DynamiteKiddo

I remember (and just confirmed on an old Daytime Confidential post lol) that in 2008, Josh Duhon, Jon Prescott (ex-Mike, ATWT), and Dylan Bruce (ex-Chris, ATWT) all auditioned for Philip if JKJ hadn’t re-signed during down to the wire contract negotiations.

This was something they VERY easily could have done. Even a little, few-second “thank you to the fans” feat. cast members like Bill & Susan Hayes, Dee Hall, and Jim Reynolds (since we know they filmed those Peacock ads).

Jason47 has this info on his site, and I love comparing his actor to character stats. Like, the top 57 characters would be a different list—not wildly different, but different. Like Jenn would beat Alice, Roman would be very high, Steve would be a lot lower, and Abby, Mike, Billie, and Will would have been included. Among other changes.

Thanks!

When I started watching, it was Henderson for the Ks, Marie was the receptionist at Titan, and Eliana was the hbic at DiMansion. Then at some point it became Harold and they’d always mention a “Mary” watching the DiMera kids, iirc? Did we ever see her? Lol. I could care less about this poisoning situation. Also, considering the episode guarantee situation, I think it’s a lot to have this going on concurrently with Abigail/Sonny… they can’t even make one disaster front-burner! Lol

Ya it’s crazy lol. I do hope we see the full K mansion again (I want to say they had actors in it for one of those YouTube q&a’s a couple months ago, which made me think we’d see it sometime soon… then I heard RSW was gonna play Alex and I figured THAT’S why the set was back—they wanted to give him something more substantial to play in lol)… speaking of Harold, I do hope we see HIM again one day!!

I’ll never unsee the angled hospital beds lol. I actually like both iterations of this hospital set. But I remember the pre-Tomlin one, when it was fully assembled, was HUGE—multiple lobbies (including the one with the information desk where Sami worked lolol) and hallways, a big cafeteria, a terrace, and a roof. We had it so good back then lol I understand the limitations now… but if you have to angle hospital beds to expedite filming………. lol. There’s also parts of the sets we rarely see the actors in (all the stairwells basically, the hallways at the K mansion and J&M’s townhouse, etc.) because the actors always have to be in the direct center of the damn room! Like, instead of people just showing up in the DiMansion living room, it would go a long way to follow a character from the exterior door, through the foyer, and into the living room. Time for things like that need to be allowed because “Days” always just looks like a play that’s been filmed for years now.

They actually changed it in 2018 from the sage green (which could read as lime green or yellowish depending on how bad the lighting was!) to a very muted blue-gray. So in theory, I think this is sacrilegious, but I think the light refresh, which also included swapping the white wall-to-wall carpet for “hardwood” and some new art, is a huge improvement. Believe it or not, this set has come a long way since its reintroduction in 2010. Like Michael said, this set returned different… and bad. Before, I thought it was a really rich set, but in 2010 it looked like straight cardboard, it became SO angular for the forced perspective, and the new “art” was a joke. When the lighting got really dark in late 2015/16, it helped a lot… and with the 2018 refresh, I like it, except for all the Home Goods decor. But I started watching in 2000, and I never remember the foyer being necessarily different. I also love that Jennifer lives there. Speaking of Jenn, Monday’s eppy was actually the first time Cady really felt like Jenn to me. I appreciate her very much and I don’t dislike her, but Missy really embodied that part and the recasting made it clear that Jenn’s connections were so strongly based on Missy’s chemistry with her screen partners, most notably Matt, Marci, Casey, SSH, and Bill. I thought she did great with Suzanne and I think it helped that this was about Jennifer’s history, not Chad’s pain, not the Gwen messiness, or not that insane Jack/Kate hookup. And it really, really helped that this was at the Horton Home, where they should have had Cady at as much as possible from the beginning to anchor her to Jennifer’s meaningful history. I was also impressed that she had a Tory Burch bag! Lol I also love your idea of connecting Jack and Alex through the Deveraux trust! Anyway, I haven’t seen today’s wedding episode, but I actually thought Friday and Monday were really strong overall episodes, dialogue included.

Oh absolutely, I was just being a b!tch. Hey, I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with my brother and niece and we’ll probably be here forever because of rent control in San Francisco and we’ll likely never be able to realistically afford anything else. Lol I do think you’re being very generous with your descriptions of Kyle’s other properties we see on the show, lol. 🤪 Also, I’m sure they own other places, including the LA townhouse they allegedly let Kim live in.

Did anyone else notice that Kyle’s Aspen house is a . . . duplex . . . ? I thought something looked off about it, so I looked it up because I knew she listed it a few months ago. I mean it’s a multi-million duplex! I just felt like being a b!tch lol. It is surprising to me that with Mo being a real estate mogul, Kyle never fully gets it right with her houses… it’s either the wrong location or the design is somehow lacking or just wrong. Anyway, I was waiting for this to be THE week! Lol. What a letdown. Kathy is getting a bad edit… but I don’t think her behavior is any different this year, it’s just not novel anymore for the other ‘wives and production isn’t giving her Housewives’ most glowing edit ever anymore. Which I think is fine—this woman is obviously problematic af. Watching what Diana and Erika did to Sutton was very difficult. However, Sutton DID question the validity of Diana’s medical situation after her miscarriage. But right after, Diana could have told her she crossed an irreversible line and there would be no moving forward. This was such egregious bullying and gaslighting. And I don’t buy Diana, she came in hot in the beginning for Sutton. I think Rinna or maybe even Crystal(?!?) put her up to it. It gives me Yolanda/Erika/LVP vibes. Kyle is a damn mess! She is so lazy this season, kinda like Rinna… which is shocking, because this show is their lives(lihoods). Kyle has created some seriously nasty, destructive situations this year that have had nothing to do with her, then she skates accountability or worse, plays victim (like this week with Instagram/Sutton/Garcelle/Erika). I can’t wait for Erika to self destruct next week. I am so curious what her rhetoric will be because the preview suggests she’s keeping it 100 and just fvck!ng puts it ALL out there that she’s only in survival mode and she won’t feel bad or apologize for it. It will hopefully be WILD and irrefutably show her for the garbage person she is.

Jack & Jennifer should be at the center of this murder mystery. Instead, they’re afterthoughts of afterthoughts! Lol. I actually think Abby’s murder mystery is pretty good, but the problem has been the start-stops because of the guarantees… a storyline like this needs to be on 4 days a week and feature a large portion of the cast. It’s in these moments where the budget just chokes the storytelling. I imagine Jenn’s relapse will be a blip and not even feature Eric(!)… I wonder what Cady & Matt’s status is?

I love Erika Slezak and maybe she was right back then… but viewers expect “envelope pushing” on streaming now. Unless they want to try the Virgin River/Sweet Magnolias route, which I understand is very successful (esp. Virgin River). I actually thought OLTL 2.0 was, BY FAR, the most modern soap I can imagine. I was so impressed, and that was head written in the beginning by Thom Racina, who was an older industry vet… it showed you don’t necessarily need new blood for a totally fresh take on the genre. The only thing that didn’t really work for me on OLTL 2.0 was the tattoo cult, mainly because I don’t think it had the budget to achieve that kind of very large idea.

I thought this was lovely, too! Thanks for the stats!

Re.: the theory that Kayla kept Steph from the Johnsons… I don’t remember Steph living with Justin & Adrienne and “the boys” in 2007 (I kinda lost track of Hogan’s “Days” during “The Vendetta”) but I do remember that when Adrienne returned in 2010, she and Steph were extremely close. Adrienne was like a surrogate mother to her and tried to be a good influence when Steph was going darkside with Nathan & Melanie (meanwhile, Sami, Steph’s other mentor, was encouraging her to do “whatever it takes” to get what she wanted lolol). So there’s no possible way she and Alex wouldn’t have met (many times), esp. if she lived with them. But a grief-stricken Kayla withdrawing from Steve’s family is a better retcon than Anjelica having full custody of him omg lol! And it’s been overstated that Adrienne was Kayla’s best friend, regardless of Steve. Now the Peacock promo… i teared up lol. The Horton living room was bright af, but looked lovely. Dee was Dee lol.

Oh, Rinna! Whether there’s any truth to it (which I very much so doubt), implying that producers are starting racist $h!t online to distract from what’s happening on the show or to sabotage white cast members is shocking… the only narrative being created is by her that she’s racist (esp. coming off the heels of her Dubai “comment”). She needs to learn when to stfu. And if she is goin’ down swinging (which would be admittedly epic), DO IT—she obvs. knows where hella bodies are buried so don’t trifle, triumph. OAWN IT! It’s so disappointing, I’ve been a longtime LR fan from “Days” but she’s sold her soul for this show and now there’s nothing left. And like many cast members before her whose status is (very) threatened, she’s become very paranoid, which, justified or not, is one of the worst looks.

So we haven’t really talked about what to do with the remaining eppys… I have dueling impulses—go full ham and make Bonnie Adrienne, lock down JKJ for one final epic Shelle/Phelle showdown, and invite Ali Sweeney, Peter Reckell, Kris Alfonso, Missy Reeves, Christie Clark, Austin Peck, Kate Mansi, etc. to give the show a beautiful send off, or go for broke and center the show around the younger cast that can give “Days” its best chance on streaming???

I agree. When it first aired, I thought Kristen was whiney and getting way too much airtime, and s6 was problematic af. But on a rewatch, I really appreciate the season for certain things—Carole was a great heroine, Carole/Heather is my favorite RHoNY friendship, LuAnn got her groove back, and there’s something tragically real about Kristen’s struggles with her husband, working on her daughter’s mobility issues, and coping with being an aging model. Aviva and Sonja’s totally fake storylines were unwatchable and now we know Ramona was trying to hide her dissolving marriage. Highs and lows, but s7’s retooling obviously saw the show firing on all cylinders.

Wow, the Jax stuff is horrifying on a truly shocking level. I know the families can be victims of very unwarranted cruelty but this feels very different. Garcelle and Jax seem to be handling this with such patience and grace. Re.: Tinsley. I never liked her and thought her only real contributions to the show were Dale and her unintended role in The Fall of Dorinda (that Scott/John drama was utterly salacious and it’s so crazy when you can retroactively put the puzzle pieces together… when Carole was defending her seemingly callous stance that she was never actually close with Tinsley, she referenced the only real time she spent off-camera with her was a “disastrous” couples trip to Dubai with Adam, Scott & T, and John & D, which was a thank you trip from Scott for those Coupon Cabin commercials they filmed… I think that’s where this all went down). But Tinsley had such a compelling backstory—from one of Virginia’s wealthiest, oldest, most elite families to marrying into NY royalty, the Mortimers… being a legit famous af socialite… super public divorce, leading to a messy af new relationship with a mega wealthy, younger heir to a Cuban sugar fortune or something, which of course led to her highly publicized arrest. But with ALL that, I didn’t find anything compelling about her. If it weren’t for Dale and her unwitting role in Bethenny & Carole’s breakup (which C claims was an entirely false narrative created by B/production), I don’t think she would’ve been asked back for s11. But I do think firing Jules after s8 was the right move, she was equally vapid and out of touch, and not in an entertaining way like some of the other ‘wives. I think the one who was let go way too early was Kristen, but I think her husband, Josh, was completely done with the show. She suffered a lot in s7 when he obviously put the kibosh on her using their home problems as a sl, and she (and Heather) was(/were) sacrificed at Bethenny’s alter that year. But, ya, I’m sure Josh would’ve divorced her if she were asked back and returned after the Ashley Madison scandal.

Oh I so agree with almost everything! They did the unthinkable moving the show away from the super couples… abruptly losing S&K and J&M… turned out fine. Who would’ve thought?!? And the inter-generational storytelling was so smart, as evidenced by Maggie being one of that period’s breakout stars. Alice’s tribute did stall the show, though it was so touching and lovely, for all the reasons you mentioned. That seemed to really kill the Nicole/Brady/Ariana/EJ quad, which was a shame because James Scott and Lindsay Korman really sparked. But along with JJ, SH, and MH very abruptly leaving, I noticed very obvious network interference at that time with breaking up Brady & Nicole (my fav. Higley creation) and moving to the disastrous Nicole/EJ/Taylor triangle. B&H were quickly reunited and the subsequent Jenn/Daniel/Carly triangle was a mess with Carly’s addiction. Brady/Melanie/Dario had no legs. And let’s not even go there with Chloe/Quinn/Vivian. Take of 2 Rafes—omg! Lol. I also totally agree that Phil/Mel/Nate/Steph was fire and dropping that was such a shame because there was so much build up, years of story potential, and the four actors worked SO well together. SH’s turn as a villainous Steph was a vision and her dark/light angel role models with Sami and Adrienne was very inspired. And I also LOVED Nathan & Melanie and eventually wanted Phil & Steph to reconcile (very Carrie/Austin/Sami/Lucas). And I hear you about Zach being the crux of B&H’s problems, but I still only remember that being singularly told from Hope’s POV, which so didn’t work for me.

Dena & Chris Whitesell as co-hws, I guess along with Gary Tomlin as EP, not only saved “Days,” but ushered it into a real creative renaissance. And I think Dena Higley is THE WORST, but this is a fact… and what really seemed to do it were the baby switch story (feat. Nicole, Sami, EJ, Rafe, and Brady) and Crystal C. and Louise S.’s returns. (I also personally hate Carly.) They figured out how to refocus the canvas with a small cast and a very small budget. But it didn’t last and by the Nighttime Hope began, the momentum was waning and by Feb. 2011, Corday stepped in and the whole show got majorly tweaked and this creative team was dead and buried. I think the biggest problem with the Hope/Bo/Carly storyline was that it was born out of Dena being a raging Hope stan. Hope was the only one with a POV and we were told her homicidal rage was justified by decades of Bo’s wandering (with Billie). I thought it was the most intellectually dishonest, not to mention insane, story. However, the name “Nighttime Hope” still makes me and my best friend laugh lolol. But, ya, they REALLY milked Hope/Justin for all it was worth without ever going there. Justin, not Bo (or even Jenn or her other family members), was even her primary support system during Alice’s death. When Gary Tomlin & Chris Whitesell returned in 2012, I think they proved they were always the brains behind 2009. The show, for better or worse, completely scratched DRT & MMcP’s “Reboot” year and it was essentially reset to when they left, but without Dena there was such stronger focus and quality, even if I disagreed with some of their priorities (Daniel being #1). I also attribute the day-to-day quality of the TomSell era to Lorraine Broderick as breakdown writer. And going back to Adrienne, I thought they did really well with her and am devastated RC killed her (he honestly did well with her, too!).

New cameras is super promising.

I heard this about Dina/Dolores! So crazy. The fact that she and, of course, wrote letters on Tommy’s behalf is horrify. Like actual horror. Otoh, I don’t know how Dina married into the mob and thought she could just walk away. It really illuminates what’s going on in these people’s lives. I wonder who isn’t mob connected on this show. Why do these people go on television?!? And that glass house Caroline was living in all those years moralizing on people……….. But Albert “Tiny” Manzo’s (Caroline’s FIL) mob career WAS as notorious as his murder. Danielle should’ve thrown THAT book on the table! (There is one!)

Tre’s hair kinda looks like Margaery Tyrell’s from Game of Thrones at the Purple Wedding lolol. This wedding looks so f’n tacky. Dolores really looks lovely, though. I hope she got paid real well by Bravo after everything Teresa put her through. And, of course, the real drama is who wasn’t there—Joey & Melissa, Kath (+ Victoria, Joey, aaand RICHIE lol) & Rosie and their mom, and Dina (I really want the full story here beyond not wanting to appear on Bravo). Re.: BH this week… wtf was that, Rinna?!? She’s scared she hasn’t brought anything to the table beyond Lois but she was the one who humiliated her damn self with whatever that was. I do agree that Sutton should just say she did it to defend Garcelle. Like why not?? And to Rinna’s credit, I will also agree that Sutton’s, in her own words, “moment of flippantness” did defame Harry… husbands who keep their noses clean (NOT Mo and PK!) should be left alone, in my opinion. But this misunderstanding (and it does feel like it was) is beyond lol. Ya didn’t miss Kyle, Crystal, and Diana at all. And, ya, Dorit is so much lighter & brighter away from The Coven, but she is a treacherous chameleon through and through.

Even after the episodes that have been already taped air, they still probably have a lot of scripts already written. Those scripts are already paid for and with their budget, they’re unlikely to scrap or even revise them. We won’t get Peacock content for forever.

I think Lauren Koslow’s “Kate” is one of the only “older” characters to have a natural place on an edgier streaming “Days,” which is what it needs to be. And it’s gonna have to get more focused—they should choose a crime/mystery, hospital, or corporate drama lane… that’s a way to keep vets (John and Steve as detectives, Marlena and Kayla as doctors, Jack and Jennifer as reporters, etc.) in a way that makes sense. What it can’t be is old, privileged white people having hokey dramas.