One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[j swift]

Do you think there were alternate plans for the identity of her son?   I went back in the Soap Central summaries and she mentioned the son before Spencer came town.  Because, in hindsight, Hugh is such an odd choice given his age.

 

Spencer is a very interesting character in the page (except for his involvement in double vendettas (1) through Paige about Thomas McBain, (2) Asa and Renee and his mom's hooker past.) ruined by milquetoast acting.  I imagine Paul Satterfield auditions well because he was constantly cast as characters who were much more complex than he is able to actually play on-screen.  I never bought Spencer as a threat to all of these people were richer and more connected than him.  HIs existence did nothing to expand our understanding of David's history.  I appreciate a big swing from a writer but this was a miss.

 

That being said, it led to Marcie's summer on the run which I recall as the last proper summer story (including new sets and new characters just for the season) that I recall on ABC.

Edited January 17, 2019 by j swift

[Vee]

 

Only when Higley took over. And I don't think Higley had any idea who it was at first, no. It was not a Malone plot.

 

 

It was actually fall/winter on the run.

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And that was Ron Carlivati's first big story, which tied into Viki's resurgence and new romance with Charlie. Some of Carlivati's best work, IMO.

[SFK]

 

 

I was obsessed with Robin's Dorian in the nineties. Towards the end of that run, I noticed that she was suddenly gesticulating and using way too much voice for the small screen. She had always been so sexy and cool, the way she'd slither in and out of scenes, and my Dorian had become almost clownish (sadly, for me, she never quite recovered from this and it stuck upon her return a few years later until the character's end).

 

At any rate, a few weeks after I'd noticed this change in Robin's portrayal of Dorian, I called her hotline (as I faithfully did). On this particular recording, she talked about how she never watched herself but decided to do so some weeks back. She found her performance to be lacking in vitality and she swore that she wouldn't let the audience down (as if) ever again, going into every scene with guns blazing. *cringe*

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I really wish she had had a director or a good friend to reassure her that she was more than enough and there was no need to crank Dorian up to 11. I know there was a lot going on behind the scenes, she talked about being depressed and unsure of her job position. But it wasn't her acting that needed an adjustment. I look at her scenes from the '80s where she is so cool and calculating, she's divine. But if I'm rationalizing, I guess it makes perfectly good sense that a woman who believed she was responsible for her husband's death for 40 years would unravel into a kooky old lady.

[Vee]

Yeah, I personally didn't see much of it in her '90s-2000 run, but I do feel it was there from the beginning of her subsequent return in 2003. From then on she too often took it to 11. As I said I think what JFP did to her scarred her - on some level I think she partly feared it had been a fault of her performance, and vowed never to let it happen again. I still loved her and (almost) never found her unwatchable or anything in later years, but she went way, way up and didn't need all that.

[teplin]

 

I agree. I think a similar dynamic was in play with Susan Seaforth Hayes and Jim Reilly on DAYS. 

[Soaplovers]

Didn't she also play a brief role on Passions in between her two OLTL stints that required her to be over the top?  I wonder if it was a combination of that plus her feeling she had to camp it up in order to adjust to 'modern day' soap acting that led to the change in how she played Dorian?

 

Her Dorian in the 80s, and than her Dorian from 93 to 2000 was a lot more subdued/subtle.. more like a snake that is friendly, but would strike if crossed.  And Robin Strasser is capable of playing subtle roles (She had a good chance to show that in the mini series Baby M in particular).

[Khan]

I've always assumed it was more of a response to the material she was being asked to play.  Her stories in the late '70's and throughout the '80's, right up to when she left in '87 or so, were more layered, IMO, than that campy [!@#$%^&*] she had to play in subsequent runs -- and when you consider that Paul Rauch was EP for a third of her initial run, that's saying something.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Khan

[dragonflies]

Been watching some OLTL on you tube, gosh I miss it so much

[pdm1974]

I do feel that her later years on OLTL had turned into more of a comic relief role. I do think she handled that change well, and I loved her relationship with David. But, she did lose some of that bite as a character. At that point, it was hard to really see her as a threat to Viki.

 

One part of the character that I always enjoyed was her role as matriarch to the Cramer women. Despite the over the topness, Dorian was fiercely protective of her "girls." I also loved that the show had a core family that was made up, almost, entirely of women.

[SFK]

How am I just seeing this?? I'm weeping.

 

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[j swift]

I have a theory that early Dorian's power came from her ability to manipulate Viki's self-confidence.  70's Dorian seemed more sophisticated because she educated, well travel, and independent.  While Viki was having trouble at the paper like drinking drugged tea or trying not divulging her sources.   Men like Larry and Herb Calason were willing to listening to Dorian without questioning her mental health.

 

Then Clint changed Viki

 

So, when Dorian returned she has to lower herself to violence and threats which really gutted the character for me.  I like the "Cramer Women" but their loyalty was disjointed and they never played the beat as to why Dorian should be in-charge given that she was neither oldest, the richest, nor the wisest.  There was never ever specific sense of respect between Blair and Cassie, nor was there any conflict between them and Dorian for whom was favored.  A  soap family should have a common agenda the Buchanons learned loyalty through oil, the Lords learn about truth through the media, even the Craig's learned the value of communication.  However, the Cramer women were as loyal as the next rich guy in town, they share no moral values or traditions.  They were a family in name only.   

Edited January 18, 2019 by j swift

[danfling]

Dr. Dorian was not the richest of the family members?   If not, who was?

 

Claire Labine wrote a storyline about the Cramer family, but the story was sped up to a conclusion when Ms. Labine was replaced as the writer.  Perhaps this storyline would have shown the family's moral values and traditions had it been allowed to come to a more natural conclusion.

[j swift]

I would argue that Blair was richer at the time, and she was a more reliable resource.  The only characteristic shared between Cassie, Blair, Adrianna, Dorina, and Melinda was their brunette hair with blond highlights,

Edited January 19, 2019 by j swift

[danfling]

Dorian was a physician who moved into town.  Blair was a reporter who moved there.  Dorian did get inheritance from her first husband, Victor.  (I am assuming that she and David Reynolds/Renaldi were not married, although I may wrong.) She owned a television station.   Did Blair receive any money from other sources other than being a reporter?

[Khan]

 

Yeah, from her marriages to Todd.