The best argument the soap opera genre can make in favor of its own survival airs at 2pm EST on ABC/ 9pm EST on SOAPnet. Its name is One Life to Live.
OLTL's fictional town of Llanview, PA. is a town rich in history, overflowing with talent, boisterous in personality and uninhibited by an addiction to one or two characters.
Monday’s nod to Grey Gardens–acted out by the fantastic foursome of Robin Strasser, Kassie DePaiva, Trevor St. John and Florencia Lozano–and the seamlessness with which it was woven into the double wedding ceremony of Viki to Charlie and Nora to Clint is one of many examples of why OLTL has surpassed The Young and the Restless as the genre’s most well-written soap opera. READ MORE
TVG: Let's talk about this Stacy mess/fiasco. How do you make a contrived storyline work when you don’t believe in the material?
FF: I haven’t gone on record yet to state how much I loathed that storyline. This is not news to [head writer] Ron [Carlivati] and [executive producer] Frank [Valentini]. They saw right through me! They knew I was fed up. The most frustrating was that Rex and Gigi were so blatantly stupid. I knew the viewers would have the same reaction. I have enough experience to know what makes a good soap story, and this wasn’t it. You can’t piss off soap fans. Maybe for a few episodes, fine, but not for half of the entire year. There was nothing rootable about this storyline. It’s been the hardest storyline of my career. I did my best. Fans on the Internet could tell I was unhappy but I didn’t throw in the towel. That’s impossible, but there is only so much I can do. For the most part it was really hard. It got to the point when I got home I would just cry. I almost had a few nervous breakdowns! I couldn’t understand our characters’ motivation. It was great to have John-Paul there to be my rock and make me feel better because we were going through the same thing. “This too shall pass …,” he’d say to me. Rex took the most hits because of this story so I shouldn’t complain, really. It was sad because the 1968 storyline was our favourite story of our careers. READ MORE
Dear Mr. Valentini,
I love One Life to Live, I really do. I haven't written much recently about your show on Daytime Confidential because there is so much going on at any given time that it can be hard to get a handle on which areas to focus. This is not a bad thing. You and your head writer Ron Carlivati have fashioned a fast moving, entertaining, and thoroughly engaging hour of daytime television that has catapulted it to the top of ABC's afternoon lineup. Bravo! There is far more good than bad on OLTL and in this case, no news can usually be good news. There is, however, one little thing that bugs me and it occurs to me that you — and only you — can fix it:
For the love of Harding Lemay, please put a merciful end to the disastrously choreographed fights between Gigi & Stacy! READ MORE
Who would you like to see Gigi with?
Michael Fairman: Has this storyline with Stacy been hard for you to play, JP?Johhn-Paul Lavoisier: It’s incredibly hard for me to play because it’s far-fetched. Rex sleeps with Stacy and it’s such a mistake, and it’s what’s written. It’s where Rex’s head is at the moment.
So, I have to commit to the material, but it is hard to play. I want Rex to see through what Stacy is doing, but right now the way it is being written,
he is not. Stacy is winning and Stacy is able to fake him out at least for a moment. It probably is going to ruin his life down the line, and even more so with the aftermath of the sex. I am doing my best. READ MORE
Rex gives Stacy the keys to [his club] Ultra Violet so she can teach a ballet class to little girls," says Lavoisier. "Rex is downing a beer when Stacy turns on the charm: 'What do you want, Rex?' He looks at her and ... they wind up doing it on a dance mat that had just been used by a bunch of minors."
"We're obsessed with each other." David tells OK! of actress Melissa, whom he met on the daytime drama and married a year ago. "We're so good together it's all natural."
Sigh. Wouldn't it be wonderful if David could whisper sweet nothings in Melissa's ear and convince her to come back and save us—and Rex and Gigi's (John-Paul Lavoisier and Farah Fath) storyline—from the plague that is Stacy (Crystal Hunt)? For more on what David has to say about things like his and Melissa's TV addiction and his desire to live on the edge, check out the latest issue of OK!, and don't forget to pick up your copy of his new soaptastic movie Manhattanites!
On today's episode Stacy told Gigi that the only way she'd help save the life of her nephew Shane was if Gigi gave up Rex. Who in the world does that? Yes it is classic soap storytelling, but how does one even defend a character like that? Maybe if this were Adrianna Bitchy Bangs (Melissa Fumero) we'd understand such motivation, but to base Stacy's behavior on an off screen run-in with Rex in high school is preposterous. The motivation for this character is about as sane as Allison Perkins and not even a fraction as entertaining.
What do you think of Stacy?
A few days ago, Daytime Confidential's Jamey Giddens delicately asked the question Who In High Hell Fathered David Vickers on OLTL? Because I'm a sucker for such things, I attempted to explain in the comments section of his post how the paternity would shake out. However, it seems the matter is still rather confusing to some/many/everybody, including me.
My feverish brain could not let the issue go, so I decided to simplify the explanation a bit for those who are still confused about who banged whom, when minds were switched, and what's the smoke monster. Oops, wrong show! Anyway, here is my attempt to unravel the mystery of David Vickers' paternity. Mind you, if you stick with me to the very end of this, there is a theory of mine that I think will please people who have wanted to see a particular outcome. Mind you, it's only a theory but it is based on everything we've seen on screen.
Are you sitting down? Got your anti-anxiety medication ready, be it prescription or a stiff drink? Take a deep breath. In and out, slowly. Get set! And here we go!... READ MORE
