OLTL: Discussion for the week of September 5th

[DeeeDee]

[Khan]

What are you talking about? That mop never looked better!

[Antoyne]

Question for people who watched at the time. When did Rodd finally start to feel remorse for what he did to Marty, because I always read it's after Luna gave him the scar but I just watched the scene where he killed Suede and though the video is blurry I think I see the scar.

[EricMontreal22]

Rodd lol Wasn't it afer the second rapist storyline?

[TeamEric]

Yeah the Rodd name struck me funny too.

Todd's remorse actually started during the rape therapy sessions which preceded the hospital rapist story. Todd broke down crying in Rebecca's arms after one really tough group session. Todd admited he felt worse than Peter Manning and the self-loathing was the first real step in expressing genuine remorse.

By time Powell held Todd hostage and helpless, Todd was well on his way to knowing he could never make it up to Marty. The Powell/Todd scene was cut by the censors because Malone wanted Powell to more than imply he was going to rape Todd to make him feel Marty's pain.

[EricMontreal22]

Wow I had no idea about the last point... It certainly is more dramatically compelling than having Todd attacked by Margaret, particularly as they didn't seem to know whether those scenes were meant to be horrific or hilarious.

[TeamEric]

Due primarily to Gottlieb's influence Todd's 1993-1994 story was told more in a docudrama style. The gang rape sequence was called the most graphic ever in daytime and Gottlieb spoke out how she had to fight tooth and nail with the censors to get it to air. Todd stalking Nora the beachhouse was also edited a bit due to censors. Todd and Rebecca's Dirty LIttle Thrill scene was another very controversial scene.

Powell was meant to be gay and in denial over his attraction to Todd. That never made it to air though the homoerotic overtones between the characters remained and that scene implies Powell was going to rape Todd... if you watch closely the threat hangs in the air and Todd is freaking out.

I believe the hospital rapist story was the last Malone story Gottlieb influenced.

Margaret was campy soap at its worst, IMO.

[Khan]

Go ahead, say I have a dark and twisted imagination...but I would have enjoyed the heck out of all that between Todd and Powell. Not enjoyed in the sense of sensual pleasure, but as a fan of what I call "balls-to-the-wall soap opera"? Yes, please!

[EricMontreal22]

I was going to say Powell always came off as gay. While it's always dangerous to flirt with the gay=rape, murder theme on a genre not known for showing positive portrayals of gays (especially back then), it would have made perfect sese, unlike the farce of the Daniel Coulson reveal under Higley. It's too bad what they did to Powell during his last return. While Malone became a mess once Gottlieb left (largely, anyway) I do really think it was the departure of Josh Griffith as essentially his co HW that was the final blow. Even in Malone's 2000s return, the soap was in better shape when Griffith was there as well (and Griffith was one of the first to speak out about Frons' interference, which is why he left). Malone always gets most of the credit, but I think it was the combo of Gottlieb and Griffith that really worked for him (to be fair, h3e's always been the first to give fair credit to Griffith). Funny, I don't think too much of Griffith's work without Malone, but he did seem to help a lot.

Agreed.

[OLTL_fan]

Powell raping Todd would have been um interesting.

[TeamEric]

Powell being the serial killer worked for me because he did depart the show criminally insane. He was so nuts he started to believe he was Todd Manning and was in fact channeling frat boy #1 in that scene with RH. That was a riveting switch of personality actually as RH started to cringe like Powell a bit.

But I will never understand why RC had to destroy Rebecca. She was the most non-violent person, and the only woman strong enough to actually walk away from Todd Manning for her own mental health.

You may be right as Malone said in later interview Griffith hated his Gone with the Wind obsession and that determination to make Todd into Rhett.

Hmm, Griffith didn't stop Malone from that horrendous Victor is alive crap, so can't agree here.

Actually at the time, Gottlieb received many accolades, too. She was credited for modernizing OLTL out of the dark ages. There's a famous article about her working miracles to get the Aids quilt brought to OLTL and how she injected cinematography standards to daytime.

It's really only been in later years her strong influence was forgotten and Malone's writing took most of the credit. She was the EP who was making casting decisions too and she found some great talents, RH and SH especially.

[EricMontreal22]

OK I can agree with all of that, and the "Heart of a Lord" story was utter crap, in all respects. I know Malone has also said that Griffith, with his background in soap writing, helped teach him how to pace a story, and I think even in the last stint, that's where you really saw it (to be fair the Victor stuff could have been initiated by Griffith--I know he was first hired back to OLTL with Malone as consultant and only after a few months did they become co-HWs, but the show became much more of a mess, and less entertaining even in the campy way it was, once he left again--as it did in the 90s).

[TeamEric]

Malone cannot write without a very strong influence curtailing his worst habits and ideas. I think Griffith was too in awe of Malone to rein him in. Considering Malone rewrote so much Victor Lord history after Griffith left in 1995, I'd say it's safer bet he was largely responsible for the Heart of the Lord crap, too. But to be fair I don't know for sure.

I do recall Malone getting quite frustrated after Josh left. He spoke that (lowly was implied) soap fans didn't understand his "Dickens" influenced themes and stories.

[EricMontreal22]

I remember that! Alwqyas ironic since OLTL probably hadn't truly been Dickensian since Nixon wrote it (for all her faults, and even I will hesitantly mention some, she really has the same mix of comic caricature, young love and social critique that he did in a way Bell and other soap greats never did).

[TeamEric]

Nixon's OLTL was far less comical in nature than Malone's gothic Heart of a Lord camp though. She did a better job of finding humor in every day situations and characters like Wanda and Vinny...

I did find Luna a character Nixon could have created though. She had that earthy quirkiness.