Well, did Gordon Russell work on both A Falme in the Wind/A Time for US and The Nurses?

Also, continueing with Gordon Russell, in some ways, he carried his style from Dark Shadows over to One Life to Live (two very different stories).

Karen Woleck and many of the Dark Shadows characters (Barnabas, Chris, and the more complex Quinton) were all bad characters who could not help themselves and wanted to be normal.

February 1987 Digest

I didn't know that JL did a soap before OLTL.

He was on Search for 5-6 months or a year, yes. He left to do OLTL, I think.

That photo made me laugh a little. It's just so her.

There was so much about Ron's OLTL that really turned me off when I think about it. It's funny because his 2008 got me BACK into OLTL. I think he means well but the man is a hot mess.

Anyway ... speaking of hot messes. Wasn't in the mood for my local news this morning so I wound up on OLTL on SoapNet. UGH. Worst time of course. Schuyler is waving a gun around at Gigi. Destiny and Dani are about to go head to head over a role or something. I can't remember. It was nice seeing Barbara Garrick and Ilene Kristen being amazing (Allison was telling Roxy her son, Schuyler, was alive). Oh. Kelly's looking ROUGH at John's, this was her return right? And I think we have Teen Jessica with Cristian and Natalie all up in on it. UGH UGH UGH.

That period burned me, not gonna lie.

Edited February 27, 201312 yr by KMan101

Anyway ... speaking of hot messes. Wasn't in the mood for my local news this morning so I wound up on OLTL on SoapNet. UGH. Worst time of course. Schuyler is waving a gun around at Gigi. Destiny and Dani are about to go head to head over a role or something. I can't remember. It was nice seeing Barbara Garrick and Ilene Kristen being amazing (Allison was telling Roxy her son, Schuyler, was alive). Oh. Kelly's looking ROUGH at John's, this was her return right? And I think we have Teen Jessica with Cristian and Natalie all up in on it. UGH UGH UGH.

That period burned me, not gonna lie.

For me, i'm not watching it right now. Just like originally, I didn't watch when Viki was away. Remember during this time Erika needed back surgery and was gone for a couple of weeks. The good thing about this is they show three episodes a day so I beleive Viki will be back on Friday.

Has anything been said for those of us in Canada?? I know Hulu isn't an option for us but will we be able to watch on itunes or some other format?

Sigh. There's a few of us waiting for word on that.

Sigh. There's a few of us waiting for word on that.

Me.

Last year PP said, before it crashed, that Canada would be included as they knew how many viewers they had. I hope that keeps--maybe iTunes will allow it--I admit at this point I'd be willing to pay (within reason).

Yes, OLTL was quite different from other shows in the late 70's. It was the only show that featured a seedy, seemly take on sex, prostitution and fetishes. Karen Wolek was a character that was particularly interesting. Remember the time she went to the River Rat bar and goaded a potential john into beating her up? Or how she traded sex for jewels and clothes before her full fledged descent into prostitution? And then there was Katrina Karr, a hooker/junkie that was always in trouble, getting beaten or looking for her next fix. This was mature content for my then 13 year old self to be watching! Ivan took the cake, though, with his sexual fetishes, his frigid repressed wife and preoccupation with hookers and scarves, LOL! I have to believe that the network just wasn't paying any attention to all this lurid content, otherwise, it would not have aired as it did. It was all very provocative, and believably rooted in character. Ivan was fascinating, though I don't think the character could have worked long term. To redeem him would have been implausible, IMO.

Don't forget they brought him back (was that under Rauch or just before) as a GH style Supervillain who implanted Larry with a mind control gadget and had a robotic arm!

The network may not have cared as much--or it may have also been that OLTL's ratings were finally at the time on an upswing (as most of their shows were really hitting their peak).

I really wish I could see more of AMC and OLTL from this era (77-80) as I think both shows were so strong, and they also seemed like they really complemented each other (down to OLTL being more urban and gritty, etc).

Edited February 28, 201312 yr by EricMontreal22

After the cancellation of Dark Shadows, Mr. Russell and Mr. Hall were offered co-headwriting jobs at One Life to Live. This is the point, I believe, that Agnes Nixon mostly turned the reins of the who over to others (and I don't think that she would have done that unless she really believed that these writers were good and capable).

Yes, apparently Nixon picked Russell herself, and helped fit him into the show. I wish someone would ask if Nixon was a DS fan... It;'s true that every so often she seemed to go for gothic stories (of course not to the same level), and she has said that she always wished she had had the foresight of Dan Curtis who, despite the cost, saved the show's videotapes, but that's all I've heard.

And yet, Dark Shadows' co-creator and first HW (pre Barnabas) was Art Wallace who was a story consultant for the early years of AMC, and there were a few other connections. Of course some of this could have been ABC's suggestion (although Nixon owned her shows at the time,) but...

Many DS fans and books have mentioned how it was Russell who gave Barnabas and other characters a more melacholic, soulful persona with long monoogues, etc. He truly was one of the best soap HWs, IMHO, it's too bad more of his work doesn't survive (OLTL did seem to suffer, ratings especially, for a while when he took over in terms of finding its style, partly as he seemed to do a more operatic version of Nixon's social issue stories OLTL had been most noted for--I wonder if he ever considered using Nicki Smith? Wiki said somewhere that he made the focus a bit less on social stories and more on haunting character studies, and that makes sense)

I was watching YouTube on Friday night, and I found this episode from 1980s that listed the headwriters (of One Life to Live) as Sam Hall and Peggy O'Shea with the writers being Gordon Russell, Don Wallace (the originall executive producer of One Life to Live) and Lanie Bertram. Mr. Russell died in the summertime, and this episode aired in the summer, so I think that this was when he was leaving One Life to Live to work on the serial General Hospital.

I was not too impressed by Mr. Hall and Ms. O'Shea (a former writer of Search for Tomorrow). I cannot remember who took their place.

From what I saw, I think Hall did a fine job, but wasn't quite up to the standards of when he wrote with Russell. That early 80s era pre Ruach is so confusing writer wise--the Corringtons replacing Hall, then Hall quickly replacing them with (I think) Slesar, etc. I wonder if Hall left on his own or was fired--ratings still seemed to be decent when they felt the need to change EP.

I don't have a copy here, but I seem to remember Schemering's book said the Corringtons' year or so was too mob and violence heavy and confusing, and the blue collar family they introduced were not too popular.

I think Peggy O'Shea had talent. Rauch wanted an increasingly campy, "rich people" show, and she seemed to still manage to include some depth and psychology into his concept--so I don't blame her for the direction the show was taking. It was still pretty strong on tis own terms. When she left (did she pass away?) and her associate writer S Michael Schnessel took over is when the show REALLY went all camp.

I don't think she passed away.

I always got the impression the show's main struggles started in the early 70s when they couldn't figure out how to move on as viewers tired of social issues.

How annoying that her IMDB page is half-full of credits of an actress named Peggy O'Shea. I hate when IMDB gets that wrong and no one knows how to correct it. I doubt she was on Neighbours for 5 years

I don't think she passed away.

I always got the impression the show's main struggles started in the early 70s when they couldn't figure out how to move on as viewers tired of social issues.

How annoying that her IMDB page is half-full of credits of an actress named Peggy O'Shea. I hate when IMDB gets that wrong and no one knows how to correct it. I doubt she was on Neighbours for 5 years

LOL

I agree, but that started to happen with OLTL as Nixon focused more on AMC (*glares at anyone who brings up the red-headed step child syndrom*) and carried over to Russell's early years. And still, reading those stories of the time, they seem like vintage soap to me.

When I read about stories from the early-mid 70s, nothing ever jumps out as wrong or boring. It's not until we get to 1981 or so that I begin cringing.

When Sloan Carpenter and Ben Davidson died was Viki currently married to them?

She'd just married Sloan right before he died.

She was still married to Ben, who'd been comatose for over a year. They were married for about two years before he was shot.