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Guiding Light's Olivia and Natalia will live on in new web series (kind of)

by Bob Sassone, posted Aug 26th 2009 8:01AM
Guiding LightA lot of Guiding Light fans are entranced by Otalia. That's not a butter substitute, it's the "Brangelina-ish" name that fans have given to Olivia and Natalia, the lesbian couple played by Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia. Fans won't be able to see that couple anymore, since Guiding Light will air its last episode ever on September 18. But the actresses have decided to keep the storyline alive on the web.

Though as I said above, kind of.

Chappell and Leccia can't use the names Olivia and Natalia (Tele-Next, Procter and Gamble and the show said no to doing a web series), but they are going to portray a gay couple on a new web series. It's going to be called Venice, and will feature the couple living in Venice Beach, CA. The show will also feature fellow GL stars Jordan Clarke and Daniel Cosgrove (though I'm sure they won't be playing Billy and Bill).

This is a good idea, I guess, though there are many other GL characters I'd rather keep up with than Olivia and Natalia. Like Philip and Rick and the Bauers and the Spauldings. I'm not even sure I'd want to see a web series based on those character though. I want to see GL continue on television or just end completely. Dragging it to the web seems to ... lessen the show somehow, doesn't it?

[via TV Tattle]

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jaz

i just came across this quite by accident and I was just wondering when and where on the web will we be able to watch this show. I miss Guiding Light so much just to see my favorite actors again some how?
Could some one help me out please?
thanks - jaz

October 07 2009 at 7:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
darcy Rae Johnson

Amazing song about Guiding Light - HILARIOUS http://www.theonceaweekfreek.com/weekly-freek.php

For 72 years, the soap opera Guiding Light has brought joy to many people. It has recently been cancelled. This made me remember that I recorded a song about the show, using the characters and the story line of the time as the focus of the tune. It pretty much wrote itself. My wife Emily, grew up watching that show. From 97 to 2000, she and I and our 2 dogs, circled the country in a variety of motor homes playing upwards of 200 hundred shows a year. Each day, we would stop somewhere where we could get TV reception on our Radio Shack 8 inch 12 volt TV to watch this show. I of course didn't always watch but I did enough to know the characters and their personalities and their back stories and who they were sleeping with and who their wives and husbands were sleeping with and who killed who and who and so on. Once we settled back into Fredericksburg, we were introduced TiVo. It was then I got really caught up in the characters and this song was created as a joke. Each year, the real life actors would go to Kings Dominion (amusement park) for a series of autograph signings and interactive seminars where they take questions from fans. Emily wanted to go and like a good husband I accompanied her. (Along with Cam Morin my business manager who was also a semi-fan of the show). Just for fun I recorded this song to put on disc to give the characters in person. Needless to say, there were thousands of house wives and pissed off husbands there to see them and the line for autographs was ridiculous. We waited in it for a long time and by the time we got close, they switched out the actors at the signing as it takes hours to accommodate a crowd like that. 5 would sign and 5 would do the seminar. You had to be super hard core and wait a l o n g time to meet the actors. There were way too many roller coasters to ride for me to do this. So, I walked to the front of the line and handed the discs to the publicist and kindly asked her to give these to the actors. Each disc was labeled with the character's name. She took them and looked at me like I was crazy and said "yeah....ok......sure......thanks." The discs probably went quickly in the trash. I may have played this song a handful of times a long time ago but more than likely it will be new to you. Guiding Light. May you rest in peace. Enjoy.

October 01 2009 at 2:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Susan

This is FANTASTIC news! I was so thrilled that GL got involved in an alternative lifestyle story before the series ended. At least this puts some "light" back in my life. It may take a while to get used to the Venice Beach setting though. Having lived there, it is a far cry from the midwest (where I am now).

Never heard of Big Purple Dreams. Gonna check it out now!

August 27 2009 at 3:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Team Otalia

The web is the future for soaps so, instead of lessening the show, Crystal Chappell is being very cutting edge for starting her own brand new series. In interviews she has said that a motivation for launching "Venice" is the fact that she has been so moved by all the letters she has received from gay woman who have been bowled over by the Otalia story line--for the first time they have seen their lives portrayed realistically with such amazing acting and compelling writing (well, until mid-June when it went off track). There are over 6,000 fans of Otalia on the official fansite (Big Purple Dreams) and the fan base for Crystal and Jessica Leccia is only growing. "Venice" will set the standard and change the way web series are viewed.

August 26 2009 at 10:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
James

It sounds like someone made you write this Bob,lol. OK, here is a better story for you; have you ever heard of soap opera fans acting like agents for the actors they love?? Well, that's what the Otalia fans have been acting like! Movers and shakers... Crystal Chappell's fans joined the Otalia fans from all over the world.The group made phone calls,sent letters tirelessly to save the show (to save Otalia)...this group is made up by gay and straight fans loving these actresses talent and undeniable chemistry! Venice is not GL, P&G would sue them,don't ya think?

August 26 2009 at 9:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jennibin

Bob, forgive me, and I mean this in the most respectful way, but you're not doing your job very well, otherwise you would know something about Venice.

It is not GL redux, it is a completely different show comprised of actors, most coming from the soap opera genre. Just because a few of them worked on GL, doesn't mean it's GL, Bob.

And by the way, would you rather get your soaps on the web, or not at all? Because that's what the choice is becoming with the low ratings for shows and network execs driving them into cancellation.


August 26 2009 at 6:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Vi

It looks like there was not much research done on Venice before the article was written. The web series are not based on them! First of all, the lead character, Gina, is a gay woman. Olivia's not gay. They're completely separate characters and a whole different story set in a whole new location. It's nothing like Guiding Light. Some of the casts are from GL because Crystal Chappell talked them into doing it without pay for the moment. She is smart enough to capitalize on the popularity of the Otalia coupling to launch the new series. Please do some reading before making unwarranted assumptions.

August 26 2009 at 12:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
roxyforotalia

I for one am looking forward to Venice. Crystal Chappell is an amazing actress. Looking forward to seeing her and Jessica Leccia working together after Guiding Light. Thank you Crystal,Kimmie, and Hope for giving us Venice

August 26 2009 at 11:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
brk

Venice will be nothing like GL except that we will be able to see some favorite faces together again. For one thing it's set in Venice. For another there will be lesbians acting like normal sexual beings.

It would be nice to see GL revived some day in some form if the right creative people can be brought in to do it.

August 26 2009 at 8:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to brk's comment
Jennifer

I agree. It seems that every time they get a decent story line going it goes all wonky and they cant pull it off. That's one of the major problems with GL. Of course I'm beginning to notice now it's not JUST them, the rest of the CBS soaps are beginning to do it too. That's not good at all. If the writers could just figure out that some story lines really need to be shorter than others it would help considerably...

August 26 2009 at 9:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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