OLTL Tribute Thread

[DRW50]

Wasn't he upset enough about something to throw furniture around or was that someone else? 

[Soaplovers]

If I recall, Malone was more interested in short term arcs rather then long term stories so it's possible he might not have had an end game in terms of a love interest in mind for Luna at first.

I recall that Luna had a crush on Max when he returns to the canvas, but it was unrequited.   

I think once Cord leaves, Max/Blair are tested and the show opts to go with them with Asa thrown in as a big obstacle with Luna waiting in the wings until she has a brief love interest of her own (Suede.. I think was his name). 

Mia Korf also quit the show suddenly in early 1993 and I recall that the writers had to scramble to re-vamp their Feb 1993 sweep plans since she was heavily going to be featured along with Max/Asa.

[Vee]

They were definitely playing Max/Luna in '92 from what I recall. A sort of Luna/Max/Blair/Asa quad IIRC. I believe they get together in the fall of '92 after Luna has been pining unrequited for almost a year, while Max is besotted with Blair. By the time Blair leaves I think they're set, though I may be wrong.

I believe Suede mistook Luna for his wife but I think he was always intended for Marty, which flopped. But I have to watch/rewatch a lot of this.

He was upset with Gottlieb in general, but I don't think that was necessarily about Max and Luna. At least I never heard that. A lot of the men were said to throw tantrums with Linda Gottlieb based on various aspects of the show (not that that's acceptable). The same seemed to happen with Tony Geary and Wendy Riche at GH.

Edited March 15 by Vee

[EricMontreal22]

I think the short term story arcs were actually Gottlieb's idea, from what I recall from the oral history.  But it wasn't really until Josh Griffith came on as associate and then co-headwriter that Malone seemed to understand a traditional soap storytelling model.

[Khan]

That was my understanding as well.  (I haven't read the oral history). 

The short-term arcs were part of Gottlieb's overall plan to "reinvent the (soap) wheel," as it were.  Fortunately, I think they were enough of a bust that she had to kill the concept and allow her writers to tell more traditional storylines.

Overall, I'm not as fond of the Gottlieb/Malone era as most fans tend to be.  I think it was well-written and well-produced, but it just wasn't OLTL.  But I do admire how the two were able to integrate music into the overall storytelling, especially because this was happening at the same time that DAYS, who'd always been tops in that department, was no longer using music as effectively as they had had in the past.

[Vee]

Odd timing: Just as we were discussing the Daniel Colson saga, Mark Dobies has passed away.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah sad--and still pretty young.  I admit, I may have hated much of the writing for his character, but always kinda had a crush on him...

[Khan]

Whenever I think of Mark Dobies and his OLTL run, I think of the one, odd request he had made to producers before they outed Daniel: "Please don't put me in black leather pants."

[DRW50]

He must have watched a lot of Police Academy.

I mainly remember him from his ultimately pointless GL run but he was a handsome guy, and he played whatever he was given as best he could. His OLTL work in particular was unplayable, but he got through. And the story will always be talked about, for worse or worse.