I am sorry to hear that the two performers did not like each other much.   I had always enjoyed them together.

On 1/1/2017 at 4:20 PM, KMan101 said:

In a way it sort of annoys me that Judith Light couldn't bother to return but under Ron, I really can't blame her or anyone for turning it down. I mean, Julianne Moore is certainly more famous (and I adore Judith Light) but she almost couldn't wait to get back on ATWT and say goodbye. That speaks volumes to me. But on the other hand, many actors, while not 'hating' their soap past, have simply moved on. The fact is Judith will almost always be recognized and remembered as Karen, and then Angela, but moreso Karen.

 

Larry shouldn't have been dismissed at all. Wasn't Frank EP at that point? DePaiva also shouldn't have been axed.

 

Yes, Frank had been there a year when Michael Storm was dropped.

 

And I still hate how JDP got shafted. And Max still had friends like Cord, Tina, and Renee he could have visited in 2011/2012 when the show was leaving ABC; he didn't need to have a big return story or anything. 

On 1/1/2017 at 5:40 PM, Vee said:

 

Larry was basically reduced to cameo status long before Frank took over.

JDP and Fiona were taken out by Brian Frons.

 

I know Gary Tomlin got Larry involved a bit when Blair was pregnant with Jack. He seemed to at least care a little about Larry's existence.

 

And sigh, Jim & Fiona. I miss them so much.  

Again, Mike Storm's rare appearances were equivalent to that of the Yeti well before 2003-04. I hate what happened to the Woleks and there are plenty of legitimate things to hammer Frank Valentini on over the years, but Larry was reduced to a bit part long before he got there. I remember being shocked and pleased when Larry had a substantial role in Viki's heart transplant story in '04.

My first time watching OLTL with any regularity was through the summer of 2003, and every time I saw Michael Storm's name in the credits, I wondered who in the world he was. He was almost to OLTL what Ruth Warrick was to AMC at that point.

I think that Viki and Larry should have ended together!! They are talented actors and their characters were of the best in OLTL!

I honestly was fine with them being friends. If anything, Viki and Larry should've been the Jo and Stu of OLTL. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89zg3Yol47I

On 1/6/2017 at 11:52 PM, John said:

Let.  It.  Go.

 

Do you really trust them with  AMC/OLTL characters, John?

MissLlanviewPA, I think that Gary Tomlin was one of the best executive producers that this show had.  I don't think that he should have been replaced when he was.   There was one thing that I disliked about his time producing the show - I did not like the animation.   However, I know that a lot of viewers did, and I could accept it.

I enjoyed some of his work (and would have taken him over those two hacks at the end) but he gave the show a similar tone to Days/Passions at the time which I hated. Endless, repetitive scenes, lots of dream sequences, a ton of non-starters where we'd think a secret had been spilled but it actually hadn't. And they treated Todd making Blair think her baby was dead like some colossal joke. It was disgusting.

 

The show handing the show over to Todd in the last 20 years was one of the worst decisions they ever made. I didn't understand it, both the actors playing him got clearly sick of playing him after a while and they didn't hide it very well either.

3 hours ago, Darn said:

I enjoyed some of his work (and would have taken him over those two hacks at the end) but he gave the show a similar tone to Days/Passions at the time which I hated. Endless, repetitive scenes, lots of dream sequences, a ton of non-starters where we'd think a secret had been spilled but it actually hadn't. And they treated Todd making Blair think her baby was dead like some colossal joke. It was disgusting.

 

The show handing the show over to Todd in the last 20 years was one of the worst decisions they ever made. I didn't understand it, both the actors playing him got clearly sick of playing him after a while and they didn't hide it very well either.

 

The show also became extremely dark in his last months and I don't know if he realized it or had any control over what he was doing. Unfortunately this just careened further out of control under Valentini and Griffith/Malone and helped wreck what should have been a decent return.

Plus, Gary Tomlin, in tandem with HWs Lorraine Broderick and Christopher Whitesell, convoluted the hell out of the Jessica/Natalie kidnapping and baby switch, probably because the audience was onto their original intent with that story from the get.

Edited January 13, 20178 yr by Khan

2 hours ago, Khan said:

Plus, Gary Tomlin, in tandem with HWs Lorraine Broderick and Christopher Whitesell, convoluted the hell out of the Jessica/Natalie kidnapping and baby switch, probably because the audience was onto their original intent with that story from the get.

What was the original intent

4 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

The show also became extremely dark in his last months and I don't know if he realized it or had any control over what he was doing. Unfortunately this just careened further out of control under Valentini and Griffith/Malone and helped wreck what should have been a decent return.

It sure did, especially with the Niki and Mitch Laurence story

On 1/2/2017 at 0:13 AM, vetsoapfan said:

 

Michael Storm confirms this. In an interview once, he said he found it hard to fake grief on-screen when Lynde's character was killed off, because he was personally so relieved, LOL.

 

 LOL