OLTL Tribute Thread

[j swift]

Very good lips and he had a fan following.

In fact, I was surprised to see on his IMDB that he hasn't worked in a decade.  I was certain that he was fodder for a Hallmark or GAC film this holiday season.

[John]

Not after that homoerotic model shoot he did with his Twin, Seth

[SFK]

I read the "black bitch" comment as hyperbole and imagined it was followed by one of her signature head back throaty chuckles.

[Khan]

I was kidding.

Lordy, I remember that, lol.

[danfling]

I enjoyed Bruce Michael Hall in the role of Joey, and I am glad that he was cast in the role.   I wish that he had remained on the show for a longer period. 

[Vee]

I have already waxed wistful about BMH's curate Joey many times. I think I am one of the dozen people in America who enjoyed that iteration of the character. It was Malone's obvious attempt to give Andrew Carpenter a heir apparent (right down to his forbidden lusts for married women), and it fit Joey's character background. It just was poorly plotted and given the worst possible romantic partners.

[John]

i think what ruined that jey from me was the Jen to rex to Joey than back to Rex. Made Joey look like an idiot.

[danfling]

But I was glad (and still am) that the pairing of Joey and the daughter of Tina and Cord was dropped rather quickly (if there indeed was a pairing rather than an attraction).

[SFK]

@DRW50 is another fan of BMH's Joey, IIRC. While I found him pretty wooden, in hindsight, the concept of Father Joey doesn't bother me as much as it did at the time. Woulda coulda shoulda, but I picture an older Chris McKenna in the collar really selling that version of Joey.

[Vee]

That was always my preferred scenario, and still is. Though at this point he'd really be more of a community activist in the same ways as Andrew with maybe a dark past re: why he left the collar behind, which we were never privy to.

[DRW50]

I do think Chris McKenna would have done a fine job with that version of Joey, but I doubt Frons would have wanted him anyway.

[chrisml]

In rereading the portion of Jeff Giles's book, I'm curious about Arthur Burghardt. Was he really as awful as Holly and Slezak claim?

[j swift]

Can anyone fill in the blanks of this memory that I have of OLTL?

I have a vague recollection that when Dina Higley first took over as head writer she created a re-set around the idea of storm.  I think SOD hyped up this storm that would change everyone's lives (like the usual SOD hype).  And in my mind, that's when Joey returned as a priest.  But, I was reading Joey's wiki and BMH appeared the year before Higley started writing.

So, does anyone recall the storm?  And did it have anything to do with Joey?

[Khan]

I thought "Storm of the Century," which tied in with a Stephen King miniseries that ABC was airing at the time, was Josh Griffith and Michael Malone's baby, but I could be wrong.

I dunno, I had a hard time accepting Joey as an insta-priest, especially because his joining the church happened entirely off-screen.  It's like, "We haven't seen or heard from him for a minute, and when we do, he's Father Ralph de Bricassart all of a sudden?".

[Vee]

No. That was the "Storm of Change," which was the big event ushering Malone and Griffith back, when ABC heavily promoted at the time as the star writers of the '90s returning. It was in February of 2003. During those weeks Nora walked in on Troy and Lindsay together and dumped him, Joey returned amidst the blizzard, Flash/Sarah hit town, Mitch kidnapped Natalie and Jessica and tried to force Viki to choose which one of them would get undead Victor's heart, etc. I was very excited for it but after the first week or so (which had Nora's great confrontation with Troy, and one of the kinkiest love scenes in soap history with Troy and Lindsay) it became quite a mess - Victor turning up alive, etc.

Dena didn't arrive til late 2004, when Malone was fired. And by late I mean late November-December - the last of Malone's work aired somewhere in the November sweeps period IIRC with an assassination attempt at Governor Harrison Brooks, and it was Higley whose big brainchild pitch (Tess) I think may have killed Tico Santi. I think Higley also had a hand in some rewrites to that election climax.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Vee