j swift

21 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

I was called out for saying that cast members like Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn needed to say something about the mess at DAYS. I was told I was victim-shaming and that I put them in an impossible postition.

I'm sorry you felt that way, because I hope this is a lively community where everyone gets to say their peace.  But I also think that you may have misrepresented the responses to your post.

21 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

cast members CAN and DID make a difference.

The cast did an excellent job at advocating for themselves.  However, Ms Zucker did not make a well considered post in response to fans begging her to speak out. She organized her peers and affected change as a professional.

I believe fans should not use social media to either force actors into making a statement, nor should we judge those who have not. I inferred your original post as demanding established actors do something performative to give voice to the audience outrage, which I felt was misguided, so I engaged with you based on that issue.

@DRW50 & @DemetriKane As much of a Debbi fan as I am, we also have to acknowledge that she's been on more final eras of a daytime drama than most other actors in the genre, making her an inadvertent soap killer. (AMC, The City, Loving, Generations, and an honorable mention to Port Charles)  I'm not blaming her, just noting the trend...

Obviously, ratings trends are multifactorial, but we should never rule out the huge impact of the expansion of Price is Right to an hour.  Check out that timeline, and see its effect on Y&R ratings. 

I tend to believe that storylines don't create significant audience increases, but it makes the ratings less variable.  In other words, a great plot will cause people to not want to miss a day, but compared over time, it does little to attract new viewers. As I noted the in the 1980s ratings thread, if the variability of viewers week-to-week exceeds the variability year-to-year, then any changes have to be attributed to chance.

Thanks @DramatistDreamer I just found Baitz's quote from 2019 when the WGA fired  7,000 non franchised agents: “I am a union man, but … I cannot cut ties with my agents, because I would be forsaking … people who have helped me create a life.”

As they say, Fi-core is for life...

The funny thing about Sarah Webber is that when Finn was telling Liz that he dated her sister, I was racking my brain trying to recall when they were on-screen at the same time (of course he meant Hayden).

But, also @Liberty City I went to Liz's wiki on the GH fansite and was reminded that Martha substituted as Liz in 2011, which wouldn't rule her out from playing Sarah if it was DAYS, but GH might have a different casting policy.

Thanks to @janea4old for linking the list.

The writers that really stood out to me from that list were Jon Robin Baitz, (creator of Brothers and Sisters, ex-lover of Joe Mantello and Ronan Farrow) because he hasn't written a film since 2015's awful Stonewall, and he mostly writes for Broadway.

And Garry Trudeau, creator of Doonesbury cartoon, husband of Jane Pauley, also has no current projects that have been announced and newspapers are not being struck.

They both espouse liberal politics.  Baitz's play Other Desert Cities was critical of the war in Afghanistan, and obviously Doonesbury pokes fun at conservative politicians.  So, it is confusing that they would not support the labor union.  Especially given that they don't have current projects, both men could've objected without making such a public statement.

Does Xander still own half of The Spector?

It's ironic that he says he's worked with "hundreds of people, the overwhelming majority of whom would disagree with recent mischaracterizations of [him]." Meanwhile, at least 85% of the cast signed the petition to get rid of him.  And, not one person has said a word to defend him, in over a week, including his boss.

Perhaps, in light of recent events, he will have the time to reflect on the fact that while he may have worked with many people, nobody is going to mourn his loss.  It reminds me of what David Gregory said in his memoir about being fired from Meet the Press. He said that after his anger subsided, he was embarrassed to realize that none of his staff ever mentioned being sad to see him go.

Blame it on my eternal optimism (cue the Karen MacKenzie Pollyanna monologue), but the positive here is that there's hardly been any scenes between Gwen and Brady, so we don't know their chemistry.  EOB and EM could have a sparkling rapport.

And, the return of Tate makes the custody of Rachel seem more logical.  My question has been why is Brady fighting so hard for one kid (who's kind of bratty), while forgetting his other kid?

Also, I assume getting Gwen out of the way means that The Spectator will revert to Jack and Jen, which is good.

The odd lingering issue for me is the Gwen and Xander relationship.  It seems so odd that Xander and Gwen were put together twice as a couple, and then immediately torn apart.  I think a Gwen/Rex/Sarah/Xander quad makes more sense that Xander and Chloe.  So, I wonder why the writers were never invested in that couple?

I would not be in favor of that recast, but I am slightly annoyed that it is being discussed in this thread, rather than in the Previews & Spoilers thread where it belongs...

Getting back to the show that is currently airing, I was clutching my proverbial pearls at Dimitri's scenes today.  This is the second time that they've overtly implied that he's getting oral pleasure.  I know I didn't see that on NBC!

I enjoyed that they played with the timeline a bit by telling how Tripp wound up in bed with Leo.  However, I agree that Leo needs some real consequences for constantly abusing the boundaries of straight men.  It is not funny, and it sends a bad message (not that the whole BTS story doesn't send a bad message, but two wrongs blah blah blah).

I give this week a 7/10, DAYS wins a lot of points based on the charisma of the cast.  The Xander/Maggie scene for example was intriguing to watch, even though the topic of Victor and Xander's reconciliation seems to come out of thin air. 

What are the chances that both Nicole and Sloan carries their embryo to term?

I say at least one of them, loses their baby, and my bet is that Nicole miscarries and somehow blames Sloan.  I just don't see a world where Sarah, Nicole, and Sloan are all holding babies at Christmas.  Especially when the hair and makeup budget can probably only afford one fake belly at a time.

Note that I don't know any spoilers, and I am worse at predicting stories on DAYS than a psychic with an injury to their third eye.

33 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Lesley and Monica’s iconic confrontation and slap is my favorite old school confrontation on GH. The closeups! Starts around the 6 minute mark.

Iconic!  It is the total fantasy of freedom to have no shame and no remorse.  Monica's husband, family, and co-workers are all steps away, and she yells about laying in bed and laughing about how boring Leslie is when making love to her husband.  Talk about hitting below the belt.  This isn't just a proclamation of love, it is an indictment of Leslie's inabilities as a woman.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Stacey had dated Jamie prior to her marriage to Mark, during his drug using/screenwriter days.  Unfortunately, she came back during the dud-Jamie days, so I could see why her eye would wonder underground.

In retrospect, another odd thing about Stacey and Derek is that they really marketed that coupling as a Beauty and Beast combo, even though the primetime show was on CBS.  I don't recall if they used the actual phrase in the promotion, or if it was just referenced in the soap press, but the source material was obvious.

I also wonder if they ever referenced Stacey when Morgan was introduced, especially when he needed some legal advice?

@dragonfliesI believe he said that there wasn't a PR department, although they hired an outside firm to handle the PR after the Deadline article (p.s. they're not doing a great job)

20 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

There is no HR.... 

It's sometimes difficult to determine if someone is being intentionally ironic in print, but, of course, there is HR, it just not on site

from Deadline

I apologize if you were just teasing, but I wouldn't want others to mistake your humor for truth

These websites need to do at least a bit of fact checking...

Do they really think Ken Corday co-created Days of Our Lives with his parents at age 13? 

That's the issue with HR and harassment.  If HR had found that Alarr was actually guilty of misconduct, then he would've nullified his contract, and wouldn't need a buy out.  But, if HR was inconclusive and just recommended further training and supervision (as often happens in a first offense in order to limit liability), then it is another story.  We only know the allegations that prompted the investigation, the fact that he admitted to the behavior, and the recommendations from the investigation.

As I read the story, we don't know the conclusion of the HR investigation, probably because it is confidential, but if anyone else has information about their actual findings, that would be interesting.

9 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

He might have a iron clad contract, or whatnot, or maybe there's something in his contract where they can't easily fire him?

You can't make a contract to allow illegal behavior such as harassment, and most media contracts have morals clauses, so it could not be a contractual issue.  Even it were, there would still be the option to buy him out, like what happened at CNN and CBS.  Also, California is a non-cause state, so anyone can be fired at any time without cause.

I third the preference of Sloan and Eric, so we almost have a quorum.  I admit that I preferred their noncommittal days when they felt that they could be brutally honest with each other.  But, it was a pleasure to see that Sloan still has enough self-respect to want a real proposal.

All things being equal, messing with a DNA result seems like a lower offense than telling Jada to get an abortion. It should go without saying that I support a woman's right to make private medical decisions with her doctor.  However, Nicole's bullying of Jada in a desperate attempt to reconcile with Eric seems much more egregious.  And, it was during Nicole's lowest times that EJ took her into the mansion, which is why they are well suited.  They have frequently been each other's port in a storm, and rather than seeing each other as their second choice, I think they work better together as a team.

Also, how fun would a Sloan vs Belle courtroom scene be?  I know DAYS doesn't do courtroom drama, but it would extend the conflict to see these two in action (I know they have been opposing counsel, but we've never seen them depose a witness or do a cross-examination on screen).

9 minutes ago, JAS0N47 said:

There are 33 contract actors airing this week (taped 6 months ago). So, depending on how many have left or been added in the last few months, the cast size usually hovers around 30-35 at any given time.

I knew @JAS0N47 would have the exact number, thank you!

I guess when watching the show, it only feels as if there's just twelve people stuck in three different rooms every episode.

1 hour ago, antmunoz said:

Too bad that Zaslow wasn’t the Tony recast. He’d have been on OLTL FOR YEARS!

On the other hand, David was well positioned to be a long term cast member.  He was Dorian's ex-husband, and father to Cassie, who was becoming the central ingénue.

I also think his chemistry with Jenny was h-o-t.  He was the first romantic interest for her that wasn't either dying, a dweeb, or a manipulative lout.

25 cast members signed the petition to oust him.  How large is the cast?  That seems like everyone currently employed signed it.

1 hour ago, carolineg said:

Eric has no career

To be fair, he took some pictures of Nicole last year....

Honestly, when he mentioned a gallery show a few weeks ago, I had to wondered if he had enough work to fill a space.

Do defrocked priests get a pension?

I found myself giggling at all of Sami's phone calls this week.  It feels very in character for her to call Marlena after arguing with Eric about Nicole.  Obviously, a cameo would've been nice, but we didn't need to see her to know exactly what she was ranting about.

4 minutes ago, carolineg said:

It's really hard to gauge people's reactions when we didn't see any of it happen and Sloan and Talia have not interacted with the Colin actor is weeks. 

I guess that's why we're not supposed to think Eric is a jerk for interrogating Sloan about Nicole's test result rather than asking how she feels about her brother going to prison.

And, do we think that Eric never references Jada's abortion because it reminds us that Nicole was unsympathetic in that scenario?  It is rather easy to forget why Eric and Nicole broke up, since neither of them talk about it.