OLTL - Monday, April 29th 2013 Discussion Thread

[YRBB]

Wow--I started off not being impressed at all but it slowly won me over. I loved how everything sort of came together and the ending was great. They even gave me some Vicky/Dorian fighting, which I hope will continue on the next episode.

Opening credits were horrid.

[dragonflies]

I completely agree Vee

OLTL is trending in the US on twitter:

[Cheap21]

i actually feel ready to drop Days and GH especially after viewing these

IA on Destiny

[Eric83]

So much truth.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I'd drop GH if Jon L. wasn't coming back as Kevin. Seriously. I'm so [!@#$%^&*] tired of the stupid crap going on over there. But, my fave is back. OLTL and AMC blow GH out of the damn water.

[rhinohide]

LH isn't too tall. If anything the guys are too short. I thought she was fine. Overall, I really like the younger adults.

I've never gotten the fixation over the openings. I wish it had been better, but it lasted a split second and didn't marr the show or it's fabulous production values.

I like all the extras. The club scenes felt real to me, but then I don't hang out at clubs much.

Natalie's undies scene was actually pretty modest. The thought of two women with any self respect wanting Cutter is nauseating to me. He's a jailbird. Don't see the appeal.

Loved Viki and Clint, Bo and Nora, and Viki and Dorian.

[Cheap21]

I wonder which wedding will happen first. Clint and Viki's or Adam and Brooke's

[AlexElizabeth]

I loved the opening, and everything about the show!

[KMan101]

Both openings are growing on me after watching them each for the third time.

Corbin Bleu fit in like a glove. He has such a presence about him. I love how he called Viki 'Victoria'. I like the younger group. Harrier and Gorrie are definitely good finds. Harrier will grow into it but I felt like I was seeing Destiny (the way she handled Matthew, even if the delivery was sort of rushed). Loved the 'babymomma' line and Matthew's 'it happens' when Jeffrey couldn't believe he had a kid. Also, Jack and Dani have such a great brother/sister vibe/relationship. They work well together and are very believable as siblings, even in just that brief scene.

Can I just say again I love seeing Nigel? I do kind of laugh at him answering the door at Llanfair but somehow it works.

Erika Slezak and Robin Strasser are looking great. Loved Viki and Dorian getting right back into the swing of things. Loved the opening of Viki picking up the paper. I guess the Banner still does an evening edition, lol. I even actually 'felt' Clint and Viki with the 'I guess after all these years I know what you like' ... 'I guess you do' ... cue obvious sexual overtones. Loved it.

Loved the ending.

EDIT:

I want to say kudos to the writers and actors because I felt layers and human emotion and connections I haven't felt for many of them in a LONG time. Such as Natalie's clear loneliness and her ever present attitude. Blair's burn after being rejected and called a cougar. Tea's loss still apparent (I'm glad we're able to see her mourn on-screen). It worked for me. OH! Also David's near tears as he was denied entry into Shelter (which I guess made no sense because why would he not be allowed in? Unless I missed something all the times I've watched)

[allmc2008]

Even B&B?

[Vee]

Okay. Okay. Woo. Let me try and organize my thoughts.

First of all: Very happy. Big departure from the sunny homey, slightly haunted feel of AMC. If Pine Valley is haunted by what happened five years ago in the Chandler drawing room, Llanview has a lot of demons and poltergeist. Dark, moody, electric show. Both shows are extremely streamlined, stylized and sleek, but OLTL in particular has a new kind of pulsing energy.

Jeffrey works. I was glad they made it clear he knew Matthew and Dani from the Warwick Academy - I thought that would be it, particularly since the character was originally slated to be British. I like him and I liked the slight tension with Viki - he wants it all now.

Kelley Missal is a breakout star. They need to have her locked down on a contract for as long as possible because she took that thing over in a much more hard-edged, realistic, organic way than any of the broad, overripe melodrama FV and RC had her and just about every youngster they've ever written for into on ABCD. She captured that girl on the brink perfectly.

What particularly captivated me about the premiere is that this is, clearly, still a female-driven show about women on journeys, and troubled people: The Tea scene in the nursery was excellent, and far longer and more quiet and understated, and adult, than anything that would've ever been allowed on ABCD. Frank would never have taken the time. There would have been much more overbearing music, much more broad action from her and Kelley M.; Dani probably would've started screaming at her mother to look at her and Tea would've probably shrieked back. But life doesn't work that way. In real life people give up and walk out of the room, because they've seen it all before. They both did wonderful work there.

Same for Natalie - the single mother who doesn't know how to fake it as a woman alone. She was very hot with Cutter, and I liked their dance sequence, however stagey it was, because in a premiere you can earn those kind of stylized, outsize moments IMO, and OLTL certainly did. But what got me more was her opening, and her entrance to Shelter, looking so alone and lost. That's her journey.

Then there's Dorian and her story - I was glad they made it topical, about CIA black sites (obviously tying back to Victor and Todd and Irene - smart) and went there. I was so worried they would go the Ron route and make it about a goofy sex scandal or some on-microphone gaffe from David. This is something real that also functions in larger story. Dorian and David also seemed closer, more together, as opposed to just capering and japing as they have over the last several years as cartoons. I wonder who redecorated La Boulaie in the darker tones. Blair or the Senator from Pennslvania?

Blair looked great. Not much to do yet, but I liked her mini-journey in the premiere - feeling her age, getting tired of all this mess. And then the bit on the stairs with Todd was electric. Just a perfect entrance and reunion for them. I think/hope the bit with the young guy was also a bit of a meta-commentary about what too many writers have made Blair into over the years; the good time girl who will try anything once, and gets thrown any [!@#$%^&*] story because hey, she can take it. Well, she can't anymore and it looks like even the narrative is as tired of it as she is. So props to that. And I'm very curious as to who or what summoned Todd to town with the card - the same symbol is on Vic's wrist and the thugs. What is Todd into?

Robert Gorrie is great so far. Spitting image of Eddie. Bo and Nora were a little over the top on the drugs, but that is them - Bo, especially. So, fine.

The production is the real story here. The sets are unbelievable, especially Shelter. The camerawork, especially the long tracking shot of Dani and Jack (work that douchebag fedora, Andrew - it was cute) and the dance between Nat and Cutter, and the cutting - it was all just fantastic. The location work was stunning. There is absolutely no work like that, particularly no night work, that even remotely compares in the last ten years on ABCD at least. The limo stuff with Todd, the stuff with the alley fight with Victor going all Bourne Identity on those dudes - just incredible work, the overhead shots, etc.

It can't be said enough - this stuff on both AMC and OLTL is already making every other network soap on-air look prehistoric, antiquated and way, way too old. It reminds me of what happened when Bob Guza first came to GH, when that show really was cooking, before it went too far. It also reminds me of what I've seen of Linda Gottlieb's early advent into OLTL - nothing else came close to the cinema she created at 2 PM with Megan's death. Nothing. The same is true here. Not only in mise-en-scene and production, but also in tone, pace and overall vibe. There is absolutely no comparison. I'm not even sure how well future crossovers with GH could work, because they are just so beyond different on so many levels. The dialogue is far more naturalistic, the cutting, pacing and production are all several levels above. This is a much darker, more adult, more sophisticated program already. This is the OLTL I always believed the show could be. And AMC is quite good as well. So far, so excellent. You're witnessing the birth and death of the soap opera - and I don't think any of the networks are ready for it at all. I just hope the audience is.

[Vee]

Exactly. This is what I'm talking about. Soaps don't make time for this kind of character beat anymore. Ron certainly doesn't. Everybody had a journey from Day One.

So were Cris and Jared at one point or another.

[rhinohide]

Well said. And future crossovers could never work. Would never work. I do hope we haven't lost Roger Howarth forever, but if so, at least we saw Todd back where he obviously belongs. In just the few scenes we had, he worked 10X better than he ever did on GH, and I am delighted with how they revealed Victor. I can't wait to find out where he's been, how he escaped, what happened to him, and why he's back. So many questions, and I was never a fan of either Todd.

Well said. And future crossovers could never work. Would never work. I do hope we haven't lost Roger Howarth forever, but if so, at least we saw Todd back where he obviously belongs. In just the few scenes we had, he worked 10X better than he ever did on GH, and I am delighted with how they revealed Victor. I can't wait to find out where he's been, how he escaped, what happened to him, and why he's back. So many questions, and I was never a fan of either Todd.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

Yeah. Jeffery is kinda insta love for me. And, I've never seen anything with CB in it before OLTL.

He's really freaking good.

[KMan101]

They sure don't.