titan1978

I miss the characters that were on the show then, but GW was just mostly continuing in the steps of Bob Guza, without the spark. The show needed to be reset and he and JFP were not the right team at that time to do it. For all the faults I have with Ron and Frank, their first year-ish really did reset the show. GW was just more of the same to me.

I thought Witter ended up being an amazing recast. As you said, she felt like Tina, just a little more mature and grounded. But still Tina. I loved her. This would only work with Evans for me. Think of the flashbacks to her finding out about her family ties!

I think it would have given all three actresses more notes to play. Because AE could go over the top as Tina, but imagine her getting to play more heartbreak over just how bad Viki’s life was due to Victor. Lots of layers to play in her escaping that, and then finding out Todd is her brother. Plus the scenes where Dorian tells Tina what happened would have been cool to see, as they grapple with being trapped, each caring for Viki in their own way, and both also incredibly selfish as people dealing with their situation. We could have had comedy and tragedy.

Hard to say, because had Evans been there they would have given her more significant material to work with. I think she would have played a much more important role in Viki’s alters, possibly even ended up captive with Dorian.

Thanks for posting these! Very interesting to see how not just the Possession, but the show itself hooked viewers. The ratings were steady and climbing, but then they go even higher after Marlena’s exorcism, and stuff like Hope/Gina and Sami/Carrie/Austin is hitting peaks. The DAYS team too advantage of all the buzz and more eyeballs to get the whole show rocking. Maison Blanche was my favorite of all the Reilly pocket storylines. Marlena in a cage underground was my least favorite. I have been rewatching his DAYS run in edits up through when I got sick of the Possession story the first time. There is a significant shift in how the show is written. By the time he left for the first time, it felt like people spent entire episodes talking to themselves out loud and being interrupted by the person they were talking about- and a cliffhanger established if they heard them. In several stories, in every episode. I found with Passions he really leaned into the style of writing he was using towards the end of his DAYS run, it wasn’t for me. This is the same guy that wrote grittty and emotional stuff up through the possession. It’s like he got a personality transplant.

A regular episode of the Brady Bunch played the drama more than GH does.

We had a couple of great flare-ups with Laura as Carly. Robin telling Nikolas that the baby was his and Jax was not the father was kind of fun. SJB’s Carly was just this side of dangerous. She had so much anger, neurosis and also when she was paired with Sonny- power. I think Claudia is more like what her Carly would have been like- more cunning, certainly the wardrobe and style. TB’s Carly settled into a romantic heroine with and edge, and Laura is playing someone named Carly but she doesn’t often get to play the wounded animal. SJB’s wounds were the kind that lashed out. I did think she and SBu and MB had more chemistry back in the day with LW than they do now. Steve especially had great chem with Sarah and decent with TB. I never liked Sonny with Sarah’s version of Carly- it was the beginning of overly Sonny centric writing dominating the show for me. They both were on all the time and tied to everybody, and now they are together literally eating the show alive.

Why this show won’t pair Jason with Liz is ridiculous. They actually have chemistry, it would drive Sam and Carly crazy. They have history, a kid…if Lucky isn’t ever going to be recast then what’s the problem? Instead she gets Franco. And now Finn.

What a fantastic couple of months Guza’s return was back then. I also think this was one of her best scenes. She did an excellent job of playing the fact that she was coming up with her plan right there on the spot. And I didn’t hate Tony going dark. I just hated that they didn’t also bring him back out of that. I don’t think Vanessa would have been there for more than a year or two had she stayed. However, JFP and the network wouldn’t agree to her terms for a reduced workload, more money, and a better schedule. I know from many things I have read over the years that JFP does not like the schedule to be dictated by the talent. She had to accept it with Erika on OLTL. Riche allowed things like that, especially for the cast members with young children. She did get a lot of credit for the ratings increase. The show was also genuinely good those 6 months after kind of flailing a bit before then. We know Guza wanted her to stay- he had an entire storyline he liked planned for her that he grafted on to Sam.

I loved V! She wasn’t like anyone else on the show at that time. Kind of a refreshing, fun character. I also didn’t mind Hannah. Angel though- oof. That was bad. But we did get a cool set out of it.

Yeah, him leaving his kids did not ring true at all. Re-watching all these scenes reminds me how much I hated Sami back then (but she was fun to watch). Especially in scenes with Roman. Just too clingy and daddy this and daddy that all the time.

I remember thinking the show either didn’t want them together or wasn’t ready for that endgame yet. There were times it seemed like the connection was being kept alive by the two of them and not the show. I loved Wayne. And he could be very intense as Roman, but he also had a sarcastic and fun side in his original run and his whole story upon returning was dealing with the trauma of what happened, creating a bond with John, and convincing Marlena he was Roman. He wasn’t really written well. Although I do think his Roman would have been utterly betrayed by the affair and his anger rang true to me.

As I recall, someone thought Alexis was too old for Jax. I’m not sure who it was. At that point Ingo should have been so lucky.

And eventually she does once it grew out a little. By the wire story she still had pretty short hair, and it was very flattering on her. I just think it was so stupid of the show to force her to have long hair.

Not a continuity error, but all these wack hairstyle changes reminded me of Vanessa Marcil cutting all her hair off and the show made her wear that strange wig for way too long.

I have re-watched a ton of Marlena stuff from her return, the affair, and the early possession lately. The tale of two Romans, while kind of a disaster in that Roman was ultimately ruined, was also really an emotionally complex story that had a lot of depth and every beat was played. From the early part of Roman’s return, it feels like the affair was inevitable. It is also very interesting seeing John in two viable romances while Marlena is with Roman and fighting her lingering feelings for John. Isabella and Kristen both had rooting value with John, and at the time I wasn’t so sure he and Marlena were going to end up together until much later on in Reilly’s run. Its so easy to forget how good and not campy Reilly’s run was before the possession (and really, that story being stretched out). It was a fantastic time to watch the show. Reilly lost me about a year before he left though. I missed his earlier run.

A super rich corporate raider doesn’t scream Labine to me either. Jason’s accident could go either way- it is believable as either a story created by Labine or Guza. It has the tragedy and family dynamics and medical aspects of a Labine story, and the Guza dramatic tendency to pit people against each other.

I know they were both in the club when Clink/Boom happened. But again, I don’t have strong memory of Lois and Laura sharing scenes. Certainly nothing more than a crowd scene at the club, etc. I think Laura was spared having to watch a lot of Eddie Maine performances lol. Laura was pretty isolated after her first year back or so. I assume it was due to her post maternity leave shooting schedule which allowed her to be up first and out early.

Deidre Hall is a good actress. She always had a lot of charisma and warmth, and a sense of fun (especially with Wayne’s Roman). I thought she was great all the way through the beginning of the Possession. Things did change for me around then, but I still felt she did the best anyone could with those later Reilly stories (Lady in a Cage, etc). She also got kind of stuffy around then. Marlena was no longer any fun at all. I loved the return of her natural charm and warmth when she was the only one Will was confiding in.

It was a fun time for the Quartermaines! I know Luke and Monica had scenes when he was married to Tracey, and also when Lucky and Emily ran away in the 90’s. Plus on Monty’s GH there was lots of crossover, big party scenes, weddings, etc. Robert solved the mystery of who killed Lila’s first husband and that involved all the Q’s. Monica and Laura had lots of scenes in the 70’s, and several I can remember in the 1990’s. Two great ones when the whole town was shocked to find out Laura and Lesley were alive, and then later on Monica came by to visit with Laura and a still semi-catatonic Lesley. Now Anna and Monica I cannot remember anything of substance. And I know she had scenes with Robin but I can’t remember any of them being important. Maybe about Jason right after his accident. I can’t think of any either. And considering how much Luke and Sonny were connected during Labine’s run, I barely remember Laura and Brenda having scenes either. She didn’t have much to do with Lois either, while sharing plenty of scenes with Katherine and Ned.

They had an affair and conspired to get the Quartermaine fortune. It lead to Lila creating her infamous relish while they lived at Kelly’s.

I agree. He needs a hook, and Jackee is exactly the type of person he would need to work with. Ron is such a jackass.

Steve was a little more than gray when he first arrived, but nothing as ridiculous as this. I even think Ben’s return and rise as a romantic hero is worse than Sonny on GH, and that used to be my all time worst case of this happening. Hooked a barely legal Karen on drugs and slept with her, owned a strip club, was a low level hood for Frank Smith…to the whole show is centered around him. Ben murdered innocent people, even if some of them were annoying to the audience. And of course he is attractive- still doesn’t make me want to root for him!

I liked the Arizona story the best. But polls like that reek of the racism I have seen all over the place when it comes to the Black characters on DAYS. Several pages I follow have called people out and removed them as posters. It just reinforces the online behavior of these people.

Even this boring ass Sonny storyline could be salvaged if they actually went soapy. Sonny is shown being a little distrustful of Carly and Jason when it seems both of them are having difficulties being around each other. Cyrus does some type of mob thing that hurts Michael. Carly and Jason once again feel guilty and question their choices. Sonny finds them in an embrace, they stop talking around him because they don’t want him to know they sometimes question things. Another mob attack leaves them trapped somewhere together. They do not sleep together, but Sonny doesn’t believe that because he is all betrayal mode after the last year, and that always messes Sonny up. This whole time Nina has been skulking around, telling him how sorry she is, trying to make amends, looking at him longingly. And Sonny dreams about being Mike with Nina sometimes. They finally give in to passion, and. Sonny immediately regrets it. Now we have a Fatal Attraction rip off to drive Nina and she can even kill Jax in the process. And Valentin knows she is unhinged, tries to help/cover for some of her lesser crimes, creating conflict with Anna. Let her kill Austin too while we are at it. I think Watros has done very well making nothing into something. But there is a time limit on her character and it’s due. Why not have her go out with some actual drama?