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Revision as of 00:07, 12 July 2004 by FrickFrack (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)One Life to Live is a soap opera which has been broadcast on the American ABC television network since July 15, 1968.
The show was originally a half-hour serial until it was expanded to one hour in 1978. One Life to Live was created by Agnes Nixon, who was also responsible for the creation of All My Children (two years later), and who served as the head writer of Another World and Guiding Light.
Set in the fictional town of Llanview, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, the show originally concentrated on the wealthy Lord family and the middle-class Rileys and Woleks. Since its inception, it has centered on the character of Victoria Lord (played since March 1971 by Erika Slezak). As a result of the sexual abuse suffered at the hands of her father, Victor (Ernest Graves), Viki blocked out the memory his molestation, which led to the development of her Dissociative Identity Disorder, better known as DID or split personality disorder. Over the years, Viki has weathered widowhood, rape, divorce, stroke, breast cancer, and heart disease.
In the early 1970s, a feud began between Victoria and Dorian Cramer (played by since 1979 by Robin Strasser) when Dorian married Viki's father after she thought Viki was partly responsible in her being fired from Llanview Hospital and eventually losing her license to practice medicine.
The show was the first soap opera to deal with interracial relationships. The character of Clara "Carla" Hall (played by Ellen Holly) was an African American woman passing for white. Her mother was the maid at the Lord mansion, who discovered that her daughter, Clara Gray, was pretending to be a white woman, and eventually persuaded her to reveal her true ethnicity.
When Viki was pregnant with Joseph (whom she named after Joe posthumously), her husband, Joe Riley (Lee Patterson) was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Joe was forced to name a successor to own and editorialize Victor's former newspaper, The Banner (then, The Banner-Arizona), so he named Clint Buchanan (Clint Ritchie). When Clint moved to Llanview, his father, Asa (Philip Carey) decided to move the headquarters of his company, Buchanan Enterprises, to Llanview; his son, Beauregard, mostly referred to by his nickname, "Bo", (Robert S. Woods) soon followed.
Clint tried to develop a relationship with Viki following Joe's death, but she turned away still distraught over Joe's passing. They eventually became involved with eachother, married, and had a child, Jessica (played by Bree Williamson since 2003), who was actually the child of Mitch Lawrence (Roscoe Born); Mitch previously raped Viki, in which, she blocked out the memory, which led to the return of her alter ego, Niki Smith. Clint and Viki's actual biological child, Natalie (Melissa Archer), was stolen by Mitch, and raised by Roxanne "Roxy" Balsom (Ilene Kristen).
Among the many who got their start on "One Life to Live" are Linda Dano, Laurence Fishburne, Tommy Lee Jones, Judith Light, Phylicia Rashad, Blair Underwood, Casper Van Dien and Mario Van Peebles.
One Life to Live was the first to deal with many issues, including homosexuality. Ryan Phillippe played the role of Billy Douglas, a gay teen dealing with the difficulty of coming out to his parents and friends. The resident bad girl, Marty Saybrooke (Susan Haskell), accused Reverend Andrew Carpenter (Wortham Krimmer) of having a sexual relationship with Billy. Marty eventually had an epiphany about her ways, but it only came about after she was gang-raped, in which, was led by Todd Manning (originally portrayed by Roger Howarth), Viki's half brother. Todd hired Nora Gannon (Hillary B. Smith) to defend him when Marty filed a lawsuit. They nearly won the case when another woman claimed Todd raped her as well. He lost the case and swore revenge upon Marty and Nora.
Today, Victoria "Viki" Lord still remains the center of many of the shows storylines. Also, not only the Buchanans, but many other families, including the Vegas and Cramers, are central to the show's plot.
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