Llanview In The Afternoon: An Oral History of One Life to Live, by Jeff Giles out today

[EricMontreal22]

To say LG's contribution was simply in editing makes no sense withthe strong vision we saw on screen, IMHO.

"Thom Christopher (Carlo Hesser): Letting go of Paul was the biggest mistake the network ever made with that show. Its demise started with that decision. That reservoir of intellect and taste that he brought to the show was just irreplaceable - I cannot stop praising him. The show was most vibrant with Paul Rauch. Tonja Walker and I would do scenes where the assistant director would sit in the booth and say, "They're off script." [...] But Paul trusted us to get out of it. We knew they were leaving us alone."

Weird--as those characters really didn't come to life, IMHO, until LG.

[EastMA2]

You're right. Thom Christopher won his Emmy under LG and in his Emmy speech he praised her for taking Carlo to the nth degree.

Who knows what to believe. I am guilty of this in my own life - I think I remember something distinctly from 20 or 30 years ago - and while I may remember the situation, it's not exactly as I thought.

I'm, taking alot of these quotes with a grain of salt. Maybe based in truth but after 40 years, not overly accurate.

[EricMontreal22]

Absolutely, and I think they're valuable even keeping that in mind. That's why the way so many of the quotes are done in a "he said/she said" manner, as others have mentioned, helps let the reader make up his own mind.

[Vee]

It's a strange situation because a few pages after that he, Gottlieb, and Walker all go into depth about their storyline and how LG was deeply involved in its creation.

Tonja Walker kept wanting to play serious storylines - breast cancer, etc.

[John]

Personally I feel 1991-96 era vision was more Malone/Griffith then the EP's . I feel that era worked so well cause it was so well written. For me it always starts with the writing. If the writing is superb, how the sets look & editing tricks don't matter that much to me. Usually when shows try those tricks its cause they have no stories to tell.

[Vee]

You are wrong. It was a collaboration.

[John]

Not saying it wasn't. Maybe its just because to me it seemed the tone of OLTL stayed the same from Gottlieb to Horgan. However that could be tied to the fact that Horgan was on Malone/Griffith's writing team from 1991-94.

[cassadine1991]

I did love that era, so did my mother

[EricMontreal22]

Malone wouldn't have even been hired, nor Griffith later brought in to help, without Gottlieb choosing and fighting for him. She also seemed very involved in overall vision for the show (the way, IMHO a good EP should be.)

[John]

Loved the era and I feel the vision was great but I could see how some actors who were used to one kind of Producton/producer may have been put off by the way Gottlieb ran her time there. I personally thought the short term arcs where guest stars carried story was not OLTL at all.

[EricMontreal22]

Oh absolutely--it's personal taste, although I think Rauch had just as many friends and enemies as Gottlieb. The short story arcs--the main one I remember was the spousal abuse one with Craig Wasson. To Gottlieb's and Malone's great praise though, they quickly realized that short term stories weren't working for the show and abandoned it (I believe this was before Griffith came on.)

[John]

Yes it wasnt a bad story but I agree with Patricia Elliott, one of the stars of the show should have been the focus of that

[cassadine1991]

Didn't the tone of OLTL dramatically change when it transitioned from Rauch to Gottlieb??

[John]

Well she changed the lightning, sets, editing & changed story for a bit (the short term arcs) so that defintley gave a different feel. Plus she fired a few folks but bought on a lot that became major characters in LLanview to me.

[~bl~]

Yes Rauch to Gottlieb was a huge change. I was a Rauch era fan, so the Gottlieb's changes hurt my interest in the show due to the tonal change. Rauch's OLTL was more campy.