A lot of soap fans--glad to have their shows back in any form--seem to be superwilling to take without complaint what's handed to them online by the company Prospect Park (which, worried about profit, recently cut the episodes-per-week of ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ALL MY CHILDREN from four to two).
Here's a list of reasons (based on the episodes I've seen) that ONE LIFE TO LIVE is suffering artistically (and, yes, I'm aware that a head writer has been jettisoned since the episodes began prediction) in comparison to its long-running-on-ABC predecessor:
1. Not knocking the Snoop Lion-produced theme song, but the opening-credits sequence is an unfortunate nod to the dancing-cast openers of THE COSBY SHOW.
2. OLTL tends to think that, in its new basic-cable-friendly form (meaning more sexual innuendo, young cast members in underwear, occasional deployment of PG-to-PG-13 language), the younger cast (plus the bedrock Bo-and-Nora older couple) are interested in few other things than what Erica Jong once called the "zipless f---." And, when in need of variation, there's a few scenes in a nightclub playing tame electronica and with other cast members (including Shenaz Treasury--who left THE MINDY PROJECT, where she played a human being--for this, plus J-Woww from JERSEY SHORE) playing tight-outfitted bar staff.
3. A hallmark of the late-period ABC OLTL was a willingness to cast plus-sized female actors (most notably Kathy Brier, who played Marcie) as viable characters/love interests. Not happening on Prospect Park's version of the show. In fact, one character named Destiny (who had a baby with the Matthew Buchanan character) was recast from plus-sized to slim-and-conventionally-gorgeous.
4. One more knock on the young characters: they seem to be little more than selfish louts--particularly the Matthew character (also recast from the ABC series), who doesn't give much of a damn that he's had a child out of wedlock and has little interest in helping in the child's raising.
The new OLTL isn't a complete shambles. When the storylines center on reliable scene-stealing actors such as Tuc Watkins (David), Robin Strasser (Dorian), Roger Howarth (Todd) and Trevor St. John (Victor), the show most resembles its previous incarnation, albeit in a diminished way.
Showing posts with label Agnes Nixon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agnes Nixon. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Friday, January 13, 2012
Re end of ONE LIFE TO LIVE: Disney/ABC has only one more soap to cancel.
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