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OLTL Takes Its Final Bow – The Curtain Comes Down on Llanview!

By Michael Fairman

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Courtesy/ABC

Courtesy/ABC

This afternoon across television screens in America, fans will be saying goodbye to One Life to Live after its 43-year-run.

To honor the show with a look at what made the show so special and with comments from members of the cast including Erika Slezak, Robert S. Woods and Hillary B. Smith, Ilene Kristen, John-Paul Lavoisier and Farah Fath and Kristen Alderson and Kassie DePaiva, On-Air On-Soaps Michael Fairman filed this special feature, OLTL Takes Its Final Bow – The Curtain Comes Down on Llanview and Daytime Will Never Be The Same for FrontiersLa.com!

Here are some excerpts below from the story introduction and a few quotes from the cast.

“As this sad kick-in-the-teeth twice story goes, ABC canned OLTL from their lineup, then Prospect Park (the entertainment media company) acquired the licensing rights to the show to move it to its new Online Network, only to pull out just five days after the series wrapped its final episode. The news rocked the soap world, and its devoted and loyal fans, that One Life, for all intent and purposes, will go to soap opera heaven with its epitaph reading: “You canceled the wrong show!”

From romance, intrigue and courtroom drama unmatched anywhere in soaps; look no further than Judith Light’s Daytime Emmy-winning, unforgettable performance in 1979 as Karen Wolek (when she took the witness stand and admitted she was a prostitute in front of her husband and family) to exonerate her best friend, Viki. Stories on mental illness, social issues of the day, action/adventure soap style and some highly creative fantasy episodes and more, OLTL packed all of it into its 43 years. They accomplished this with a quirky and loveable appeal that made the audience at home on occasion have a good laugh—and ultimately what a good soap does best—made us reach for a box of tissues and have a good cry.”

Erika Slezak (Viki) on dealing with the loss of the series for herself, the cast, and the fans:  “When we were canceled, I was walking to work one day and I got so sad, because I won’t be seeing my buddies or my friends anymore,” Erika poignantly said. “There is a life that lives in this building, obviously. Many of us have been here together for many years, and even people that have been here for two weeks become part of the family so quickly. I was sitting next to Agnes Nixon when we did our final cast photo and I started to cry. I told her, ‘You changed my life, and I have not been able to properly thank you.’ What she did for me and what she has done for the audience is quite remarkable. Thank God we did not do the photo shoot the last day of the show. I think we all would have been in tears. I don’t think any one of us could have gotten through it. It’s kind of amazing that we were all together one last time for the photo. I am trying very hard not to think about Friday.”

Robert S. Woods (Bo) on the power of the fans, who patiently waiting for ten years for he, and on-screen partner, Hillary B. Smith (Nora) to be reunited on-screen: “I was so struck by that, because I kept thinking and telling them, ‘No. It’s over. Don’t you get that? Their lives have taken completely different directions. Doesn’t anybody get it but me?’ But as it turns out, I was the only guy who didn’t get it until we were reteamed, and then I went, ‘Wow, this is like stealing money and so easy!’ This last couple of years has been really fun. We came back together and it blew me away and I could not believe it. The fans are what kept us going. I know they are not happy about losing this soap. It is going to be a very devastating loss for them. ”

What do you think will be One Life to Live’s legacy, and what it will be most remembered for?  Let us know!

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This show has to come back somehow, some way. It just cannot be over.

told everyone victor was alive.and it looks like trevor st john did come back for a split second, I had a feeling crazy lady allison perkins was talking to him.cool.and our fight to save one life to live and all my children have to continue.cant stop the fight ,drive abc nuts call ,email ,dont watch anything but general hospital then change that channel ,yea,victor is alive.

Barbara: Read this. Still awake wasn’t feeling well BC of the headache, but feeling alittle better now.

ABC has already tried letting go of fan favorites and bringing in cheap newbies on General Hospital, which has sunk so low in the ratings that i sincerely doubt that it will be back after September 2012 when Katie Couric gets her talk show. Also, ABC should think about keeping both AMC and OLTL in its back pocket because I don’t know of anyone that is interested in watching either The Chew or the Revolution–my grandmother, who has never watched a soap in her 80 years, is planning on boycotting the new shows in solidarity with her friends that have watched.

As for Trevor St. John leaving the show, I wish OLTL would reconsider. I understand that Howarth was the original Todd, but St. John has made that character his own, and seeing Todd switched back to the old Todd is ridiculous. There has been so much character development in the past 8 years that even if this version of Todd isn’t the real Todd, I feel like I have been lied to and had the wool pulled over my eyes.

Comment by Elizabeth – June 29, 2011 02:12 PM PST Reply To This Post

It was a good finale! Going to miss Erika. And the last scene was AWESOME! Hope fully, Trevor’s Todd/Victor gets resolved in the crossover to GH. Nevertheless, it was a sad au revoir.

I Want My Show Back! The Ending Today was incredible!! I LOVED IT! I want OLTL Back on the air, And for someone To WAKE up and Do the RIGHT thing. Put This Program Back. I don’t care how you can do this…3 times a week…2 times a week???
It can be done!! Someone do it!!!

I can’t believe it is over! OLTL has been a part of my life for over 20 years! I choked up when they showed Pa(Asa) picture on the mantel. It was like he was looking down over everyone. All the actors are great. I have loved them all. Tuc Watkins has kept me laughing from the beginning. It was great ride, I hope it comes back in some other form. Good luck to all the cast and crew! OLTL -forever.

I have watched this show for 35 yrs (started watching it with my mom when I was 8 yrs old! I seriously have been crying watching it and cannot accept it is over!
SOMEONE PLEASE FUND THIS SHOW AND BRING IT BACK!

I have a campaign going, why dont you start one beginning with constantly writing the own network.

Great finale. I thought I would be able to let go when it was over, but it is a big loss. I will miss our show.

I have been watching this since 1980. I’m going to miss this show. Very depressing for everyone. I hope they can all move on to gh and make it a 2 hour a day series. I hope all the devoted crew of one life to live are able to move on tho bigger and better things, I’ll always have the memories of oltl and how it helped me entertain my mind and relate to different life experiences. Peace. Hope to see you again someday!

I couldn’t believe it: Victor/Todd alive! Did Trevor lie about not coming back for the end? What an actor! The end was the best I could hope for. Most people had happy endings, and in true soap opera form, we were left with a cliffhanger. I loved it.

As for OLTL’s legacy–it’s incredibly rich: exceptional ensemble cast, decades of moving performances, compelling storytelling, remarkable capacity for surprise, whimsy, humor, and fine stagecraft. It is the art of theatre for the masses.

That is the final straw! I am no longer going to watch ABC. I’ll watch my news elsewhere too!

Karen: I missed today’s show, I had court. abc has already taken down the OLTL site, I cannot BELIEVE IT. Can you or someone tell me how I watch this weeks episode someplace else. I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY TOOK THE SITE DOWN ALREADY FOR PEOPLE WHO WORK AT NIGHT AND WATCH THIS SOAP AND COULDN’T BE HOME TO WATCH THE FINALE. THIS IS REALLY BS. MAYB THAT WAS THE WAY FOR THEM TO GET BACK AT US BARKING FANS….. CAN YOU OR SOMEONE DIRECT ME TO A SITE THAT WILL SHOW IT.

soapnet.and you missed alot, it was good ,better then good.Id tell you what happened, but I dont want to be a spoiler,however I will say ,I was right.

You can catch it one last time on SoapNet tomorrow night, as part of OLTL’s late night marathon. The ending of it was a real surprise, and a real shocker! I sure hope that you can catch it, believe me, you won’t be disappointed!

FYI: You can still access the OLTL site on ABC.com but you have to go into the area where you view the videos and then choose from the list. OLTL is on the list and I just got done watching it. It’s there. Relax.

I believe that ABC knows it made a horrible mistake shelving OLTL and they didn’t expect to have the tidal wave that hit them in terms of the fan outcry.

I’m one of RC’s biggest critics, but I do think that he set things up nicely yesterday about the cliffhanger ending as well as he could have, although yesterday’s story seemed like the finale.

I would have liked some sort of shout out about KISH besides the derogatory way that Mitch referred to Oliver as “the homosexual.” For a show that prided itself in being groundbreaking, there seemed to be some narrow minded bigotry going on with OLTL the way that they depicted fundamentalist Christians, which I found actually appalling. There are many good people out there who are fundamentalists but RC chose to depict them to be ignorant and evil. It’s like the whole thing on Glee: Gays good, Straight People weird and evil.

The past 2 weeks have been great! Great stories wrapping up and I love how Friday’s show had so much going on, it really flew by because it was so interesting. Love that Victor was on there. I figured he and Dorian would be on there even though the actors denied it (I was wrong about Dorian sadly!), I figured there had to be surprises.

ABC sucks for taking OLTL off. I am going to dvr Days of Our Lives now. At least NBC seems to care about their show and want to keep it going.

Brilliant, shocking, climactic, breathtakingly wonderful! What a ride! Long Live One Life! My heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in the making of this show, you have brought us years of the very best in entertainment. Thank you for every cheer and every tear, I will miss this show more than words can say. Bravo!

Remember on Monday, don’t even turn you TV to ABC! I know some might get curious about how bad the new show will be, but the best way to really stick it to the network is not to watch at all. Let’s show ABC, just how big of a mistake they made by canceling OLTL!!!

Torrey, I’ll join you in not tuning into the Chew or the Revolution, but I’m going to be tuning into GH on Monday for the very first time. I think its a gift to the fans of OLTL to know some of our beloved characters will live on, and with Frank and Ron at the helm, and the actors that have signed on I can only say thank you! And I will be there with my support and viewership, and so much appreciation.

Yeah, I’m just protesting The Chew & The Revolution…..this has nothing to do with GH. I want soap fans to continue to support the soaps….that’s the only way that the networks can see that we are serious about our soaps.

“This afternoon across television screens in America, fans will be saying goodbye to One Life to Live after its 43-year-run.”

hmmm… OLTL has also been very popular in Canada… i watched it for the last 30 years.

Bless You OLTL. We Love You In Northwest Illinois! 😀

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Susan Flannery and Ian Buchanan Visit the Set of ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’; Daytime Emmy Winners Reflect on Show Then and Now

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Susan Flannery and Ian Buchanan

The one and only Susan Flannery (ex-Stephanie Forrester) dropped in to see her former co-stars on The Bold and the Beautiful at their Sunset Las Palmas Studio in Hollywood, along with her good friend and another B&B co-star Ian Buchanan (ex-James Warwick) on Tuesday October 20.

It was the first time in a very long time that The four-time Daytime Emmy winning actress was reunited with Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke), Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy), executive producer and head writer, Brad Bell, Jennifer Gareis and even her TV sister, Alley Mills (Pam, B&B now Heather, GH) showed up for the day too!

Flannery played the Forrester matriarch from 1987 until 2012. It was then that after playing the part of Stephanie for 25 years that Susan made the decision to retire from acting and in one of the most heartbreaking sendoffs, passes away from lung cancer in Brooke’s arms in November of 2012. During her B&B tenure, Flannery won 3 of her 4 Daytime Emmys, the other being for her first soap role as Laura Horton on Days of our Lives back in 1975.

Susan and Kelly

Photo: Bell-Phillip TV

As for Ian Buchanan, he played Dr. Warwick, psychiatrist, from 1993 to 1999.  He returned for other runs in 2014 and 2017.  Buchanan took home his Daytime Emmy in 1997 for his work as James. Soap fans also remember, Ian as mobster Duke Lavery on General Hospital, and Dr. Greg Madden on All My Children,

Both Susan and Ian shared their thoughts on coming back to The Bold and the Beautiful, for Susan 14 years later since he exited and for Ian close to 9 years since his last appearance below.

Susan said, “It’s definitely like coming home in a way, even though it’s not the same studio. It’s really lovely to see old faces and old faces with new faces. It takes you back mentally. You start remembering what it was like back then, even things like how much your feet would ache at the end of the day from wearing six-inch heels. It was just lovely to be back and see everybody.”

Susan Flannery and cast

Photo: Bell-Phillip TV

Ian expressed, “It’s a mind trip, you know. When I was sitting looking at the big Forrester set, it was like stepping back in time, almost. It takes you back mentally, and you start remembering what it was like when you were here before.”

“It’s lovely to see all these people again, even if you don’t know everybody,” explained soap vet Buchanan. “There’s something really special about coming back and seeing the show and the people who have been part of it for so long.”

So, happy to see Susan and Ian with some of their former castmates? Do you think Stephanie and Brooke is one of the greatest frenemy stories in daytime history? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Beyond the Gates

Tabitha Brown and Kandi Burruss Guest Star on ‘Beyond the Gates’ for Dani’s ‘Welcome to Your Life’ TV Special; What Could Go Wrong?

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Kandi Burress, Tabitha Brown, Karla Mosley

As previously announced, Beyond the Gates is bringing chef, author and actress Tabitha Brown and Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer and actress Kandi Burruss to Fairmont Crest in a special episode of the CBS daytime drama airing Thursday, October 22.

In the episode, Dani’s (Karla Mosley) best friend Pamela Curtis (Cady McClain), arranges a “Welcome to Your Life” television special for her. As it turns out, Brown will play the show’s host, Tia Allen, while Burruss takes on the role of Dani’s first modeling agent, Kalista Kilroy, who turns the celebration of her life into a bad trip down memory lane.

Dani’s parents Anita and Vernon (Tamara Tunie, Clifton Davis), sister Nicole (Daphnee Duplaix), and daughters Chelsea (RhonniRose Mantilla) and Naomi (Arielle Prepetit) all join the show to celebrate and support her but also witness how things so south. Also appearing in the episode are Molly Figueroa as Tatum Stewart and fan-favorite Anita Williams (Tunie) impersonator Jackie Tyree!

Beyond the Gates

PhotoL JPI

THE 411 ON TIA AND KALISTA

Speaking with TV Insider, about their soapy experience in Fairmont Crest, Tabitha Brown previewed about her host with the most, “Tia is very professional, but she’s a girl’s girl. She is a protector of women and wants to tell their stories in a beautiful way, but she also wants to make sure they’re seen in a very good light.”

However, Burruss previews that Kalista arrives with a score to settle. “She’s spicy,” shared the recording artist. “I always love playing somebody that has come to start trouble. It’s always fun to play a villain of sorts, but Kalista feels like she’s been done wrong and she’s hurt by what she feels has been done to her. So Kalista is stirring up trouble, but she feels justified putting Dani on blast. Kalista is ready for some payback.”

Beyond the Gates is produced by CBS Studios, as part of the CBS Studios/NAACP Venture, in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble. Created by head writer Michele Val Jean, executive producers include Val Jean, Sheila Ducksworth, Julie Carruthers, Tracey Thomson, Leon W. Russell, Derrick Johnson, Anna Saalfeld and Lela Coffey.

Beyond the Gates is broadcast weekdays on CBS (2:00-3:00 PM, ET/1:00-2:00 PM, PT) and is available to stream on Paramount+**.

So, looking forward to this special episode of Beyond the Gates when Dani is put on a blast during a blast from her past and Welcome to Your Life TV special? Share your thoughts via the comment section.

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Days Of Our Lives

‘Days of our Lives’ Reveals Kyle Pryor Cast as Dominic Marino

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Kyle Pryor

For months now, Days of our Lives has teased the character of Dominic Marino. In recent weeks, viewers learned that Marino is on the down low working with Sami Brady’s (Alison Sweeney) apparent fiancé ‘Dante Vitali (Franco LoPresti), and that he is the never-before-heard-of child of Stefano DiMera (the late Joseph Mascolo) and Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall)!

Up until now, the Peacock streaming soap opera has never revealed his face, but that all seemed to change on the Tuesday, October 2o episode of DAYS. In story, Dante met Sami’s parents for the first time, Roman (Josh Taylor) and Marlena.

He shows them a photo of Dominic, which he happened to have on his own phone and even commented he kind of looked like he could be Marlena’s son. The photo, which has quickly made it around Soap Twitter/X, revealed that British-born actor Kyle Pryor is the man in the photo and eagle-eyed viewers actually located said photo on Pryor’s Instagram.

Dominix

Photo: Peacock

Deadline revealed Pryor started taping at the end of 2025 and will first be seen in the role, on air Monday, November 2.  In addition, Days will celebrate its 61st Anniversary with two special episodes featuring Dominic’s arrival, as well the returns of Tony and Anna DiMera, played respectively by Thaao Penghlis and Leann Hunley, on Friday, November 6 and Monday, November 9.

Those in the know, are are that Pryor previously held series regular roles on Australia’s Home and Away, and the UK’s Hollyoaks and guest starred on Emmerdale. In an ironic twist, Pryor appeared in the series Spartacus: Blood and Sand which is the same action series his apparent TV brother, Dan Feuerriegel (EJ DiMera), once appeared in before coming to DAYS.

So excited to see Kyle Pryor take on the role of Dominic Marino as Days of our Lives sets its anniversary story to kick-off with is arrival in Salem? Share your thoughts in the comment section. And in case you missed our latest conversation with Conner Floyd (Chad DiMera) he weighs-in on how Dominic’s appearance will shake things up in Salem. You can check that out below.

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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