soapfave06

I am grateful that RC made up for the 2008 mess with Tina in 2011. Although when I rewatch the 2008 run, it isn't as bad in retrospect but at the time I was pissed. 

It is a shame that Dorian and Tina never shared scenes in 2008 or 2011 though. The 2008 run could have been a bit better if they sent Tina back to Llanview and in story with Dorian until Viki returned. 

I have imagined Evans as 90s Tina ad nauesem but I never imagined her being held in the secret room with Dorian. I would do anything to see that. I love the scenes of 1985-86 Viki/Tina/Dorian. And I always felt that Tina made herself the victim concerning Victor so this would have really grounded Tina in that regard concerning Viki and even Dorian. 

What could have been! 

3 hours ago, jam6242 said:

Yes, she did, and Julie started choking her when she showed up at Doug's and Alice's joint funeral, lol.

OMG is this online? I desperately need to see this insane time lol

I am continuing my Aremid binge and have seen on and off 90S DAYS I wish they had just moved on from Jack, Jenn and Billie following the recasts as none of them worked. It would have been nice to see a larger focus on the Carvers plus Wendy or maybe a new family. 

I have only seen minimal of wacky Vivian Era during a Secret Room DVD watch but it was pretty unbearable. 

I really love everything I have seen of the 1993-1996 tone, I do think Susan is a hoot and a little of that went a long way but watching the 1998 Kristen climax the whole tone was off and there was nowhere to go IMO with John, Marlena, anyone. 

I wish Passions had a tone similar to that era of DAYS instead of 97-98 DAYS. 

That's awesome, I can't wait to catch up. DAYS is typically my favorite but I am so behind due to work. 

I was 12 when I started watching in 2006 but even when I rewatched those episodes years and years later I will say all characters (okay maybe not Ryan) had clear motivations and it made the story enjoyable. Honestly at 12 I totally understood JR and Babe as a couple as no one in my family was normal and they were just as toxic as my family so they worked for me (this is not a compliment lol) 

The last time a soap gave characters clear motivations I felt was DAYS in 2013-14....

I am on board for thinking RSW and VK have chemistry. Do I think they should have paired Ciara with a serial killer? No. But if they were going to do that they should have gone old school slow burn romance and kept them apart for years. After the initial cabin story (which if I blocked out him being a serial killer I did enjoy) they moved into this extremely lame sub plot where Ben moves in with Ciara, Tripp and Claire that did not work at all and then it was psycho after psycho. Keeping them apart because Ben is insecure and Ciara was uncomfortable with loving a serial killer at least would have built them time to adjust versus being thrown in. 

They did not miss a freaking beat with the Tony/John plot. I have never seen this or read in great detail but Tony drawing John to the edge by dancing with Kristen, leading to their argument and everyone dressed in their over the top 90s/Aremid wedding party gowns watching them argue from below, Tony theatrically pretending John is shooting him then his camptastic death bed begging Salem to avenge his death as a storm draws in-phenomenal. 

I will say I was shocked at how quickly it seemed that Bo, Mickey and Peter honed in on John being guilty though they balanced it with Bo simply looking at facts. Peter I guess does make sense.

CarolineG-do you think the show had ran the well dry by 1997 or was there missed opportunity? I almost can't blame them for aging Belle, Phillip, Shawn and Brady in '99. 

If they built up A/B/C stories then the story arcs/seasons would flow together but they barely do that now. DAYS was consistently good from June/July to August/September and then crap served the rest of the year. 

I could happily say goodbye to half the cast and only focus on the Evans/Black and Carver families and I would be happy but can't wait to see this new series. 

5 hours ago, carolineg said:

Aremid is my favorite JER arc.  It's not as wacky as the Possession or Paris, but everyone's story moves.  And I personally think Tony/Andre's plan is low key brilliant.   The John/Marlena/Kristen stuff finally kicks into high gear as does Bo/Hope and Peter/Jennifer were in their prime hotness (make of that what you will lol).  There is a lot of good Stefano stuff as well with him faking his amnesia leading to his obsession with Marlena.   I love the whole atmosphere of the town and I even like the quirky Aremid town folk.   I love when Marlena is trying to seduce Stefano to free John while he's writing that love letter to her and everyone is trying to exonerate John before it's too late.  And let's be real, Kristen was super lame before she becomes evil so it's win win.  I would say Maison Blanche and Aremid are my two favorite arcs of that period.   But it all seamlessly flows Maison Blanche, to the Possession, to Aremid, to Paris, on to the Secret Room.   That entire time period was really good and it basically comes to a screeching halt once they recast Roman, but there was a solid 4 years of decent storytelling before that.

I would agree with this even as someone who wasn't watching then. Roman has not been needed since The Affair. I don't know how they possibly could have flowed from Secret Room and kept the momentum without hitting rock bottom as you said. I can't think of any other period in soaps where they had such a flow of Gothic mystery adventure. I would die to get this again haha

Finally got back into Aremid arc after a year plus away and got to the scenes of Jennifer catching Laura with Jack courtesy Peter. There is so much messiness to this storyline, I just love it. I guess this played out for almost a year with Laura and Jack falling for each other as their sanitarium alter egos, to keeping their secret in Salem to the Aremid build up. 

Moreso than that I can't help but wonder what it was like for MR to play those scenes given her real life drama at the time. 

The show had so much going on here with Tony faking his death, this affair and Marlena/John/Kristen playing ever so slowly with Lexie searching for her adoptive parents and its all so Gothic and atmospheric. 

Ohhhh I am kind of excited about the Oddjob casting! Looks like lots of pool scene casting which I would associate with the Miami story versus Zurich or New Orleans. Interesting. 

I am dying to know if this will have proper production values because the multi-locale search for a diamond can absolutely not go the route of using three different closet size sets. 

Interested to see who else is announced and wonder how heavily this will tie into regular DAYS. 

41 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

James E. Reilly would hate Todd Manning, and we already know he loved Andrea Evans' Tina.

I would love to see what he would have done with Andrea's Tina. Hopefully different than Rebecca. 

Why do you say he would have hated Todd Manning? 

I also wonder what he would have done with the world's within Llanview- Eterna and Mendorra-and what new worlds he would created a la Maison Blanche, Aremid and the Paris underground. 

I would love to see what Reilly would have done with OLTL in the late-90s had he gone there from DAYS. I love everything DAYS I have seen from 1993-96 (I think it got less balanced by 1997 plus the multiple recasts) 

I especially would love to see what he would have done with Viki and Dorian and I think he would have kept the diverse roots intact. 

That's fascinating, I had not realized that they used her work with her patients as the driving force to the dark side. Thanks for the feedback!

Did JER explain Stefano's nightly visits to Marlena prior to the possession in detail? I found a clip where he is basically chilling in her armoire then takes a sleeping Marlena to an enchanted ball but next thing we see is her awaking from a dream? 

Did they go full supernatural or just leave it to viewer interpretation? 

Also, were the visits/trips connected to his underground city in Paris?

I have now made it to mid-March 1995 and things have slowed down quite a bit. 

They stalled the DID story as it was getting so good with Tommy nearly killing Dorian then Jean plotting to allow her to leave until a great twist with Niki returning as Todd announced he was Victor's son. Unfortunately, Niki being back and fleeing to Atlantic City didn't play as exciting but hoping they turn it around as everything has been plotted and detailed so finely thus far this entire year. 

The sore spot for me is still the supporting characters and the Gannons have faded into the background with Rachel getting tempted by drugs. With Kelly's arrival and I am sure the Vegas and Patrick will be introduced at some point, they do seem to attempt to fix the supporting players. 

The biggest surprise here - it seems they are setting up an Alex and RJ affair? I know they never would have gone there, but were they tempted? 

Lastly, I am not sure if it is the original VHS copied to YouTube but the show is so damn dark I nearly have to watch it at night. It is beyond extreme even with my TV at max brightness. 

The mess with Blair/Todd/David

/Tina/Dorian/Cord is so greatly detailed but dragged down by all the recasts (I know, I am complaining again) but Kassie's Blair has no chemistry with Cord IMO and and Krista's Tina just ain't it at all. I still enjoy watching it all played out. 

Looking forward to seeing more of the DID story play out and Nora and Bo's upcoming wedding which hopefully isn't drenched in darkness. 

Maxie has had nothing but baby stories for ten years it seems now. I miss the workaholic and fashionista Maxie. The fact that they can't find some sort of balance or original story is frustrating. 

I thought I was watching a whole new show during that stunt...I still remember being so impressed. I can't believe that was almost 8 years ago now. 

That was a great review, J Swift! I wish it had translated better onscreen though or they had put the same effort into later characters.  

Made it to mid-February 1995 and I am so impressed by Erika and Robin in the DID story. They are playing every beat as Jean imprisons Dorian, even chaining her up, and I was horrified as Dorian awaken to realize she was in the secret room. Then even worse, trapped in a soundproof prison. The cinematography there was fantastic. I haven't read up on that in ages nor have I seen it so it all played as new for me. 

I always thought that RJ actually interrupted the Sheila and Hank wedding to expose his past affair with Nora but it actually happened after the wedding in the empty church. The reveal was played to perfection between Hank/Nora/RJ and has me looking forward to more of the Gannon sibling rivalry but based on recaps I am sure it dies down after this. I really wish they had slowed down some of the January story for the Gannons. 

I know I am repeating myself but the recasts just do not work for me. Robin and Erika are carrying the show for me as Tina, Sheila, Kevin and Rachel do not work for me in the overall canvas due to recasting and Andy and Dylan are so blah and boring thus far. While the show is in great shape overall and a fun ride it is just a bit of a sore spot. 

I do also enjoy the messiness of Blair loving Cord, wanting Todd's money and lying that she is pregnant to get rich. 

I feel like it has been consistent for years now that Jarlena hit the front burner by the end of August. As far as I recall all they did last summer was officiate weddings so maybe by August their story starts and heats up by end of fall. 

It definitely is a let down to see so little of Shawn and Belle mentioned. 

The ratings have proven to go up when the family is at the fore front so I don't know why they wouldn't promote the Evans-Black-Brady squad with the generations and the Shawn/Belle/Chloe/Phillip/Brady group. 

1 minute ago, Liberty City said:

 

It would've been fantastic; the storyline kind of just dipped out all of a sudden, which is so unfortunate.

I thought the story was overall looked down on? Was it that popular? I remember reading about it and was intrigued. 

Thanks for the feedback, I am on the last January episode and honestly find her weird so far but wanting to enjoy her. She half mentioned the affair and not wanting to be judged for being a woman, then judged someone who came to work with her in the cop car (it may have been Kevin-I wasn't feeling it) but was also prying to get close to Dylan,  even in front of Marty and that made me uncomfortable as a viewer 26 years later lol