The End of Otalia?

I spent an hour of every weekday afternoon back in the summer of 1993 with my eyes practically glued to the TV screen, tuned in to NBC and Days of Our Lives. You see, that was the summer that the evil Vivian Alamain and her devoted sidekick Ivan buried Dr. Carly Manning alive and it was the most exciting, edge of your seat story I'd ever seen.

First, Vivian gave Carly some rare Chinese herbs that made it appear that she had died. Then, Vivian had a special coffin made that was rigged up with a speaker system that would allow her to taunt Carly from above ground as she slowly ran out of the limited air and water supply that was also included in the coffin.

At one point, the deliciously mad Vivian, played by the wonderful Louise Sorel, even rolled around gleefully in the dirt of Carly's freshly covered grave!

It was all exactly as outlandish as it sounds, but it made for some very exciting TV that summer. After school started back up again most of the kids at school were talking about the story, and it was the only time I ever heard guys my age admit to watching a soap (except for one guy in my junior year of high school who freely admitted to some girls in our English class that he watched Days sometimes because he though Kristian Alfonso was really hot).

Why am I bringing all this up now? Well, it all came rushing back to me, like a flashback on a soap opera, when I read the news tonight that Crystal Chappell is returning to Days of Our Lives as Dr. Carly Manning, a full 16 years after her departure.

I liked Carly back then, but I have to say that I'm surprised that she'll be returning, given that the character has no familial connections left in Salem. Even her love interest on the show, Bo Brady, was at that time played by another actor, so they can't even use flashbacks to establish their past relationship for newer viewers.

I'm not sure how Carly will fit in to the story now, but I'm always for the utilizing of a show's history and bringing back characters from the past. Honestly, though, I'd rather see Vivian Alamain return! After she buried Carly alive, Vivian was rehabilitated with a brief stint in a mental hospital and ended up becoming, sadly enough, a figure used for comic relief until her departure from the show a decade ago. But Vivian as originally written was a perfect soap villainess and Louise Sorel was great in the role.

I digress. The real reason I'm writing this is that Crystal Chappell signing with Days of Our Lives marks something else: the end of Otalia, Guiding Light's lesbian couple made up of Olivia (played by Chappell) and Natalia. CBS has cancelled Guiding Light, which will go off the air this September, but rumors had been flying ever since that the show was in talks to move to the Lifetime Network or elsewhere on cable. Some had even hoped that, if nothing else, Olivia and Natalia would find a second life in a spin off or on Proctor & Gamble's remaining soap, As the World Turns.

Given the fact that Otalia has been one of the most talked about pairings on Guiding Light in years, I think this signals that the chance of the show finding a third life, after beginning on radio and then transitioning to television, aren't very good at all. This is incredibly sad news for fans of the show, and indeed for all soap fans.

Since Olivia and Natalia are currently the only lesbian couple on daytime TV (if, in fact, we can call them that since the characters themselves haven't exactly figured out what they are to each other yet!), the loss of the two of them in particular will be especially sad.

With As the World Turns (and, by extension, Luke & Noah) hanging by a thread as well, I can certainly understand what Otalia fans must be feeling.