One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[DRW50]

I wish people didn't put their kids on social media, but it's a cute video.

Thanks again @chrisml for the article.

Red-hot Grace Phillips...

In the long run I don't think Gottlieb did Pat Elliott any favors at all, but in the short-term she did give her some of her strongest scenes as Renee.

Suede was another character who went nowhere fast.

 

[chrisml]

I always felt for Grace Phillips. I liked her Sarah and I wish they had played her to her fullest potential. She is such a good actress and could have done so much with the material. 

My one big problem with Gottlieb (outside of the terrible visuals of the new opening) is that she started the Todd as antihero stories. He should have been killed off not Suede (a character I liked). I hated how they cheapened the gang rape story to keep him around. I'm probably in the minority, but I could have done without two decades of Howarth's Todd.

[DRW50]

As some have speculated on here, something clearly went on with Phillips and the show.

I totally agree about Todd. I don't think it helped that Suede and Marty didn't have a lot of chemistry, but the optics of Todd surviving and thriving while the man who was a rock for Marty died, soon forgotten, were telling.

[Khan]

Same here.  The end of that whole "Wait Until Dark" homage with Todd and blind Nora should have been the end of Todd as well.

I'm not sure how I feel about Grace Phillips.  On the one hand, she was certainly a more substantial actress than Jensen Buchanan.  But, on the other hand, she just didn't click with anyone on the show, let alone with Robert S. Woods.

[Vee]

I admittedly have only seen swaths of her tenure (which hopefully will change soon) but I was always impressed with Grace Phillips. I'm just not sure there was enough on the bone with Sarah Gordon to warrant a major recast. I do understand why they did it at the time.

Any imaginary OLTL revamp would have to do away with both Todds, at least on a long-term contract basis. Todd would be presumed dead since 2013 and would stay that way for a long time, if not forever. It would be liberating having to create strong new male leads to supplant them with their spouses, in its own way. I could see using TSJ's Victor, who can take on any identity, as a recurring mad villain from time to time or even potentially having Todd maybe appear again someday, but you cannot ever have rapist twin brothers leading a show again. It's ridiculous that went on.

And yes, the more you revisit the Gottlieb/Malone/Horgan era in recent times the more you can see how much skewing the show around Howarth's talent destabilized a lot of the canvas. Was a lot of the material strong? Did I enjoy it in the moment? IMO, yes and sure. But has much of it aged well in terms of what it gave focus or priority? Maybe 40-60%. Tops. Yes, the psychosexual layers with Todd, Blair and Marty in 1995 have their compelling angles to watch as isolated scenes, or in terms of say, a stage play or a one-off novel. But in terms of a continuing narrative and having rewatched the rape trial saga recently, it's totally inappropriate.

[chrisml]

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[Khan]

 

I agree, with both points.

[chrisml]

Gottlieb did not seem to have a plan for Sarah when she brought her back. Grace Phillips was such a good actress that she could have done so much with her, but it felt like the story ended with her return. A real shame. 

 

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[Khan]

I still remember watching "Something Wilder" and thinking HBS and Gene Wilder together were odder than Oscar and Felix.

[DRW50]

And that role was originally meant to go to Jennifer Grey, per the show's Wiki, until test audiences complained about the age difference. 

HBS was only three years older, but I guess she was not eternally Baby to them.

Hillary later blamed the sitcom for why viewers had such a visceral reaction to the breakup of Bo and Nora, as they were given a lot of light material through that whole Something Wilder run that most couples on soaps weren't given.

Thanks for the articles @chrisml 

I've always loved that photo of Clint Ritchie.

I remember the hate the character of Clint received from some fans, how he was meant to hold Viki back, etc. All I can say is I hope they enjoyed all the wonderful material Viki got without him.

Edited April 11 by DRW50

[chrisml]

The breakup of Bo and Nora made no sense. That's why there was such a reaction. That's why viewers had such a visceral reaction. It made Nora look desperate and dumb.

As someone who liked Viki with Sloan, I was extremely annoyed with how they wrote off Sloan in what seemed like a choice of Clint over Sloan. I didn't hold it against Clint or Clint Ritchie. I can understand why he thought Clint had been ruined during that time, but I also imagine his drinking and bad behavior was rough to deal with and probably caused Gottlieb to make the shift to Sloan. It was probably a relief for Slezak not to have to deal with his nonsense. Was the chair incident before or after the Gottlieb time?

Edited April 11 by chrisml

[DRW50]

The story itself was terrible, which didn't help. And I don't know if the characters, especially Nora, ever fully recovered.

I know there were supposedly some plans to reunite Viki/Clint which didn't happen, maybe due to the backstage issues with RItchie, but I got the feeling the main reason they killed Sloan was for Viki to be completely broken and set up the DID story, not to reunite her with Clint.

[SFK]

Robin Strasser provided a rather delicious oral history of her return to the show on her much missed hotline. Growing weary of her time in L.A. pursuing primetime work, it was her friend and former castmate, Michael Zaslow, who suggested that she pursue the role of Alexandra Spaulding on GL, freshly vacated by Beverlee McKinsey. Robin took the meeting with JFP, where they discussed "youthening" the part, among other things. The deal was essentially done.  Exiting the meeting, Robin encountered soap press on the street who asked why she was on CBS grounds. Robin remembered how she promised ABC to meet with them first if she ever planned a return to daytime. She took a meeting with Linda Gottlieb, who was admittedly unfamiliar with her work, but was informed of her popularity as Dorian which jived with her vision to use flashbacks of the Dorian/Viki relationship as the show's anniversary approached and archival footage of Robin and Erika could be used.

Princi was unceremoniously let go.

[Paul Raven]

This is something that comes up again and again, when new producers/writers come onto a show and don't bother to learn the history-somehow thinking that the past is unimportant, when that is one of the great assets of a soap. The characters and the audience have a history that can be explored and used to move things forward.

Linda should have thumbed through a few reference books and talked to longtimers at the show to find out what had gone before. She certainly would quickly have learned of Robin, for starters.

[DRW50]

Thanks so much for the details. I can see why Gottlieb would be drawn to the use of the flashbacks, and Robin's many talents. I do feel bad for Elaine.

Do you know if Robin ever spoke about auditioning for Dark Shadows?