One Life to Live: Difference between revisions
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In the early 90s, OLTL returned to more socially-conscious storytelling. One story told of a gay teen who confronted homophobia in Llanview. Another featured Marty's brutal gang rape at a fraternity party. This story introduced OLTL's most controversial character, Todd Manning, who led the gang rape. Much like Luke Spencer on ''[[General Hospital]]'', the character was kept on the show due to female fans' attraction to him. Todd was discovered to be a long-lost Lord heir, and became a central character, driving away many viewers.
Created by Agnes Nixon, OLTL shared its universe with Nixon's other soap, ''[[All My Children]]'', and has had many [[Crossover|crossovers]] with same, most recently a baby-switch story in 2004. ''[[One Life to Live]]'' aired its last episode on January 13th, 2012, and the characters of John McBain
{{tropelist}}
* [[AB Negative]]
* [[Absurdly Youthful Mother]]
* [[Armored Closet Gay]]: Daniel Colson.
* [[The Baby Trap]]
* [[Big Fancy House]]:
* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: Several. But notably the Lords, the Cramers and the Buchanans.
* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: The main character Viki's dad, Victor Lord. Originally seen as simply a domineering and [[Overprotective Dad]] during his original run on the show, it was revealed in the 1990s, presumably after his death, that he was a pedophile who molested Viki as a child. He briefly was revealed to have had his death faked in the early 2000s with Mitch Laurence's assistance, before dying again, during which we got to see the real Victor Lord in all of his ugly [[True Colors]].
* [[Bound and Gagged]]
* [[The Cast Showoff]]
* [[Cliff Hanger]]
* [[Convenient Coma]]
* [[Crossover]]:
* [[Damsel in Distress]]
* [[Downer Ending]]: Bobby Ford and Cole Thornhart are fighting to get out of Heaven to be with their loved ones, Bobby does the chivalrous thing and lets go on to other side. {{spoiler|But as soon as Cole and Starr arrive in [[General Hospital|Port Charles]], they get in a car accident and Cole and Hope are killed
* [[Dynamic Entry]]
{{quote|'''Sergei:''' ''(sees Shaun on phone's caller ID)'' Who is Shaun?
''(gunshot)''
'''Shaun:''' ''I'm'' Shaun.
** Except the actor who plays Shaun sucks and his delivery of the line was more like "I'm ''Shaun''" which didn't sound right and wasn't as cool.
** Another example occurred when Sam burst into a hotel room where Echo had been holding Dorian hostage, in a
* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: In 2001, Jessica Buchanan's [[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air|life got flipped turned upside down]]. First, [[Talkative Loon|Allison]] claims [[Switched At Birth|she returned the wrong baby]] after baby Jessica (Natalie) was kidnapped. Then it's revealed Jessica and Natalie are half twins when it was discovered her father was Mitch Laurence and not Clint Buchanan. Then after developing DID to repress childhood sexual abuse, her alter falls in love with a man and gets pregnant by him, just as she comes around to loving the guy... he dies in a freak accident. That freak accident was caused by her aforementioned twin sister's deception. She lapses into her DID again and imprisons her sister, and she's pregnant again. Unfortunately this baby doesn't survive, so ANOTHER alter steals her teen cousin's baby. Eventually, the ruse is lifted and she loses another child. She gets institutionalized (a recurring theme) and finds love with another crazy. Mitch escapes and fucks that up by erasing her mind to when she was a teenager. Her new beau can't cope and thus sleeps with said twin sister. She comes back though... mid coitus with the town pervert who impregnates her. Despite this she attempts marry him, until the ugly truth comes out. You guessed it, DID time. She hooks up with the town pervert and begins to like him, but Jessica takes over again and it's square 1. Just as Jessica and the town pervert begin to fall in love, Mitch returns and kills ''HIM'', somehow a DNA test is found and it's revealed that
* [[Evil Old Folks]]
* [[Flashback with the Other Darrin]]
* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: Mitch is the ''master'' of this. Everything he does is passive-
* [[Hurricane of Puns]]: Justin greeted Matthew's return to school with a hurricane of [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Incredibly Lame Puns]] (including one on the figurative and literal meanings of the word "lame"); think [[Ignore the Disability]] done ''deliberately''.
{{quote|'''Matthew''':(disagreeing with [[Humans Are Bastards|the point]] of ''[[Lord of the Flies]]''). I think ''most'' people are good.<br />
'''Teacher''': Great, Matthew. Why don't you tell me why-<br />
'''Justin''': -But you don't have a leg to ''stand'' on, Buchanan!
* [[Jerkass]]: Todd Manning, full stop. Seems to have spread to his twin brother and son.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Todd is at the top of the list, Cole's racing up it...
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** Jack had this going for him for quite some time, but it seems like karma is ''finally'' catching up to him.
** Don't forget Robert Ford. He kept an insane woman from getting treatment, broke her out of the mental institution, then kidnapped her again when she was healed. And she is the one to apologize?
** {{spoiler|When both Ford and Cole are on death's door, Ford is sent to Hell for having raped Jessica, while Cole is allowed to go to Heaven in spite of the murder. Ford finds his way into Heaven, but dies while Cole lives and is allowed to reunite with his parents
*** {{spoiler|Averted, Cole and his daughter die in a flaming wreck in [[General Hospital|Port Chuck]]
* [[Killed Off for Real]]: Several major characters throughout the show's run. Viki's sister Meredith was the first, and Viki's first husband Joe Riley was killed off for real before the 70s were over.
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]:
** Most of what David says throughout his storyline with his proposed reality show, and its subsequent turn into an internet telenovela. Memorably: "Thanks to the slow demise of serialized television, there are more and more time slots available for ''important'' programming. Like my reality show!" and "Do you have any idea how much money must be in reruns that play on the internet?"
** In the late 80's, Bo was the producer of the soap opera ''Fraternity Row'', which was just an excuse for the writers to mock themselves and their actors. It was brilliant.
*** Robert S. Woods, the actor who plays Bo, also appeared in a commercial with a tagline around that time, and the writers took that as an excuse to have other characters wink and say it to him.
* [[Likes Older Women]]
* [[Little Miss Badass]]
* [[Littlest Cancer Patient]]: Shane, literally. Diagnosed ''the very same week'' that Matthew was paralyzed in a car crash - at least one reviewer said that they risked alienating viewers by having so many horrible things happen to kids they've come to care about happen at once.
* [[Live Episode]]
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]
* [[Locked in a Freezer]]
* [[Long Runner]]
* [[Love Makes You Crazy]]
* [[Magic Plastic Surgery]]
* [[The Malaproper]]
* [[May-December Romance]]
** Even squickier was elderly Victor Lord's off-screen but often-mentioned romance with college student Irene, which became creepier (but also more 'logical') when after a [[Retcon]] it was revealed that Victor was a pedophile who had sexually abused his daughter Viki all throughout childhood.
* [[Mushroom Samba]]: Cole's withdrawal hallucinations of his family and friends berating him and telling him how he ruined their lives.
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* [[One Steve Limit]]
* [[Pass Fail]]: When Carla Benari couldn't get roles as a black actress, she pretended to be a white one. This caused tension between her and her mother Sadie.
* [[Perky Female Minion]]: Allison Perkins.
* [[Pretty in Mink]]
* [[Rape as Redemption]]
** Practically every bad girl in Llanview [[Unfortunate Implications|has been raped]] or it's been [[Attempted Rape|attempted]].
* [[Rape Is Love]]
* [[Retcon]]
* [[Retired Monster]]
* [[The Rival]]: Dorian Cramer towards Viki.
* [[Rivals Team Up]]
* [[Sassy Black Woman]]
* [[Serial Killer]]:
** Also, the K.A.D Killer.
* [[Sexy Spectacles]]
* [[Shower of Angst]]
* [[Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome]]
** Joey Buchanan. (Nathan Fillion plays the best Joey ever. Just sayin'.)
** Most recently, Jack Manning, Todd's first son, who was born in 2001, is now (early 2011) ''sixteen''.
* [[Sociopathic Hero]]: Todd Manning. Rape Marty Saybrooke? Check. Save Marty Saybrooke? Check. Assault a blind Nora? Check. Save two children
* [[Split Personality]]:
** Viki's personalities were Niki (sexually promiscuous and fun-loving - although she was [[Flanderized]] throughout the show's run - as well as the one personality established the longest on the show and who makes the most appearances), Jean Randolph (the authoritative, emotionless personality who "cleaned up messes"), Tori (personable but sarcastic and ruthless, even violent), Tommy (a teenage boy with a raging temper but fiercely protective of Viki), Princess (modeled after Viki's seven year old self who first experienced her father's abuse), and Victor (how Viki saw her father). Jessica's were Tess (angry and hypersexual, like a combo of Niki and Tori), Bess (a lot like Viki's Jean personality), and Wes (modeled after a brash male Navy SEAL), with even more personalities hinted at before the show was cancelled.
* [[Taking the Bullet]]
* [[Teen Pregnancy]]
**
* [[Teens Are Monsters]]:
** Jack Manning is teetering on the line between a plain [[Jerkass]] and a [[Complete Monster]], and even then he's trying every conceivable method to make himself into a [[Karma Houdini]].
* [[Their First Time]]
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]
** Destiny's parents somehow make a bizarre cross between this and the
* [[Two-Teacher School]]: Llanview High. Physically, it's one re-dressable classroom set, a short stretch of hallway and the gym. It's fully rendered compared to [[Off to Boarding School|the Warwick School]], which consists of one dorm room, an even smaller bit of hallway, and a single [[Harry Potter|Minerva McGonagall]] [[Expy]].
* [[Who's Your Daddy?]]:
** Not to mention Rex, who's been wondering for a long time. It turns out his father is {{spoiler|Mitch Laurence}}.
*** Played with, as it turned out
** Played with during Stacy's pregnancy.
* [[Wicked Cultured]]
* [[Yandere]]: Hannah, complete with [[Murder the Hypotenuse]].
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