One Life to Live: The Return

Fear not, fellow One Life to Live fans! Our soap hath returned!

It lives online thanks to Prospect Park and has just completed its first week. So, how was it?

So far, I think it’s been a success. The cast is full of veterans, once again led by Erika Slezak as Viki. And the show was wise to open with her and Clint. It was like when the shows start up again in September and we see all those familiar faces again. It also answered one of the cliff hangers from when OLTL signed off in January 2012—Viki accepted Clint’s proposal. Fear not, Buchanan fans, Nigel is still around and working at Llanfair.


A note on the sets: They are amazing. I read that ABC destroyed all the sets, so Prospect Park had to rebuild them. And they did a great job. Llanfair as well as Bo and Nora’s apartment look just like they did on ABC. La Boulie has received a makeover as has the hospital. Capricorn was reborn as Shelter and I think it’ll be interesting to see where the stories will go with the nightclub. Hopefully we’ll soon see outside sets, like Angel Square.

The veterans are still good as ever. Slezak, Robin Strasser (Dorian), Tuc Watkins (David), Kassie DePaiva (Blair), etc. Kelley Missal (Dani) is doing exceptionally well with the material she’s been given. She may be the breakout star. Robert Gorrie, who is now playing Matthew, is doing well despite the fact Matthew is clearly meant to be a douche. And I will be honest—I nearly squeed when I saw Hillary B. Smith as Nora again. I am glad they are bringing back Cutter as well. He’s one of the gray characters soap operas need—will want to do the right thing but end up doing the wrong thing anyway.

Corbin Bleu is meshing well with the cast as well. It’s not a case of “Look we got someone who is famous outside of soaps to be in our soap.” Bleu is an actor playing his part and doing it well. I haven’t seen much of Laura Harrier (Destiny) but so far, she’s okay. The newcomers are generally in the younger set, so we’ll see what happens there.

So, after week one, I’m optimistic. Let’s see what week two brings!

(Shameless plug: I recap the new OLTL episodes here).