One Life to Live storylines (1980–1989)

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

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[edit] One Life to Live (Late 1970s-1989)

The mountain sunrise title opening used from 1980 through 1984.
The mountain sunrise title opening used from 1980 through 1984.

At the end of the decade and into the '80s, the ABC Daytime soap opera One Life To Live found gold in the dysfunctional struggles of Karen Wolek (Judith Light). Echoing the "double life" theme, Karen was Larry's wife, who tried to be content with her husband's meager income. She began to have sex with men in exchange for gifts, and soon her old pimp Marco Dane (the late Gerald Anthony) showed up and blackmailed her into working for him. Marco blackmailed many Llanview citizens and was murdered in 1979 - Viki was put on trial for the crime, and when Karen tried to testify for her friend, she was badgered into confessing her prostitute past. Viewers were riveted - OLTL's ratings soared and Judith Light won back to back Daytime Emmy awards.

Anthony was so popular with fans that he quickly returned (a quick rewrite revealed Marco's heretofore unknown twin brother Mario was killed; Marco impersonated him for several years). Karen was devoted to her saintly sister Jenny (Katherine Glass, Brynn Thayer), who had started out as a nun but left the convent to marry Tim Siegel (Tom Berenger); Tim then died after a fight with her cousin Vince. The Wolek sisters and Marco, along with Jenny's abusive husband Brad Vernon (Jameson Parker, Steve Fletcher), were cornerstones of the show for nearly a decade. Vernon beat Jenny, then manipulated her into taking him back over and over. He also raped Karen. Jenny was in a high-risk pregnancy at the time, and the news of the rape sent her into early labor; when the baby died in the nursery, Karen forced Marco to switch the child with fellow hooker Katrina Karr's child. Several years later, Jenny found out the truth and in a heartbreaking sequence, gave her daughter back to Katrina. The reality-based tales took a turn towards the absurd by the early 80's, as Karen and Larry had control chips implanted in their brains by the evil Dr. Ivan Kipling (Jack Betts) and Larry had to save Karen from Kipling's jungle hideaway.

When Viki was pregnant with Joey (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, Jerry ver Dorn). When naming Clint, he asked him to look after Viki post his passing. After Clint moved to Llanview, his father, Asa (Philip Carey) decided to move the headquarters of his company, Buchanan Enterprises, to Llanview; Clint's brother, Beauregard, mostly referred to by his nickname, "Bo" (Robert S. Woods), soon followed. These characters were ABC's attempt to ape the success of Dallas.

[edit] 1983-1988

In 1983 Karen fell in love with fugitive Steve (Robert Desiderio, Light's real-life husband) and in spite of Larry urging her to remain in Llanview, decided she would rather go on the run with a man who needed her than stay with her old demons. After finally steering clear of Brad for good, Jenny became involved with pianist and spy David Rinaldi (Michael Zaslow). It was later revealed that David had lived with Dorian while she was in medical school and he was the father of her daughter, Cassie. David and Jenny left town in 1985, with Brad giving David his passport so that David and Jenny could live life under new names. A decade later, Jenny was killed offcamera in a skiing accident, and David briefly returned in 1998 (Zaslow had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) the previous year; he and the show decided to educate viewers about the disease; when Zaslow died in 1999 his family asked that the character remain alive offcamera). Cassie would go on to marry the son of a mobster, have a love triangle with her mother and mother's boyfriend, almost marry Bo Buchanan, and finally married Reverend Andrew Carpenter.

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 each other, 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).

OLTL became a larger-than-life campfest in the late 80's, with executive producer Paul Rauch ignoring past diversity (Carla and her mother were dumped from the show, as Ellen Holly recounted in her autobiography. Lillian Hayman was told she was fired by a parking attendant who told her, "Mr. Rauch wants you to know that you just worked your last day." She was not even given the courtesy of cleaning out her dressing room and had to be secretly let into the OLTL studio by a security guard to collect her belongings) in favor of time travel (Clint and Viki went back in time to 1888, "Buchanan City" in the Old West), a trip underground (half the cast went to Eterna), and a slew of exploits by vixens such as Tina (Andrea Evans, Karen Witter, Krista Tesreau) and Gabrielle (Fiona Hutchison). The two even had a poor imitation of the Karen/Jenny baby switch storyline. Other fan favorites were bad boy Max Holden (James DePaiva) and soap actress Megan (Jessica Tuck), who was revealed to be the long-lost daughter of Viki. Rauch's peak of ratings success came in 1987 when Viki "died" and saw many of her deceased friends, relatives and foes in Heaven (a floating spaceship); the show went to #1 for that week. Rauch had notorious rivalries with a number of actresses; many viewers felt he ran Robin Strasser off the show and eliminated formerly important families like the Woleks.

[edit] 1989

Through Michael Grande's machinations, Viki and several others (including Tina, Cord, Gabrielle, Christine, Leo, Wade, and Roger) were trapped in the underground city of Eterna. Alone with Viki in the underground city, Roger Gordon finally confessed his long-buried secret: He was raised in Eterna, but had found a way to escape. He met Viki when she was in high school. They made love. One day, Viki watched in horror as the entrance to Eterna exploded. Believing that Roger was dead, she turned into Niki Smith. Viki/Niki gave birth to his Roger's daughter, Megan. She had carried the baby as Niki, and though she had turned back to Viki during childbirth, Victor Lord immediately had his daughter hypnotized to forget the whole thing! He then paid Roger to take the baby and leave town. Viki was amazed to learn that Megan, who had been her adversary, was actually her flesh and blood. While in Eterna, Viki and Roger's old feelings for each other began to resurface. Led by Clint, the authorities located and rescued everyone trapped inside just before Eterna collapsed.

Viki enjoyed an uneasy "reunion" with her reluctant daughter, Megan. In time, Viki and Megan mended their fences and came to respect, admire and love each other.

A behind-the-scenes stalker, Neil Delaney, was terrorizing the cast and crew of Fraternity Row. Before being apprehended, Neil kidnapped Sarah Gordon, and held her hostage in the University clock tower. Bo heroically rescued her. As they grew closer, he confessed his feelings to Sarah, but she was hesitant to get involved with the recently-widowed Mr. Buchanan. Before long, Bo convinced Sarah to move in with him!

Austin Buchanan, son of Asa's brother, Pike, arrived in town and became obsessed with Sarah. He set out to steal her from Bo. Austin knew that Bo and Michael Grande were mortal enemies, so he rigged the brakes on Michael's car to fail, the accident killed Alicia and her baby, and injured Gabrielle instead! Austin framed Bo for Alicia's murder. Austin eventually confessed to the crime, but wanted Sarah to make love to him. She tried to put him off, but he became angry and brutally raped her. After the rape, Sarah shot Austin. To protect her, Cord and Asa buried Austin's body. However, the evil Buchanan cousin was not dead after all! He crawled out of his shallow grave, and sought revenge on Sarah. Austin's reign of terror quickly came to an end. After taking Viki and Megan hostage, Clint found them and shot Austin. Felled by Clint's bullet, Austin plunged out a high-rise window to his death, but not before shooting Viki.

[edit] 1980-1989 Ratings

1979-1980 Season (HH Ratings)

1981-1982 Season (HH Ratings)

  • 1. General Hospital 11.2
  • 2. All My Children 9.4
  • 3. One Life To Live 9.3
  • 4. Guiding Light 8.0
  • 5. The Young And The Restless 7.4

1982-1983 Season

  • 1. General Hospital 9.8
  • 2. All My Children 9.4
  • 3. One Life To Live 8.1
  • 4. The Young And The Restless 8.0
  • 5. As The World Turns 7.6

1983-1984 Season

  • 1. General Hospital 10.0
  • 2. All My Children 9.1
  • 3. The Young And The Restless 8.8
  • 4. One Life To Live 8.2
  • 5. Guiding Light 8.1

1984-1985 Season (HH Ratings)

  • 1. General Hospital 9.1
  • 2. All My Children 8.2
  • 3. The Young And The Restless 8.1
  • 4. Guiding Light 7.5
  • 5. One Life To Live 7.3

1985-1986 Season

  • 1. General Hospital 9.2
  • 2. The Young And The Restless 8.3
  • 3. All My Children 8.0
  • 4. One Life To Live 7.8
  • 5. Days of our Lives 7.2

1986-1987 Season

  • 1. General Hospital 8.3
  • 2. The Young And The Restless 8.0
  • 3. One Life To Live 7.2
  • 4. All My Children 7.0
  • 4. Days of our Lives 7.0

1987-1988 Season

  • 1. General Hospital 8.1 (#1 in viewers)
  • 2. The Young And The Restless 8.1 (#2 in viewers)
  • 3. One Life To Live 7.7
  • 3. All My Children 7.7
  • 5. Days of our Lives 7.1

1988-1989 Season (HH Ratings)

  • 1. The Young And The Restless 8.1
  • 2. General Hospital 7.5
  • 3. One Life To Live 7.1
  • 4. All My Children 6.7
  • 5. Days of our Lives 6.5