DC #660: DC EXCLUSIVE: Ron Carlivati on Wrapping One Life to Live and Checking Into General Hospital

Published: Jan. 15, 2012, 7:58 p.m.

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He gave up a career as a lawyer to pursue his true passion for writing soap operas. Now, some 15 years after first joining One Life to Live as a writer's assistant, the soap's last head writer Ron Carlivati joins Daytime Confidential's Luke Kerr, Jamey Giddens, Jillian Bowe, Regan Cellura and Melodie Aikels to dish having completed the daunting task of wrapping the iconic sudser up on ABC Daytime.

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Hear from Carlivati himself on his thoughts about how the 43-year-old sudser came to a close. Would he have done things differently had he known OLTL wouldn't be moving online immediately following the ABC finale? Carlivati shares how it felt to be able to bring back such popular veterans as Jessica Tuck (Megan), Roscoe Born (Mitch), Fiona Hutchison (Gabrielle), Susan Batten (Luna), Ty Treadway (Troy), and more during the soap's Between Heaven and Hell arc during its final week.

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He also clears up all those rumors surrounding the exits of Robin Strasser (Dorian) and Trevor St. John (Victor), the latter of whom made a surprise appearance in the series finale. Tune in to hear how Carlivati planned to bring Dorian Lord back in a story that would have had President Barack Obama watching his back!

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Is Carlivati satisfied with the way things ended for such Llanview lovers as Clint and Viki (Jerry VerDorn and Erika Slezak), John and Natalie (Michael Easton and Melissa Archer), Todd and Blair (Roger Howarth and Kassie DePaiva), Rex and Gigi (John-Paul Lavoisier and Farah Fath)? He also shares what it meant to be able to finally reunite Cord and Tina (John Loprieno and Andrea Evans). Then the conversation shifts to Carlivati's next gig. He and his boss Frank Valentini are now serving as head writer and executive producer respectively of ABC's last daytime soap opera General Hospital. With Howarth, DePaiva, Easton and Kristen Alderson (Starr) all following Frank and Ron to Port Charles, should fans be worried about those rumors that GH and OLTL are merging? Hear Carlivati set things straight as only he can, revealing he's been a fan of General Hospital even longer than he was of OLTL. And of General Hospital, with the almost 50-year-old, one-time supersoap fighting for its life against Katie Couric, The Chew and The Revolution, does Carlivati feel added pressure to help keep GH on the air? This is one podcast no fan of One Life to Live or General Hospital can afford to miss, that is if you want to hear the real truth from the writer's mouth!

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