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.

[DRW50]

I was rewatching a bit of Blair's GH appearance...there's something very funny about MEK doing the drawl that Kassie has naturally had all her career. I guess she should have gone with him to Sarah Sherman's vocal class to win over the haters. 

I had forgotten that they claimed she'd had an affair with David. That just would never have happened. She's more likely to have had an affair with Tea than David.

Not really what I would have chosen for a final appearance of Blair, but still, not as bad as much of what they did with the character during Kassie's run. At least she still knew just how to play Blair.

Edited March 22 by DRW50

[Vee]

Kassie herself was not thrilled about that line and kind of shrugged it off when asked on Twitter. I prefer to think someone scammed Martin on that, because agreed, no way. Sasha also mentioned David, claiming Holly had run off to scam with him during her childhood.

To this day that whole strike plotline mystifies me. I don't think Lucy ever even met Blair let alone found out who she was (despite them heavily teasing it). I have no idea what happened with the Deceptor or Melador.

I do like that Tracy and Blair got along and that Tracy still speaks well of her, though I did not buy that Tracy did not know of the Cramers or Dorian Lord before looking into Martin - Tracy and the Qs would know of Dorian, at the very least, as a matter of business savvy. Like Skye, Blair would make a decent recurring guest antagonist for various characters involved in that business sphere (Lucy, Maxie, etc). But I think that these days GH fans are so sick of crossovers and Frank's friends that I would probably just let it go, at least for a number of years.

Edited March 22 by Vee

[DRW50]

Holly running off to scam with David makes more sense, even if depending on the writing of the time she is either much more sensible than him or much more deranged. 

I wonder if the fi-core writer who came up with the Blair/David stuff even knew of OLTL. If not that would explain why Tracy didn't know of Dorian. 

With Jackson from AMC appearing in the same timeframe I wonder if this is something Frank knew he'd only be able to get through during the strike.

I think if they cut down on the cast and have tighter writing, they could still have more crossovers, but I agree it shouldn't be a priority. (still, give me Blair over Eva La Rue as the noblest homophobe).

[Vee]

I don't think they were thinking it through that deeply, certainly not to the point of the Tracy who knew and worked with Marco Dane and would therefore likely have a working knowledge of Llanview from looking into him. But even without that, most ABC crossovers historically always showed characters like Dorian, Adam, Asa, Edward, etc. having knowledge of each other (or at times past social connections) due to their shared status as power players across the East Coast. So I absolutely think Tracy would know about the Cramers. And let's not forget Dorian became a Senator. (I am a little surprised they haven't interjected a line about Drew getting jammed up by Senator Lord by now, which would be fine with me.)

I do think David having run around with Holly makes sense, I just was annoyed by them using another in-joke on a storyline I despised. I didn't mind poor Jack appearing from time to time tbh, or Nora in the past. But it all goes to what we both said below - this stuff shouldn't be the priority.

Agreed on all.

Edited March 22 by Vee

[VelekaCarruthers]

I think this hottie played Rafe.  Sign me up for therapy!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-meeker-lcsw-aphsw-c-b7219670/

[BetterForgotten]

Eddie Alderson making the news for being a real life hero: