Nipped Tuck: Tweaked OLTL Tale Adds "Original" Jess

• Jun 13, 2008 01:10 AM ET
• by TV Guide News

What the Tuck? There's already a hitch in those fantastic One Life to Live 40th anniversary plans I revealed earlier this week. Fan fave Jessica Tuck, who was supposed to be seen in a Heaven sequence as her late, great character Megan, had to bow out of the gig yesterday due to a scheduling conflict. (Souces say the conflict is High School Musical 3, but I have no confirmation of that).

This is not just a big disappointment for us Tuck-anistas, it's a big headache for the show because her appearance was no mere cameo. OLTL head writer Ron Carlivati had wanted Megan to serve as a celestial guide for her mama Viki (Erika Slezak), who will visit the Great Beyond after dying in a car crash - a major two-day plot twist (airing July 21-22) that riffs on one of the soap's most famous stories from the 1980s.

The scenes shoot this coming Monday. The clock is ticking. What to do? Carlivati, who is quite the brain-stormer, quickly picked a different dead Megan to be Viki's guide - that would be Megan's namesake (and Viki's granddaughter), baby Megan, who died by miscarriage in 1999 when her mom, Jessica, was the victim of a hit-and-run.

Back then, Jessica was played by another fan sensation, the much-missed Erin Torpey - and that's who's gonna come back to the show and play baby Megan in Heaven! Granted, it's a little weird, but it's certainly a creative way to solve a casting crisis! - Michael Logan

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