Titus Andronicus

Death Spa has a few soap connections

Days does not know how to age characters who started on the show as children. David Banning and Mike Horton became adults way too quickly, and Julie had an adult grandson when in real time David would have been a teen still. After becoming an adult at age 5ish, Mike has spent the last 45 years perhaps only aging 20 years, and that's only because Roark Critchlow looked a little rough. Now, all the generations are mushed together and that's made for weird pairings.

I'm leaning towards Nick Corelli's Phantom. The mask seems to indicate facial scarring and Corelli had the cape, too, didn't he?

There are a few links to the Days-specific portion of the site on Internet Archive. Here is another link from 2003. The Passions store had a few unique items, such as a MarTimmy glass, but Days doesn't seem to have tried to personalize it in any way. Most show merchandise falls in between. Mostly T-shirts, few really interesting things. Doing this in 2002 was too early - no social media yet - and the market was quite saturated with everyone and their brother trying to set up online stores, or be an online marketplace dealing in everything. It's very 2002. You can buy the first series of Friends on DVD for $60, or on VHS for $45. You could buy online, or order by phone.

Ooooooh, Corday's memoir is available for checkout on Internet Archive. Unfortunately, Corday has some major flaws in his timeline and memories of this era. He has Lisanti/Tomlin succeeding Harrower and not Laemmle. He also has a meeting with NBC happening in January 1980 that absolutely couldn't have happened then because of the combination of people he said here there: Ken/Rabin/Lisanti/Tomlin. Anyway, of that supposed January 1980 meeting: The four were to meet with NBC and Fred Silverman on January 3, 1980 in New York. Silverman didn't show. Instead, Silverman was said to have sent two New York Times literary critics to discuss Days. Ken had been told they had watched the show the past two weeks, but they didn't know a single detail about it. - Somehow, Ken does remember that Rabin was a brand new producer for 1980. - Betty Corday had a heart attack in November 1979. Kenny got sent to New York for this meeting - if it did take place when he said it did - because she couldn't go.

Unless one of the magazines from that era has gossip, I don't know if we'll ever get an answer for sure. A February 7, 1980 television column in the New Orleans Times-Picayune hints that NBC had at least a hand in it. "A major house-cleaning is underway on the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives. An NBC source says as many as a dozen actors will be leaving the soap between now and May 1 - "Leaving, dying, disappearing, going to college ..." He declined to say which performers would get the ax since "They haven't notified them yet."" Yikes. Bet all of the cast members were on edge. At this point, Rabin's in charge less than three weeks and while Laemmle's been hired, she hasn't taken over head writing yet. So, looking at Jason's page, some of the departures over the first five months of 1980 January - Peter Brown February - Eileen Barnett - Cindy Daly March - Robert Clary - Rosemary Forsyth - John Lupton - Margaret Mason - Mark Tapscott April - Debbie Lytton - Edward Mallory* - George McDaniel May - Suzanne Zenor * Jed Allan, in the July 1980 interview in the Oakland Tribune, said Mallory quit because he wasn't allowed to direct. Allan believed Bob and Linda were written out to give more scenes to Chris and Alex. Spotted a midyear Lynda Hirsch column that suggested Harrower was let go because of falling ratings. I'm of the mind that NBC brass panicked over the falling ratings, booted Harrower and got extremely desperate to get anything going. They were a few established characters that they absolutely couldn't touch, but everybody else was fair game. Laemmle was a bad fit, but NBC might have been looking for someone who wasn't a soap person and she at least had an association with prestige TV even if her more recent stuff wasn't as popular. Maybe they were having problems finding someone. Laemmle seems to have been technically hired before Wes Kenney quit, but the handling of the Pat Falken Smith situation from a couple of years earlier, plus however Harrower was being treated/Kenney being mad enough to leave couldn't have helped.

Pat Falken Smith left in April 1977. Ann Marcus has the rest of 1977 and all of 1978. Ratings plummeted under Marcus. Marcus was fired in February-ish 1979 because of ... a lot of things. Ratings, storylines and backstage issues. Can't recall if the Kaye Stevens-Susan Seaforth Hayes fistfight was at the tail end of Marcus' reign or at the very beginning of Elizabeth Harrower's. Harrower seems to have been installed as head writer in February 1979 to try to stabilize things, but was canned in January 1980. So here's one thing I haven't figured out. Why was Harrower fired? NBC brass seems to have been doing a lot of meddling at that time and however the firing went down, it was enough to make Wes Kenney mad enough to leave. Was Harrower fired for something on her watch or did someone really want Nina Laemmle for some reason? Though Laemmle had no soap background - and doesn't seem to have any credits for a while - she was immediately named Harrower's successor. Laemmle was delayed for months in actually becoming head writer. Ruth Brooks Flippen is listed in Days paperwork as being head writer, but wasn't mentioned at all at the time. Even Flippen's LA Times obituary from 1981, the closest to a contemporary mention of her time at Days, only described her as a contributor to the show. Days seemed really committed to Laemmle despite the delay. It's never mentioned what the delay was, but considering Laemmle had an adult child die months later, I wonder if it was related. Personal issues led Laemmle to resign in September 1980. That ended up being fortunate for the show as in between, the cast turnover alienated fans and it seems like backstage wasn't thrilled either, based on a Jed Allan interview from midyear.

Looking up some old articles, I found a 1982 newspaper interview where Wayne Northrop said while Pat Falken-Smith's daughter recommended him for Roman (after seeing him on Dynasty), he also auditioned for Joshua Fallon. Checking some airdates on Jason's site, I'd assume he was auditioning for the replacement Joshua role that went to Scott Palmer. Palmer's airdates began about a week before Roman debuted. Northrop seemed to confirm that in the story, saying he was glad he got a brand new character instead of having to replace someone.

From their help page, Still unable to login? If you're unable to login after trying these tips, you'll need to confirm your identity to login. Attempt to login and continue until you need to enter your two-factor authentication code. Click Need another way to authenticate? Click Other Options, then click Get more help. Follow the on-screen instructions. From here, I think it will ask you about an authenticator. If it does, it's something you can download as an app on your phone. Google Authenticator, IIRC. My work computer is ancient, with memory issues which at this point means it doesn't keep up with my passwords. I have to use Facebook for my work and my phone is equally ancient and does not communicate well with Facebook. With the Authenticator app, I've been able to log back in without a problem. Authenticator is also a code, but works much better than texts or emails. It's been a few weeks since I've to do this, so I hope my memory of the procedure is somewhat accurate.

Damn. When I began watching was the last few months of his run as Roman in 1993. I've seen a good bit of clips from his first run. The 1983-84 Slasher storyline is my overall favorite and all of it because of how good Northrop was in it. His confrontation with Abe while on the run, where he convinces Abe he's sane is a tremendous scene. Northrop could play anything ... and it's disappointing that 1991-94 took away almost all of Roman's sensitive side and humor. IIRC Hall required Northrop as a package deal to get her back in 1991. A shame Days didn't appreciate what they had. After the two Romans business was done, they gave him nothing for a long time until the meatiness of the affair. Only to foul up the aftermath so bad Northrop took off. That said, Days was gifted Lynn Herring in 1992 and screwed that up horrifically.

Richard Cates was only on a few months of 1985, and in a transitional period. The crooked cop storyline brought in Patch and had a double payoff, first with Cates dying and second with Miami. With Miami, you get the Pawn ... and the decades that come after.

It would have been two very similar stories for Lexie. She was not long removed from the affair with Jonah and the whole Pacifier rogue cop by night. Wasn't Jonah trying to be a doctor at that time? Billie and Mike could have been interesting. Maybe Billie looking for stability while Bo waffles on who he really wants.

1983-84 Salem Slasher. Andre pretends to be Roman. Also has an outstanding scene later in the storyline where Roman pretends to be Don.

Marlena had a lot of falls from balconies over the years. You think she'd start avoiding them, loll.

The first week of the RoboJohn storyline was some of Hogestyn's best work to me. Dee Hall was really strong in that period, too. I actually really liked that arc, up until he became bogged down with the Hollingsworths. Just remembered I have a tape of that week somewhere. Need to dig that out.

I'm just now getting back into the loop of news after hurricane power outages. John was my first favorite character. In so many ways, he was the perfect soap character. A blank slate, a background easily adaptable to whatever it needed to be. Days sometimes abused that by giving John so many storylines that established his real identity ... and they mostly fell flat. Mainly because John was a mystery that never should have been solved. Hogestyn was still very much a newcomer to acting when he signed on with Days, and I think that's what made John Black initially work. John's uncertainty about not knowing anything about himself was made for a developing actor also finding himself. Hogestyn was never the greatest, but he pulled his weight quickly. Marlena falling from the building and the wedding were barely months later. It's been a treat seeing tributes from all the actresses who were young when they first met him. He was a natural with kids in scenes, his goofiness bringing out the best in them. There was a small scene that was a favorite back when YouTube had all the great clips. Victor planned to marry Diana. Roman was invited and, on a snowy night, found out he, Justin and Serena were pretty much the only guests. With Diana not ready yet (nervously up in her room), Roman pretends to get extremely drunk to get kicked out ... so he could rescue Diana. There are a bunch of hilarious retorts and lines, all playing to his acting style. I moved on to prefer other characters, other actors, but always had a soft spot for Drake Hogestyn.

Days seemed to wander a bit that year after the serial killer storyline. I don't know how far they planned things in advance but Wayne Northrop's departure probably threw a wrench in some of those plans. The cast had been giving way more to younger characters and by the end of 1984 a lot centered around characters who had been there less than two years, several only a few months. Thankfully for the show, it ended up being a darn solid group of characters. I like a lot of 1985.

Going through some newspaper archives, James Reynolds co-produced a play in 1986 with Michael Robert David, a comedy titled Untitled. Reynolds and Lissa Layng were set to star. One brief about Untitled mentioned David was a former Days writer. He had at least a couple of other plays in a quick search after leaving Days.

Ruth Brooks Flippen was never mentioned in newspapers at the time. Days was a MASSIVE mess that year, but the writing department seemed be a massive mess by itself. It was publicly announced in January 1980 that Elizabeth Harrower was fired and that Nina Laemmle was coming in. Except Harrower continued to write a few weeks more. Laemmle wasn't credited, as you see above, until April, nearly three months after she was initially announced. Nothing was said in early 1980 what took Laemmle so long - she wasn't exactly writing anywhere else - but I'm wondering if there were some personal problems going on. Laemmle's daughter died a few months later, which was mentioned a couple of times at around the time she stepped down that fall. Jason's database has Bill Hayes doing some writing in March 1980, which would have been about where Harrower quit being credited. Flippen seems to be an emergency option at worst and transitional at best, She wrote a couple of episodes of Love Boat after Days, then died in July 1981.

I'm intruiged, probably not for the reasons they want, though. Would a suit jacket instead of a dinner jacket be that huge of a faux pas at this point? Also bold to question class and money for what would have been largely a richer audience. TV's still weren't everywhere in 1954! And cost a nice chunk of money. Apparently Juliet's actress, Catherine McLeod, was a regular on Days in 1969 as Claire Larkin. Pop, Cliff Hall, had recently done a stint on Search for Tomorrow. So what station for The Heart of Juliet Jones? Unfortunately, the one clue on TV stations agreeing to air it doesn't narrow it down any. KSD-TV was a primary NBC station in 1954, with a secondary affiliation for DuMont. Wiki says they no longer had secondary CBS or ABC affiliations, but as evidenced by December 1954 TV schedule, they still did. In late 1954, KSD-TV's daytime schedule: 9:00 Ding Dong School 9:30 Time to Live 9:45 Three Steps to Heaven 10:00 Home 11:00 What's Your Bid 11:30 Betty White Noon Portia Faces Life 12:15 Road of Life 12:30 Welcome Travelers 1:00 To the Ladies 1:30 Homemaking with KSD-TV 2:00 [seems like some kind of TV play] 2:30 One Man's Family 3:00 Hawkins Falls 3:15 First Love 3:30 Golden Windows 3:45 Modern Romances 4:00 Buckeye Four and George Abel 4:30 Howdy Doody KSD came on the air at 6:45 a.m., which was pretty darn remarkable for a TV station at this time.

Probably no way to find any of these scenes: 1984: Abe finds Roman's hideaway. The two have a dramatic conversation where Roman gets through to Abe. The radio then broadcasts that there's been another murder. That's when Abe admits that for all the good their talk did them, it wasn't until the broadcast that he realized Roman was telling the truth, that he wasn't the Slasher. 1985: Abe scenes after Richard Cates murders Theo. The whole storyline was pretty good. Arguably James Reynolds' best stuff.

I don't think Reilly could have pulled off everything in the late 1980s. A publicly-stated reason for letting Anne Howard Bailey go in 1989 is that Days' ratings indicated fans didn't like the more action-y storylines and the show and/or NBC wanted them to go back to supercouples. Late 1988 did have some proto-Reilly vibes, though. Roman doing things under the influence of pagodas while Stefano teases that him and Diana that Marlena is alive. Plus Shane/Drew and Benjy with Steve and Kayla trying to figure out his mystery parents. Which of course was Stefano. Very Reilly-like to give Stefano yet another kid.

I'm sure Days would have kept Shane around in 1984, but I don't know if they would have gone the path they did had Wayne Northrop not decided to leave.

I have a theory but there's problems with the theory. It has everything to do with the NFL game. In 1985, the NFL game wasn't a problem. It was the earlier NFL game on NBC and the pregame and game airing took up Days' hours across all markets, from east to west coast. In 1986, the NFL game between the Seahawks and Cowboys aired at 4 p.m. ET, with pregame beginning at 3 ET. Days pretty much aired between 12-2 everywhere. With the studio in California, no one might have realized until very late that the eastern markets were running their usual TV schedules until 3 ET. Only about half of Days' usual markets ran that Thanksgiving episode, based on a quick scan of newspaper TV listings. Another World ran an episode that day, too, as did Search for Tomorrow, on whatever networks were still airing SFT. It's a theory in that the NBC NFL game was at the same time in 1984. Days would have been aware only part of their markets were seeing the Thanksgiving episode. Maybe they did plan on preempting it but weren't allowed. I know nothing of network politics in this regard.

The article ran in various newspapers in August 1985. So, about the time the Richard Cates storyline was finishing up. He had been teased as a Marlena love interest and I wonder if how his character turned out depended on audience reaction. Which makes me also wonder if a) the Pawn was already being planned and b) if they had any thoughts as to whether that could lead to a Marlena love interest. I've always felt that the Pawn was retooled in his early days. There were some lines, plus his relationship with Steve that seemed to change when Drake Hogestyn took over. Days really didn't have a leading character in mid-1985. Marlena was involved with Cates, but not the biggest part of the police corruption storyline. Bo, Hope, Abe, Theo, the priest, Alice, just about everybody had an equal role that summer. Steve was quickly elevated out of a small role in that story. It's a shame that it was years before Abe had that much meat in a storyline until decades later. This was some of his James Reynolds' finest work.