OLTL Tribute Thread

[amybrickwallace]

I believe it was Ava Haddad.

[Franko]

Thoughts on 11/9/88-11/11/88:

Viki/Clint/Leo/Christine/Michael/Rafe/Jon -- The search for Viki's long-lost daughter dominated these three episodes. Even knowing how this will play out, I still got some excitement from watching Leo squirm when being separately harassed by Clint and Michael. I'm assuming that at this point in the show, the idea of Christine being Viki and Leo's daughter was presented as something we wouldn't doubt. On a side note, I got the chills a little at Victor Lord commenting about the sins he committed against Viki. (And how!) As for Christine, while she's not as tedious as legend has it, I also couldn't see her being a mover and a shaker like other OLTL women. I got a good laugh out of Viki observing that Christine is not as tough as she'd have people believe. "Tough" was not a synonym I'd assume for Christine.

Gabrielle/Michael/Max/Megan/Steve/Delilah/Rafe -- Here we go! My biggest enjoyment came from watching Gabrielle fight for survival and tick off everyone in her orbit. I was a little surprised to hear Megan call her a bitch, as I thought the word was used only rarely on daytime back then. Anyway, Gabrielle blackmails Michael over his arrangement with Leo so that Michael won't get control of (or was it abandon his investment in?; the point is Gabrielle needs Michael's money) her design house, formerly a partnership with Delilah (who douses Gabrielle with borscht during their failed lunch meeting). For added drama, Gabrielle also wants to take the Holden Towers away from Max (and to a lesser extent, Steve). Fiona Hutchinson is just a lot of fun here, particularly opposite Dennis Parlato.

Tina/Cord -- Happy 33rd birthday, Tina, daughter of Dooley & Crystal. Even by TV standards, that felt like an especially short delivery. Watching over the hicks' Arizona diner, Tina & Cord spend the rest of this batch getting closer to reuniting as a couple. I actually already thought they had, so it was a bit of surprise in the Nov. 11 episode when they described themselves as divorced but friendly. Let's face it, Tina & Cord 2.0 was a done deal once they slow danced to "Crazy."

Megan/Mari Lyn/Randy/Wade/Neal/Casey -- Who came up with having a show within a show, Schnessel or Rauch? Either way, I guess I better get used to seeing more of the Fraternity Row saga over the next few months. Thank goodness I have Megan to keep up my interest. And even though I don't care much about Mari Lyn and Wade not getting to play house, Doug Wert could get it.

 

We'll see how long I give commentary for. I'm thinking I'll go a week at a time.

[Vee]

Yeah, I'm going to be heading into the '88 stuff soon after watching a lot of '87 (alongside 1980-71). It's a wild shift.

[j swift]

Maybe Viki was referring to that perm that Christine wore was not as tough as people believed?

I am always entertained by a double hustler relationship in soaps.  They are hard to maintain because one member of the couple is always trying to get the goods on the other.  But, I like that they're bonded over their mutual respect for being cons.  It's like you hate 'em for what they've done, but you gotta appreciate them for trying it...

Later when

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you could tell it would never work out because floppy hair never pairs well with tight curls.  They could never understand each other's separate but equal need for conditioner.

Edited November 13, 2021 by j swift

[Franko]

But it gave Christine so much credibility among the impoverished Peruvians, NYC debutantes and steel town just plain folks ...

This makes sense. It also makes the difference between pros like Michael and Gabrielle and penny-ante folks like Leo. 

Paging Ladies Home Journal! "Can This Relationship Be Saved?"

[Vee]

Christine's hair has mesmerized and terrified me since those old Eterna stills. I'll comment on it more when I get there, I'm sure.

I just wanted to say though that the entire social set of the Ina Hopkins crew - Karen, Ed, Marcello, Katrina, etc. as well as Marco, Edwina, Brad (when did he rape Karen?), et al - is just fascinating stuff for 1980-81, and in some ways ahead of its time. It's an idiosyncratic, sort of alternative social circle almost more tonally consistent with today's post-crash economic era. It's bracing that they let so many of these characters and their entire milieu be so integral in that period. And it's true what people say about the writing for Karen and Marco, it's next level, especially together. I think it was Jozie Emmerich who talked about them and this period in the OLTL oral history and went to the show's writers asking how they came up with their dialogue. She was told 'they're writing themselves.'

Edited November 14, 2021 by Vee

[OzFrog]

Which episode was the Dorian/Karen interaction on? On a related note, it was nice seeing Robin Strasser and Jackie Courtney in scenes together (the bitchiness oozes from Dorian in those scenes) - I can only imagine how that would have been back in their AW days…

[Vee]

I'd have to go back and check but it's one of the first 1980/1981 eps posted recently, near the end.

I remember someone claiming Robin and JC didn't interact much at OLTL but it seems that's not true, because I've seen any number of eps with Pat and Dorian clashing or complaining about each other in the shared workplace over the years, especially lately. Amusingly, Dorian's scheme in those eps to supplant Pat as host of her show on WVLE ultimately seems to have come to fruition; by the mid-80s, Dorian is hosting the show herself.

Edited November 14, 2021 by Vee

[soapfave06]

Vee, that's a great observation. I think the WVLE drama with Pamela in the middle was a repost from a few years ago but indeed Dorian does win that battle. 

We have been very lucky to see a good amount of Pat vs Dorian, I wish they had made Pat work. I don't see why they couldn't put Pat and Larry together after Karen leaves town. Paul Rauch came almost a year after JC departed so no relation there. 

I am loving the commentary on the early-80s and 1988 episodes. 

Any thoughts on the 1982-1984 era? I feel like they dropped so many things and the show died out a bit by then outside of Viki/Clint. Edwina, Marco, Brad seem to become afterthoughts and Josh Hall and Danny Wolek should have led the younger crowd but they were all but gone, with Samantha Vernon and Tina Robert's their female counterparts. 

[Forever8]

Found this BTS video of the ABC Soaps from 1995. 

 

[Vee]

I mean, arguably she did work for a long time; wasn't JC there 7-8 years? I think she's always fun to see. I think they just mishandled various Tonys, and I think the audience was ultimately more there for Viki (and Karen), and then came Rauch.

Edited November 19, 2021 by Vee

[j swift]

An episode was uploaded today from what I assume would be week 1 of the month-long celebration of Asa & Samantha's Wedding of 1981

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bt8bK-IGoo&t=979s

It made me realize three things

1.  How often I conflate Katrina and Edwina in my memory simply because their names rhymed

2. How often Dorian affected her Francophile tone whenever she wanted to convey her snootiness

3. How much younger looking Anthony George was than Farley Granger when playing Dr. Will Vernon (thanks @Vee for the reference).

Also, it is interesting to think of how the tone of this story was the lead into with GH's Ice Princess story of the same summer, because I think one can see how they are trying to play to same demographic while still maintaining OLTL's edgier nature.

Edited November 20, 2021 by j swift

[Franko]

Thoughts on 11/14/88-11/18/88:

Viki/Leo/Clint/Christine -- When the truth came out, I hope Viki took a moment to give Michael or Leo holy hell for toying with her emotions. I'd love to know how OLTL viewers reacted when just about everything occurring in this part of the storyline turned out not to matter. With that said, I was still moved. What a range of emotions for Viki! More than a little "I hooked up with this guy?", weary horror ("Everything came down to money with my father."; Erika makes a three-course meal out of that line.), barely concealed maternal pride and annoyance then pride again with Christine; the heartbreak of facing her crisis alone (Was Clint Ritchie off for personal reasons, or were the writers wanting to have the field temporarily clear for Roger when it was his turn with Viki?); and having to put up with Leo calling the shots. I'm still laughing at Leo's insistence that Christine will react with fury at finding out she's Viki's long-lost daughter. Run-ins with Ursula aside, Christine doesn't seem like she'd ever get mad at anything. Honestly, the only flaw in what I watched (aside from the fact that it'll mostly get undone) is that Niki and Leo's claimed time as a couple feels generically '60s rather than specific to 1963. I just can't buy Niki Smith as a hippie. Looking like an extra from Hairspray, sure, but not a hippie. And could Renee please stop saying "Viki darling"?

 

Gabrielle/Michael/Max/Frazer/Leo/Megan/Steve/Brenda -- As great as Erika Slezak's performance was this week, I was still most fascinated by Gabrielle. Her deliberately jeopardizing her health by getting exposed to a virus has much different connotations in 2021. To think, Gabrielle, a breakthrough case. And what do we make of her putting her life in Michael's hands, which seems to be a bit of a mutual turn on? That just feels so quintessentially OLTL, a dangerous and kinky pairing. Gabrielle's executing her revenge on the Holdens. I laughed at Megan (wearing too much eye makeup) calling out Gabrielle for bad acting when she fainted in the Holden Tower's restaurant. Max had a good line, too, when he said Michael made Asa look like Mister Rogers.

 

Cord/Tina/Asa/Renee/Ursula/Christine -- This week's episodes helped me realize Asa and Renee were already engaged by the time they invited Cord and Tina to share a wedding. The pre-ceremony stuff is nice, but what's really getting me is how much attention is being paid to the younger couple's second chance. Helping deliver baby Tina was significant, both in the moment (since Cord wasn't around for C.J.'s birth) and in hindsight (since Andrea Evans wasn't playing Tina when Sarah was born). For a long time, this is as good as it gets for Cord and OG Tina. And just so that we're not drowning in sentiment, we have Ursula. Poor Patricia, Tanya and the rest of the campers. Not only are they homeless, but they're having to deal with two total strangers getting into a fight and one (Christine) getting knocked out. Leo warned Christine about photojournalism and Viki warned her about the waterfront ...

 

Sarah/Bo/Roger -- I'm getting the impression that we're already past chemistry testing with these two. In the past, I've shrugged off the pairing (another blonde for Bo?), but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. Robert S. Woods (who was also great in Bo and Clint's goodbye scene) was charming opposite Jensen Buchanan. It almost makes up for the oddity of Bo acting like he's been a widower for longer than he has been. It'll be interesting to see how Roger reacts to his daughter getting involved with a man older than the "young man" he imagined for her.

 

Mari Lynn/Randy/Wade/Rafe/Casey/Neil -- Fun fact about Randy's extreme combover: apparently Paul Rauch had the exact same hairstyle (it was emulating Michael Douglas in Wall Street). Anyway, Randy's arm is hurt when he's struck by a chandelier that was intended to kill him. A round of applause for Mari Lynn, for quickly putting two and two together: Lolly's death and Randy's near-death are imitating what happened on Fraternity Row and the victims are people who were mad at her.

[Vee]

Didn't Ursula die onscreen or am I wrong? It would've been fun to see Jill Larson pop back over briefly in recent years, were the shows still around - he's had a career resurgence in genre work like starring in the title role in the popular The Taking of Deborah Logan (a 70s TV movie horror title if ever I heard one), and is also in the new Amazon horror film The Manor with Barbara Hershey. Jill is so lovely as a person but can be scary as hell.

[Franko]

If I remember right, Ursula never died. She just remained at Statesville. It seems that once Jill started playing Opal, there was no more interest (availability?) in having her play Ursula again.

Something I forgot to mention was how much I liked Ursula's interactions with the obligatory mental hospital nurse who gets along with her and later, the red-headed Jane Doe she's able to convince is "Ursula Blackwell."

I understand that Jill was in one of the early productions of Terrence McNally's It's Only a Play. I'd have loved to have seen that.