carolineg

Yes, Julio. I can picture the actor's face and him in the younger set. Young Carrie and maybe Sarah had crushes on him. I think there might have been a very chaste romance with him and Carrie.

The internet is telling me Barash/Mansi should have overlapped, but for the life of me I can't be sure. I do think most of her work was with TC's Stefan too. That story was mostly over by then though. I just remember Abby's reveal in the sanitarium and she was suddenly Kate Mansi again.

Did Barash ever work with Mansi on Days? I can't recall, but I want to say they did interact.

I liked Kristina/Ethan so it wouldn't bother me. They do have a history.

I don't think they are dropping Kristina's bisexuality, but I would almost bet her next love interest in male.

To be honest, I always thought April was a bit of a dud of a character to begin with. She didn't leave me with much of an impression. I can only remember her being an alcoholic and something about her mom's death. She's better than her brother just not very stand out as a character.

From what I have seen, and it's not everything from that period, Nick pops in a few years after 1981, but isn't relevant again until 1987. It's more of a character that Days decided to bring back in the late 80's instead of a character that was driving much story for all those years.

I have heard the same. I think the storyline about Mike/Robin's faith differences was just more interesting than anything April/Mike got. It seems like Derya Ruggles was a real handful to deal with though. I am not a big fan of either couple, but I think Lisa Howard/MTW had more chemistry than DR/MTW. From what I have seen, Robin seemed exhausting in general lol.

Thanks! That all makes sense now. It doesn't sound like MTW was that thrilled to return either lol. I knew I remember reading something about Days letting him out of his contract early.

Well, they appeared on screen. Is that not enough for you? 😂 I actually liked the Brad scenes, but mostly because Portia is annoying me.

Well, the Xander/Fiona scenes were very good. That side of the storyline was good. So, I am supposed to believe Johnny just left after catching Alex/Stephanie and finished taping scenes? He then just decides to not ask any questions and thinks Chanel threw out her back having sex with Alex lol. This is the dumbest misunderstanding on the planet. Johnny's last scene was pretty good with all the anger. I am convinced he's an idiot though. So Abe decided Leo was the best option to convince Marlena to play Charlamagne? Not Abe, Kate, or her own GRANDSON. Just her random patient? Deidre does seem to enjoy playing off GR so I guess there is that? 😕 We also got a Sam mention!

I am curious too. I briefly searched to see if I could find any old articles about it, but had no luck. Maybe MTW was suppose to return to reunite with April and they would leave together? I wonder if Days just changed April's story and they decided they didn't need Mike anymore. She ended up in a triangle with Nick and his brother but they all were written off shortly after. I think April left town alone anyways lol.

Thank you for such a thoughtful post as always. You are very creative with your ideas. This sounds like an amazing arc. In 1994/1995 I feel like a gay/bi Mike storyline would have sidelined Mike even worse. The show couldn't even figure out a straight story with Mike for years. With no other gay characters on the show until years later I just don't see it. It's an interesting idea, of course, but I don't see it fitting into JER's plans at all.

Gosh, I can't remember anymore, but I don't think anything serious happened with Billie. They may have casually dated? Billie was definitely interested. Nicholas eventually rejected Billie for Kate, but Kate was like "nah, not super interested in anything serious lol". I think Billie went back to romancing Roman and then KA's Billie left town not long after. Unfortunately for all of us looking for Victor Webster eye candy, he didn't last long, but there were plenty of shirtless scenes. And for the first part of your post-I am pretty sure Carrie/Mike actually spoke about growing up together on screen too.

Strange story. Kate was already moving in to sexy, cougar villainess territory by then. I think they hired Victor Webster to romance Krista Allen's Billie and he ended up having better chemistry with Koslow. Setting up a silly mother/daughter triangle. They de-aged Nicholas Alamain and the whole thing was completely forgotten, but Victor Webster was super hot lol.

Jonah got kicked out of medical school and Lexie got fired from the Police force after the Pacifier stuff. Jonah started to work at the hospital in a different role (in the lab, maybe?), dated Wendy and I believe got back into medical through Stefano possibly and disappeared. Lexie at some point decided she wanted to become a Dr. Anyhow, I was thinking more along the lines of Abe not forgiving Lexie after the Jonah debacle and she moves on to Mike starting over. I am sure she would have eventually gone back to Abe, but Mike/Lexie's careers and interests seem to align. I think Billie/Mike would have been decent too. At the end of the day even if he was paired with Kristen, Billie, or Lexie he would have probably ended up the third wheel of a triangle, but at least it would be something for him to do.

I 100% agree. I don't mind short arcs. They can serve their purpose. Fiona was a character that needed a longer storyline to play out on screen. There are so many things that could have been done with her. Also, not going to lie, if SST just created that backstory for Fiona in her head I might love her. And probably hire her on as a Days staff writer.

Yes! It was something to do with arms dealing in Israel. I was going to say that, but was second guessing myself. Obviously not counting Stefano's obsession or John, I still swear that RC's Mike was the only character that even hinted at a romantic interest in Marlena during those post-Roman JER years. Even if it was only the slightest hint. You make a good point about Mike. The first ladies that popped into my head were Kristen and Billie. I also think Lexie could have worked with him as well. Kate/Mike would have been a great idea. I feel like at the time Kate was still a fairly straight laced business woman loyal to Victor. It would have been fair game in 2000 lol. I actually think moving Mike in Carrie's direction was a fabulous idea. Austin/Sami/Carrie got too played out and it worked great at the time, IMO. It just stinks RC had to sit around a few years before he got the Ali story, Craig/Nancy or anything with Carrie

Holly mentioned in a previous episode Nicole asked her to stay at the apartment but she declined. They agreed on a hotel nearby because Holly still was upset at Nicole. Fiona could have gone down 100 different avenues to make this story work. I think it comes down to SST's short term deal, which in itself sort of makes me wonder what's the point? Find someone who will commit long term to tell the story correctly.

So strangely enough, during the Possession story I thought they were soft testing Mike with Marlena. When Mike got Marlena's passcode because he was being blackmailed by Stefano for.....something I can't recall lol. I know that seems crazy, but some of their initial scenes are flirty-ish. Overall, I agree. Once the show truly decided on going with big event arcs, Mike got lost in the shuffle. He was too steady and reliable to do much else lol. There were plenty of ladies to pair Mike with at the time it was a strange stop gap to him hooking up with Carrie. I never got any inkling JER was even hinting at Mike being gay, tbh, but I got a sense the show didn't know where to place Mike age wise for love interests. He sort of fell into the younger crowd being around Carrie, Austin, Sami, Lucas, etc, but should have been more in the Kristen, Billie, Hope, Jen, Bo, Peter, etc crowd. It's like they actively de-aged Mike more.

I always liked him too. I know people are more partial to MTW and his Hawaiian shirts, but I thought he deserved more of a story especially considering how important Mike was to Days history. Although after Tom passed it seemed fitting for Mike to be the Dr. of all trades and carry on tradition. Unfortunately once Mike finally became an "A" player I believe RC decided to leave.

Same. I guess Serena Scott Thomas got more motivation than, say, poor Julie Dove/Connie, but it was weak as well. Fiona will be shipped off much like Connie with little resolution never to be heard from again.

Yes. We never even learned much about Fiona's affair with Victor. No one asked lol. And how was Fiona supporting herself all these years? Did she re-marry? Does she work? Has she previously had mental problems? I don't need to know every minuet detail of her life, but we don't know much about her at all.

For sure. I misspoke a bit because I actually think 1990 is a decent year for Days with the Cruise of Deception story. The cast and focus just changed a lot. I think long term it mostly worked as I can't say I miss too many of those characters, but I think it took until late 1992/early 1993 for Days to find it's footing again. That is also the start of the JER years though.

Makes sense. Mike's departure did seem abrupt, but I never thought Days ever really found a footing for his Mike even though I know MTW was popular. Although I would argue the show has always struggled with Mike post Wesley Eure because Roark Critchlow just stood around for about 3 years before he hooked up with Carrie. Yes! I remember it being random too. And since I watched them as adult I thought it was strange. Although 1990 was a bit of an odd year for Days (and GH). Moving out of the 80's and not quite into the 90's yet. By 1991/92 it felt like an entirely different show. I know there were a lot of backstage changes though.