One Life to Live storylines (1968–1979)

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One Life to Live History
1968–1979 • 1980–1989 • 1990–1999 • 2000–present


Contents

[edit] One Life to Live: 1968-Late 1970s

[edit] 1968-1978

The earliest storylines of One Life to Live focused on Victoria Lord, a sexually repressed young woman who lived for her father Victor Lord's approval. When brash reporter Joe Riley began to chip away at her defenses, a fun-loving alter (Niki Smith) began showing up at local bars. Joe's best friend, blue-collar cop Vinny Wolek, fell in love with Niki, but when he realized she was really Viki, he told Joe the truth. A few years later, Joe was presumed dead, and Viki married reporter Steve Burke, who at the time was being stalked by the psychopathic Marcy Wade. Steve went on trial for her murder, and was ultimately cleared by none other than Joe himself. Viki and Joe reunited, but not before he had a child with Cathy Craig. When the child died, Cathy kidnapped Viki and Joe's baby, Kevin.

Dr. Dorian Cramer arrived in Llanview in 1973; the following year she and her married lover Dr. Mark Toland conspired to cover up their complicity in the death of a patient. When the truth came out, Dorian was suspended from Llanview hospital; erroneously believing that Viki was partly responsible, Dorian vowed revenge. After becoming the private physician to Viki's ailing father Victor, she married him, and schemed to control his fortune. Dorian's machinations further fueled the enmity between her and Viki. After Victor's mysterious death in 1976, the shadow of suspicion surrounded Dorian for decades.

OLTL was the first soap opera to have a racially integrated cast. Additionally, it was the first to deal with interracial relationships. The character of Clara "Carla" Hall (played by Ellen Holly) was an African American woman trying to pass for white. Her mother, Sadie Gray (Lillian Hayman, Esther Rolle), who was the neighbor and friend to the Woleks and worked in the Housekeeping Department at the hospital (she later became Head of Housekeeping there), discovered that her daughter, Clara, was pretending to be a white woman, and eventually persuaded her to reveal her true ethnicity.

As social issue-oriented stories on matters such as race and drug addiction played themselves out, ratings fell; in response, in 1975 ABC hired high-priced Another World actors George Reinholt and Jacqueline Courtney to portray Tony Lord and Pat Kendall. The numbers rose, but the pairing never achieved the success expected by executives. Reinholt left after only two years and replaced by Philip MacHale and, later, Chip Luccia; Courtney was fired in 1983.

[edit] 1979

A Grand Jury indicted Viki for the murder of Marco Dane. Karen Wolek searched for her hooker friend, Katrina, because she believed Katrina knew who killed Marco. Karen confided this to Talbot Huddleston, who was concerned that Katrina may have seen him kill Marco! D.A. Herb Callison dropped the biggest bombshell of all by calling a surprise witness -- Marco Dane's twin brother, Dr. Mario Corelli. Mario introduced damaging letters Marco had written to him about how Viki had threatened him.

Viki's trial reached a thrilling climax when Karen Wolek took the stand for the defense. Karen had finally found her old friend from "the life," Katrina Karr. In exchange for money she needed for drugs, Katrina gave Karen the combina-tion to a Post Office box, which Katrina claimed contained information revealing the identity of Marco Dane's killer. When Karen went to the Post Office to get the information, she discovered to her horror that Talbot Huddleston had beaten her to it. Also, Katrina had been run down by a car and was now lying comatose in Llanview hospital. Karen correctly guessed that Talbot was the killer and prepared to break the news in court. As Karen took the stand, she was savagely cross-examined by D.A. Callison, who forced her to reveal her secret life as a hooker! Larry listened in stunned silence as his wife revealed that she had been turning tricks when he thought she was tending to their home. Katrina later came out of her coma and named Talbot as the killer. This was enough to exonerate Viki, but Karen's marriage to Larry appeared to be doomed.

Dorian led a vicious campaign to have Larry ousted as Chief of Staff of Llanview Hospital. Dorian ordained her old friend and mentor, Dr. Ivan Kipling, as Larry's replacement A move that the ambitious and cutthroat Dr. Kipling strongly favored.

Larry offered to make another go of their marriage, but Karen realized she'd always be Larry's albatross, and decided to divorce him.

Dr. Mario Corelli settled in Llanview. In time, Karen discovered an amazing truth --- Mario was really Marco Dane! He wasn't dead after all! Karen forced Marco to tell what really happened the night he was supposedly murdered. Marco was horrified to discover the dead body of his brother Mario, and made the instant decision to exchange identities with the corpse! Marco implored Karen to keep his secret, telling her that he'd been "born again." Karen agreed on one condition: he had to stop practicing medicine. Marco agreed.

Jenny was delighted to be pregnant with Brad's baby. Brad had developed a compulsion for gambling. With his losses mounting, Brad stole Jenny's key to the hospital's pharmacy. Brad gave the key to a mobster named Brick in exchange for forgiving Brad's gambling debts. When Brick and an accomplice tried to rob the pharmacy, they were caught by Dr. Jack Scott, who was shot and paralyzed in the violent exchange.

Feeling guilty that Brad was home alone without her, Jenny asked Karen to look after him. Karen knew that Brad did not like her, but Karen would do whatever Jenny wanted. Brad and Karen clashed at first, but eventually Brad became -fascinated by his sexy sister-in-law. The fascination grew into obsession. One night, Brad tried to seduce his sister-in-law, but the seduction turned to rape. Karen knew she coudn't reveal a word about the rape because if Jenny were to find out, it would all but destroy her. Larry began his own detective work and realized that Brad raped Karen. In a rage, Larry beat Brad to a pulp! Jenny threw Brad out of their apartment. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, and was sentenced to three months in prison. Jenny gave premature birth to her tiny baby about the same time Katrina gave birth. When Karen and Marco were visiting the, Jenny's baby went into cardiac arrest and died before their eyes! In a panic, Karen and Marco switched Jenny's baby with Katrina's baby. Katrina fell into a deep depression when she was told that her baby died. Jenny took baby Mary home, never suspecting that the precious little girl belonged to another woman.

Dorian's sister Melinda sank deeper into psychosis, and checked herself into the Compton Clinic. Jenny's sister-in-law, Samantha, came to realize that Tony had only agreed to marry her out of guilt, and called off the ceremony.

When Pat discovered that her new husband Adam had put all moral considerations aside in order to get his financial empire back in order, she quickly had their new marriage annulled. For comfort, Pat turned to her TV producer, Dick Grant. In Pat's presence, Dick was a cheerful, charming, very outgoing gentleman. However, unbeknownst to Pat, Dick had developed a psychotic crush on her. When Samantha Vernon discovered that Dick had turned his apartment into a photo-covered shrine to Pat, he kidnapped her, and then Pat, before the police apprehended him.

Viki received some joyous news when she discovered she was pregnant with her second child! Meanwhile, Tina had taken up with a rather undesirable young crowd. Joe began suffering all the classic signs of a recurrence of his brain tumor. When Joe learned that he had only a few weeks left, he treated Viki to a wonderful wedding anniversary. With time running out, Joe hand-picked his successor as editor of The Banner. He sent for the editor of a small but prestigious newspaper in Arizona. The man's name was Clint Buchanan. Joe broke the news of his prognosis to Viki, shortly before succumbing to his illness. He beseeched Viki to move on with her life after he was gone. Viki poured her energies into working with Clint at The Banner, and fending off a takeover attempt by her arch-rival, Dorian Lord.

[edit] 1970-1979 TV Ratings

1969-1970 Season (HH Ratings)

1970-1971 Season

  • 1. As the World Turns 12.4
  • 2. The Edge of Night 10.1
  • 3. The Guiding Light 9.7
  • 4. Another World 9.5
  • 4. Days of Our Lives 9.5
  • 4. General Hospital 9.5
  • 15. One Life to Live 6.5

1971-1972 Season

  • 1. As the World Turns 11.1
  • 2. General Hospital 10.4
  • 3. Days of Our Lives 9.9
  • 4. The Edge of Night 9.5
  • 5. The Doctors 9.3
  • 13. One Life to Live 7.3

1972-1973 Season

  • 1. As the World Turns 10.6
  • 2. Days of Our Lives 9.9
  • 3. Another World 9.7
  • 3. General Hospital 9.7
  • 5. The Doctors 9.3
  • 7. One Life to Live 8.3

1973-1974 Season

  • 1. As the World Turns 9.7 (#1 in viewers)
  • 1. Days of Our Lives 9.7
  • 1. Another World 9.7
  • 4. The Doctors 9.5
  • 5. General Hospital 9.2
  • 8. One Life to Live 7.8

1974-1975 Season (HH Ratings)

  • 1. As the World Turns 10.8
  • 2. Another World 9.7
  • 2. Days of Our Lives 9.7
  • 4. Search for Tomorrow 9.4
  • 5. All My Children 9.3
  • 11. One Life to Live 7.4

1975-1976 Season

  • 1. As the World Turns 9.4
  • 2. Another World 8.9
  • 3. The Young and the Restless 8.6
  • 4. Search for Tomorrow 8.3
  • 4. Days of Our Lives 8.3
  • 11. One Life to Live 6.8

1976-1977 Season

  • 1. As the World Turns 9.9
  • 2. Another World 9.0
  • 3. Guiding Light 8.9
  • 4. The Young and the Restless 8.7
  • 5. Search for Tomorrow 8.6
  • 8. One Life to Live 7.3

1977-1978 Season

  • 1. As the World Turns 8.6 (#1 in viewers)
  • 1. Another World 8.6
  • 3. All My Children 8.4
  • 4. Guiding Light 8.0
  • 5. The Young and the Restless 7.8
  • 7. One Life to Live 7.2

1978-1979 Season HH Ratings

  • 1. All My Children 9.0
  • 2. General Hospital 8.7
  • 3. The Young and the Restless 8.6
  • 4. As the World Turns 8.2
  • 5. Guiding Light 8.1
  • 6. One Life to Live 8.0