Dorian may not have been the eldest, but she certainly was the strongest, and most capable to helm the Cramer clan. Her two sisters suffered with mental illness and were institutionalized for decades. And while Todd got that $20+ million inheritance, Todd's money was not necessarily Blair's money. She did use her newfound wealth to launch Melador and the later company, but I wouldn't venture that her account balance rivaled her aunt's. Dorian had been left her own hefty share of Victor's money and assets. 

 

Dorian had that memorable line to Blair about there being two kinds of Cramer women: the fighters and the feelers. Addie, Melinda, and Cassie were the feelers who depended on the fighters, Blair, Kelly, and especially Dorian.

7 hours ago, SFK said:

Dorian had that memorable line to Blair about there being two kinds of Cramer women: the fighters and the feelers. Addie, Melinda, and Cassie were the feelers who depended on the fighters, Blair, Kelly, and especially Dorian.

That's a great answer and really explains the connection - they were all involved in a lot of bullshit but it was always for the survival of their sisters.  It's hard not to think of them as narcissists because they were always focused on winning their part of a love triangle, and yet, obviously they were motivated by trying to maintain their family's care. 

 

There's also the interesting contrast that Vicky is beholden to a family that abused her and stole her child while Dorian is maintaining a sister and daughter who only want her to be a better person. 

 

However, I prefer the earlier part of their history when their motives were more subtle, and we didn't suffer through David and Addie's marriage. 

Edited January 19, 20196 yr by j swift

 

 

The first day of the Old West storyline has been posted:

 

Gah I'm watching OLTL on Youtube and LOVING IT!!!!!!

 

oh and.......

 

 

 

Loving these old clips...Thank you all for posting them.  I miss the golden day of soaps and do wish OLTL, AMC and in fact others were still on or could be brought back. 

I'm sure you have already all seen these but I hadn't ever seen them up on Youtube aside from some clips maybe. This is when Dorian is arrested for Victor's murder and when Cassie loses River. 

 

I would have loved to have seen that prison scene with Dorian in the second clip set to the '95 theme, not the soft porn one.

 

(not posting every video as I know it clogs up the thread)

 

@SFK @Vee

 

 

 

Watching the above episodes I'm reminded of how well-crafted this period of the show was before Linda Gottlieb left. Everything is so smooth and feels connected. 

 

While I generally prefer what I've seen of '80s Dorian, I think this time period was Robin Strasser's best work in the role (especially once she got over some of her overacting early in her return). You can see so many different emotions flashing through Dorian - fear, pride, rage. 

 

I also like getting to see more of Beth and Jason. I don't know if Beth was always just there to die (I assume she was) but she's a very sympathetic and grounded character. It's great to finally see Jason getting more of a role. Mark Brettschneider had such a natural connection with his co-stars, it's a shame nothing was ever done with it. 

Robin Strasser didn't do the super over-acting bit until she was on Passions (and you had to over-act on that show). and than when she returned in 2003.  I had seen her in a few roles outside soaps where she was more subtle, she played against type in the tv movie Baby M where she was subdued and low key.. and wished she would have played more roles like that to show the public her range.

During her break from OLTL in the early 90s, she was great doing straight-up comedy on Coach.

 

Watching that reminds you again of what a special gift Judith Light brought to daytime. And that she got a promo devoted solely to her shows just how much they knew how special she was.

Watching that promo and another Loving promo from the 80s the other day where two characters say "abortion" in the space of 10 seconds reminds me of how puritanical soaps have become. We don't even get love scenes between two consenting adults, hot ones anyway. Today's soaps are completely static. There's no vibrancy to any of the scenes, no one TALKS about anything, every reaction to any event is lethargic. All of the actors look tired and bored out of their minds. There was more authenticity and emotion in that 5 second clip of Karen and Larry on the couch than 39 minutes of Y&R.

28 minutes ago, Darn said:

Watching that promo and another Loving promo from the 80s the other day where two characters say "abortion" in the space of 10 seconds reminds me of how puritanical soaps have become. We don't even get love scenes between two consenting adults, hot ones anyway. Today's soaps are completely static. There's no vibrancy to any of the scenes, no one TALKS about anything, every reaction to any event is lethargic. All of the actors look tired and bored out of their minds. There was more authenticity and emotion in that 5 second clip of Karen and Larry on the couch than 39 minutes of Y&R.

You betta preach. I watch DAYS sometimes, which is supposedly the “best” we’ve got right now, and everyone seems xanned out. A lot of it is probably the speed of production and lack of rehearsal time due to budget restraints but still.

 

I sometimes overpraise an interesting stretch of dialogue on today’s soaps, but then I go back and watch earlier episodes of OLTL or GL or Ryan’s Hope and think, “Wow. How far things have fallen.”

 

They’ve essentially surrendered to their fate. There’s no fight left.