Author:
SkinTheKat - Soap Buff Uber Alles
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 20:12:32 09/01/03 Mon
Now, I know that I have been beating the Recast Todd Drum for several years and I STILL hold fast to my belief that ANY good role can survive a competent recast backed up by good writing. Yes, EVEN Todd Manning. However, and I add THIS caveat. There has to be something still VIABLE about that character to even WARRANT a recast and THIS is where I draw the line on Todd Manning.
I'm writing this NOT as a face saving way, because I have come to the conclusion that Roger Howarth is the definitive Todd Manning and only HE AND HE ALONE can play the role. And NOT because I don't think that Trevor Saint John has the acting chops to carry it off, but simply because The Three Stooges comprising the CWTOC that was Gary Tomlin, Chris Whitesell, Lorraine Broderick and Roger Howarth did such a number on Todd that it was time...PAST time, to pull the plug on him. By the last time RH left the show I was sick of him AND Todd and just wanted the character to be killed off.
Now, I realize that Todd Manning was considered a pivotal role on OLTL, but not the same old chain-yank, one-trick pony that Todd Manning had become. However, I believe that DEAD Todd Manning could have generated more long-term umbrella storyline and done MUCH to restore the basic premise of Llanview.
For, in SPITE of "certain contract restrictions," and all those innumerable outs that foiled various CWTOC's attempts to keep Todd Manning viable, TMFIIC DID somehow manage to stumble across a storyline that has the potential to galvanize the Llanview scenery and restore SOME semblance of the Llanview that we ALL used to love and watch. Ironically that story is TnT. Now, I know that this is making several eyebrows skitter over hairlines as I post this. IMNSHO, TnT was a storyline that was written to fulfill "certain contract restrictions" by writing Todd into a contract marriage with some cold-hearted shrew, so we would understand why Todd wasn't getting down with her. To everyone's surprise they had a following...a PASSIONATE following of viewers who didn't LIKE him with Blair. And if anyone was the anti-Blair, that was Tea Delgado. However the CWTOC didn't realize what they had with TnT. Not in a romantic sense, but the potential that TnT had for polarizing different people in Llanview and redrawing old, original battle lines. MAINLY with Dorian and Victoria. Ohhh, yeah, VIKI did her part, by giving TnT HER seal of approval. But WTF was Dorian? SHE left Blair twisting in the wind, going so far as to twist the knife she put in Blair's back by inviting TnT to her wedding reception to sMEL, "because, after all, we're FAMILY, now!" PAH!
In ANY case, they pissed THAT opportunity away and then Roger left. Which still left JFPeePee salivating over a way she could tell a Todd tale WITHOUT having Todd on the canvas. Right idea. But alas, all she could come up with was some idea of a lameass triangle between Tea, Blair and TODD'S KEY. After much scoffing and hooting from various internet boards, GodJilla gave up the idea and scuttled it.
Ironically enough, last summer when OLTL decided to feature TnTropical Adventures Somewhere In The Pacific, the door cracked open for a Todd Tale that could be told WITHOUT Roger. And THAT was when "Roger the Dodger" relaxed "certain contract restrictions" long enough to allow Todd and Tea to enjoy "an exciting aquatic adventure."
Which brings me to Roger's final birdie thrown in 2003. What would a REAL Soap Master Writer would have done? Well, LAST time a major star left for "bigger and better things" was when the actor who played Phillip Chancellor decided to leave in the middle of a steamy triangle. He had an alcoholic wife who was determined to hang onto him and he had a pregnant mistress. So what could BILL BELL do other than RECAST Phillip Chancellor. The smartest thing imaginable. He killed OFF Phillip and moved all the action to the women who loved him. His grieving wife and vengeful pregnant mistress. Thus, the great Kay Chancellor-Jill Foster feud was born. And made Y&R rock and roll for decades. BRADLEY BELL, who learned at the knee of the master, ALSO realized the efficacy of a Great Female Feud (I'm convinced that BOTH of these men watched and learned from OLTL's early days with Dorian and Viki) and created his OWN Diva Duel with Stephanie Forrestor and Brooke Logan.
I honestly felt that more storyline could have been generated out of writing Todd off as really and truly DEAD. Viki and Blair team up to wrest BACK the Lord Fortunes from Mitch Laurence and once the Lord Funds are restored and Todd's ex-wife BLAIR turns up to claim Todd's share for her children. TEA resurfaces with a claim of her own for HER child with Todd. Blair, backed by Dorian, would want to fight it and keep it all for HER kids, Todd's legitimate issue and Viki would support Tea's claim, believing that Todd would want ALL of his children to benefit from his legacy.
What you would have is the ORIGINAL Diva Feud resurrected by the NEWER Femme Feud as Tea and Blair would be written into competing spheres of influences and championed by THEIR respective divas, Viki and Dorian. You'd also have the town polarized by these women.
Not only that, but this CWTOC could have STILL done The Heart of A Lord storyline with Mystery Bad Boy WALKER LAWRENCE as one of Victor's many bastards, thus explaining Mitch's obsession for sticking it to the Lords. Still end up doing a rivalry between KEVIN and Walker. But THIS time, Viki would be in her SON'S corner. Dorian could champion Walker. They could have further rehabbed Tea Delgado back into the smart, savvy ambitious woman she USED to be by putting her goal BACK to being the next Mistress of Llanfair. I could see her wanting to be the First Lady to Kevin's Governor. If ANY soap character had Hillary Clintonesque potential, it was Tea Delgado. Hook Blair up with Walker and you have these spheres of influence headed by Tea and Blair championed by their patronesses, Viki and Dorian, and prosecuted by their respective men, Kevin and Walker, ALL because of their ongoing, unspoken hatred and rivalry over The Late Great Todd Manning.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
|
Feedback: 