One Life To Avoid (weekly commentary)

As I was browsing other message boards I realized that many, many fans are feeling the same way about OLTL's current state as I feel. Poster after poster, board after board, the opinions are nearly identical for the most part. Simply put, OLTL falling apart.

Ron Carlivati has proven that he can be a fantastic head writer at times and has had moments of brilliance, he has great SL ideas. The problem is, the storylines that are actually interesting and intriguing are dropped way too quickly and the ones that are hated are shoved down our throats for what seems like forever.

Marty/John/Blair/Todd/Tea

This little saga needed to end months ago and I am seriously amazed that anyone thinks its a good idea to continue this twisted mess of a storyline. There are many problems with this SL, the first being that there are too many players in this story that the viewers simply don't care about. There is a huge problem when the most interesting players in this story are two people who only got involved in this at the beginning of the year or shortly before. Tea and Wes; they are the only ones who are even worthy of watching at this point, and one of them is dead now.

Todd and Marty were wrong on every level, Todd and Blair have been destroyed beyond repair, John and Marty (were and) are laughable at best and Blair and John are mediocre at best. In translation, there are no rootable pairings here. If given a fair shake, I believe Todd and Blair can get back together and have the support of their fans as well. They are a once upon a time Mega-Couple and really they are the only two characters anyone even cares about in this SL anymore.


That Thing That Ate The Show!

What is so great about John McBain? I mean other than the actor playing him. Honestly I never found Michael Easton to be the "Daytime God" that some label him to be, in fact I find him very much overrated. Easton is a great actor when he wants to be for sure and he is easy on the eyes but beyond that he brings nothing to the show. Well besides the worst character on the show. Reading so many soap boards, I found that there is only ONE thing the general OLTL viewers hate more than they hate McBain, and that is the terrible pairing of Rex and Gigi. Back to McBain though. Just what is so great about him?

Lets face it, John McBain is that thing that ate the show. They throw woman after woman at him and basically destroy those characters all to make McBain look good and saintly, meanwhile the viewers hate him even more. Lets not forget Easton has had only 2 popular pairings out of the MANY woman they have thrown at him. Looking at the ratings it is also obvious that he is not the "ratings pull" he once was thought to be and from what I can see, his fanbase has also taken a major hit, though I blame that mostly on the character he is playing. John is a pig, no two ways about it. John is a pig, he uses woman, he makes his own rules as he goes, he broods endlessly, he is dark. It's all lather rinse and repeat with him. He can't or wont share his feelings, he barely ever emotes at all, he wants sex rather than a real relationship, he wont have any "talks," he is simply a pig. In real life not many woman would put up with the garbage that McBain pulls, no matter how "beautiful" his eyes are.

It's time TPTB realize that brooding is only sexy to a limit, and McBain reached that limit 3 years ago. Now it's just boring, annoying, repetitive and ff worthy, the character just devolves over and over. I am done watching them destroy beloved female characters at the alter of St. McBain the morose. I am just glad Natalie had the sense to drop is worthless butt and get away before he did any lasting damage.


Speaking of Lather, Rinse and Repeat!

Enough of the DID storylines! It's getting old and annoying and frankly it's an insult to the amazing talents of Erika Slezak. Erika defined the DID era on OLTL, she made it what it is and this endless parading of alter after alter coming out of Jessica just to screw with people is an insult to everything that era and Erika's stories stood for. Furthermore, it's plot driven garbage that no one cares to watch anymore.

Bree is a talented actress no doubt, but she is no Erika Slezak. Plus Bree is missing that one thing that is essential for all characters, a connection with the audience. Reading all these boards, I learned that though Bree and Jessica certainly have their fans, there really are not many "Jessica lovers" left out there and that is mainly due to Jessica's trampy relationship with Nash that most fans just never forgave her for. The problem I believe is that Bree never established that connection with the audience. She is a good actress but half the battle is relating to the viewers and THAT, Bree does not do at all. I don't feel anything for Jessica when I watch Bree act, I don't feel anything for her alters either. That is except for the big headache I get every time she is on screen, causing me to simply hit FF each time. TPTB still have not realized that shoving a character down our throats does that character no good when it is a character that is not too well liked to begin with. We all need a serious Jessica break and even more so we need her alters gone forever.

That Couple That Just Wont Go Away!

I realize that Rex and Gigi have had a nice little stint on the back burner, but I will go ahead and say what so many are still thinking. PLEASE BACK BURN REX AND GIGI AGAIN.

ABC's little "Lets shove Rex and Gigi down everyone's throat until they suffocate to death" campaign really worked a number on the viewers. Dear PTB, you CANNOT force a couple YOU love into super-couple-dom and make people love them, especially when there are many other couples that the viewers love so much more. Couples like David and Dorian, Jared and Natalie, Viki and Charlie, Bo and Nora, Todd and Blair and even Todd and Tea come to mind. So why are TPTB focused on shoving Rex and Gigi at us when they are not even half as loved as any of the above couples?

Balance is a beautiful thing, and Rex and Gigi would not be half as annoying if they were not on EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Speaking of bad couples, are Jessica and Brody not the most mind numbingly boring pair on this show? Their conversations are boring and repetitive and the actors suffer from a SEVERE lack of chemistry. Just because both actors are good looking that does not equate to chemistry. The sad part is before they made Brody painfully dull by pairing him with equally dull Jessica, he was actually entertaining, and what in the world happened to Mark Lawson's acting? I could not praise him enough for the scenes when Brody had his breakdown, he was fantastic. This is a whole other Mark Lawson, his scenes now lack emotion, lack facial expression and are simply boring and dull. Please powers-that-be. get Brody away from Jessica and make him watchable again.


Love In The Afternoon!

How about a return to love in the afternoon? You know that thing that viewers will always tune in for.

Maybe a big, fancy soap style wedding for Jared and Natalie followed by a well written new storyline. I realize that Jared and Natalie had their turn of months on the front burner but this is a pair that is actually very popular and they deserve a storyline of their own after being stuck in dullard Jessica hell for too long. More importantly, their fans deserve it.

Another thought, get rid of some of these useless characters no one cares for (ie, Lola, Stacy, Layla, Fish, Kyle, and so on) and bring back Lindsay. I remember her, she was actually popular. Maybe Bo, Nora and Lindsay can have another turn at making each other miserable. Even Clint and Nora will do, anything is better than watching the endless Rex and Gigi are true love garbage or the headache inducing parading of Jessica and her annoying alters.

Todd needs redemption too, maybe he can do that through Blair and his kids, or eve Tea and his kids.

What about Viki and Charlie? When was the last time they were on screen, NOT dealing with the messes created by annoying Jessica?

Basically OLTL has all the pieces to put on a great show everyday but for whatever reason they choose to showcase the characters and couples we just don't care about. One can only hope things will change here.

Until next time. . .