TDS at DCA (ABC Super Soap Weekends - One Life to Live)

I Was A Super Soap Commando:

With schedule in hand, I approached the gates of DCA like a seasoned pro. I had survived one weekend, and was ready for the next. There would be a few new challenges, including the shaky-kneed fan response, as Timothy D. Stickney, who plays sultry, smooth villain R.J. Gannon on the show, would be appearing that weekend.

I met up with John, God of the Front Desk at the Grand Cal, who was my media host, and immediately started running the poor man to death. Upon entering the park, we beelined to Soap Opera Bistro and made lunch reservations coinciding with the scheduled stars on the media list, then zoomed over to pick up our Millionaire tickets (I'd like to see a Soaps Million-Mark show, and Hillary B. Smith and Catherine Hickland looked like our best shot, as well as the fact that it would be entertaining to see how the two deadly enemies on the show would interact as a team.)

We then popped into the Soap Net booth, but the computers were still set to All My Children, but we collected buttons (I had Nora) and headed for the first of the day's interviews: Erika Slezak, who plays Victoria Lord Davidson/Evil Alter Ego Nikki Smith. She answered questions about her character and her career. Erika comes from an acting family and her husband and daughter are also actors. She mentioned being very excited, as someone with years of stage experience, about the upcoming live shows May 13-17.

The next group of interviewees did not share her enthusiasm about the live shows. Kamar de los Reyes who is the moody Antonio Vega on the show, David Fumero, who plays his brother, sensitive artist Cristian, Jessica Morris, Christian's star-crossed love Jen, Nathan Purdee, tough but good guy Hank Gannon and Nathaniel Marston, who plays evil Al Holden. Nathan, who is an avid photographer, gave me a hard time: "I want to ask," he teased, "why's she taking my picture?" (the area was packed with photographers and videographers. "Because you're the handsomest man in the room, Nathan!" I answered. He grinned. Someone asked about a romance on the show between his character, Hank, and Linda Dano's character Rae Cummings (there's amazing sparks, if you're a soap fan, you know what I'm talking about - if not, hm...think about the first time you saw "Believe...There's Magic in the Stars". It's like that.)

Next was Phil Carey, who talked about working with John Wayne, Robert S. Woods, who plays Bo Buchanan on the show, Melissa Archer, who is Viki's long-lost and very messed-up daughter Natalie, the breathtaking Timothy D. Stickney, and Sherri Saum, who plays his character RJ's daughter Keri. I got some amazing photos of this session, I think.

Fiona Hutchinson
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The last group was Fiona Hutchinson, sneaky Gabrielle on the show, Erin Torpey as Viki's long-suffering daughter Jessica, Catherine Hickland, who plays the conniving Lindsay Rappaport, Laurence Lau as the also long-suffering Sam and Ty Treadway, who played the evil Colin MacGyver and now plays dead Colin's nicer twin brother Troy.  

In between interview sets, I charged up the camera battery and chatted with Disney people who had to wear suits in the blazing hot weather. I tried so hard to find out where the All-Stars-priced hotel is going, but was unsuccessful. My apologies. I did get unofficial confirmation that there will be one - I don't know if the theming will be as extreme as on the East Coast. I don't think it would fly here, but, hey, I'm a Disney Babe, not a professional designer.