OLTL: Discussion for the week of July 4

[SFK]

Totally Minnie, damn, I haven't thought about that since 1980-whatever. Never saw it, just remember the commercials.

[EricMontreal22]

*shakes head* You're missing out

[SFK]

I remember from the commercial them singing, "♫Oh Mickey yer so fine...♫" (which was also used for an I Love Lucy syndication commercial on FOX, "♫Oh Ricky...♫")

Eric, are you and your twin sister identical?

[EricMontreal22]

I know you're too smart to mean that seriously but you'd never believe how many people ask that. No we look quite seperate--I'm taller, have more body hair, much less chest (OK no chest, but I'm working out), and different junk. And she has a smaller nose... Funny how so many people though don't realize that different gender twins can never be identical--it's two eggs as opposed to a split egg. When my sis modelled in Montreal they once asked me to come in with her and then quickly decided I wasn't "photogenic" enough... lol And we have very different interests--except we both like men, I suppose...

[Cheap21]

Guess you didnt see GH last year? Michael was raped in prison and that was handled seriously. They could have doen more with it ut they called it what it was and didnt play it for laughs or gloss over. The character was mentally scarred from it and we saw a change in his behavior and how people reacted to his shift in personality. It was a slow build up to the reveal, but they definetly went there

[EricMontreal22]

I admit I didn't see GH at all during that. For personal reasons, I do try to follow male sexual abuse stories, and the gist I got from that was that they never dealt with it.

To be honest as much as I despised Dena's OLTL she did handle Todd better--but the male rape story was too much...

[Marco Dane]

OLTL is the #1 search on Yahoo

[SFK]

LOL, yes Eric, I was just making a joke about that silly question I assumed you and your sister have gotten more than once in life. I recall how when I was little, kids would say *identicaltwins* almost as one word, incorrectly using it for fraternal twins too (I went to school with at least five sets of twins K-12).

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah our parents split us up school wise (well as far as you can with French schos in Western Canada) cuz we were always getting compared--and as kids I guess we used to speak in a similar language. The irony is I was WAY more competitive with my older brother than ever with my sister. But I'm glad to know you know your stuff

[Vee]

I think Higley and Carlivati both handled Todd absolutely horribly, but in very different ways, two different extremes. Also, Carlivati had some brief, decent periods with Todd - especially now if RH's Todd is real, thereby significantly redeeming the character in my eyes. He hasn't done the [!@#$%^&*] Carlivati made him do.

[psychofan]

I've never had a problem with the direction of Todd. He's a loathesome character. He always has been. He's a character that I hate, but still look forward to watching. Higley brought him down a few notches with the love for Blair and Margaret being the "obstacle", but since Carlivati has been around, he's taken him back to that character that I love to hate. Do I agree with the things he does and says? Heck no. But it's entertaining!

[DRW50]

I don't think RC envisioned him as someone you were supposed to love to hate. He was written as the hero/victim when he re-raped Marty, then as having fun sex, followed by true love, with Tea. Eli'a reign of terror was more of the victimized-Todd routine. If this didn't come across onscreen I think that's down to TSJ not playing it (which, in retrospect, I am glad he didn't, although it meant years of RC's various pets being made fools of).

[Izzy Garbo]

Jessica and Ford will be married in a lavish ceremony at the mayor's mansion. The good news is that a few weeks later Jessica will disappear in a fog. Ford will think she's dead, but she was was really abducted by the Cassadines.

[Toups]

How did you get that? That's now how it was written. If what you said was true, Marty would've fell in love with Todd after she got her memory back. But that didn't happen. Todd was written as a villain once he didn't tell Marty the truth. And Marty regaining her memory was the build up and anticipation to the big climax. I thought was a great storyline and very well structured - it was slow, took months to tell, and a great build up.

[DRW50]

I really think this is what the show had in mind. I think backlash cut the story short. The aftermath was a fiasco - Todd did a suicide attempt to make sure everyone loved him again and forgave him (the show mostly used Jack to tell viewers they should forgive Todd and accept him for what he was), and Marty ran around for months acting like Tori from Saved by the Bell, until she got sucked back into the John orbit. The KAD killer story was rushed through, made no sense (killing of random recurring characters and, for no apparent reason, Talia), and was done solely to, as RC said in one interview, remind viewers that men besides Todd had raped Marty. This led to Todd's final "redemption", when he helped Marty get her memory back, scenes that were very badly phoned in by TSJ.

They spent months showing that Todd's family dragged him down and made him out of control, and more months showing him at peace with Marty. He loved her so much that he even abandoned his plan to steal Starr's child. She made him "good." This all seemed to be painstakingly constructed.

Only when they had to move away from this part of the story, the Todd-redeemed-by-rape story, did they falter.

I think one of the reasons for Ford/Tess is that RC wants his chance to get to tell the story he didn't get to tell with Tarty. Ford is the true victim. Jessica thought Ford raped her but actually she wanted to be with him. And so on.