IF THAT'S LOVE // Press Archive // Trevor St. John

It's Good to Be Bad (Tulsa World 1/20/08)
‘Bad guys are always the most popular’
St. John on his “OLTL” bad-boy role.
By Cindy Elavsky

Fans of “One Life to Live” are used to Todd Manning as the character who wrongs another character. The end usually justifies the means for the popular antihero, but now, for a change, the tables have turned. Late last year he found out that Tommy, who was adopted by Michael and Marcie, is his biological son. When Marcie ran away, taking Tommy with her, the chase was on.

And this chase took Todd, Blair and half of Llanview to the little town of Paris, Texas, to find his son. Now that the jig is up for Marcie, how does Todd’s portrayer, Trevor St. John, feel that Todd handled the whole scenario?

“I don’t think he (was) that determined, to tell you the truth,” Trevor says. “He (wasn’t) trying too hard to find him. I think he (was) doing it out of some feeling ... it’s out of revenge, is what it’s out of – to spite Marcie and Michael. It’s not out of love for the kid.”

So, Todd’s motives were more out of anger that “he was kept in the dark, not because this is my flesh.” Now, that is the Todd we all know and love!

Another storyline that many viewers expect to see is the onagain/ off-again relationship of Todd and Blair. “It’s a never-ending cycle. That’s what people expect; they want Todd and Blair together, and the writers give them what they expect. It’s not necessarily true that they’ll do exactly what the fans want, but they do have an expectation, so the writers meet it.”

Since Todd has been through and seen so much during his time in Llanview, what would Trevor like to see happen in the future for his character? “Something we haven’t seen before. Just anything we haven’t recycled. Like I said, there is an endless recycling of breaking up with Blair and getting back together, breaking up with Blair then getting back together.

“It would be nice to see something different – anything we haven’t seen.

“The execution was fun to play, because we hadn’t done it before.

I have no specific ideas of where to go; I just know it would be nice not to repeat ourselves,” he says with a laugh.

Nobody understands better than Trevor the love/hate relationship that fans have with Todd. Whether you love him or you hate him, you have to admit that Todd is someone who is never boring to watch.

As Trevor puts it: “It’s fun ... bad guys are always the most popular, I think. I think likeability is unnecessary. I think empathy is what people respond to. If you understand a person, the person can do whatever unlikable act, and you’ll still be rooting for him.

“And Todd’s kind of both good and bad. He’s got his good side with his kids, and yet he is conniving and vicious and all those negative things. That’s the kind of character that people like to watch. No one likes to watch a monolith of niceness.

“The worst thing a writer could do is make a character nice, period. Or likeable.”

Well, if complexity is what you want, then Todd is definitely the man for the job, with Trevor’s blessings!