OT>ABC Soaps

[Midnite]

Oh, I've watched OLTL for years!

Here's the Ralston family tree:

http://www.soapcentral.com/oltl/ftrees/ralston.php

Yancey Ralston was rumored to be Bo's father.  When the latter went to Louisiana to learn more about his supposed roots, he fell for Euphemia's daughter Delila and vice versa, but they didn't act on it because they supposedly were cousins.  Euphemia wanted to get back the family fortune (though she must've married into the family), so she, her daughter Delila, and her nephew Drew moved to Llanview.  The letter you mentioned that Euphemia was trying to get her hands on (written by Twyla Ralston) said that Yancey was sterile, so of course he couldn't have been Bo's dad.  Asa knew Bo was really a Buchanan, but he kept it a secret cuz he had set his own sights on Delila.  By the time Bo found out the truth, Delila and Asa were already married, so Bo slept with Becky Lee and (unbeknownst to him) she became pregnant.

Then Asa faked his own death (<yawn>) so Delila and Bo had an affair, and when Asa showed up (I think at his own funeral), Delila realized she'd been played and dumped Asa for Bo.  Delila found out that Becky Lee was preggers with Bo's baby, so out of insecurity she kept it to herself and also faked her own pregnancy even though it wasn't at all possible.  In the meantime, Becky Lee was supposed to marry Drew but he was murdered.  Asa found out she was going to have his grandson so he talked Becky Lee into marrying him.  BL eventually told Bo the truth and when he found out that Delila knew all along, he dumped her.  I can't remember what led to Euphemia's exit, sorry.

Vicki (Lord), btw, married Asa's other son Clint when she got out of that jail.

Thanks for jogging my memory, Gothick!  Aren't we glad we were spared these types of storylines on DS?  Til 1841 PT, that is.

[Dr. Eric Lang]

I used to watch OLTL eons ago, but I stopped around 1982 when the show became a rip-off of Dallas, introducing Asa and Bo Buchanan and their ten gallon cowboy hats.

Actually, a tie in with All My Children and Dark Shadows might be a bit more likely (although I stopped watching AMC years ago as well). Unless I'm mistaken AMC took over the very studios in New York where Dark Shadows was filmed, and from time to time, various props from DS have showed up on AMC. The earliest renditions of the Marick mausoleum used pieces of the Collins mausoleum, and when the Marick family home, Wildwynd, was first introduced, they used an exterior shot of Lyndhurst Castle a.k.a. Collinwood in House of Dark Shadows. As if that weren't enough, a secret woman hidden away in an upstairs bedroom, at first believed to be a ghost, turned out to be Dimitri's first wife, whose name was Angelique! It was almost as if the writers were slyly paying homage to DS.

[Julia99]

Wow! Steve and Fran. . .that was pretty convoluted. . .and unfortunately it doesn't look like Euphemia had much soap dirt. .like illegitimate children, affairs. .too damn bad.

[jennifer]

Watching the current OLTL i can see why soap producers
might not like their shows to be shown again(as in that
soap rerun channell) Vicki now(the same one mentioned
above she is ageless) has just found out she gave birth to twins (with different fathers yet) and one was taken from her by the evil  father(? the devil) i remember when this child was born to Vicki years ago and no way were twins involved! also Vicki gave birth years before to another child but forgot( soaps way of introducing a child to a female star all grown up) am i making any sense? my point is that the writers Of DS never thought their shows would ever rerun so they played around with past plots as OLTL is doing today!

jennifer

OT/also remember Tommy Lee Jones(another fav) on OLTL great bad guy!

[Cassandra]

Nancy actually played two roles on OLTL.  The first was Rachel Wilson, a terminally ill patient of Dr. Larry Wolek.  Later, she had a recurring role as a district attorney.

Thanks Mike for refreshing my memory on this. I do remember now that N.B. played a district attorney, however for the life of me, I still can't recall her as Rachel Wilson.

Jennifer Wrote:

Vicki now(the same one mentioned
above she is ageless)

Ain't that the truth!!  I don't watch the show anymore but my Mom does and one day I happen to catch Vicky on the show.  I had to do a double take because she looks exactly as she did when I watched it!!  Maybe she's hiding a "portrait in the closet" somewhere. ;-)

Cassanra[/font]

[Raineypark]

So I guess this is what we're going to talk about while Dark Shadows is MIA on the Sci Fi Channel?  

raineypark

[Gothick]

Hi Midnite,

Euphemia was born a Ralston; I think she was Yancey's sister.   Her married name was Massey.  After her husband died, she changed it back to Ralston.

There are a lot of other details I don't know about, but I'm pretty sure I've got this one right!

Thanks for your fascinating post about Euphemia's storyline.  I am going to print it out and put it in my file for the chapter on Grayson's appearance on OLTL.

Gothick

[Midnite]

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Gothick.  The family name threw me since she'd been married.  Shades of Julia Collins?

[Brian]

Glad to hear you watched OLTL Midnight, and it sounds like you still watch it.  It's the only soap I've ever watched besides DS--unless you count the few months I watched THE EDGE OF NIGHT after DS was cancelled back when I was a teen.  (I remember something about a ghost on EON.)

Gothick--I gave your letter and Grayson audio tape (finally) to Shelly about a month or so ago.  I don't know if she contacted you;  she's been pretty busy lately--I understand she's singing in the EPCOT Candlelight Christmas program during the holidays, and she's playing Kate next spring in KISS ME, KATE at the Mark Two dinner theater here in Orlando.  Overall, Shelly is very happy with her life and family these days, and doesn't miss her OLTL work.

[DStoDA]

...The earliest renditions of the Marick mausoleum used pieces of the Collins mausoleum, and when the Marick family home, Wildwynd, was first introduced, they used an exterior shot of Lyndhurst Castle a.k.a. Collinwood in House of Dark Shadows. As if that weren't enough, a secret woman hidden away in an upstairs bedroom, at first believed to be a ghost, turned out to be Dimitri's first wife, whose name was Angelique! It was almost as if the writers were slyly paying homage to DS.

That's interesting! Everytime I see the interior set of Wildwynd and the Marick Mausoleum, it reminds me of Collinwood. I read somewhere that Ryan's Hope used the studio. I guess AMC did too. I think Montel is taped there now.

[Gothick]

Brian:  Thanks for passing along the tape and letter to Ms. Burch.  I haven't heard from her. It's possible that I will hear something after the frantic holiday month is past.  

A friend who has watched OLTL fairly regularly over the years told me that back in the 70s and 80s they reused some pieces of the Dark Shadows sets on that show. Sy's work was so good, it seems to have really made the rounds on every soap that had a plot involving a mansion!

There have been rumours in fandom for years that some of the flats--the OH ones I believe--were sold to a very exclusive Long Island girls school for the use of their drama program; now I wonder whether this could possibly be true, given the accounts we've seen of the sets showing up in subsequent years on other shows.

Gothick