Setton Departs; Ollian in America?

If you've read my recent Kish posts, you know what a fan I've become of Amanda Setton, who has played Kim on One Life to Live since last June.

I just read the news that, in spite of being offered a contract and a pay raise, Setton has decided to leave the show and head to California for pilot season. She's reportedly filmed her final episode already.

I'm sure that she'll land a great role in L.A. (and, by the way, who knew she'd been in Gossip Girl for a whole season?), but she's leaving behind some big boots to be filled by whoever they recast in the role of Kim. It's just not going to be the same without Setton's unique take on the character.

Since Kim is presumably going to be at least somewhat involved in Sierra Rose's life, this will affect the Kish storyline to some degree.

Hopefully it will also wake the powers that be at One Life to Live up to the dangers of having these great actors and actresses working without a contract! You'll recall that Scott Evans has never been on contract with the show either and if a better offer came along, there would be nothing to keep him in the role of Oliver Fish. Scary thought for Kish fans!

Speaking of gay soap characters, it has been a long time since I've mentioned the German soap Verbotene Liebe, which features the fantastic gay couple Christian and Olli (dubbed Ollian by their fans). If you haven't ever seen this wonderful soap couple, you can follow their entire story from the beginning on YouTube, with English subtitles.

The reason I'm mentioning this now is that an American producer, Sam Martin, has purchased the rights to Christian and Olli's storyline and intends to make an American version of it!

It's funny to think of someone buying just one storyline from a soap opera to make into a series. Imagine if the British, for example, decided that Fish and Kyle would make a great series all on their own, with none of the connecting characters or stories included!

Okay, that would actually be pretty cool, and I think the idea of an American version of Christian and Olli could be great if it's done right. Verbotene Liebe has never held back on having Olli and Christian showing affection, including scenes of the two of them in bed together. They're a very romantic couple. Will the American version be so true to the characters?

I suppose it's possible, especially since HBO has the right to first refusal. Still, it's impossible to imagine anyone but Jo Weil and Thore Scholermann as these two characters, so the show is going to be very different no matter how they do it. It will be interesting to see what develops from all of this. In the meantime, check out the originals on Youtube!