Kat Halstead

March 28^th

This man is one of my favorites. I miss seeing him on my television every day. Bo Buchanan was one of my favorite characters on One Life to Live. Bo and Nora were always one of my favorite couples, even back when I was in middle school I loved them and always wanted them back together. So I was thrilled when they finally reunited.

Robert S Woods
Bo Buchanan, One Life to Live

March 27th

How could I do soap hotties, without ever once bringing up this man. Tuc Watkins is one of my favorite actors. I loved him as David Vickers-Buchanan on One Life to Live, I even enjoyed him on General Hospital as Pierce Dorman.

Tuc Watkins
David Vickers-Buchanan, One Life to Live 

March 19th 

He’s played Austin Reed, Brad Snyder and Rick Powers. Austin Peck has brought the lovable goofball to Days of our Lives, As The World Turns and One Life to Live. I’ve loved him as all three, however I will confess that I actually liked him as Rick Powers the best. Sure Rick was annoying, but he was always honest about what he wanted—money. He was sleazy, but he knew it and embraced it.

Austin Peck
Rick Powers, One Life to Live
Follow him on Twitter!

March 14th

We watched him start out as a con-artist trying to get his hands on the Buchanan fortune only to years later turn out to be a Buchanan. John-Paul Lavoisier played Rex Balsom on One Life to Live and is a personal favorite of mine. We got a chance to look into his world this past fall on Dirty Soap with his girlfriend Farah. During his time at OLTL we got see his character grow from con-artist to loving father and husband by the shows final episode.

John-Paul Lavoisier
Rex Balsom, One Life to Live

March 13th

Happy John McBain day! Today is the day that we get to see super cop John McBain show up in Port Charles, NY and on General Hospital.
This won’t be Michael Easton’s first time in Port Charles though, many of you remember him as vampire Caleb. 

Michael Easton
JohnMcBain, General Hospital and One Life to Live 
Check out him out on facebook. 

March 10th

Markko was part of the foursome, he was Cole’s best friend, Langston’s boyfriend, and a really great friend to Starr as well. Honestly, I could’ve so seen Starr and Markko together at some point if OLTL had continued. One of my favorite OLTL moments ever was Markko’s graduation speech. Whenever I watch it, I tear up. Also during Starr X’d Lovers he performs my favorite song We Fall. Seriously its my ringtone still.

Jason Tam
Markko Rivera, One Life to Live
Follow him on Twitter! 

March 6th!

He played con-artist Cutter Wentworth on One Life to Live. He brought the viewers of lots of shirtless moments, he wasn’t just eye candy though. He brought the comedy and the drama. At first I wasn’t ready to like Cutter, he was after the Buchanan fortune after all. Josh Kelly brought him to life though in a way, where you couldn’t help but love and hope he could stop being a con-artist.

Josh Kelly
Cutter Wentworth, One Life to Live
He’s a facebook kind of guy! 

March 4th!

For today, I bring you someone I have loved in all three of his soap roles. Scott Clifton has brought to life Dillon, Schuyler, and Liam to life. During his time on General Hospital I rooted for Dillon and Georgie to be together and make it work. They were one of my all time favorite teen couples (the other being Robin and Stone, Karen and Jagger). I still cry when I watch the scenes when Dillon returns and finds out that Georgie was murdered.

During his time on One Life to Live, I got to see him in a more grown up role and he killed it. I kept hoping something would happen that could keep Schuyler from from ending up in prison. I even like him as Liam, I just am not sure why Liam puts up with Hope or Steffy on The Bold and The Beautiful.

Scott Clifton
Liam Spencer, The Bold and The Beautiful
Follow him on twitter! 

It is a cold afternoon here in Minnesota, the snow is falling in big flakes bust very gently. They sky is grey while the world outside looks calm and serene. I am in my living room, dressed up a little bit out of respect for my favorite show. I opened a bottle of champagne, toasted my favorite characters, couples, the show itself.

The day the cancellation was announced, I was at work. It was my last day on the job so I was already a bit emotional, as my boyfriend and I prepared to move from Durango, Colorado to Minnesota. I remember looking down at my phone just to check the messages when on my twitter and facebook apps the news was loud and clear. I had to ring someone up and then I went into the bathroom to pull up the news story. I cried for a moment, splashed some water on my face and tried to get some of my work done. A little later my boss made a comment about wanting to catch All My Children while she ate her lunch. I told her to enjoy it while she could, that it was cancelled.

It was a hard day for so many reasons, when my boyfriend came to pick me up after I had closed up I cried. Finding out what would be replacing them just made the news sting even more. I cried into my cocktails the next night, wondering how you could get rid of Erica, Dorian and Viki. If my phone hadn’t died, I probably would’ve left Frons and Sweeny a pretty nasty message.

Since then, I have savored every moment in Llanview. While we drove across the country, I would watch OLTL either at night on a laptop or my phone just so I could be caught up. I have sat down every day at 1pm and watched. I cried like a baby when Gigi and Matthew “died”. I cried for Shane when he didn’t have his mother. I was on the edge of my seat as Todd sulked around town, waiting to reveal himself. I was torn between Todd and Victor.

This show has been a part of my life since I was thirteen years old. Yes my mother watched it, though she would usually have to leave in the middle of it to pick us up from school. We would usually catch the last few minutes together, I always loved the interactions between Viki and Dorian. I remember an evening as my mother prepared dinner, I had been online via prodigy reading up on some basic One Life to Live history. I was fascinated by the idea I had that Todd Manning could be related to Irene, perhaps even Victors long lost son. My mother told me that it wasn’t possible. “But they both have the last name Manning!” Months later as you know we found out Todd was in fact Victor and Irene’s son.

I loved the high school romance of Jess and Cris, and hoped that I could find a guy as sweet as he was. Bo and Nora were so much fun I hoped that when I was older I would find someone like Bo. During the live week I was on the edge of my seat, my step-mom coming in my room wondering what all the commotion was about. I remember in college all the serial killer storylines, even though I hated them I remember them. I recall when we found out Cris really was Cris and John kept that information from Natalie. I was blown away.

Somewhere along the way I wasn’t visiting Llanview that often. On my days off from work I was usually still running errands getting back just in time to catch General Hospital. Then things changed in my life after a car accident. I was at my parents house, with not much to do and found myself in Llanview again each afternoon. This was around the time Ron Carlivati took the reigns as head writer, so I spent plenty of time in Paris, Texas as well. New life was breathed into everyone. I was on the edge of my seat and I needed to know what would happen to these people. I needed to know that Starr would be okay, that she would have her baby. I rooted for Bo and Nora to reunite. I danced and sang along with Starr X’d Lovers, in fact the song We Fall is one of my favorites and was my ringtone for a long time.

One of the things that has made me love OLTL so deeply these last few years has been the respect you can feel and see on screen. The creative team of the show respects the show, its history, its cast and of course its fans. They used parts of the history of the show and built on it. They wove things together in ways I never expected.

Come Monday things just won’t be the same without a trip to Llanview. I’ll know not to turn the TV to the local ABC station, even though my instinct will be to find out what’s going on now. At least I and others can take comfort in knowing that Blair, Todd, Starr and John will be heading to Port Charles, the story isn’t over, and it’s just changing.

Llanview is a part of us, just like we were a part of it. Forever it will live on in our hearts just as all the other soap destinations do for their fans.

So for now, I propose a toast to One Life to Live, you’ve made us cry, laugh. You’ve shown us love and loss. You are a part of us always.

Soaps, as a whole (daytime and primetime) have played a huge part of my television life. My very first soap memory, at the age of four, was Julie Olson’s face on our big old box tv. I’ve been a soap fan for over thirty years. THIRTY. My relationships with my shows outlasts any other relationship I’ve ever been a part of.

And now, they are slowly going away.

I can pinpoint the day that I started watching soaps. I was four. My dad had to come and pick me up from a disastrous first day at daycare. I railed all the way home about the book they gave me to play with, the nap they tried to make me take, the fish and milk they fed me. When I got home, I’d planned to repeat the story for my mother, but she was already busy watching her stories. So I sat down in front of the tv and watched Julie Olson pour out her heart. I was hooked.

Most of my life from then on was scheduled around soaps. If there were important events happening, I would be there to watch. Even if it was because I had to stay home from school because I was “sick.” Some of my college classes were scheduled around my shows. I made collages. I made my younger nieces get dressed up to watch Jack and Jennifer’s wedding on Days. I DID.

At first, I was loyal to NBC soaps. Another World, Santa Barbara, Days of Our Lives. Then I threw in a little Young and the Restless and All My Children and Bold and the Beautiful. Then came One Life to Live, General Hospital, As The World Turns, and Guiding Light when the others weren’t on, or occasionally not holding my interest. I kept up with each and every one. I bought all the soap rags. I wrote letters. I’m pretty sure I had one published in Soap Opera Weekly. I think it was my teenage manifesto on why I loved Jack Deveraux.

But then, something happened. Santa Barbara was gone. And less than a decade later, so was Another World. And their replacements were nowhere near as good. Sunset Beach was a mess. And I’m not ashamed to admit that in college I got into Passions, so much so that the second my last class let out for the day, I headed over to the college theatre, to the tech director’s office, to watch with the head lighting designer, the student secretaries, and various carpenters. But then Passions got too weird, and the whole Salem Island thing happened on Days and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I jumped off the NBC Soap Ship and was snapped up by ABC Daytime.

All My Children, General Hospital, and One Life to Live became my life. My daytime tv life, that is. My day couldn’t really get started unless I got to see my shows.

When I joined OLTL full time, John McBain had barely gotten settled and hooked up with Evangeline. Crazy Margaret had just entered the scene, and had kidnapped Todd and forced him to try to get her pregnant, and locked Blair in the trunk of a car(And later on, she gave birth to my hero, Spidey Sam Manning).

This is what I was looking for. Action! Suspense! Drama! Love! Insanity! There was so much going on, and it didn’t stop there. I got to meet Niki Smith and Jean Randolph, not to mention Tess and Bess! And don’t forget the Blair-Tea catfights. Rex and Jenn. Rex and Adriana. Rex and Gigi. And David Vickers!

Ok. I’m getting extremely sad writing this. For every name I mention, a hundred scenes flood my mind, so many moments…for instance, when I think of Rex, I think of all his women…and one of these women, for the shortest time in the world, was one of my college theatre buddies. She played some slutty chick who worked at UV. I was seriously never so proud of her as when I saw her trying to seduce Rex.

In retrospect, that may have been the day my reality and fantasy lines started to blur. So, yeah. OLTL has been a very important part of my life, and in the livelihood of my friends in the business. Just before the cancellations, mere weeks before the cancellations, I mentioned to a Twitter buddy that I was seriously considering trying, somehow, to be a soap writer. Oddly enough, this is the loftiest goal I had set for myself in many years. I don’t *do* goals. And then the news hit. Two less “prospects,” so to speak.

I just can’t get out the proper words to state what One Life to Live has meant to me. There is too much anger still about how everything went down. There is too much sadness. I’m losing another big chunk of inspiration, of my life. I mean, I found my Muse for my current work in progress in Llanview.

I’ve been working on this one since August. And I didn’t feel a connection with my main male character. At all. Then, a couple of months ago, I turn on OLTL, and there is Josh Kelly (aka Cutter Wentworth), doing something in a way that I feel my character would, and BAM! Helllloooo, Muse! There was something about the vibe he was giving off in whatever scene was happening that day that made everything click for me. It totally unlocked my character. I liked him, I understood him, and I saw what my main female character fall in love with him. Just because of one scene.

So, now not only is daytime losing talent, I’m losing a little inspiration. A lot of inspiration.

It wasn’t fully real to me that the end was drawing near until last Thursday and Friday’s episodes. The hostage situations, the shootings, and then Starr singing that damn song at the end. A beautiful moment in the middle of chaos. That’s when it became real. That’s when I broke down in tears. Then I got mad. This show had just given us so many beautiful moments, and I don’t believe that there will be any sort of moment that comes close in either of the two replacement shows. Ever.

On Monday, January 16, my television will be black in honor of All My Children and One Life to Live. And possibly infinitely.

I’m not the type of person who has a lot of hope, in general, but I’m still holding out a little hope for our shows.

Samantha Jane
You can connected with Samantha on her blog Samantha Jane Uses Her Words and you can follow her on Twitter @Samantha12Jane