Khan

In a perfect world (of my own design), Chris, John and Roman would each own a third of Brady's Fish Market Pub. Roman might be retired from the police force, but Chris and John would still have their regular jobs (whatever they are, lol), and all three would take turns tending bar, with an able assist from a young, male barkeep not TOO unlike Woody Boyd on "Cheers."

First of all, it's not that I love WN, lol. (Although, I thought he was pretty hot when he played the chauffeur and Fallon's boytoy during the first season of "Dynasty"). But, I loved his initial pairing with DHall/Marlena. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the old Tracy/Hepburn movies, with DHall's Marlena as the sophisticated, cerebral psychiatrist to WN's Roman as the blue-collar, goes-by-his-gut cop. For me, an ideal storyline would be to have WN's Roman in a love triangle with LR's Billie and LK's Kate. It'd be a very interesting tale about how mothers and daughters are often in competition with each other. And even though Kate would be, for me, the more appropriate choice for Roman, in terms of age and everything else, I'd still have her ultimately step aside and allow him and Billie to be together, thereby putting her daughter's happiness ahead of her own. Actually, Tom Reilly, the ATWT associate writer who came up with Hal/Emily, put them together because he saw them, the cop and the reporter, as a "His Girl Friday" kind of screwball pairing. (I know that's not how they ended up, lol.) Ironically, though, I could see JT's Chris hooking up with KA's Billie. But, hell, he also hooked up with Shannon Tweed, for Chrissakes, lol.

It does...kind of. I mean, you could call him "Charlie," for short, but the LeClair? It sounds like "eclair" to me, lol. He COULD take his mother's maiden name, North, but I feel like that would be wrong, since I like Robert Clary/LeClair.

And then it all ends with Brooke and all the men getting together for a gang bang.

I really would love to know the thinking that went into CBS' rebuilding their Friday night lineup around two sitcoms from another network that were already past their primes.

No, she's definitely no Charity Rahmer. DHogestyn is capable of delivering better performances as well, but I think he and Dee suffer from the same issues that plague most soap actors today: OTT writing and little (or no) direction. Nothing will EVER save bad writing, but if you give a director more time to work with his/her actors, they can at least help them modulate their performances - here's a hint: the more OTT the writing, the smaller your performances should be - and find the emotional throughline in every scene. Yes. Yes. In retrospect? Yes. YAAAAAAAAAS. (But that's because I thought DHogestyn had better chemistry with Genie Francis.) DHall made WN's return a condition of HER return, so unless they had chosen to bring him back as Roman's long-lost twin brother, I feel like the Tale of Two Romans was inevitable and unavoidable. But, you're right, @carolineg, we could have done a MUCH better job writing it than the show did, lol.

Me neither, @Nixor!

Agree. I know from my years of watching that DHall is capable of a lot more than what we've seen since the mid-'90's. But I also know that the writing after her initial return has done neither Dee nor Marlena any favors. The Dr. Marlena Evans Black of 2022 is in no way the same Dr. Marlena Evans Brady who took on the Salem Strangler and Stefano DiMera in the '80's.

Four sets? Wow, that's three more than what DAYS has today!

In retrospect, Kristin is a terribly weak choice for the culprit in J.R.'s shooting.

Agree. But, as I've said elsewhere, that's truly Ron's (and Frank's) style. They LIVE to demean actors who they either can't control or just plain dislike for whatever reason. And not that other writers and/or producers haven't ever "made it personal," but those two in particular seem to lack the ability to make it not obvious. Exactly. No writer is immune to criticism, but most learn to develop a thick skin about it. Ron Carlivati can't, or won't, because, deep down, he knows what his detractors say about his work is the truth; and like the guy said in that movie, he can't handle the truth. Again, Ron Carlivati just needs to stay the hell off social media.

I've always seen PC as a substitute for Albany, even if Albany itself has been name-checked on the show in the past.

See, THAT is why someone at DAYS should have brought back Dougie LeClair (God, I hate that name) as an adult. As Hope's half-brother, he would have been PERFECT as Billie's new love interest (after Bo) and a way to keep them both in Bo and Hope's orbit as part of a romantic quadrangle.

It truly doesn't pay to be Joe Biden.

It's just my stupid way of saying "white people," I'm afraid.

I definitely think Angela treated Emma and Julia the way she did on purpose. She sheltered and manipulated her daughters' lives for so long that when they turned out unable to cope with life, she could say, "See, I was right, I knew they couldn't cut it," when, in fact, they probably could've, had Angela been more of a mother to them, and less of a prison warden with a Dutch boy haircut.

Agree.

Same.

Former DAYS/GL writer Victor Gialanella wrote the notorious 1981 flop adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," which opened and closed on B'way on the same night. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/theater/frankenstein-broadway-flop.html Pam Long was a perfect fit. She's always excelled at heart-warming, family drama. Sam Hall (AW, OLTL, SB) was one of several writers (Anne Howard Bailey and former AW HW Corinne Jacker were two others) who worked on the 1976 miniseries, "The Adams Chronicles." And former AMC/GL writer (and one of my personal heroes) Wisner Washam self-published a novel several years ago about the cloning of Jesus. (Yep, you read that right.)

Exactly! Billie reminded me of early Julie. Both were complex, self-destructive anti-heroines whom you nevertheless sympathized with, because, deep down, they were just desperate for someone to love them. When it was clear that Bo and Hope were to reconcile, the show should have taken pains to transition Billie into a new romantic relationship of her own, with someone who didn't possess the baggage of being one-half of a supercouple BITD. Billie deserved a great love of her own, not to become a cliched, jealous "third wheel" to Bope. Of course, if I had been in charge back then, I NEVER would have let LR leave. She might not ever be the greatest actress, but she MADE Billie work.

I always saw Billie becoming the owner and hostess of a nightclub/restaurant and, in time, serving as a sort of "den mother" to all the wayward teens and young adults who come looking for work or whatever. And while I understood the appeal of Bo/Billie, I also felt like Billie deserved her own great, star-crossed love, a la Doug and Julie.

Look, I love Dee as much as the next DAYS fan, but I am not here for watching her give herself Botox injections.

That's definitely true for LR/Billie. I still want to know whose (not-)so-bright idea it was to stick her in that [!@#$%^&*] cop uniform years ago. That "look" wasn't Lisa or Billie AT ALL. Yup, lol. Proof positive that Marlena/Samantha switch was built on the conceit that everyone in Salem is [!@#$%^&*] stupid. I mean, look at them. Do YOU think they look exactly alike? Case rested!

Well, Sami IS awfully cunning, lol.

Wait, PC is still a small town?