One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[Vee]

I think she got moved into a very straight-arrow, big sister role with Andrew which worked for the character, but which also ultimately bored the actress. And a lot of Andrew and Cassie's stories I find boring to watch! But I always liked Cassie, she was part of the firmament to me as a kid, same as Andrew. I think that's what the audience objected to most when she was fired, losing her calm, intelligent, graceful presence. (Allegedly they were somehow not actually the original plan for either character but were paired due to fan feedback on them together, while the initial plan for Andrew post-Megan - pairing him with loud, big-haired lady cop Maggie Vega - fell apart due to their inability to secure their casting choice, Saundra Santiago. There's an image.)

I know there were rumors of friction with Laura and Bob Krimmer in later years and that she pushed heavily for the pairing with Kevin Stapleton, which did work for her. (She and Krimmer seem very friendly in recent years) I do think she had way too many saintly, agony aunt stories before then. And when they put her with KS they did a lot of photoshoots with her clearly trying to emphasize sex appeal for LB again, and she was stunning. But she wasn't a Friend of Jill, and Tim Gibbs was JFP's priority.

The show tended to treat Andrew and Cassie as a pair any time they appeared near the end of the network run, including their final appearances. I like to think they just got back together.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Vee

[Khan]

I just hated that Cassie and Rob Coronal couldn't work things out, lol.

Same.  As someone whose memories of OLTL go all the way back to '81 or so, I didn't think Bo and Cassie's pairing made sense.  But, Michael Malone needed a damsel-in-distress for his inappropriate "A Place in the Sun" homage with Alex at Loon Lake (or wherever), so....

[Vee]

Michael Malone had nothing to do with pairing them, it was before he arrived. She was a Rauch hire and the pairing (and I believe, Loon Lake) was his people.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Vee

[chrisml]

JFP treated Laura Bonarrigo the way she did Ellen Parker on GL and Alice Barrett on AW. JFP had such a sexist streak to her, and she had no tolerance for female characters who were beloved by fans and often the moral center of a storyline or show. The female characters became so idiotic during JFP's reign. Their IQ points dropped severely. I'm always surprised that later producers did not bring back LB.

[Vee]

JFP's priority was Tim Gibbs, who she'd recast as Kevin over fan protests. Kevin Stapleton was very well liked in the role, and the pairing with LB was pretty popular; Bonarrigo was also unhappy with the recast. But JFP wanted to put Gibbs over at any cost, and possibly Sonia Satra from GL (as Barbara Graham) as well. Somehow Cassie became the villain in a story in which Kevin had cheated on her with Barbara, then Barbara had become unstable, shot and killed Drew and paralyzed Cassie. I thought the twisted turnabout of it where Cassie became Barbara's tormentor was interesting on paper, but I had not anticipated Cassie being written out in the process. (They did at least get rid of Barbara, but I think JFP would've found a way to keep Satra if she could)

LB was just the first. Tim Gibbs continued to be pushed on any available female, and they were all sacrificed for him, including the talented Susan Misner; an attempt to put him with Robin Christopher didn't go over. Ultimately Gina Tognoni left the show after their forced, cold fish pairing fizzled out, and he was so disliked that post-JFP he didn't even get an onscreen exit before Gina. (Ironically, Heather Tom and Dan Gauthier actually became popular as Kevin and Kelly in the 2000s later on due to the show embracing the Alan/Monica Quartermaine-esque dysfunction of their original coupling and its twisted roots under JFP.)

Edited February 20, 2022 by Vee

[Khan]

No.  I distinctly remember Malone (or Gottlieb) telling one interviewer how they were paying homage to APITS with Alex and Cassie in the lake (even though APITS was about a social-climbing jerk who drowned his homely, pregnant gf in the lake so he could be with Elizabeth Taylor).

And I distinctly remember, too, watching Bo and Cassie's meet-cute scene (where Cassie's suitcase accidentally opens in front of Bo and all her underwear falls out) and hating Malone's work already.  (He also wrote the scenes where Cord and Tina suddenly turn the tables on "Hudson King" -- a.k.a. Cain Rogan -- and I thought I would get whiplash from watching them, lol.)

Edited February 20, 2022 by Khan

[Vee]

Malone was not writing for the show til late August or September. Gottlieb might've had something to do with Loon Lake but I really don't think so. And I believe Cain Rogan was created from Malone refashioning the Hudson King, Heinrich, etc. character into his own creation, inheriting it from either DePriest or Carlson. He came in midway through that storyline and changed it so that they turned the tables on him (I think) and created Cain.

Laura is also on record as saying Rauch hired her.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Vee

[Khan]

Look, @Vee, you've said so yourself: you started watching OLTL in '93, long after these stories were over.  I'm older than you, and I watched OLTL (and followed all the latest in all the soap mags) a lot sooner than you did.

So, with all due respect, shut the [!@#$%^&*] up.

Rauch hired her, but neither he nor Carlson/DePriest/Laiman wrote for her.  Michael Malone wrote for her first, starting with those scenes between her and Bo and the aforementioned meet-cute.

How do I know?  Because I was watching the show -- WHEN YOU WEREN'T -- and I was reading all about it (and the other shows at that time) in three different soap magazines.

[Vee]

Do you, but: 

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[Khan]

Fine.  I stand corrected.  Craig Carlson wrote for LB's Cassie (for awhile) during the very final days of Rauch and during that week or so when Charlotte Weil was producing OLTL on her own as well.

But "Incident at Loon Lake" WAS early Malone/Gottlieb.  That's my bone of contention.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Khan

[Vee]

It may well have been Gottlieb, but I don't believe it was Malone. I remember some of us, me included, being surprised a couple years ago when eps from August turned up with Carlson's name, at the very least, being on the show around then I believe. I can't swear to it but I think Gottlieb came first then installed Malone a month or two later.

I do know Cassie's first airdate, because I just watched the episode: Mid-April. Gottlieb took over sometime in July. I usually defer to the knowledge of people who were there, but this is different. YMMV.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Vee

[Khan]

#shrug

By the way, I'm done with this board -- and this time, I will not be back.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Khan

[Vee]

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[allmc2008]

After scolding me for the way I treated J Swift you treat Vee the same way.

Please stay off the board forever you hypocritical louse.

[Khan]

Okay, so I flew off the handle.

What can I say?  I’ve had a rough time of it lately; and for whatever reason, @Vee touched a nerve with me last night.

Still, that’s no excuse.  I behaved like a jackass, pure and simple.  To  @Vee and to everyone else on the board — well, ALMOST everyone else — I offer my humblest, sincerest apology.

Come back at me after you’ve cleared up your syphilis, k?