It was shortly after the cancellation of Guiding Light that actress Crystal Chappell decided it was time to creatively take matters into her own hands. What better time to start your own production company to produce your own material where you’ve got total control and the artistic freedom to tell a story in the fashion you believe it should be told. No studio’s wrapping you up in contracts or red tape, no producers tying your hands behind your back censoring your creative vision.
So Tiffany, you ask, in what strange universe could a project like that stand a chance of actually coming to fruition? Why the internet of course! The business savvy Chappell realized that the time was now so she called up longtime friend and writer Kim Turrisi and through a mutual friend contacted producer Hope Royaltey to create their very own production company, OPEN BOOK PRODUCTIONS, so they could tell the type of stories that were passionate to them on their own terms and thus Venice the Series was born!
Recently I had the chance to chat with Crystal to discuss her newest adventure as co-creator, executive producer and future director of Venice the Series due to hit the web November of this year. Unfortunately for me the new online recording service I used decided it would be fun for me if they deleted the interview. By the grace of God, a full day of me huddled in the fetal position crying and one very generous publicist (thank you Leslie), Crystal Chappell graciously agreed to an email interview. There’s a reason why her fans refer to her as a Goddess!
Today kicks off the final week of Guiding Light. Not unlike many of you, my own family, crossing four generations, has watched GL longer than I have been alive. So as a final tribute I am linking to a couple of the interviews I was lucky enough to do this year from Guiding Light.
Today is the interview with Orlagh Cassidy. Her portrayal of Mayor Doris Wolfe and her characters journey of coming out to her daughter Ashley in the final days of the storyline has been some of Orlagh’s best work on Guiding Light. I hope you’ll take the time to read the interview, leave a comment and please let Orlagh know what her time on GL has meant to you by visiting her on Twitter. http://twitter.com/orlaghcassidy
“I am here to solemnize the wedding of Frank Cooper and Natalia Rivera.” Wow, solemnize…that’s what every girl dreams of when she thinks about how her wedding day will be described. What a sexy word!! Mayor Doris Wolfe, played brilliantly by the fabulous Orlagh Cassidy, ends up offering to officiate the wedding and does so with style. Hey Orlagh, call me, we’ll do lunch…I’ll wear a hat! Doris is my star for the majority of this episode. I would imagine she feels that she can throw the odds in her new friend Olivia’s favor by oh, I don’t know, speaking of the virtues of marriage and how it is not to be taken lightly or rushed into lightly. Doris gives the “is there any reason you shouldn’t be married” schpeal to Frank and Natalia when suddenly Olivia bursts out with a “NO…body objects right?” causing a laugh throughout the church and further tormenting me. Crystal Chappell may be a Goddess but she’s pushing me right up to the edge of insanity too. I’m jittery and starting to talk to myself, it isn’t pretty.
Doris continues her rant about the sanctity of marriage and how love is never doing what’s expected (watch out Frank…anvil dropping), it endures all, it shouldn’t be entered into thoughtlessly or out of a sense of convenience (oops, another anvil). She’s peppering her every word with enough not so subtle messages trying to shine a guiding light (sorry, I couldn’t resist) over Natalia to lead her out of this deep fog she seems to be lost in. Doris is my hero today. She even fakes a phone call that forces her to stop the wedding! I’m impressed by what an incredible friend she is trying to be to Olivia by attempting to help her do what she refuses to herself…stop Natalia from making the biggest mistake of her life by marring a man she doesn’t love.
Tuesday my heart was torn from my chest and tossed into the wood chipper by Crystal Chappell’s performance of Olivia Spencer’s tormented confession of her undying love for Natalia. Today I am unsuccessfully trying to recover from Wednesday’s episode, which picked up right where we left off Tuesday with Olivia and Natalia in the cemetery. Olivia once again professes her deep undying love for Natalia.
At this point Olivia is determined to finally speak the truth, finally say what has tormented and consumed her for so long. She realizes that once she verbalizes what she truly feels that she can never take it back, something that Natalia tries to remind her of and something Olivia is painfully aware of but needs to say it because this could be her last chance to, in her words, “set the record straight.” She’s not sure exactly when things changed but they most certainly did. They started out as rivals, became friends, hell, Natalia gave Olivia her dead husband’s heart! Somewhere between roommates and best friends they turned into a family. Natalia is Emma’s (Olivia’s daughter) other mommy. She and Olivia know each other so well they finish each other’s sentences. They love each other and in that moment you undoubtedly know it, you feel it, you believe it.
I realize that is a bold statement to make and an even bolder headline to lead off with but when it’s the most accurate way to describe one of the finest actresses in television today I say go big or go home. But maybe that’s just me.
If you’ve been following the current Guiding Light storyline with Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer) and Jessica Leccia (Natalia Rivera) as Otalia, then you are well aware that yesterday’s episode and what transpired. It was the beginning of the heartbreaking admission of love, from Olivia actually TO Natalia; we have all been waiting so patiently for. Natalia and Frank have hastily moved the wedding up because Rafe was released early for good behavior but only for a week before he heads to a halfway house to finish out his time. So Olivia steps in and within a few hours throws together a wedding and begins to move out of the farmhouse (aka the Farmhouse of Love).
It’s not until towards the end of the episode that things begin to really heat up and where my bold yet accurate headline comes into play. We cut to Olivia (Chappell) at the cemetery near the church placing long stem red roses at the base of Gus’s headstone. She’s trying to tell him about how his gift of a heart was actually a gift of life, a family and a great love…Natalia’s love. She blames him for giving her this great love because now she doesn’t know what to do with it. She’s going to stand next to Natalia and watch her marry someone else, losing her forever. Olivia comes to the realization that she has learned to truly love someone unselfishly. While confessing her feelings to Gus, Natalia shows up to make peace with Gus so she can move on and start a new life. She see’s Olivia and after a few minutes of the two of them discussing how it is the right thing to move on and how each of them are about to embark on a new life, Olivia begins to break down. She can no longer contain her overwhelming emotions. Her love for Natalia over comes her and she begins to passionately cry devastating tears. Natalia pushes Olivia to tell her why she is so upset and though Olivia tries desperately to move past her feelings, her raw emotions finally over take her and she screams out in frustration “I’m in love with you!”
As most of you already know, last Wednesday Guiding Light, the longest-running scripted program in broadcasting history, was canceled. Fans of the show and quit frankly, the cast and crew were shocked and devastated by the news. The rest of last week was a difficult one that had everyone involved scrambling to make sense of the situation and wondering if there was anything that could be done to in fact save this beloved show. It is after all an American institution, an icon if you will.
Now that we’ve had a few days to snap out of our grief and start thinking clearly, we as fans can stand up and take this fight to the streets. We are determined not to go down without a fight. A show that has been part of the very fabric of our lives for 72 years isn’t going to brushed aside and put out on the curb like yesterdays trash. We’re standing up and yelling at the top of our lungs KEEP THE LIGHT ON!
Guiding Light has many passionate, loyal, loving fans ready to stand by its side and do whatever it takes to make this a successful campaign. One such fan has taken her voice and laid out her feelings in an open letter to all those in the industry who might actually have the foresight to pick up this rare jewel, brush it off and help it to shine bright once again. I hope you will read her letter and follow her lead! The only way to save Guiding Light is to be vocal.Write, call, email and let your voice be heard!
If you’re a fan of daytime television and have been following Guiding Light’s break through storyline over the past year between Olivia Spencer (Crystal Chappell) and Natalia Rivera (Jessica Leccia) affectionately know as Otalia, then you most definitely know about the fan forum Big Purple Dreams. BPD was created by a group of soap fans wanting a place of their own to gush over the burgeoning epic love story they were witnessing over at Guiding Light. First came the Otaliafan channel on YouTube then the forum and after a few months, this little engine that could is nearly two thousand members strong and growing!
Recently I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with the three podcast mavens, Mel aka the cheerleader, Christi aka flowchart and Destini aka the sexy voice that lead this band of loyal, enthusiastic, and intensely passionate soap fans. The following is what took place or at least what I was allow to print…they’re a saucy bunch and I loved every minute of it!
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