Khan

Well, I could take or leave Jessica, although I definitely don't see WHY they had to make her Marie's long-lost daughter. (Did Marie even NEED a long-lost child? Or an illicit, past affair that we've never heard about before?). But, Alex...? Like I said upthread, Alex is entirely too one-dimensional for me. Even his scenes w/ Marie, the one woman whom he allegedly loves for realz, come across as smarmy and unbelievable -- and now that Kellam and Max have him over a metaphorical barrel with all the dirt they've supposedly dug up on him, he's become kind of a joke as well. IMO, Alex needed a much better backstory than that of sleazy, masochistic lover and murderer. He needed a real, rootable and relatable motivation beyond simply being a bastard. For instance, he could have come originally from a blue-collar neighborhood in Salem, living with his mother, a homemaker; his brother, Ha(r)ley; and his father, an employee at Anderson Manufacturing. When Alex and Ha(r)ley were young, their father was killed in an on-the-job accident. Subsequently, their mother suffered a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized, and Alex and Ha(r)ley were sent away to live with relatives. Even though Anderson was officially cleared of all negligence regarding Alex's father's death, Alex has grown up holding the company, and Bob Anderson in particular, responsible; and now that he's older, and wealthy, Alex returns to Salem to stage a hostile takeover at Anderson and avenge the destruction of his family.

Donna really does remind me of OLTL's Tina: a "bad" girl, who isn't so much "bad" as she is impulsive, and prone to do the wrong thing but for the right reasons. She definitely could have been interesting in a pairing with Tod Chandler. TBH, I'm struggling to find the value in Alex and Jessica OR in making them integral parts to Marie's newly created backstory.

Careful, Ron might hear you.

I'm not sure about the late '90's, but, yep, P&G nixed Pam Long and Jeff Ryder's plans to expand the Spauldings via Brandon's Barbados family. Ryder told me as much, via email.

IMO, Vicky's story suffered from not having her mother (Alan and Alex's half-sister) there to act as a buffer of sorts between Vicky and the rest of the Spauldings. If nothing else, we needed scenes of conflict between Victoria, who respects her half-siblings and does her best to keep peace between Brandon's two families, and Vicky, who resents her side of the family's status as Brandon's dirty little secret and fights for equality and legitimacy within the Spaulding empire.

Granted, this is a nit-pick, but I don't understand why Nina Laemmle made Kellam Chandler a former, unscrupulous governor/ambassador who was running again for the job. I mean, he didn't HAVE to be Salem's ex-governor in order for his story to work. He could have been just some wealthy businessman who decided to run for office (like another, real life businessman-cum-politician who shall remain nameless). Better yet, Kellam could have backed Don for governor instead; and as Kellam and his right-hand man, Maxwell Jarvis, employ all sorts of dirty tricks to get Don elected, Don finds himself caught between his political ambitions and his basic, core integrity. And for God's sake, why are Kellam and Max tied in with the goings-on at Anderson? Don't we have enough skulduggery going on with Alex (and Chris)? Must Kellam and Max have a hand in EVERYTHING going on in Salem? This is like a run-up to Stefano DiMera's introduction, except it isn't nearly as subtle or as entertaining. Thanks again, @beebs!

One name: Maureen Bauer.

So, I'm confused. Jordan and Bill say Laura has made a full recovery; yet, many years later, when Jaime Lyn Bauer's Laura appears for the first time, she's catatonic. Did Laura relapse? Did they say as much on-air? Or did DAYS just ignore history again? Agree. Again, just like with Alex and Lee, Kellam and Max are evil for evil's sake. No nuances, no layers, no motivations beyond just being bad because that's what the plot requires. Maybe I'm alone, but I just don't like blatantly evil characters. Characters don't all have to get along with each other, but having these OTT supervillain types just takes away the sense of realism that's needed for soaps to work.

No need to apologize, @marceline. Many of us are feeling the same way. I just hope you are taking care of yourself today.

Agree. Especially the theme music. It makes me feel like I'm about to watch a "Trapper John M.D." spinoff, for some reason.

IIRC, didn't Michael Dietz join the show as nuA-M right around the time of his and Lucy's wedding? So, right there, you had two big strikes against the story: the ridiculousness of the wedding's locale, and the fact that it wasn't Rick Hearst playing A-M anymore.

I'd say the same about Maggie. Her endless Daniel-propping ruined her for me. Now, when I watch, it's strictly for Doug and Julie. Reading all the synopses, I feel like Bill Bell had some hope that Tommy and Kitty would provide a ton of conflict and drama, but it seems like Kitty was written into a corner almost immediately. Is there anything keeping DAYS from introducing Jessica's daughter and Marie's granddaughter? Or has it been established that Nick was an only child?

Honestly, some of these exits "read" like bad fanfic. As eager as TPTB appeared to be in ridding themselves of these characters, I'm surprised they didn't have Stephanie mow them all down with her car on the way to getting herself killed.

I'm still bracing myself for the possibility of Trump burning everything down -- literally AND figuratively -- on his way out.

Well, then, I guess it's back to AOL chat rooms for right-wing nuts, lol.

Honestly, I hadn't realized it until after I had posted the idea, lol.

One of my favorite writers from "Maude." RIP Mr. Hauck. You and your talent will be missed.

"Larry and Linda Larkin" sound like names of guest stars on "Three's Company."

Maybe, but I don't see any real chemistry between Suzanne Rogers and Ed Mallory. Now, I DO see chemistry between her and Jed Allan.

Someone must've cut his cocaine with the virus.

Just from reading the synopses, it feels as if TPTB keep putting off the inevitable. Like, they know that Margo HAS to die, or else the story is meaningless; but they're really hoping something will come along to change their plans. Subsequently, it's like what you've said: the story goes for on too long; and you reach a point where you wish the writers would either just kill off Margo already or put her leukemia in remission and move on. Either way, I, for one, find myself unable to invest all that much in her illness OR in her marriage to Mike. Agree. I'm not averse to stories about organized crime, per se, but when they become the whole show, or when the players involved are elevated to the status of heroes, that's where I have to draw the old line. But, it seems to strange to tie her in with Mickey and Maggie as her adoptive parents and guardians, unless the writers were heading toward an Alex/Marie/Maggie/Mickey quadrangle.

IMO, it was successful, because TPTB never completely lost sight of the fact that DAYS was, first and foremost, a show about romance, and emotion. There was always emotional stakes for the couples to the action/adventure stories. Compare that to Gloria Monty's GH, which -- again, IMO -- was strictly James Bond/Indiana Jones stuff. Agree. Pat Falken Smith did a much better job integrating Stefano DiMera without making it seem like he was overwhelming everything and everyone else. (If only subsequent HW's had followed her lead.) Were Eileen and Robert Mason Pollock (THE DOCTORS, DYNASTY) ghost-writing DAYS at this point? Because, here we have two villains, Alex Marshall and Lee Dumonde, who are just evil for evil's sake. Neither Alex nor Lee has any human or redeeming qualities (thus far), nor is there any explanation for why they want money/power so badly other than it's there. Or have I missed something? Also, just a thought, but when they shipped Laura off to Bayview, they missed a golden opportunity to transition Bill into a new love triangle with Mike and Margo. I mean, Mike and Margo were already experiencing marital issues. Bill could have been there to provide support for Margo. Gradually, Bill's feelings toward Margo could have grown into "something more." That, in turn, could have yielded ENORMOUS guilt on Bill's part. (Here he is, falling in love with another woman -- and his son's (terminally ill) wife, to boot -- while his wife languishes in the loony bin). For the sake of his son's marriage, Bill decides he needs to stay away from Margo (even though, neither has acted on their feelings toward each other...yet), but Mike gradually senses there ARE feelings between his dad and his wife, which brings up all the old issues surrounding Laura/Bill/Mickey and Mike's paternity; and on and on. To me, a Margo/Mike/Bill triangle would have been much more satisfying to watch than this bullshit with Mike and Salem's answer to Don Corleone.

Exactly. Don't get me wrong: '80's DAYS could be very hokey and comic book-y at times, but the show still carried a ton of heart and passion and excitement. (ATWT and GL always appealed to my intellect, but DAYS always appealed to my heart. AMC and OLTL? Probably, somewhere between the two). As a viewer, you had the sense that Al Rabin, Shelley Curtis and their writers and directors really CARED about the show and what it meant to its' most loyal viewers. To me, JER, Tom Langan and Stephen Wyman never exhibited the same level of commitment. JER, in particular, often seemed to be making fun of DAYS. He didn't care about its' tapestry of characters, its' history, its' place within the overall soap landscape or in viewers' hearts. He was just looking to play God. I feel like the best person to try and recapture the true spirit of DAYS -- whether we're talking about 2020, or 1979 -- was, and is, Kay Alden. She just seems to be the only scribe who "gets" the Bill Bell style of storytelling, you know? Thank God he did toss it aside, too, because I don't think it would've worked. First of all, I can't see Bill Hayes and Maree Cheatham sharing any sort of romantic or sexual chemistry. Secondly, Marie had had so much bad luck in the romance department (first, the broken engagement to Rick Butler; then, the broken engagement to Tony Merritt; then, the ill-fated marriage to his father, Craig; then, of course, Mark/Tommy), having her make yet another mistake by falling for Doug, who was, at that point, a ne'er-do-well ex-convict, would have made Marie look less like a tragic heroine and more like the biggest fool alive.

Yeah, but it's Mitt Romney. It's kind of like Caligula telling Nero to pump the brakes.

In a way, that's how I feel about the first JER era to the present. I can connect to the Bill Bell/Pat Falken Smith era (that is, what little I've been able to see/read about it) and I can connect to the Pat Falken Smith II/Maggie DePriest/Sheri Anderson/Leah Laiman/Thom Racina era. But, once JER entered the picture, I felt like DAYS had regressed into something I never wanted to see or see again.