by Dan J Kroll

Posted Sunday, April 29, 2007 9:12:51 AM

Did OLTL make the right decision by scrapping its hostage storyline?  Yes. I think it is way too soon to have a storyline like this on television   46%   I don't think violence like that belongs on television at any time.   19%   I'm not sure, but I think OLTL could have aired a 'warning' before the show   14%   No. OLTL is fiction and it was taped before the Virginia incident.   11%   No. Since there wasn't any bloodshed, the story should have gone on.   7%   I have no opinion on OLTL's decision to change its story.   1%   Other   1%     Poll Posted: April 29, 2007

In the wake of the shooting at Virginia Tech earlier this month, ABC's One Life to Live has decided to scrap a storyline that involved a high school hostage drama - even though the plot was to have played out without the loss of any life.

The plot, which was taped in March, involved members of the show's teen scene. The storyline had an upset Henry, who has been teased and picked on by peers his entire life, holding some of his classmates at gunpoint. The storyline was penned in a way that there was no bloodshed; Henry was talked out of committing murder-suicide.

Still, the storyline was a bit too close to the reality of the Virginia Tech shootings that left 33 dead earlier this month.

"Out of respect to those affected by this devastating tragedy, especially the families, I felt that it was important to remove this storyline from our show," executive producer Frank Valentini said in a statement.

A show spokesperson states that the troubling scenes will be reworked, though it is unclear how One Life to Live plans to work around a plot that was integral to its May Sweeps stories.

"In light [of] recent tragic events, ABC Daytime has pulled the story that affected 17 different episodes and is working to re-write, re-tape, re-edit and entirely re-work the show in order to deal with this story in the most sensitive way possible."

This is not the first time that an ABC soap has been forced to change a story due to real-world drama. In April 1995, All My Children rewrote a story involving a bomb after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

The One Life to Live hostage drama was to have begun playing out on May 4th,