"One Life to Live" Loses Marston Again

amp160The show is also facing another serious loss Nathaniel Marston the actor who has played Dr Michael McBain for the last few years has been dismissed by the network The actor 32 who has a history of anger management issues is facing four felony counts after assaulting three people on a New York City street in October Published reports allege he may have been under the influence of drugsDespite his personal problems Marston was tremendously popular with the audience because he uniquely played a regular guy on OLTL Most soap heroes these days are wooden and unbelievable because they come to soaps with career histories limited to modeling or rock videos They look and act like mannequins Yes we39re talking about you Cameron Mathison and Ryan Lavery of All My Children who39s hiring started and exemplified this quotonly perfect looksquot daytime drama trend in the 90s Marston who has theater and film experience brought a natural style and sense of realism to all his workThis quality was already in evidence when he was hired for his first role teen Eddie Silva on As the World Turns in 1999 and what brought him back after he was killed off from his first OLTL role Al Holden in 2001 The audience demanded his return and he was brought back in a completely new role Michael McBain by OLTL a year later This is very rarely done on a soapMarston39s Everyman likeability harkens back to a much earlier era on soaps the 1960s and 1970s when characters were permitted to look like real people with regular faces not models Such lower middle class characters as Sam Lucas on Another World Jordan Charney and Vinny Wolek the late Anthony Ponzini on OLTL were audience favorites because they were very vulnerable and easy to relate to and root forEven though Michael McBain is a doctor and wife Marcy is a schoolteacher the equally natural Kathy Brier they are easily the most working class charactersamp160on OLTL Most characters on soaps are wealthy now They are among a few long married couples on the soap and their squabbles are usually realistic Right now Marcy is on the run with the couple39s haphazardly adopted son Tommy who is really the biological son of show menace Todd A court has awarded the boy to ToddMarston39s believability went a long way to strengthen the characters of others on OLTL Michael39s very odd brother John Michael Easton is a cop whose emotional problems and history prohibit him from forming lasting relationships with women Scenes with Michael make John a lot more palatable to the audience In the contest between Michael and Marcie over brutish Todd for the custody of Tommy audiences naturally root for the McBains because of their likeabilityOLTL quickly recast the role of Michael with an unknown actor Chris Stack this week almost as soon as it let Marston go Whether or not the character will be instantly likeable is as yet unknown He begins to air next monthStill Marston39s loss is a great one for daytime Good actors who can play regular realistic guys are increasingly a rarity in a medium which thinks it can survive solely on a diet of increasingly pretty male faces

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"One Life to Live" Loses Marston Again

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Marlena De Lacroix

Classic Rock, Corporate Theater, and the Curious Case of Smile-F*cking - By Jack Myers

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Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

"One Life to Live" Loses Marston Again

Marlena De Lacroix

Classic Rock, Corporate Theater, and the Curious Case of Smile-F*cking - By Jack Myers

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