One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[Jdee43]

Looking at the big picture, in what sense did Another World influence this show? Many of the same people, from writers, actors, and executive producers, worked on both shows, usually working first on AW. What impact did that have on OLTL? Did they try to make OLTL a little like AW, consciously or unconsciously? Could OLTL have been seen at some points as just AW but on ABC? 

 

[Vee]

No. Agnes Nixon had worked on a number of shows before creating OLTL (and AMC, which she had in her drawer waiting to come to life). AW was only one of them. Many classic soaps have personnel coming across back and forth all over the map, it's not a unique situation. And to my knowledge very few of the head creative teams at AW came to OLTL. If you're thinking of Harding Lemay, he did only a very brief consulting stint in '98 and maybe '99, and clearly had little actual impact on the writing. Paul Rauch was also a different EP at AW than he was at OLTL, GL, Santa Barbara, Y&R, etc. Nor do I recall him bringing many writers with him. Nor did his work at those shows resemble his time with Lemay at AW AFAIC. Frankly '70s Rauch and '80s Rauch seem like night and day.

Beyond Rauch, the only two examples of key AW additions I know of would be first when George Reinholt and Jacquie Courtney jumped from AW to OLTL in the '70s. They were debatably the first daytime supercouple (some might cite Penny and Jeff from ATWT), and the show attempted to recreate that with new characters at OLTL to garner ratings. This was not unique to these shows; many soaps attempted the same trick after them. It might've worked but Reinholt's behavior once again drove him to quit and/or be fired. Robin Strasser was hired several years later as Dorian, but not opposite them in any triangle. Reinholt was long gone.

JFP would be the other example and the only one who actively tried to model it after AW, bringing over several of her favorite actors from AW and several other shows she'd worked on in 1998-99. She was accused of trying to remake her AW at OLTL, but it was a poor fit because of their being very different. (She tried the same at GH.)

I don't think OLTL was ever seen as 'just Another World' even remotely. It simply occasionally had AW stars coming aboard. And in the late '90s, they didn't fit. Jacquie Courtney and George Reinholt's characters fit in much easier, but Reinholt's in particular didn't last and Courtney's became quite different. OLTL and AW were dramatically different shows IMO, which is why JFP forcing actors from it onto the show didn't work or last.

Edited May 1 by Vee

[DRW50]

Beyond what was listed, I think there are a few other moments early on - Nixon tested the waters of having a black female character in a larger supporting part on AW, helping to pave the way for Carla and Sadie on OLTL. Rachel/Ada is in some ways a template for Carla/Sadie, although Carla was much more tormented and her scheming was from preservation. 

Jordan Charney eventually arrived at OLTL after his AW success, although that was not duplicated. Doris Belack's success was, several times over.  

[Contessa Donatella]

Rachel/Ada, Mona/Erica, a mother/daughter at LOVING, these are all examples of the Agnes Nixon "troublesome daughter/put upon mother" trope. Are Carla/Sadie by any chance one of the pairs that make up this trope?

Another thing that these 2 shows might have in common. OLTL had a very strong thematic approach to socioeconomic differences between groups of people. Class differences. AW at an earlier point had this too but to be clear it was not as much as OLTL. So that is a similarity but marginal. 

Besides that, I see no other comparable things.

Paul Rauch was a very different EP at different shows.

Oh, I've thought of one more thing. Using actors from the Broadway stage.  But, realistically that was something all of the NY shows had in common. So I don't think it has any uniqueness between AW & OLTL.

 

Edited May 1 by Contessa Donatella

[DRW50]

I think they are a part of the same family, although Carla was never really scheming for the same reasons, and once her double life was exposed, she stopped. 

[Contessa Donatella]

“On ERICA versus RACHEL, Erica was a very unique character. ... Rachel was a lower-class Erica, her mother was a cleaning woman, and her goals were not nearly stratospheric as Erica’s. Rachel just wanted to marry Russ or somebody with money. What Erica and Rachel have in common is they thought if they could get their dream, they’d be satisfied. But that dream has been very elusive.”– Agnes Nixon, Creator, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ALL MY CHILDREN, and LOVING

So my takeaway from this, plus knowing the characters, is that both Rachel & Erica schemed for acquisition. They wanted to acquire romance, husbands, prosperity, a kind of low-level fame or notoriety. 

Am I correct in thinking that Carla schemed for safety, camouflage, to keep from getting caught & so for survival? Or did she also scheme for things similar to above?

[DRW50]

Yes.

[Contessa Donatella]

I've never thought about this. I'm curious about what made you think to pose it as a question. I am strong on AW & weak on OLTL. 

Linda Dano & Stephen Schnetzer both acted on OLTL first & then were lifetime characters on AW. Both shows had Agnes Nixon. 

Irna Phillips had two main proteges: Agnes Nixon & Bill Bell. Irna was part of the creation of 2 soaps that in the 1970s were in grave danger of very early cancellation. Agnes Nixon saved AW & Bill Bell saved DAYS OF OUR LIVES. 

After being HW at AW Agnes created OLTL, right? Her first ABC tenure, where before she had been a P&G writer, 1st GL & then AW. (Do I have that chronology correct?)

Both AW & OLTL had very high points in terms of ratings, awards, success & also very low points where they struggled. At times OLTL was considered "not as good" as AMC. At times AW was considered "not as good" as DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

They share anything & everything that relates to being a New York City soap. I think they share that they didn't get the respect they deserved. Both had their female lead be the strongest character on the show & also that they were the unquestioned star of the show. 

When AW's cancellation was announced, Angela Shapiro went to P&G & tried to buy AW to air on ABC. It is not known how she planned to schedule that but one theory was that she would air AW & OLTL both as half hour soaps, back to back, mid to late afternoon. P&G declined & then she tried to buy the character Felicia Gallant. No, again. Then she did what we all know too well & put Linda Dano as Rae on all the ABC soaps. I have dubbed that 'Shapiro's Folly'. 

Honestly, I don't think that OLTL suffered from being "Bay City-fied" or AWfication. However, these are some [nitpick] parallels or similarities. Possibly they are of interest. Anyway, I've had fun with it. 

[DRW50]

Another I wonder about if they thought Joe Gallison would have more of an impact after his AW success.

Was Agnes still involved with OLTL then?

[Vee]

I believe so, yes. But I think that was more a case of hiring someone who was then a popular soap name (much like bringing over Bernard Grant from GL a few years later). To my limited knowledge amnesiac Tom Edwards was a far cry from Bill Matthews, and he didn't last long.

[EricMontreal22]

Yes she absolutely was involved in that story which seems to have gone nowhere.  She didn't start to remove herself from the writing until 1973.

[Paul Raven]

Agnes had written for Bernard Grant for many years on TGL as well as Ernest Graves and Joe Gallison,Doris Belack,Robert Milli,and  Antony Ponzini at AW.

So she would probably gravitate to writing a role with an actor in mind or choosing someone she had written for before who she knew could deliver.

[Contessa Donatella]

I think you can find them here https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/OLTL

What's there is recaps from SOD at the times it shows which is usually from way back up till 2003. Most if not all of this is due to Matt Smith who you may recall from his AW playlists on YoutTube. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks so much for finding this & posting it. This makes me so angry!!!

[Maxim]

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH.