OLTL Tribute Thread

[DRW50]

That's very nice.

This first 1982 clip shows you just how integrated the Southern/country/Texas/Dallas characters had been in Llanview by this time (although Becky Lee preceded the Dallas craze, I believe). There are also fun games between Clint and Viki, although the stripper she hires is a little jarring. She reminds me of Anita Morris, or a knockoff.

This 1982 clip has some very nice Viki/Clint moments, and an appearance by Nancy Barrett, wearing her old school DS hairstyle.

[Paul Raven]

[DRW50]

Tina's ruined return

[DRW50]

April 21, 1992 Soap Opera Weekly. Gabrielle Winkel interviews Linda Gottlieb.

GW: Have you totally adjusted to daytime?

LG: I was just thinking that last night was the first night I slept eight hours. I have been totally sleep-deprived. This is the hardest thing I've ever done; it's a killer.

GW: How did you come to the show?

LG: Almost by accident. Mickey (Dwyer-Dobbin, senior vice president, daytime programs, ABC Entertainment) called me - I hadn't spoken to her in decades. She called me out of the blue, but we knew each other form children's programs when I was doing afterschool specials and she was at NBC. She said, "I am looking for someone to do One Life to Live," and I suggested three other people, and then the next week I called her back and asked if it might be a job I would be interested in. She said, "I'd love it if you were." So she said to watch the show, and I called her that night and said "Is this what it is?" She said no, they were looking for someone to change it. So I got interested and wanted to know how much freedom I would have.

GW: And have you been given a lot of freedom?

LG: I can't think of a single obstacle that's stood in my way. They had a lot set before I came here, there were certain members of the cast, certain things in place. But I changed a lot of things.

GW: Why did you decide to have Megan die? It was risky to not leave a window of return for her.

LG: I think what's risky is to do this kind of storyline. I believe that Jessica Tuck has the potential to be a movie star. I saw her in the place Welcome to My Life and she was really good, so I don't think she will be back. I begged her to stay.

GW: What is your contract?

LG: I have a three-year contract. They told me they thought it would take two years to turn the show around and it's been several months and I am very pleased. [someone] said to me that if this keeps up, it will be the fastest turn around on soaps; I've never done it so I don't know. All that I know is I care about the ratings but I don't face them. I only know how to do what I know how to do - and if it doesn't work, I guess they'll get rid of me. I'm not changing my stripes. I'll leave first.

GW: Michael Malone (OLTL head writer) has talked about the women's angle. Do you think that' s what makes One Life to Live different?

LG: In the end you write from your heart, and that heart is really Michael's and mine, and if the two of us share a vision - which I truly think we do - then that's what the show will be. And it gets to be that simple. My taste and his are very simple, very highbrow in terms of what ways we go. I think our favorite book is Gone With the Wind. We both like highly emotional stories; we like stories that are character-driven. I am much less interested in plot than in who the characters are. There are two keys to the show, the writing and the casting; everything else is a piece of cake. When everybody said, "Oh, the look of the show is terrible, the lighting is terrible, the costumes," in one week they were gone. In one week we hired a new costume designer and she is brilliant. The lighting was terrible and I said, "Who is the best lighting designer at ABC?" I hired someone who changed it and did a wonderful job with the lighting. It was a cinch.

A third key is the music, which no one had thought of. Good music changes the experience of the show - bad music doesn't really kill it, but good music raises the audience. Elizabeth Swados worked for us this summer, but she is not continuing on because she mostly does things with live sound performances. So I hired Suzanne Ciani, who's a new-age composer - which was the last thing I wanted - but I listened to her music and she has such a lyrical and emotional sensibility - emotional and very erotic - and you can completely hook into what she is doing. So I created a musical vitality for each character.

It's like a train going 100 mph but while it's running you have to try to change every moving part. That is how I saw this job. I was totally overwhelmed. The first two months I was here, and I was trying to learn what was going on, I never once went to the control room. All I focused on was the writing; I tried to figure out a writing team. Meanwhile, the old writers were in place. That was hell, to replace an entire writing team and not miss a show.

GW: And I am sure morale suffered.

LG: Totally. I think now the morale is superb. I think this show's done a major turn around. Sure, morale always suffers when someone new comes in, having to let some people go. There were actors and writers who were disgruntled, but it was a long-overdue house cleaning. I think that as the new team settled into place, as the actors began to see material that was so different from what they were used to seeing, they began to enjoy being on the show. I think that there is a real feeling that this show is now a quality show, that it's got the most interesting writing, that we are casting true actors for the characters. I cast some unusual people. The guy who plays Andrew (Wortham Krimmer) is a hunk, I think, but not a traditional [one].

GW: Are you going back to Llanview's roots?

LG: We basically wanted to make Llanview a more believable place, an emotionally real place. A place of highs and lows, a place with class - which was Agnes' (Nixon, the show's creator) original idea. The first thing I did when I got this job was ask Agnes what the concept of the show was. She said it was about the rich people on a hill and the poor people across from them. But I couldn't even tell, they all began to dress alike. Viki (Erika Slezak) had gotten dirtier, Wanda (Marilyn Chris) had gotten very upward, they all kind of mushed together. So we made the sets much more elegant, upped their wardrobe with gorgeous clothes. The haves and have-nots. That' s the basic story, the concept. I want to show a more ethnic side.

GW: What kind of mail did you get on the domestic violence storyline? (The series did a short-term storyline on wife-beating in November 1991.)

LG: Extraordinary mail from women who came out of the closet, and that was something.

GW: Are you like any of the characters?

LG: I suppose. I think I understand and like them all - even Alex (Tonja Walker). I think the part of me in all of them is that they are fun, they have comedy, always, always. All the actors who are cast in the show have to play comedy because I think if you can do that you have that edge.

GW: How are you going to keep the momentum the Schezerazade week created?

LG: We are going into a very strong love story, the Bo/Sarah (Robert S. Woods/Grace Phillips) story. We are going to play that Bo/Cassie/Sarah triangle up to the point where he has to make a decison about her. It's three decent people caught in a struggle of a man married to two women, he has made his decision to stay with Cassie (Laura Bonarrigo) and now he finds himself pulled back slowly toward Sarah through the whole issue of helping her deal with her problems. Now we have a mystery (Carol's - Thom Christopher - murder) that is in place and that will pull us into May sweeps. Then we have Blair's (Mia Korf) revenge against Dorian (Elaine Princi).

GW: What are you going to be doing with Marty?

LG: Marty (Susan Haskell) is going to be involved with various people on the campus, drawn toward Jason (Mark Brettschneider), and as the story develops she might be drawn toward Kevin (Joey Thrower). We jut think that she is a really good character. Viki will obviously get more involved with her, as will Andrew. She is in many ways the way Megan was when she first came, and she has the same disease. We also wanted to show somebody who has lupus and survives.

GW: Any other new characters you are hunting around for, any new triangles?

LG: There is a big triangle developing between Troy (Terry Alexander), Sheila (Valerie Pettiford) and Hank (Nathan Purdee), which I think is a very good story, having a smart, hip, contemporary black guy (Hank) and an assimilated black man (Troy) fight for the same woman. We had a long story done by a black writer named Dennis Wattlington, who is just wonderful and gave us terrific ideas about that storyline.

GW: Was Dennis brought in especially for that?

LG: He was brought in to consult with us about that storyline in particular, and he really sparked us all and got us excited about it.

GW: Sell me on One Life to Live.

LG: The most emotionally involving, original, witty show on daytime, with full, quirky characters. This show moves. If you miss a day you miss a lot.

[Paul Raven]

Interesting about the black writer. At this time they really integrated the black characters into the show,but of course it didn't last. I wish Malone and Gottlieb had have been more interested in the history of the show rather than just selected bits and pieces. They introduced too many new characters.

Edited July 15, 2011 by Paul Raven

[DRW50]

Some more rare footage from OLTL 1982, with Viki in prison. I wish they'd kept the non-crazy cellmate around; I like the actress, whoever she is.

I never knew Delilah was in prison. All kinds of ladies in prison on 80's OLTL.

Watch out for a good scene between Viki and Karen.

[DRW50]

Very rare glimpse of Tony Lord. Which Tony was this? The last one?

It's the wonderful Sofia Landon as Viki's attorney. This means she is established on OLTL and can be on the websoap!!11!1!1

[EricMontreal22]

Who was HW at that time? Was it still the pretty great Sam Hall? Or was this one of the funny interim eras like when Slesar came on briefly to co headwrite or the Corringtons?

[DRW50]

These episodes seem to be from fall 1982, if that helps any.

[EricMontreal22]

So that should be Sam Hall and Henry Slesar. Wiki says:

July 1982 to January 1983 Sam Hall Henry Slesar

March 1980 to May 1982 Sam Hall Peggy O'Shea

[Cassadine]

I'm curious to know what was going on in this episode. Who was Tom? Did Victor lord know him?

[EricMontreal22]

I *believe* they kinda dropped the story, didn't they? He didn't last long anyway...

[DRW50]

Speaking of dropped stories, I was surprised to see, in some of the last of the very very good Dorian and Herb - A Relationship to Remember clips that one of the divine Dorian fans has been posting, a story about some character named Geoffrey. He was Charles Sanders' illegitimate son, and eventually Dorian uncovering this helped her take Charles' job as ambassador to Mendorra.

I had heard a little about the story but I had no idea that Geoff even stayed around Llanview, opening a law practice and taking over Dorian's duties helping prisoners. I never saw a bit of this character, to my memory anyway, in 1987 or 1988 clips elsewhere. So how long did he last? Did he have any stories? I liked the actor and I wish they'd found a way to keep him around longer. It seems like the show was desperate to get rid of the Sanders as fast as they could after a few actors left.

And was Dorian's cellmate Tiny Wade Coleman's mother? I had no idea.

[BKuzak]

this is two great scenes between Viki and Dorian right before Dorian left in 1987. If this "a relationship to remember" is pretty accurate, the last scene is the final one of Viki and Dorian before Dorian's going away party. You can tell that even though Robin was going through hell againt TPTB (which is why she left,) her scenes with Erica and even Andrea were the bright spots of those last few weeks.

[hsfolk]

Edited July 20, 2011 by OLTL #1 fan