carolineg

I am absolutely no expert in this but the description from the movie seems very off from the tv show.

Do you remember when John sang at his and Marlena's wedding? I would hope he didn't have a solo lol.

Does anyone even really care at this point? For all I know she's living her best life with Jane or is just straight and single. She's 75 years old. The rumors have been around for years as well as her nude pics which I. CANNOT. EVEN. LOOK. AT. Despite her willingness to make epic TV movies about her life I think there is a lot we don't know. And I don't really care. It's fun to make jokes and stuff, but there are also a ton of rumors she was with Drake for years as well. From her late in life flannels and jackets I might assume she's a lesbian, but she's been with a ton of men so maybe she's just into the cabin fashion vibe? At the end of the day Dee is still a legend..

They are an attractive couple. I am hesitant to ask if Seven brothers was still a musical lol...... Dee also dated Quinn Redecker for awhile and well he's a silver fox I guess. Her taste varied (waiting for the lesbian/Jane Elliot jokes).

Idek, but it's true lol. You get it Dee!! MacGyver is a score especially back then. Also what the hell is that intro to Seven Brides? That looks so chintzy even for 1982 standards lol.. Drake doesn't really bring European count vibes the way Michael Nadar does, but I am sure a role could have been tailored to him. He would have been great with Susan. He has a good history of doing well with soap divas lol.

Didn't Deidre Hall also date RDA for years? Lol. I knew RDA was in it as well. Although I personally think RDA is more conventionally handsome. They seem very similar to me.

I believe he got cast as Shelley Long's husband in some CW series, but couldn't do it because of Days. I think he has some sort of development deal with a network after he did 7 brides for 7 brothers. He's one of those actors who is charismatic enough to maybe pull off a big career or not get recognized at all lol. He fell into a happy medium with Days.

I actually think he might have wound up on primetime. I could easily see him as a dopey husband on some sitcom or some lead in a MacGyver like show. He just seems like someone who would have a mildly successful show and work on primetime in unmemorable roles for years. That's not even a diss. I just think he would have moved on to other things pretty easily even though he's not a great actor. That's sounds like a pivotal scene lol. To be fair, when I start watching 1992 my eyes immediately glaze over because the stories are awful. And I mean, it was TM's Carrie. I don't think her actions even count lol. I still don't know what the show was going for there. I think it might be the initial prototype for Sami when they cast her as Carrie.

Yes! I have no problem with them leading as I like all of them outside Sam/Courtney, but not every character on the show should revolve around them and what they are doing. It's like a similar problem you brought up with Brenda. In 2010 every. single. character was talking about her. Maxie was talking about her. Spinelli was obsessed with her. Lucky was talking about her and the Balkan. Dante secretly loved her. Like WHY!!??? I could talk about Brenda all day everyday, but that's not entertaining tv. Why burn out an audience unnecessarily on a character like that?

Yeah, and kind of a huge FU to Drake? Like "Thanks for doing a nearly impossible job by taking on a recast of one of our most popular characters, having great chemistry with everyone including Deidre Hall, being super popular yourself, and an overall likable guy, but we are gonna replace you now lol It will all work out fine....." If I was Drake I'd probably still be bitter at Dee. I assume Dee thought it sounded great on paper and was trying to help her good buddy out, but it was NOT a good idea. I am not going to speculate on what Dee/Drake's relationship was like back then or early on, but it's such a weird demand. It's almost like she wanted to dictate her own story and screen partners. There were definitely more psychological beats they could have played with John vs. Roman. John raised those children longer than Roman or Marlena, John got the promotion, John probably paid more mortgage payments on that home, he was there through Kayla, Bo, Kim's struggles etc. etc. etc. He wasn't pretending to be Roman-he was actively living a full, productive life as Roman. And that whole angle was dropped.

I think I may have reversed the Nicole/Sami roles. Instead of Nicole being the evil one with the baby switch perhaps reverse it to Sami. Idk, I have never felt Sami should ever be the lead heroine of that generation. A lead but not a romantic one. It's a role that Carrie or Belle should have taken on. It didn't help that different regimes had very different takes on Sami. She tended to mature then backslide if the writers changed.

When did Susan become a clairvoyant or psychic or whatever she is? I know it's not recent, but it wasn't in her initial characterization. Regardless, it's annoying and I'd rather see a recast Celeste than this.

I have no real interest in Morgan coming back, but I hope Dex is related to someone. Otherwise he's just another useless character, which is exactly what a show with such a tiny cast needs 🤣

I don't recall John having much to do with Lawrence either, but I remember Lawrence creeping on Carrie and John was involved in that. I can't remember if this was before or after John became an Alamain though. Very interesting idea about Roman coming back first. That might have worked better? I could imagine John trying to fight for custody of the kids with Isabella and trying to keep his job while proving he was the 'real' Roman. I felt a lot of those beats were dropped because Marlena was involved and John wouldn't do that to her. Then Marlena comes back to 2 husbands lol. Unfortunately I don't know how it would change the outcome. I don't see any scenario where Marlena would not go back to Roman under any circumstance unless they made Marlena pregnant by John instead of Isabella. I guess the show could have went in the direction of looking into Marlena's disappearance and finding out her and RoJohn had a kid or something. In theory the whole Roman/John/Marlena story could be reversed with John/Marlena staying together and her having an affair with Roman instead or John having an affair with Isabella

I think I am 100% wrong🤣. But the show went out of their way to give Brenda a stupid kid-use it show! They haven't mentioned Brenda in years. Morgan is a much more logical thought. I doubt MB will retire before the doors close on GH honestly. I assume he could, but he won't lol.

Idk, they never seem to have a plan for Roman/Marlena. They were backburned for so long after the Tale of 2 Romans. I also think WN's Roman didn't age well. Not physically, but as a character. He was boorish and dismissive to Marlena in the 80's and that worked BITD, but Drake's Roman was more evolved and likable. Seeing WN's Roman have the same characteristics that he did in 1981 didn't work anymore. They unfortunately did lose some of their charm and chemistry together. Roman/Marlena seemed more like good buddies than a hot couple. I love RoMar, but even rewatching their awesome initial lovestory I feel like the way he acted with Marlena wouldn't work today. I also think Wayne and Dee had very short contracts that had to be re-upped and there might have been some drama with those that stalled the story. I believe Wayne even briefly left the show or was off contract while working it out. I do think the show had a large investment in Isabella/John and for whatever reason Staci decided to leave. I could easily see Isabella/John together with Roman/Marlena and that quad could have gone on for years even incorporating the affair into it. At the same time I do think the show thought they could quietly get rid of Drake if OGRoman proved to be a ratings draw, but they knew Drake was popular and wanted to see how it all panned out before making any decisions.

Haha! Reading comprehension was not my friend last night.🤣 I assume you mean flimsily explained and might possible make a tiny bit of sense if you don't think about it much, right? But, again, I don't want to go down that road again so just leave it. Please Ron. I am begging you. I am of the mind that making John Roman's twin was the easiest way out. A clear reason Stefano wanted revenge on the Bradys, a reason Marlena and the family was fooled, a path to have the affair happen still, and truly the most logical way to get out of that mess. It seems so obvious, but that was never even hinted at. John as Stefano's son is the more dramatic and interesting idea. I would buy Stefano felt so betrayed by John he would try to kill him. Through all Stefano's machinations against John/Marlena, it seemed he really respected them as adversaries as weird as that sounds. There have been many times over the years that I thought Stefano cared for John as sick as that may be. Both ideas work for me. The Tale of 2 Romans was a cool idea. I think if they had Marlena come back much earlier and really work her way back to RoJohn and then real Roman appeared months later it would have helped. I would have not made Isabella pregnant as well. She could still have Brady down the line just not at that moment. It made the choice on who would end up with who very obvious. The other problem with the Tale of 2 Romans is it was very convoluted and seem to drag on forever without even answering the question about what happened to Marlena or who John was. So we have two huge things that just weren't addressed and hung in the air for years. JER tried to address the emotional ramifications with the Affair, but just decided John was a priest to do the Possession. I think the only way for the Tale of 2 Romans to succeed is to establish who John was at the end even if it got retconned later. Being an Alamain just gave John a boatload of money (which I believe he already had a ton from IzzyB croaking) and some business stories. That's extremely boring lol. It might be the least exciting place to go for that story.

Back then they were still going with the fact that John's appearance had been altered as well. Something that I believe was dropped a few years later around Maison Blanche where he found his name in the prison cell even though we saw him choose the name John Black off a plaque in 1986. A story like the Tale of 2 Romans really needed an endgame or at least a solid idea for John and I just don't believe it did. I often wonder if the show just figured Drake would be out in a few years and didn't think he would become the leading man in the 90's.

James Scott is so ridiculously hot and I get the obsession, but EJ kinda always sucked. The way the show tried to make Sami the female romantic lead at that time was strange. That's basically the antithesis of Sami as a character. She had multiple men fighting over her, the numerous children in a short period, and was completely de-clawed as a character. The show seems to have righted itself with her characterization now, but there were about 5 years on Days where I wondered how we got to this point with Sami. It was almost like because the show didn't have Carrie they were giving Sami stories that should have been Carrie's and made Sami a hybrid of the two.

Lol! I am sure there is enough John/Marlena fanfic out there in the world already. In a perfect world the tale of 2 Romans would have never happened, but then the show wouldn't have had years of story via the John/Marlena affair. I don't know if the show stuck with just one backstory and expanded on it most anything could have worked. I do think trying to tie it to Hope's was a weird choice though. The jewel thief stuff got scrapped pretty quickly along with the wife, but I think that was because Staci Greason didn't re-sign and Izzy B was going to kick the bucket shortly. John/Gina were art thieves I believe so it could have all tied together pretty easily. Again, I think there were two very clear choices to make for John : Roman's twin or Stefano's son. Neither happened lol.

With Erica she always got a lead story, but the entire cast wasn't reacting to Erica or involved with Erica. They had their own stories like others have said. There were A/B/C stories in general. Like @Darn said, at the height of Sonny/Jason/Carly/Sam(Courtney)-no one else had a story unless their story was reacting to something one of those 4 did. Even most of the B or C stories connected back to them. That's eating a show. I am surprised more people here haven't mentioned Sami or EJ on Days. I probably did at some point, but in the mid 2000's everything was about Sami or Sami's love life. Her and James Scott playing Colleen and Santo in the Brady vendetta crap might be the pinnacle of the two's airtime. Not only were they on all the time they are now playing 2 characters that are on all the time as well.

New Orleans cast resonates with me better. LA/New York happened when I was too young to watch it in real time, so the NOLA cast feels much closer in age to myself. There is a bit more earnestness and realness in the first few seasons cast though. By New Orleans, MTV knew what they were looking for and the castmates definitely knew they were there for drama and entertainment. Watching David in LA was a tough watch. I really felt I was watching someone with severe mental problems who's life was in complete shambles. It was uncomfortable. Julie's just an entitled, racist, homophobic b*tch. I don't feel like she's actually struggling with anything except getting the most attention and screentime.

Maybe. Then the show doesn't have to deal with Belle/Shawn being related. I would overlook that if I had to. Really? The story had potential. John could have been so many interesting things: Stefano's son, Roman's twin/brother, someone who had a family in his past life, someone truly evil, the real Roman etc. Instead he's just a rich, nice guy with an everchanging backstory and soap's longest case of amnesia ever. Like Jason Morgan on GH, I always figured someday he would regain his memories, but I guess not. I think at the time it made sense to make John an Alamain because Lawrence was the big bad and the Dimeras weren't around. But the Alamain presence was gone soon after and it would have made much more sense to connect him to Stefano as his son or the show could have taken the easiest way out and made him Roman's twin.

It could have been such a good story, but like every writer ever wanted to make it their own and it made it the biggest clusterf*ck of all time. And at some point it barely matters. John is what he is. Unless you make him Roman I don't really care.

It's Brenda's kid Alec!! Calling it now. Although he looks nothing like her and that makes no sense I feel like he has to have a connection to someone because what's the point here otherwise?