Articles and Interviews: 2003-2007

OLTL's Huge Payoff (Soap Opera Digest 2/15/05)

It's been more than a months since Margaret shot Todd and took him hostage, and OLTL fans are starting to wonder when his misery will end. Head Writer Dena Higley says she realized fans would be antsy, but promises a huge payoff is coming soon. "When the storyline shifts a little bit from Todd being the victim to Blair being the victum, [it] plays very quickly," Higley previews. "I think we've come up with a payoff that is so worth the journey -- people are going to be so satisfied at the moment that it culminates."

But why has it taken so long to get there? "When I took over [as head writer last October]. there was not a lot of audience buzz about One Life," she explains, "and if you want to get people talking at the water cooler about a story, you have to play it out for a while, or else when they finally tune in, it's already over."

The scribe reveals that Todd and Blair will move into a more character-driven plot that explores some of the issues that arose during the kidnapping. "[Their] next story will be more about exploring characters, more sedate and more emotional," Higley teases. "Not that this hasn't been emotional, but I'll give somebody else the keys to the car when we really click into the Killing Club murders [deaths related to Marcie's book], and Todd and Blair can explore their emotions a bit."