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<blockquote data-quote="Daniel Avery" data-source="post: 445766" data-attributes="member: 27"><p>I watched the show (courtesy of SoapNet) in its last 3-4 years, and it was a mixed bag. ABC was being run by the infamously inept Brian Frons, whom we later found out was actively working behind the scenes to sabotage the soaps in order to have an excuse to cancel them and add talk shows and other programming to replace them. So OLTL and AMC were in an uphill battle. Ron Carlivati was Head Writer and Frank Valentini (currently with <em>General Hospital</em>) was the Exec Producer. RC had this tendency to lean too hard into a story that's not working rather than just admitting defeat and moving on. This is quite evident in some of the OLTL stories in 2010-11. He and FV also went a bit overboard with the hiring and promoting of young, handsome men with great bodies but less-than-great acting skills. "Young shirtless hunks" are a soap opera staple, of course, but RC created an entire<em> family </em>(three brothers + their handsome father) whose only purpose seemed to be posing in sweaty tank tops.</p><p></p><p>The character of Viki Lord Buchanan was the undisputed center of action, and her decades-long feud with Dorian was always a source of fun. RC respected the history of the show (mostly) so he leaned into their rivalry. </p><p></p><p>Kim Z's return as Echo DiSavoy was not what one would call "organic," since Echo had been a minor character in her original run. They brought the character back because they wanted Kim Zimmer, and even more---they wanted Kim Zimmer versus Erika Slezak onscreen. It was stunt casting but with the twist that KZ would be playing a role she had already played back when she was not "the" Kim Zimmer. The character was altered a lot to fit what people expected to get from KZ.</p><p></p><p>As for the show being "on its last legs," OLTL was actually doing a pretty good job in its final year. Frons had the knives out for both OLTL and AMC, but OLTL actually grew its ratings in the summer/fall of 2011. Soap mags were talking about OLTL's improvement and writing flattering pieces....but Frons had already made up his mind. He cancelled both shows at the same time, though OLTL stayed on the air until January of 2012. I will say some of it in this period (especially 2010 and a lot of 2011) was a bit of a challenge, though.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Daniel Avery, post: 445766, member: 27"] I watched the show (courtesy of SoapNet) in its last 3-4 years, and it was a mixed bag. ABC was being run by the infamously inept Brian Frons, whom we later found out was actively working behind the scenes to sabotage the soaps in order to have an excuse to cancel them and add talk shows and other programming to replace them. So OLTL and AMC were in an uphill battle. Ron Carlivati was Head Writer and Frank Valentini (currently with [I]General Hospital[/I]) was the Exec Producer. RC had this tendency to lean too hard into a story that's not working rather than just admitting defeat and moving on. This is quite evident in some of the OLTL stories in 2010-11. He and FV also went a bit overboard with the hiring and promoting of young, handsome men with great bodies but less-than-great acting skills. "Young shirtless hunks" are a soap opera staple, of course, but RC created an entire[I] family [/I](three brothers + their handsome father) whose only purpose seemed to be posing in sweaty tank tops. The character of Viki Lord Buchanan was the undisputed center of action, and her decades-long feud with Dorian was always a source of fun. RC respected the history of the show (mostly) so he leaned into their rivalry. Kim Z's return as Echo DiSavoy was not what one would call "organic," since Echo had been a minor character in her original run. They brought the character back because they wanted Kim Zimmer, and even more---they wanted Kim Zimmer versus Erika Slezak onscreen. It was stunt casting but with the twist that KZ would be playing a role she had already played back when she was not "the" Kim Zimmer. The character was altered a lot to fit what people expected to get from KZ. As for the show being "on its last legs," OLTL was actually doing a pretty good job in its final year. Frons had the knives out for both OLTL and AMC, but OLTL actually grew its ratings in the summer/fall of 2011. Soap mags were talking about OLTL's improvement and writing flattering pieces....but Frons had already made up his mind. He cancelled both shows at the same time, though OLTL stayed on the air until January of 2012. I will say some of it in this period (especially 2010 and a lot of 2011) was a bit of a challenge, though. [/QUOTE]
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