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Executive Producer Gary Tomlin leads OLTL forward by using the show's history in innovative ways
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This article originally appeared
in Soap Opera Weekly on September 18, 2001.
Gary Tomlin has an intimate
knowledge of One Life to Live. Executive producer since January 2001,
Tomlin served as a director on the show from 1992-'95. He continues to direct
episodes even while he fulfills his duties at the top. His familiarity with the
Llanview community has manifested itself in a way that matters most to daytime
fans: the utilization of the show's rich history.
Well into his first year at the helm, Tomlin is pleased with the state of the show, and even more excited by what he has planned for the future. Tomlin sat down with Soap Opera Weekly's Travis Kinsey to talk about the present and future of Llanview.
TRAVIS
KINSEY: When you
took this job in January, what did you like about the show? What did you think
needed fixing?
GARY TOMLIN: I thought the show had a very strong cast. I thought the
writing was strong. But I felt it was a little too dark. The show didn't have as
much humor as I'd like, and I knew that the show was capable of humor.
Also, I didn't think there were enough young people, and the young people
weren't strongly involved. You have to keep replenishing the audience.
Otherwise, the show's just going to die.
An article came out saying, "Gary Tomlin's taking over One Life to Live
and he's bringing on 15 teenagers and the show's going to be Beverly Hills,
90210." It's not that at all, but I am trying to get a balance with the
kids.
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TK:
You've done a good job
spreading the wealth. Pretty much every character has story.
GT: We're trying. We're very determined that Tim Stickney and Nathan
Purdee (R.J. and Hank) are going to have story, and we've brought on Sherri Saum
(Keri) and also Kamar (De Los Reyes, Antonio) is going to be heavily involved in
story. It's a minority group, and a group that has been ignored. Timothy has
worked really well but not had any kind of front-and-center story. Nathan was
wonderful during the trial, but he hasn't had any front-and-center story. We're
toying with romances for both of them. We're determined to use these people more
effectively.
TK:
Your familiarity with
the show is evident through the large amount of show history you're using to
tell current story Max and Gabrielle, the return of Allison Perkins and Viki's
alters are just three examples.
GT: In watching the show initially, I missed a lot of the characters. So
I thought: Gee, what about Gabrielle coming back? Fiona's (Hutchinson) such a
wonderful actress, and also [it allowed us] to bring back Al and shore up the
family thing and have a young character on the show.
The same thing with Allison Perkins; it invigorates the Viki storyline, and
[Allison] kidnapped Jessica, so there's a history there. With Allison stuff,
Chris and Lorraine (Whitesell and Broderick, the show's head writers) said "OK,
where can we do something where we do bring back that history but also explore
something that's going to affect the future of this show?"
We were so fortunate to get Barbara Garrick, who played the role originally,
because we used those flashbacks from 13, 14 years ago. It's a treat for the
audience that has invested in the show for that long, and the audience that
doesn't know the story and gets to see what happened and realize, "Oh my god,
this is real. This isn't something they're making up."
TK:
Is having directed the
show before an advantage?
GT: Knowing the history, knowing what the audience responded to, knowing
what a terrific cast we have here and what they're capable of is helpful. I'm
not sure if I just started watching the character of Max, if I would've said,
"Hey, this guy can be funny," if I didn't have a history of knowing what James
(DePaiva, Max) is capable of.
TK:
And you continue to
direct, even as executive producer.
GT: It gets me into the trenches, so to speak. I work with the actors as
actors, as opposed to talking with them here in my office. They get a sense of
what I'm looking for.
Same thing with the crew. It's good to see what difficulties they might be
having. We have the smallest studio in daytime. It's very hard to move around.
Our design team does a phenomenal job. Watching the show, you never realize that
our studio is tiny.
TK:
Some producers don't
believe the Nielson ratings accurately reflect viewership. How much stock do you
put in them?
GT: The ratings are all-important. The 18-to-49 demographic, that's
absolutely critical. But the thing that I've said to Angela (Shapiro, president,
ABC Daytime) and Felicia (Minei Behr, senior vice president, programming,
ABC)--and the thing we all agree on--is we need to get the younger audience and
not just be satisfied with the fact that our old audience continues to watch.
You try to keep them happy but also encourage the younger audience to watch.
A lot of people say the ratings are bogus. It's hard to tell. They bounce around
so much, it's crazy. But those are the numbers people live and die by. Until
somebody comes up with a better system, that's what we have to live with.
TK:
How do you see OLTL
as it relates to the other three ABC soaps?
GT: I think all the soaps should do their own thing. The Linda Dano (Rae)
crossover was a noble experiment that worked very well, as long as you don't
have something that feels like it's plopped in.
Certain people are going to be able to watch more than one show, but a majority
are probably going to be committed to one show. Keeping the individuality of
those shows is very important. All four shows have their own personalities. What
they've done with Port Charles is a very smart move.
TK:
Your last job as an
executive producer was Sunset Beach, a show that was infamous for being
out-there. You then directed Passions, which is even more outrageous. How
much of an adjustment is it to work on a show that's far more traditional?
GT: One Life to Live had Eterna; it had the Old West. It's not as
if a lot of this has never been done before. This show has been doing crazy
stuff for a long, long time, and they're getting back to that on General
Hospital with the whole Stavros thing. We're not interested in that kind of
science fiction, but we are interested in putting the fun in it. The most
dramatic story can have a very fun aspect.
TK:
What do you hear fans
saying about the show?
GT: We do focus reports, which tend to be more representative of the
regular fans than the Internet, because you get a real cross section of a lot of
people. They'll say very supportive things, and you'll think: That makes sense.
You try to address what people are saying.*
© Soap Opera Weekly, 2001
