One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[Maxim]

For people that have consistently watched OLTL while it was airing - what are the best years of the show... best eras? 

[vetsoapfan]

I watched and loved OLTL from 1968 to 1983. I would say it was always good, but its best years were in the early days when Agnes Nixon was at the writing helm, and then later when Gordon Russell and Sam Hall worked as a team. 

The show started to lose me after Russell left, and so many negative changes began crippling the show in the 1980s. A slew of important, beloved actors getting axed, and the writing drifting into the toilet, made me finally abandon ship.

[Khan]

For me, the bottom dropped out after Peggy O'Shea quit, in '87.  For the next four years, OLTL still had its' moments, but I just remember the show getting sillier and sillier, with its' grasp on reality slipping.

Then, in 1991, Linda Gottlieb arrives, followed by Michael Malone, and for me, OLTL becomes an entirely different show.

Edited September 14, 2024 by Khan

[Maxim]

Thank you for this insight. I recently got sent 1986 in episodes from a friend who thought I may like them... and I started watching couple of days ago, since in the past I've tried watching it (as I recall 1990 episodes - I couldn't get into it), but surprisingly this time... I've enjoyed these... I don't know how much, maybe 4 or 5 episodes from January 1986 (watching while in bed, preparing to sleep). I'm still getting used to everyone and learning names and who is who... but of course - Tina, Viki-Niki and Dorian are the most iconic so far. I laughed out loud when Tina said to Dorian - I may be old and gray, HONEY, but you'll be dead.

I was asking, because I wanted to know if the show is good at some particular moments and not good at some others (as the situation is with most shows) and wanting to know if I should expect a dip or a raise in quality and storytelling in 1986 and onwards. I remember when trying to watch 1990, it felt a bit cartoonish. But 1986 is like another show... classic soap stuff. And I especially love the production value and the music. 

That's interesting to know. Thank you too for your insight. Are the Michael Malone years enjoyable/good years? 

Edited September 14, 2024 by Maxim

[Maxim]

The moment I was talking about. Loved it so much. I just decided to cut this part. 

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[chrisml]

I think Gottlieb's work from 1991 to 1993 is excellent with a few misfires. It was compelling storytelling, and there was an empathy that was not always there on the show. That time did have the worst opening visuals even if I think the theme is gorgeous.

[Maxim]

I love that theme too

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[cassadine1991]

The 1991 episodes that are being uploaded are entering the Gottlieb/Malone years

 

[John]

The only odd thing I didnt like was the 6 week arcs with guest actors playing new roles no one cared about

[vetsoapfan]

Whenever I finally abandon a once-beloved soap, I do tend to continue keeping up with it slightly (maybe 2-3 episodes per month out of habit) for a while. I monitored OLTL like this for a few years, and while I acknowledge Peggy O'Shea was a good writer, the tone, feeling, stories being told and the cast of characters involved changed so much during the 1980s that Llanview no longer felt like home. Losing Pat, Karen, Carla, Ed, Sadie, etc., just made the show feel foreign to me, and even though O'Shea was a decent scribe, it wasn't enough to keep me invested on a regular basis. 

I'd say with confidence that virtually all soaps have their good years and bad years, depending on TPTB at the time. Some writers and producers just "get" certain soaps more than others, while we have all suffered through scribes and suits who are totally incompetent. For me, personally, I am more tolerant of weaker periods on soaps if the characters whom I care about are still featured regularly. If many/most of them are written out AND the writing sucks, I am more likely to turn away from the show.

I think in his first tenure, Malone started off making various mistakes (short-term stories about people we didn't care about), but he became much better over time. The less said about his second run on the show, the better.

Edited September 15, 2024 by vetsoapfan

[Khan]

Believe me, I know exactly how you feel, lol.

[Maxim]

 Oh my! 

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[Vee]

I just saw the introduction of "Hudson King" in mid-July '91. Is it me or is Stephanie Hobart literally locked away in the set that will quickly become a lot of the remodeled Llanfair (or maybe Marty's house/La Boulaie, or the carriage house)? Meanwhile Kerry Nichols is instantly written out in a day. This is how GH should still be handling a mass exodus!

Chris McKenna really was amazing from the jump. Nathan Fillion was great and seminal but McKenna will always be my preferred Joey. He, Jessica Tuck and even Joey Thrower are a great and very funny sibling trio in this stupid caper about hunting down where Stephanie has been taken by Uncle Carlo. (In which a henchwoman is dumb enough to buy 13/14 year old Joey as a pest exterminator.) The actors and long relationships really put a lot of the show over, including with Tina and Viki talking about how far they've come. This all just reminds me why I'll always probably keep Karen Witter first as Tina in my heart, even if Andrea was amazing and wonderful.

I wonder when they decided to keep Tonja Walker vs. canning her after Loon Lake. She can still be so scary yet also so hilariously campy. Threatening Cassie with a chunk of apple at the end of a knife while ranting about apples having peptids. There is some truly bizarre dialogue here as well as some ridiculously circular material with Bo and Cassie as they strain to get Alex's pregnancy lie out of their mouths. Then there's Carlo and his streetwise henchwoman bantering about how acorns don't grow on vines and "botany wasn't my strong subject." What?! These weird-ass dialogue soliloquies just go on and on. There's some decent humor and interplay in these eps but over half this dialogue makes me feel like there's a gas leak in my home. I really hope Gottlieb fired a lot of these people. It feels like a writer's strike situation!

Didn't Lee Ann come on within a day or two of Gabrielle being sent off to the hoosegow in April or May of '91? (The episode with Gabrielle's exit, sadly, is apparently not available.) By July Max is already banging this young girl and trying to entice her with... a gigantic stuffed horse. Okay.

Edited September 16, 2024 by Vee

[Maxim]

I'm getting hardcore hooked on 1986. Didn't expect this. At all.  

[John]

Chris McKenna and Joey Thrower had great brotherly chemistry. I wonder why they replaced Thrower with Kirk Geiger (Who I really liked and was when I began watching OLTL)