One Life to Live storylines (2000–Present)
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[edit] One Life to Live (2000-2007)
Into the new millennium, more new characters were introduced, including Lindsay (Catherine Hickland)'s sister Melanie (Darlene Vogel) and her husband Colin (Ty Treadway). Colin was killed, but his twin brother was brought on the canvas, only to lose his mind and become a killer. Phelps' tenure saw the departure of a number of long-running actors, such as Laura Koffman (Cassie), Clint Ritchie (Clint), and Strasser (again).
When Phelps and McTavish left in early 2001, they were replaced by executive producer Gary Tomlin and writers Lorraine Broderick and Christopher Whitesell. Many of the actors hired under Phelps' tenure were let go. Fan favorite Gabrielle returned after a ten-year absence and romanced Max, then Bo. Storylines became more campy; and the show had a much-acclaimed week in May 2002 where the episodes were broadcast live. This experimentation was mixed with truly dark tales such as Todd selling Blair's baby, telling her the child was dead and then passing him off as an adopted baby when he realized he was the natural father. Another story involved Viki returning to her former split personality Niki Smith to block out the painful memory of being raped by Mitch Laurence (Roscoe Born). She had one child with Clint (Natalie) and the other child (Jessica) was fathered by Mitch. Another storyline was Antonio (Kamar de los Reyes) having a one-night stand with a woman who turned out to be his fiance Keri (Sherri Saum)'s mother. She then implanted her embryo into Keri, meaning that Keri was unknowingly giving birth to her fiance's child. To the chagrin of many viewers, much airtime was devoted to Lindsay Rappaport's daughter, Jen (Jessica Morris).
In early 2003 Malone and Josh Griffith were rehired as head writers with Frank Valentini taking over as executive producer. A new major storyline involved Mitch kidnapping sisters, Natalie and Jessica, to figure out which one's heart was a match for their grandfather. Victor had been faking his death. He was too ill to have major confrontations with his children and died a few weeks into the story. Dorian then showed up as Mitch's new bride, and she became immeshed in a storyline involving a jewel hunt as well as a "curse" which blinded Mitch. Mitch was later killed by Jessica. Another story involved the return of Cord and Tina's daughter, Sarah Roberts, as rock singer Flash (Shanelle Workman). Flash dated, and even kissed, Joey Buchanan (Bruce Michael Hall), her cousin. Joey, who was a minister at the time, then married Jen Rappaport, but the marriage did not last due to her affair with former husband Rex Balsom. Joey was then sent back to London to live with Clint.
Roger Howarth had come and gone several times but quit for good in early 2003. Mitch had him kidnapped. When the character returned several months later, he was posing as Mitch's brother Walker and was played by Trevor St. John. Apparently Todd had been so badly beaten that he had to get extensive plastic surgery. In spite of much fear that viewers would never accept any other actor as Todd, the talented St. John became popular and Todd, for the first time in a decade, had love scenes as well as a semi-functional relationship with Blair.
In April 2003, Dorian Lord returned with plans to strike it rich. She married Mitch Laurence claiming she "loved him". It was later found out that she married him to pay him back for the harm he did to the Cramer and Buchanan families. Viki developed heart trouble and was saved by a heart transplant from her comatose husband, Ben. One of the most appreciated storylines of the second Malone/Griffith era was Marcie Walsh (Kathy Brier)'s struggle with her self-esteem and her love story with Al Holden (Nathaniel Marston). Inexplicably, Marston was fired, while Al was killed off despite the couple's immense popularity. But a write-in campaign led by Marcie & Al fans convinced ABC to rehire Marston, in spite of his character having died on screen. Al's spirit took over Michael McBain's body, causing the ghost to lose all memories as Al, and court Marcie as Michael McBain. Brooding actor Michael Easton (who had a following as Stephen Clay/Caleb Morley, a singing vampire, on Port Charles) was hired as Michael's cop brother John McBain. John had affair with Lianview's Top Lawyer Evangeline Wiliamson (Renee Elise Goldsberry) that quickly turned into a relationship. Al's mother, Gabrielle, was murdered by the Music Box Killer, and Al's father, Max, left town, thus removing the Holden family from the canvas. Next came the saga of the Santi mobster family, whom Antonio learned he was related to. To the detriment of ratings (which fell to an all-time low in the summer of 2004), much of the action centered around new characters: Antonio's brother Tico (who married Jessica Buchanan), stepsister Sonia, and mother Angelina.
Writers Malone and Griffith were then replaced by Dena Higley in December 2004. On the day he was to remarry Blair, Todd was kidnapped by the crazed Margaret Cochran, who in an homage to Misery, tied him up for weeks in a secluded cabin while he recovered from his injuries. She then forced him to have sex (rape) to impregnate herself, in a throwback to his past history of rape. Margaret then conspired to get rid of Todd's wife, Blair by locking her in the trunk of a car. Margaret became pregnant and stabbed Todd because he tried to strangle her. To keep her away from his family Todd took Margaret to a lake and she never came back to shore. A few weeks later, her body & the unborn child washed up on shore. Todd was arrested for the crime and was tried for first degree murder and sent to death row. Todd was trying to prove his innocence, with the help of Evangeline (his lawyer), but did he or someone else kill Margaret?
A storyline played out in 2005 in which Nora Hanen's (Hillary B. Smith) new husband Daniel Colson (Mark Dobies), who had been on the show since 2003, was revealed to be Paul Cramer's murderer. He first framed his son's girlfriend Jennifer Rappaport (Jessica Morris) for the crime, and then strangled her when she learned the truth. But the revelation that his killing spree was all to cover up his homosexuality proved controversial in the media.
During this time Natalie husband Cristian Vega was in Statesville Prison. Attorney Evangeline Williamson took over his case and won which lead to the release of Cristian Vega. After Cristian's release Evangeline and Cristian grew closer and fell in love. (Crave-Cristian and Evangeline)
Nora's health took a downturn after she suffered a massive seizure during an argument with Bo about Paige. She remained in coma for several months but eventually made a full recovery.
Jessica, meanwhile, developed a split personality into-- bad girl "Tess" who goaded Viki into having a heart attack. She has become pregnant either by Jessica's boyfriend Antonio or Tess' boyfriend Nash (who has a past of his own). Concerned that the baby was actually Antonio's, Tess destroyed the sample that would identify the actual father. Viki meanwhile emerged into Niki Smith and kidnapped Jessica forcing her to become Tess to finally discover what made Tess emerge that would destroy Viki forever. Tess refused to tell Niki her secret because if anyone knew, Jessica would integrate into the dominant personality. Determined to know what happened to their daughter, Viki and Clint returned to the bar where Niki had taken Jessica when she was child. The evidence pointed to a house a couple of blocks away from the bar. There they discovered VHS tapes buried underneath the house with Tess' name and other girls names on the tapes. Viki and Clint decided to give the evidence to Bo, but before Tess' tape could be released to the police, Viki and Clint begged Bo to see what had happened to their daughter. Jessica gave birth to a little girl named Brennan (or Bree for short) and the paternity was later reveal to be of Nash. Tess and Jess were later integrated, and Jessica married Antonio Vega.
May 2006 was a month of tragedies and happier times for Llanview. Duke Buchanan, son of Kevin Buchanan, was injured after a tornado wreaked havoc on the town during Michael McBain and Marcie Walsh's wedding. Kevin was heartbroken as he was forced to choose who would get a life saving surgery and chose Kelly over Duke. Kelly survived but Duke died. Kevin's ex fiancee/wife, Kelly Cramer was pregnant with Duke's child and later gave birth to premature baby, Zane. She, Kevin, and the baby left Llanview to start life anew in London in November.
It turned out that Spencer Truman, revealed to be David Vickers's half brother before, framed Todd Manning by faking Margaret's death, wiping her memory, and gave Margaret's baby away. David Vickers, Natalie Buchanan, and Detective John McBain later found a much alive Margaret in Thailand. She had no memory of what happened to her or a baby. On Todd's execution day, John stormed into the execution chamber with Margaret in tow. By then, Todd had already been given the injections and Blair was devastated. Blair was shocked to find that Margaret was alive and Todd was telling the truth all along. She begged Spencer to save Todd and he did.
Meanwhile, the police talked to Margaret about what happened. She did not remember anything of what happened but later regained her memory during transport to jail. Unfortunately, the van she was in got into an accident and she was killed.
Later, Blair realized that Spencer was indeed behind the framing of Todd. She helped the Llanview police by getting proof of that Spencer may have killed John's father not David as once thought. He was arrested and put on trial.
In August 2006, Dorian's daughter Adrianna was kidnapped by man named Bruce and held for ransom. Bruce was killed and Adrianna was saved by both Rex and Dorian, but the damage was done. Adrianna was angry at her mother's involvement. Dorian had hired Bruce to stalk Adrianna because she despised Adrianna's boyfriend, Rex Balsom, and did everything to break them up. Adrianna moved out but later reconciled with her mother in December.
In September [[2006], a lot had happened. Hugh Hughes found out that Paige and Spencer were his biological parents. Just after Hugh found out about that there was a major car accident that him and John McBain were in. Michael McBain went with Bo to identify the body and it turned out to be John. Everybody thought that John had died. However in December of 2006, it was revealed that John was the one in the hospital and Hugh was the one that died.
Starr Manning found new love with a boy named Cole. Things were going well, but during a party one night Cole was high on drugs and ripped part of Starr's shirt off. Starr, terrified, ran off with her friend and hid out until the chaos had passed. Eventually, Cole was brought to the police station and Starr's parents found out about the incident. The entire Manning family was shocked to find out that Cole was Marty Saybrooke's son, Cole Thornhart. Cole was kicked off the football team and Todd tried to have him expelled from Starr's high school. When he wasn't expelled, both parents did everything they could to keep their children away from each other. Starr and Cole met in secret, and Starr forgave Cole. They then started to patch up their relationships, while their parents were clueless.
During the trial, Spencer maintained his innocence and continued to deny that he had anything to do with framing Todd. Evangeline Williamson presided in the prosecution after DA Nora Gannon stepped down for health reasons. Nearing the end of the trial, Spencer's own lawyer proclaimed that Spencer was insane after he had a mental breakdown on the stand. Marty Saybrooke was called in by the defense to confirm that Spencer was insane. Initially, the judge refused to declare a mistrial saying that Spencer was competent. However, he banged his head and began writing in blood in his own jail cell. The judge declared that Spencer was unfit and was to be transported to Wingdale mental hospital until he was cleared by doctors to be tried again. Outraged, Todd Manning kidnapped Spencer and tried to torture out information on the whereabouts of his son. Spencer would not break and soon he got the upper hand on Todd, who was on the phone with Blair. Spencer grabbed the phone and knocked Todd down, he demanded Blair come to the warehouse with money or else. Blair did come to Todd's rescue but fell off the rooftop with Spencer in a freak accident. Blair and Spencer were both injured. Todd called the EMTs for Blair but left Spencer for dead. Spencer and Blair both survived but Todd was floored with news from Blair that she was pregnant with Todd's son. During surgery, Blair suffered a miscarriage and is now near death with a condition called myocarditis, a heart infection she developed later on.
Meanwhile, Michael and Marcie were finally able to adopt Tommy with no more problems and they are living together little do they know that Tommy is really Todd's son. The only two people who know of Tommy's real father is Rex and Adrianna. Rex and Adriana are sweating with the fact.
Brittany and her friends are at it again befriending Starr and Langston knows they are faking it. Starr kissed Cole and it immediately makes Brittany jealous. Starr and Cole are now a couple, who knows what will happen. Marcie has been taking over as Starr's English teacher as her previous one is on maternity leave.
Bo enlisted Rex in searching for any witnesses as to what may have happened at the warehouse where Todd, Spencer, and Blair were found. Rex went to see Todd, who pleaded with Rex to continue the search for his son. Rex refused and Todd confessed that he really did kidnap and torture Spencer. Rex met with Bo and told him what Todd said to him. Bo decided to let Todd go because of the lack of evidence. It would be his word against Rex's.
Todd had confronted Spencer again at the hospital room. He pressured the man on the whereabouts of his son. Spencer initially told Todd that his son was dead back at the warehouse, but Todd figured out that he was lying. Spencer refused to give out any information but proposed a deal. He would save Blair's life from the heart ailment in return for giving out Tommy's location. Todd agreed. He continued on by saying that he would only do this if Todd would agree to leave Blair alone for good and that Spencer would tell the location in given time. Todd enraged, took a scalpel and threatened to kill Spencer. Dorian walked in at that moment and was able to talk Todd out of hurting Spencer, reasoning that it would only leave the kids without a father and mother.
Soon there after, Marty came to Spencer's room to inform that he would be transferred to Wingdale. Spencer snapped and managed to overpower the guard. He took Marty hostage at gunpoint. During his escape from the room with Marty, Todd walked in on the melee. Todd tried to talk Spencer down in an effort to free Marty and stop the madness. But the situation only got worse when they were trapped in a room together with cops outside. Todd fought with Spencer and managed to get the gun away from him. The whole ordeal ended when Spencer grabbed the gun and shot himself in the chest as a last ditch effort. Meanwhile, Blair's condition continued to worsen and hope was fading on her recovery.
Todd was in denial that Blair was going to die. Blair's loved ones gathered around her rallying for her to wake up and get better. In one last act of desperation, Todd brought Addie Cramer, Blair's mother, by her daughter's side. Blair's condition gradually improved. Todd decided that it was time to ask Blair to marry him but was shocked when she turned him down. Blair broke up with Todd and said she was going to move out of the penthouse with the kids to live with Dorian.
Rex, meanwhile, devises a plan that would make Todd stop looking for his son. Rex finds out that Spencer knows that Little Tommy is Todd Manning, Jr. He gets a deluded Spencer to sign a death certificate for Todd's son. Later on, Spencer taunts Michael about little Tommy. Michael gets suspicious and confronts Rex. Rex confesses that little Tommy is Todd's son and prods Michael to keep his mouth shut.
Meanwhile, Spencer had a mysterious meeting with his lawyer Mark. He offered Mark his entire estate in return for a few small favors. When Mark complied and returned with the items he requested, Spencer murdered Mark, leaving his body in bed while Spencer escaped yet again from his hospital room. Spencer, in a delusional state of mind, went into Blair's room and before she could yell for help he drugged her. Spencer put Blair in a wedding dress and dreamt that they were getting married. Before Spencer could harm Blair any further, someone approached him from behind with a pair of scissors and stabbed him multiple times. Spencer laid dead and Blair remained unconscious in her bed. Rex later was found at the scene holding the murder weapon in his hand, was promptly held for questioning, but was released the next day.
Blair, Todd, Dorian, Evangeline, Paige, Michael, John, and Marty all received phone calls instructing them to come to Spencer's old room at The Palace. When they got there, another lawyer of Spencer's started up a video that the late doctor made as a will before he died. Spencer, on tape, taunted his victims for what he did to them and for John to find his killer. Spencer confesses on the video that he did in fact kill John's father.
In other storylines, new characters come into town a former patient of Spencer's named Miles and Tate Harmon, a ball player who comes to Cole and Starr's school lecturing on not to do drugs. Blair warns Starr to stay away from Cole as well as Marty to Cole. Starr refuses to comply with her mother and gives her the silent treatment. Dorian is still vying for Clint's affection but is peeved when Clint goes on a date with Viki instead. Dorian crashes in on Clint and Viki's date. She argues with Viki and accidentally spooks the horse next to Viki. Viki wounded up at the ER with a badly sprained wrist and voices her discontent for Dorian. RJ broke up with Lindsay after she argued with Nora in public.
Dorian teamed up with Lindsay. Dorian asked Lindsay to help her get Clint away from Viki in return Dorian would help Lindsay break up Paige and Bo.
Cristian Vega was found at the scene of the latest fire started by an arsonist. The arsonist has already burned two of Vincent's properties leaving one person dead, Cristian was then arrested but later released when another property goes up in flames.
The arsonist continued more destruction. Next up, was Nora's house where she and her son Matthew were inside. Matthew nearly died from smoke inhalation but was revived by Bo. They survived the fire but the house was gone as well as their possessions. Nora and Matthew are currently staying at Asa's mansion.
Blair in the meantime, continued putting the pieces of her life back together after breaking up with Todd. She convinced Antonio that she work as a singer at his club.
After the DA's house was torched, the arsonist struck Antonio's club a few days later. A fire started while Nash and Jessica were trapped in the storage room. Thinking they were going to die, they professed their feelings for each other and made love all while the fire grew more hot. Antonio realized there was a fire in the back, went in and rescued Nash and Jessica unbeknownst of to what was really going on in the storage room. They survived but Antonio was seriously injured.
Cristian, meanwhile, suspected that Jessica and Nash had something going on and confront Jessica earlier and in Antonio's hospital room. He struggled to keep this secret from his brother as Jessica begged him not to tell Antonio the truth. Cris had problems of his own, after he dumped Evangeline after she confessed that she and Todd accidentally kissed.
In February 2007, ABC appointed Ron Carlivati as the new co-headwriter working alongside the current scribe, Dena Higley.
Also, Natalie and John's relationship continues to go downhill after John found out that she tampered with evidence at the scene of the crime. The investigation in Spencer's murder continues with John question his own brother about what happened and realized that Rex had a part as well. He threw them both in jail until he figures out what is going on. Rex continued to press Michael not to talk. They both realized that they suspect each other in the murder of Spencer, both deny any involvement. John eventually lets them both go after new evidence took his case to a whole other direction. John arrested Dorian, who also denied killing Spencer Truman. He snapped a picture of Dorian behind bars and hopped on a plane to an island in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Natalie confessed to Bo that she tampered with the evidence and she was quickly booted out of the Forensic program. John confronted David Vickers about his involvement in Spencer's murder. Initially, he refuted John's accusations but eventually confessed after John showed him a picture of Dorian in jail. David let John take him back to Llanview for the murder of Spencer Truman and Dorian was let go. Dorian vowed to find the best lawyer for David as he waited in his cell. In a twist, Asa Buchanan visited David in jail. And it was revealed that David was paid by Asa to kill Spencer for 10.5 million dollars. However, David later confessed to Dorian that somebody else had beat him to killing Spencer.
Meanwhile, the rift between Blair and Todd continued. Todd began wooing Evangeline Williamson and sought information about her from Jessica who promptly refused. After dining and wining with Evangeline the prior day, Todd had an expensive gift delivered to Evangeline.
Tate Harmon was revealed to be the an arsoninsts from the racist organization OPP (One Pure People).
Asa Buchanon died in his sleep after having a heart attack in August 2007.
