Vee

I am rewatching a lot of '94 and I remember thinking Ned's music was extremely corny even then. Granted I was a kid, but I did not know how he was supposed to take America by storm in the age of grunge. Maybe I just haven't heard enough of it and he was hitting the Michael Bolton ballad zone, idk lol. Ned was an attractive guy and I liked him, he was witty and fun, but WK seemed old and square even then!

Sean Kanan and Vanessa had chemistry, I remember that much. I wonder what spurred that, and when they knew they were going for it with her and Sonny.

Yes, that's exactly what happened, and then Amanda went and married the sleazy guy who was the teacher on Boy Meets World out of regret, thinking she'd driven Walters (fake Christine) to suicide. Boy Meets World guy promptly began poisoning her. Then the show took a couple months off to completely reset the entire series and course correct from the disaster of the bulk of the season, lol. They came back in the summer with a handful of episodes, scrapped virtually all the ongoing plotlines, spiced things up and turned Jamie Luner's character evil, and set the table for the pretty strong (and sadly final) Season 7.

God, that's so DAYS. For years running. I just do not understand how this show functions. Every advance has another five steps back with dumb shít like this happening at random on any day of the week.

Once again Kin is styled like Buster Poindexter. God bless.

Her MP storyline was so bizarre. I think she ended up getting hit by a train. That season was the nadir of the show.

DAYS has done low-stakes weird [!@#$%^&*] like this for so many years, tbh. Everything keeps working against most attempts at mature storytelling - the production values, the silly music cues (the 'sexy redneck twang' being the worst of all), the lighting and FX choices. I saw it in the 2000s post-Reilly, I saw it in 2011-2012, and there's been a few points since. They have never recovered from JER and Langan. But even for all those aesthetic things, the weird narrative cul-de-sacs or dead ends like what you describe have been around for so many years too. Things just sort of abruptly trail off. I put that on Ken Corday or his longtime minions in the day to day grind.

Chapek is on the ropes:

What??

I don't dislike Susan Walters, but it's a shame.

Is Donnelley just utterly uninterested at this point? Or was there a falling out with the show?

I know the changeover happened in August, but it seemed like someone put whatever reveal was originally(?) planned for Ian onscreen either just before or right after they left the building, and then immediately retconned it out again. I was always under the impression the explosion, etc. was Tomlin or Higley or whoever it was replaced them, but I may well be wrong.

I thought the idea of the Phillip story was intriguing on the page, especially given Thom Bierdz's IRL history and orientation. It had a very metatextual angle given the performer and his struggles, it was the kind of risk classic Y&R sometimes took with social issue storytelling and controversy. The problem was a) the handling of the story and the writing was terrible and b) Bierdz absolutely cannot act. Given those things it should've been left alone. Since he's alive now though, they might as well recast.

I doubt they'd have gone there since wasn't she heavily tested or in a triangle with both Alan's sons in '92? Trying to play spoiler to her and Jagger.

Yeah, I remember Ian notably had a Phoenix-head cane or something. I wondered if the exiting HW team threw in the Ian/DiMera reveal on literally their last day or whatever. It was strange.

How is this about him lol

Does anyone know what exactly the deal was with Ian Buchanan's debacle of a character? Didn't the big reveal of him supposedly being Stefano's 'real son' (and not E.J.) only happen a day or so before McPherson and Thomas left, and then immediately got undone? It all seems so bizarre and unnecessary. I seem to recall some talk of IB being intended as a replacement on the canvas for the ailing Joe Mascolo (good luck!), but I still don't understand what was originally planned there or at what time.

Speaking of Scott the other day, the Karen twist has always seemed odd to me. Didn't Labine do it at random as Cari Shayne was exiting the show, months after Kin left? Was there even any hint of that before? What was the purpose? Not that it wasn't good for the characters later on, but still.

I do find them boring as hell, lol. But that's also a function of their simply not drawing on their pasts and similarities, like Laura's traumas as well as Kevin and his family's past (not just Ryan, but Victor and all that spy shít). A lot of people like them and it makes Genie happy, though, so I would def play their string out and the drama and heartache for a long stretch, including a reunion, before finally breaking them up.

Been bingeing some OLTL '93 and I have never seen this much of Jason Webb and Dorian together before - Robin and Mark Brettschneider were hot. What's curious is that by April they are [!@#$%^&*] around again but in January or February he was still devoted to Lee Ann, while Kevin worked to wedge them apart. Did he rebound that quickly inbetween? Also, I know the Jason/Dorian relationship started under Elaine Princi. Is there a timeline of how that began and when in '92? It seems like the show hedged its bets a lot on Jason and Lee Ann, or Jason and Dorian or even the hints of Jason and Marty beyond their friendship. I always found him sexy.

Word.

I'd forgotten about Meego! I always felt so bad for Gregory Hines.

I had an actor in mind, but yes, both would never do it lol. Harewood is wonderful - I got to see him live in Julie Taymor's Midsummer Night's Dream in Brooklyn as Oberon. I have no idea what I'd do with Scott. I don't have a ton of fondness for Obrecht for many reasons relating to her origin, but Kathleen Gati is great and they are fun to watch together so I'd let her be around for a bit before the hammer came down on ol' Liesl. I think Scott's recurring role is the right place for him. I'd figure out love in the future at some point. But yes, both Scott and Lucy/Kevin's kids would be back and in major roles on canvas, so there's that.

And I mean, Step by Step was kind of the bottom of the barrel for them. I don't even know what they did after that, if anything.