Goodbye One Life to Live

Today is the end of the soap opera “One Life to Live” after more than 40 years.

One Life to Live premiered in 1968, centering on the lives of the citizens of the fictional town of Llanview, PA. Concentrating on the wealthy Lord family, and the middle-class Woleks and Rileys, the show was one of the first daytime dramas to depict people from all sorts of backgrounds. The show was the first to depict an interracial relationship, and among the first to explore drug addiction. It has also depicted dissociative identity disorder, cultism, out-of-body experiences, international espionage, time travel, and even underground cities! Written by Anonymous

 

(One Life to Live theme from 1988 by Peabo Bryson).

I remember watching this soap opera when I was growing up. My first memories of the show are with the characters Victoria “Viki” Lord (formerly Gordon, Riley, Burke, Buchanan, Carpenter, Davidson, and Banks), played by Erika Slezak (website), Joe Riley portrayed by Lee Patterson and Dr. Dorian Cramer portrayed by the one I remember Robin Strasser. And you can’t forget Nicole “Niki” Smith.

Viki (Erika Slezak) and Joe (Lee Patterson)

Then I remember the whole storyline with Karen Wolek portrayed by actress Judith Light, her sister Jenny Wolek Renaldi (Brynn Thayer) and Marco Dane (Gerald Anthony). I think the whole prostituting story line was probably my first introduction into the world. (Nice thing for a young girl to watch!)

 

 

Then there was the Buchanan family who came to Llanview, Asa Buchanan (Phil Carey), Clint Buchanan (Clint Ritchie) and Bo Buchanan (Robert S. Woods.) What a family! Oh, how I loved Bo Buchanan.

Buchanan Men (1980)

Asa was a tough S.O.B., but he was fun to watch.

Wikipedia.com has a List of One Life to Live cast members and List of One Life to Live characters. While I was looking at the list of characters, it brought back a lot of memories.

Here is a list of “actors who were with the show and became more widely known from their prime-time television or feature film work include Judith Light, Roma Downey, Laurence Fishburne, Tommy Lee Jones, Mario Van Peebles, Ryan Phillippe, Jessica Tuck,Tom Berenger, Marcia Cross,  Nathan Fillion, Tommy Lee Jones, Brandon Routh, Blair Underwood and Bryan Cranston.

Some other characters I remember: Ed Hall (Al Freeman, Jr.), David Rinaldi (Michael Zaslow), Dr. Larry Wolek (Jim Storm), Dr. Jim Craig (Nat Polen), Tina Clayton (Andrea Evans), Cord Roberts (John Loprieno) and Mitch Laurence (Roscoe Born).

Also on wikipedia.com they have a section of the Historical story lines:

• Storylines: 1968–1979
• Storylines: 1980–1989
• Storylines: 1990–1999
• Storylines: 2000–present

I stopped watching soap operas in the early 90′s, so I have been trying to watch the last week of One Life to Live. My mother was a big fan of the show. I remember before we had a video player/recorder, my parents would record the show on a cassette tape and listen to the show during dinner.

It’s sad to see another soap opera being cancelled. I have such fond memories watching them while I was growing up. Thank goodness we have the Internet so we can go back down memory lane to remember the shows that we grew up on.

So goodbye One Life to Live and thanks for 43 years!

Side note:

‘One Life To Live’ Actors Join ‘General Hospital’: Kassie DePaiva, Roger Howarth & More (from huffingtonpost.com)

“One Life to Live” may be going off the air, but veteran cast members will be sticking around ABC. Kassie DePaiva, Roger Howarth, Michael Easton and Kristen Alderson will reprise their “One Life to Live” roles on “General Hospital” as part of a new storyline.

Other website links:

• Official website
• One Life to Live: SOAPnet.com
• One Life to Live: Soaps.com
• One Life to Live at the Internet Movie Database
• Llanview Labyrinth
• SoapZone: One Life to Live Site Menu