline as David Renaldi? I think I've learned just about as much as is possible about what happened at GL & all I can do is guess then that JFP somehow found a right thing to do & did it. I have 3 good things that JFP did compared to hundreds of bad acts. But I am suspicious to give her credit. I'm just a cynic when it comes to JFP. I know behind the scenes GL & now am in search of behind the scenes OLTL. Many thnx.

[Soapsuds]

 

[Vee]

I've only watched part of the Florencia interview but she gushes about KDP a lot. And she looks amazing unmade up. Hard to believe it's been almost ten years. She also talks about the terror of Live Week, which IIRC was her first airdate on her 2002 return. (I seem to recall her flubbing her lines on Day 2.) And gushes about working with Robin Mattson who she grew up watching on GH, and loving working with Kim Zimmer on OLTL. Then starts going in about Linda Dano! I didn't know FL was such a child of the soaps - she's very passionate about them.

Florencia is now a playwright as well as a performer. Frankly the soaps could do worse than importing executive talent like that, as they once did with others like Francesca James.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Vee

[SFK]

Thanks for sharing. Loved seeing Dorian at the piano in that protracted scene about her childhood. Hearing her talk about being the middle child bookended by artistically gifted yet mentally/emotionally troubled sisters was quite touching. It’s nice to see that the show would later build upon the history established in this scene rather than forgetting or ignoring it.

Kassie DePaiva should have been another Cramer daughter. Every time I see Mia Korf, I’m back to square one.

Also! Color me shocked to see that there was an actual onscreen Rodi once upon a time! And played by LaTanya Richardson Jackson at that!

[Vee]

I knew of the real Rodi, but I think that's my first glimpse of her.

While you can't undo what was done with Blair and I loved Kassie in the role, the recast should never have happened the way it did. I have long thought there is a certain smart way to weave Mia Korf back into the fabric of OLTL to acknowledge her contribution, which was way, way ahead of its time and still is current toda.

[victoria foxton]

   Whatever Happened to Mark Philpot 

Edited May 17, 2022 by victoria foxton

[TEdgeofNight]

I liked Elaine Princi as Dorian and Mia Korf as Blair.

[danfling]

 

Actress Lee Lawson (Wanda Webb Woleck #2 on One Life to Live) has passed away.

[j swift]

I was reading about how CBS delayed an episode of a procedural because of yesterday's school shootings and it got me thinking of the similar situation that happened to OLTL.

In hindsight, I think it is at least debatable whether or not  a dramatic series should re-write a plot based on current events.  I understand that networks don't want to seem as if they are profiting off of suffering, nor do they want to further traumatize their audience by replaying recent issues in the news.  However, I also think there's an argument to made that seeing beloved characters go through a traumatic event and watch their recovery could send a powerful message about the effects of gun violence in schools. 

In OLTL's case, obviously their plot was planned far in advance of the actual event.  I think there is value in seeing a dramatized version of the lead-up to the event in order for people to understand that these violent individuals are not spontaneous monsters, but they are troubled humans.  I also think watching parents and teen discuss and cope with the event would give voices to varied opinions we see online.

In short, I think the standard response that we cannot view a dramatized event after a real incident deserves a second look, because it begins to fall into the "thoughts and prayers" category of meaningless media responses to tragedies. 

[Vee]

I do think there is absolutely room to do a school shooting/gun violence story on soaps. But I remember the storyline on OLTL, and who was writing it (Dena Higley) and the depth or lack thereof of all the characters involved, including the would-be shooter played by a young Jonathan Groff, and I think it would've been a debacle.

The weird irony is Higley actually had her finger on the pulse of several key 'ripped from the headlines' social issue storylines during her tenure - first aping the Jim McGreevey closeted gay scandal with Daniel Colson, then school shootings, and finally the rise of the new undercover white supremacist cells online and in media with "One Pure People" and Chris Beetem's Tate Harmon character. The big moment where Bo confronts Colson (and Nora standing by, watching) at his swearing-in ceremony is classic soap, if you remove the quality of the content itself. These are all storylines and issues soaps, especially socially conscious soaps like OLTL, can and should deal with. It's just that the actual content of the storylines Higley built and executed was crass, poorly-built, superficial or tasteless. The Colson and One Pure People storylines can and should be done so much better.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Vee