carolineg

Kyle Brandt should have probably never been in the biz. But he was hot and still is.

Ouch. I don't think she's a bad actress at all. She's fair. I don't think she ever got the credit she deserved because she was on Days in the 90's, but probably would have won a couple of emmys if she was on GH or YR. Again, CC isn't a flashy actress but she is a likeable one. I am a sucker for actors that grow up in roles though. I think it was a great tribute to Jarlena as a couple up until he was banging Hope in a submarine. But they clearly gave a lot of thought, money, and effort to the wedding and honeymoon.

That's fair. To me, I was like well John/Marlena/Hope/Bo/whoever are acting stupid, but they aren't stupid. JER's characters on Passions just were stupid so you had nothing to go on. I think the show had a slick advertising campaign and a great premiere slot after Jarlena's 1st (legal) wedding, but it didn't have the same vibe at all. Yes, the Hope/Gina/John stuff was awful, but stunts! Location shots! They put a lot into that wedding and I did think it was well done. Probably the last thing I thought was really well done on Days tbh. Anyhow, that had nothing to do with JER but I think it was crappy of Days to hold off on the Jarlena wedding for so long just for it to align with Passions, but it is what it is. We had to live through a year or so of weird excuses as to why Jarlena weren't getting married for that premiere.

Oh yeah. I remember that. I just think Carrie is an easier lead to follow. CC genuinely has chemistry with everyone and had a sort of blank slate career wise. Plus her and Austin grew out of one another and her and Mike could have spun off to their own show or not. She had a lot of romantic/career/life options circa 1999. Ali/Sami was so tied to her bitterness with Marlena and John and her ridiculous Austin obsession, I think it would have been so much harder to extract her from the main show and make her a viable lead on a new show. AS is probably the more charismatic actress, but Carrie seems like a perfect lead for any soap. Not an Erica Kane spunky lead, but a nice, relatable heroine like Marlena I am not going to lie the Princess Di stuff had me more intrigued. I was honestly open to a new soap because I stopped watching GH the day Brenda got driven off that cliff with her mom. I literally reset my VCR that day like it was GH's fault VM didn't resign her contract lol. Passions just didn't take for me and I slipped back into GH after my sorrow over the loss of Brenda ended. I think it's one thing to watch JER write your favorites that you are connected to do silly things and another to create new characters doing those same silly things. Her hair choices right? I have never seen such tragic hair even in the 90's..........

I am not convinced Ali could lead a soap. Days sure tried with her, but she works better as a villianess. IMO. I was always intrigued by the Marlena spin off Manhattan Lives that would feature Carrie as well. I think Carrie/CC was more the heir apparent to a soap. She was blandly perfect and innocuously likable enough to lead a show like Marlena. She's less the lame than Belle but less polarizing than Sami. It sounds like I am dissing CC/Carrie, but I genuinely think she was a stronger lead just based on personality and overall rootability. I think she had a long history with the show to be comfortable for viewers, but was enough of a blank slate to build an entire new life outside Salem. I think Sami/Ali works a lot better in the confines of Days and her own family, while Carrie seemed more adjustable and easy to spin off. Just my opinion, but I think Carrie was always the next generation of heroine until she left and decided to leave acting for the most part. I could see Lindsay as Chloe, but it's not something I would think of. Nadia is so painfully beautiful, but lacks spunk. LH definitely has that. I mean, I think the Princess Di stuff turned off a lot people before it even premiered. And it was mostly inconsequential to the actual soap overall.

No that was Carrie, silly. Sami didn't become the main heroine until like 2000 when Austin decided to fall in love with his stalker and so did half the men in Salem. Sorry, Never Say Never DEE! That movie and picture still makes me laugh out loud and we have discussed it at length, but I love it. Apparently 60 year old Roman had strong sperm and Marlena still had a fertile uterus. I can't believe superstud John only impregnated her once.

Yes, Deidre looking fantastic in that story Last time I have liked her hair. She looked gorgeous. Not young enough to make me believe she was still ovulating, but really pretty. Neither here nor there, but I actually think the show made Marlena too old when she debuted to pair her with Don. She was a full on respected psychiatrist in 1976 and then she had to play her 40's for like 20 years to make everything work in a logical timeline.

Again, it was akin to giving Sami a platform for her delusion and making her the main heroine of the show in 1996.

One thing about JER is when he went for a story-he went for it. And I respected that. Melaswen absolutely became such a cop out. Perhaps he wasn't 100% invested in the end, but the story was built around Marlena and we know he was invested in her. I would have rather he went for it and it be reviled then to back out and it still be reviled you know? Again, we will never know what he had planned for the story. For all we know it could have been a worse trainwreck, but I doubt it. I will say I was majorly disappointed with his second run because I had such high hopes and knew he loved characters I loved. Did he do the Alex North stuff? I think so and that is unforgivable lol. Also, I won't even start with Marlena's pregnancy. It's too traumatizing for me to re-live ...

I would assume almost everyone would agree with you. I am not saying some of them couldn't have come back, but the whole fake out was stupid. There was no investment if no one died. I think I would have kept most of them dead tbh. Maybe not Alice or Doug, but I don't know. I don't think it was a killing of Maureen death knell of the show. But hindsight is 20/20 and it's hard to say without truly knowing the original plan.

Yeah, it was almost like you if you built a show around Sami and her Austin delusions and called it destiny instead of stalking. I 100% thought the SSK story was going to end with Marlena possessed again. And I know it was awful and it killed off vets, but have any of those characters that were offed done anything of use since then? Except maybe Jack, the show could have done without most of them. I know there is a strong nostalgia feel for most of them and it's unpopular to say but, I mean, we could have avoided Daniel completely if Maggie stayed dead.

Lindsay is great and I wish she would take over Sam again on GH, but Theresa wasn't even rootable. Why would we be on her side to break up a couple? Because she thinks that's her destiny? I do remember liking Sheridan and Luis, but who knew I would dislike GG so much on Days?

I also thinking building a show around such an unlikeable heroine like Theresa didn't help, but I know others loved her. I really only watched maybe a month of Passions so I am not the best judge.

I think it's also very clear JER burned through his best ideas before Passions. Even when you think about how repetitive and black/white his triangles and stories were he had a lot of arcs. It's one thing to a transform a show with already established characters and fan favorites. It's another to create a show. Days had a pretty great cast of characters to work with and Passions really didn't. JER's 2nd Days run was a mess, but his main arc was highly messed with. There is so little known about JER personally besides actors anecdotes. I think it's just possible he was spent and out of ideas.

I can't say I have loved anything on Days post-1999, but I'd rather it be on the air than not, so I am fine with JER saving it at the time. Yeah, I am giving JER a lot of flack because a lot of it's silly in re watch or when you think about it logically. It doesn't hold up that well and his newer work certainly doesn't, but I do think it's very memorable. In a way Days hasn't been for a long time. I feel like I can make points and acknowledge silliness and stupidity in his writing in a way I can't with, say, Dena Higley. Because nothing she did was memorable or worth discussing again during her run. Anyhow, personal opinion and all. I always enjoy discussing things with soap lovers even if when I disagree. Wasn't JER very religious, but also gay? And weren't there rumors he would act scenes out with dolls and only address the actors by character names?

Lol! Not trying to be doom and gloom, but Days wasn't exactly setting the world on fire in 1994.

Same. I was a younger teen, but I did find Days very easy to watch and easier to watch than GH which was very doom and gloom at the time. I knew I Days was the sillier, less respected of the two shows. They were just two different shows and I liked their different feels. I could watch the Devil on Days and giggle, but then turn on Stone dying, Lily blowing up, Monica's cancer etc on GH. I liked having that variety when I came home from school lol. I genuinely thought they were both good and entertaining for different reasons. Again, it's much easier to watch edits of Sonny/Brenda vs. Marlena/John because on GH they weren't repeating the same dialogue every day and having silly misunderstandings, so I definitely think 90's GH holds up better. I certainly remember my friends liked Days more though and thinking it was weird I watched GH, so maybe JER's ideal fanbase was 13 year olds lol. From an acting perspective, Drake/John was hurt in the long run, but from a career perspective he wasn't at all. He will land as the 2nd actor in appearances this year on Days ever (2nd to Dee, obvi). He certainly outlived Wayne and Roman's character. He's the leading man on the show with the main leading lady. He still gets front burner stories, is in a popular pairing, has a large family, and well liked across the board. Is he cheesy as hell? Yeah, but at this point Grandpa John works for the character. I totally see your point of view, but I don't think it worked out negatively for him. Let's face it, Drake was never going to win any acting awards regardless lol. At the end of the Day JER did save Days. In a productive way that helped the show long term with storytelling? Probably not. But it got people talking and kept the show relevant. There are many, many flaws in his run, but Days would have had a similar fate to AW if it weren't for JER.

Gotcha. That makes sense. I don't remember ED's hiring being that big of a deal, but it could have been. I generally loathed Carly and CC, so while I know she was super popular, the early 90's felt like the Carly show to me. I didn't take CC's exit as a loss, but I am sure the show did. It looks like ED debuted about 4 months after SB went off the air. I do like that JER beefed up the Dimeras. That was really a great idea.

The affair did drive story for years and years, but at the end of the day, Drake should have stayed Roman. Or at least it should have been changed back when Wayne left before Shawn/Belle hooked up. I know I have said my piece about the Tale of 2 romans being one of the worst stories ever. So stupid. I always wonder why Dee was so insistent on bringing Wayne back. Did she have some sort of issue working with Drake back then? Because, when you think about it, her returning really did screw Drake/RoJohn over. Obviously not in the long run, but initially. The Devil also said she would turn evil under her father's influence. Anyhow, I have fond memories of JER, but as an adult a lot of his stuff was simplistic and juvenile. I also think it's not the same watching edit clips or everything at once. It's not as silly when it's only 1 hour a day. The same scenes/dialogue get repeated over and over when you sit and watch multiple episodes or a story arc. I think it changes the experience because a lot of clips on you tube are specifically edited for a story and that's really not how it was meant to be viewed. I always thought Lisa Rinna filled CC's role. With ED, she was allegedly brought over to solely be John's love interest. Someone (not JER of course) at the network thought Deidre was or looked too old to be Drake's love interest.

I believe Eileen was hired before Kristen was created. I believe she was snatched up directly from Santa Barbara when it was cancelled. No your paragraph made sense it's just a lot to comprehend when you break it down like that lol Here's the thing with John/Marlena/Roman. They seemingly dropped it when John/Isabella got together and picked it back up when Isabella died. Roman/Marlena were backburnered for most of 1992 until the Pit stuff started. We really didn't get to see them one way or another. Roman was undercover for a lot of this time. Even if Marlena was struggling with her feelings we didn't really see it until John/Marlena were back in love. Apparently, the affair was always the plan with or without Isabella it just got delayed when SG didn't re-sign. I honestly think that effected the story telling a lot and back burned Marlena/Roman until it was less tacky for John to go after Marlena post-Izzy B's death. Did Roman get a bad edit on this? Yes, but he also was the one pushing Marlena to just go back to the way things were. I get the feeling Days/Corday/the writers never really wanted Wayne back but it was part of Deidre's demands in her return and they were stuck with him. I didn't really want to see Roman or John be the bad guy. I think the affair just moved a little fast. The ingredients were all there just a lot of Roman's point of view was missing or just crappy. I honestly don't think OGRoman changed that much. He was always kinda disrespectful/sexist to Marlena and her job. RoJohn and Marlena just changed and Marlena liked the new version better. Regardless of whether or not Marlena was hotter for John's peen (obviously she was), John did kind of treat her better. I don't think the audience ever stop rooting for Roman. I still loved him. I just think the audience liked John/Marlena better as a couple. It happens. Roman is still 100% the wronged party in this. The show did Wayne, Roman, and Ro/Mar wrong for sure, but I still don't think it was a bad choice to go with John/Marlena in the end. But YMMV on this.

It's weird because I could easily see him with LK's Kate in my mind. But LK has chemistry with everyone. I wouldn't be opposed to a Laura recast as long as they bring her back alive lol. I like Anna and Tony just fine, but I could see Anna and Roman being tried again too. I can't remember if they had chemistry in the past. Anna's origin story was pretty bizarre though.

At least it seemed like Marcus always had a crush on Kayla. Shane's Kayla lust came out of nowhere. For some reason I thought Marcus was first though. Works for me. For some reason I have a hard time picturing WN with JLB's Laura. I don't know why, but I do. I mean, JT has to have enough money to retire now. He's been "playing" Roman for 25 years now. God, that was hurtful to type.

I remember wanting John/Marlena to sleep together so bad because Roman didn't seem to respect her at all. And John, as usual, was fawning all over her. In retrospect, Roman was a decent guy and John was WAY out of line, but it worked for me. Re-watching I still really enjoy it, but John is just super overbearing with Marlena and it almost makes me uncomfortable. And then he starts flaunting Rebecca in front of her and Rebecca asks Marlena how to attract John. Everything is so, so awkward including Kim and Victor being in on the affair. Anyhow, I appreciated that story started in 1991 and continued for years. Unfortunately, Roman's character never recovered.

OMG I can barely decipher that first paragraph even though I know it makes actual sense lol. I think you forgot about lame ass Isabella constantly bothering RoJohn about the fact she was pregnant and they could make their own new family. The way to go was probably to make John the villian, but I think the show had invested so much in Drake they didn't want to pull the trigger on that. So somewhere along the way RealRoman became the bad guy. Not in a villainous way, but so annoying you wanted Marlena to cheat on him. You know Marlena, she always drives defensively straight to John's penis lol. Listen 90's Days made vague sense to me at the time, but re-watching I am like tf is wrong with everyone? None of it makes logical sense. JER is freakin weird. The absurd notion that a child will make someone love you and stay with you forever. It's not the 50's. And like Kristen/John's child would keep them together but John/Marlena's child wouldn't? So weird. Every female villian was having kids at the time.

There had to be something more than a boring good girl to keep J/M apart. I mean aside from the devil and a giant gold birdcage lol. I think Kristen's trajectory sort of worked? One of my fave Kristen scenes is when she finds a picture of John/Marlena/and Belle? And throws it to the ground and stomps on it and says 'this is what's left of John and Marlena" lol. Good psycho stuff. I liked it. It fit the era and story fine. I mean, in the 90's a lot of women were fighting over John's penis....