One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[YRfan23]

Haha, that's a fun, yet somewhat disturbing scene!

With my viewing of classic OLTL pretty scarce, this is one of the few I come back to from time to time and now with the sad news about Andrea, it's worth another view!
 

 

[Joseph]

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I Guess It's Time To Rewatch It

[namkcuR]

Watching some of these mid/late 80s AE clips has got me thinking about the Rauch era and the Gottlieb/Malone/Griffith(basically until JFP became producer) era that immediately succeeded it.  Has any other soap seen two back-to-back eras like that that are so polar opposites and yet both so celebrated/polarizing?

On the one hand you have the Rauch era, known both for it's campiness and over-the-top melodrama, featuring storylines like:

The revelation that Tina is Viki's sister

Nikki Smith/DID 1985

Alison Perkins kidnapping Jessica

The initial Cord/Tina/Maria saga

Viki's aneurysm and trip to Heaven

Everything involving Argentina, Iguazu Falls, Tina's "death" and return, Cord and Marcia Cross's Kate, and Max/Gabrielle's origins

Buchanan City/1888

The Lost Underground City Of Eterna

The Fraternity Row stuff

Viki as mayor

Crown Jewels of Mendora

Badderly Island

Many loved it and still think of it as a golden era, peak soap opera, the heyday of Viki/Clint, Tina/Cord, and Max/Gabrielle, all soundtracked by the Peabo Bryson song; others found it to be too over-the-top, and times delving too much into fantasy and sci-fi.

And then you have 1992-1998, starting with Gottlieb and Malone, and extending really all the way until JFP took over at the end of 1997.  This era is obviously known for much more grounded storytelling in contrast to the previous era, but also storylines that led naturally in and out of each other, starting with:

Megan and Cord's deaths, leading into

Clint/Viki growing apart, enter the Carpenters...

Viki/Sloan affair(some don't like it but I think it's one of the most well-written adultery storylines I can remember)

The Billy Douglas story

Andrew/Cassie relationship, culminating in her 1993 miscarriage and their subsequent adoption of River

Also enter Marty/Nora/Todd/Blair, the Bo/Nora romance, and the legendary Spring Fling story

Also enter the Gannon family

Cord's return from the dead to Karen Witter's Tina

Max/Luna and Max's gambling addiction story

The Lord-ification of Todd and Todd/Blair

Sloan's book leads to Dorian ending up on death row, after which she retaliates by seducing Viki's son Joey, which leads to Dorian telling Viki the truth about Victor...

Viki's 1995 DID story

Todd's 1995 "death" in Ireland and Marty/Patrick/Dylan

Enter Angel Square and the Vegas, which leads to

Luna's 1995 death

Jessica/Cristian teen romance

Starr's birth, Todd's 1996 return from the dead, and Todd/Blair/Patrick/Marty/Kelly

Marty/Patrick wedding/departure

And the last gasps of the era in the early days of JFP imo were the Dorian/Mel relationship, the initial Todd/Tea story, the Who Killed Georgie story which climaxed with a primetime special in the summer of 1998 and Drew's death in late 1998(which Bob Woods did some great work for), but that was it, then the "Rappaport takeover" happened, and it was a different era entirely.

Many have celebrated this as a golden era for the show, for the adult topics it explored(death of children and how a couple can grow apart because of it, homosexuality at a time when it wasn't popular to talk about it, miscarriage, gambling addiction, the question of whether or not a rapist can be reformed or if he should be given a second chance, child molestation via Viki's DID story), the diversification of the cast via the Gannons, Vegas, and Angel Square, and all the new characters it introduced(Sloan, Andrew, Nora, Marty, Todd, Blair, Kelly, Luna, Patrick, Dylan, Addie, Starr, Hank, RJ, Rachel, Carlotta, Antonio, Cristian, Tea), many of whom became legacy characters.

Yet, not everyone loved it - there were criticisms of the show being too un-soap-like, of the stories being too grounded(I've seen someone on here once derisively refer to this era as "thirtysomething in the daytime"), complaints about the decision to break Viki and Clint up, the apparent retconning of Victor Lord's character(and death), Max and Luna(instead of Max and Gabrielle, even though FH had left), and the "90s Tinas", as well as moral objections to much of the Todd stories.

I just find it fascinating that these two completely opposite eras happened back-to-back and are yet both so memorable in their own distinct ways.

[j swift]

My immediate response to reading your well considered post was that part of the difference in reactions to the two time periods may be reflected in the changing soap press.  Soap Opera Weekly was launched in November 1989, coinciding with the end of the Rauch era.  In my experience as a soap watcher, the magazine revolutionized (hyperbole) the fandom by taking on a critical review of soaps, as opposed to digest's recaps, and other fan magazines more fawning interview style.  The prefect example is when Victor Lord's hologram appears in Eterna, SOD played along with the bombastic storyline, but years later when it was suggested that Victor may have been killed by his daughter, SOW points out the lack of logic in the plot.   Both ideas are equally ridiculous, but the different reactions assume a growing maturity of how people are consuming soaps.

So, perhaps each era was well suited to the sophistication of the audience at the time.  The juvenile audience coming of age in the Rauch era was drawn to adventure stories.  Whereas the audience of the Gottlieb and Malone era valued melodrama. 

Finally, your post inspired me to think about how I've underestimated the skill of the actors who straddled both eras.  They were able to play all of those different notes and maintain a consistent character.  I mean, name another actor beside Erika Slezak who could go from an Eterna jumpsuit to an Armani two piece and portray everything from sorrow over a forgotten child to an adult's reaction to suppressed childhood sexual trauma. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by j swift

[Jagger1966]

Sadly, another One Life To Live actress has been lost to cancer.  Bronwen Booth, who originated the role of Andy in 1989 passed away at the age of 59.  I loved her portrayal of Andy and her pairing with Leonard Stabb's Hunter and was sorry when they were two of the dozen or so actors dismissed when Linda Gottlieb took over.  When Andy returned a few years later played by Wendee Pratt, Andy was pretty much a brand new character and bore little resemblance to Bronwen's Andy.  Deepest condolences to her family.

[DRW50]

I'm sorry to hear this. Bronwen had a very interesting look and I did find her more compelling than Wendee Pratt, even if neither actress ever had any material of worth.

A partial 1984 OLTL was uploaded on Archive. 

One Life To Live- July 20, 1984 (partial) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

[danfling]

I never cared much for Ms. Booth as Andy, but Wendee Pratt was one of my favorite actresses on the show.   I feel that her storylines with Antonio were extremely good.   I loved them together!

 

Andy's first husband, Hunter Gutherie, was an attractive young actor, but the storylines were bland to me.

[DRW50]

My main memory of Wendee's Andy, beyond her literally clinging to Antonio's legs and begging him to stay with her, was what @j swift mentioned above when talking about the changing voice of soap magazines - SOD and especially SPW stayed on the neck of her storyline pretty much the whole time she was on the show, especially the Angel Square story in 1995, and went on and on about how she was an idiot and the worst cop ever.

I credit SPW with a lot of this change, as the closest SOD had ever gotten to criticizing shows was the Best/Worst of the Year issues and the bitchy and at times tone deaf "Diva von Dish." SPW often had genuine criticism, along with praise. SOD then followed suit, with the review of each soap that they did for a while in the early '90s, then Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down.

The sad part is by this time it was pretty much too late for the soaps anyway, and even then the criticism was fairly muted (especially compared to what was being said online), but it tells you a lot about the downward spiral of the genre that even the limited comments were finally too much for Corday and co to bear.

[Vee]

Two extremes of sadness and comedy from ex-OLTLers today. First a long, sobering thread re: the strike from Melissa Archer:

FV's casual dismissal of the whole process and struggle sounds a lot like what I've heard about him and re-up negotiations before.

Then, this amusing anecdote re: Kim Zimmer (Echo) -

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Vee

[DRW50]

@Vee Those stories make Frank look pathetic, even more than I'd realized. Imagine shoving Tuc Watkins, who'd been with the show off and on for over 15 years, into a dressing room with people who had just started. And with zero warning. 

At least this helps explain the show's treatment of Natalie.

[Joseph]

I didn't know the dynamic duo was already active in 2004! 

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[Contessa Donatella]

Friday, 7-21-23 GH Snark did a Zoom interview with Ilene Kristen

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On soaps, in order: RH, LOV, AW & OLTL

Born in NY, grew up around performers, first appeared at 9 dancing the mambo, first live TV show at 14 & first Broadway show at 15. 

[TEdgeofNight]

Ilene Kristen played Georgina Whitman on OLTL after she left Ryan’s Hope.

[Leoruby]

Sorry if this isn't quite the right thread for this. I was wondering if someone had access to the 1993 cast list. IMDB is limited. There are good bit/supporting characters during the rape trial, and I wondered who played them. 

People that come to mind...

Milton Biddlecombe (Nerd at Spring Fling Party. Witness at trial.)

Claire Kolczewski (Head of the Special Victims Unit.)

Lieutenant Matthews (Helped with evidence pertaining to Kevin.)

Diane Rankin (ADA. Replacement for Kate Noonan, who was played by J. Smith-Cameron.) 

Carol Swift (Not finding this one floored me.)

ETA, Thank you @slick jones

Edited July 24, 2023 by Leoruby

[slick jones]

If I come across the other two, I'll let you know.