teplin

I love Susan, but there have been several musical numbers on the show over the years that confirmed her lack of vocal prowess.

6 hours ago, asafi said:

When Susan finally returned to Days, a new actress, Bennye Gatteys played her from April 6, 1973 to October 1, 1976.."

Like the various Susan Flannery successors in the Laura Horton role, Ms. Gatteys couldn't hold a candle to Denise Alexander and felt like a place-holder for the "real" Susan. I'm surprised she lasted three-and-a-half years, her screen impact was minimal.

18 hours ago, watson71 said:

I loved Victoria Wyndham. But over the years, she had some of the most terrible hairstyles (mostly curly perms) of any soap star.

I think this late-70s hairstyle served her well. But don't get me started on her wardrobe -- it looked great in the '70s, mostly jeans and other casual wear, and again in the early '90s when she was mainly wearing business suits. But the '80s were a complete disaster and I didn't like the "flowy" pantsuits she took to wearing in the late '90s.

3 hours ago, asafi said:

Reading the synopsis of June 1980.. gosh, it sounds so boring!!!  

It was even more boring on screen than it plays on the page. 

For every show:

"So-and-so is propping so-and-so!"

13 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

The possession story is what made me finally abandon DAYS in disgust, so I was there to endure that nonsense, hence my being turned off Marlena. I was no longer watching the show on a daily basis by the time the awful plot with Maggie and Daniel began, so I can totally ignore it and pretend it never happened.

I have not been terribly happy with Marlena since James Reilly shaved 30+ IQ points from her, but i loved her and Dee Hall so much in the early years that I still root for her. I only saw bits and pieces of the Maggie-Daniel stuff, but it didn't damage her in my eyes -- again, the wellspring of affection I have for her dates back decades and is not dependent on what the writer du jour does with her character. I wish Doug & Julie got better material, but I will watch anytime one or both are on. I'm glad all four are still there, and I would rather watch any of them before the current crop of "stars."

16 hours ago, Khan said:

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.

Agreed, I thought they were terrific together. Jed Allan made it work with just about everyone -- Deidre Hall, Susan Hayes, Suzanne Rogers, Anne-Marie Martin, Gloria Loring. 

On 11/12/2020 at 11:22 PM, carolineg said:

I am actually embarrassed to admit this but I actually liked Molly Burnett's Melanie.  Her stories were often stupid, but I thought she was a charming performer lol.  That has to be one of the most unpopular opinions ever.

I totally agree. Here's a perhaps even more unpopular opinion: I liked Shawn Christian as Melanie's dad.

I saw all of this play out intermittently, whenever I had a day off from school. I remember Laura putting Jennifer on the bus -- it was a rare location shoot. Not exactly glamorous, the location being the interior of a bus. I thought the ideas behind the Julie story were quite intriguing. A woman who had traded on her beauty, or at least benefited from it -- just about every man in Salem was after Julie at one point -- facing the loss of what she considered her most precious asset. A psychiatrist who magnified rather than allayed her patient's fears and insecurities. Because I saw relatively little of it play out on screen, I didn't see the day-to-day interactions that should have made it obvious to people that Laura was losing her grip, long before they finally accepted it. The writing made more sense when you saw less of it, I guess.

I have to confess that I never cottoned to Rosemary Forsyth as Laura. (Susan Flannery is tough to follow, even if there was an actress or two in between.) And it's so odd that I can't remember Lanna Saunders' Marie being involved in the story at all ... I would have sworn she wasn't even on the canvas yet (and I really liked her!).

10 minutes ago, denzo30 said:

Wonder why Russom declined?  I never saw him again after Willis left AW.

I don't know why he declined, but he had a long and varied career after AW. I last saw him on Showtime's Shameless last year. Check his IMDB page. 

In a few more years, DAYS SORASed Hope and Melissa, which effectively ended Doug & Julie's (and Mickey & Maggie's) reign as romantic leads. Hope & Bo helped fuel a ratings renaissance, so you can't really say it was a bad decision for the show -- but it was certainly a blow to a legion of Doug & Julie fans. 

One relatively inconsequential one that nevertheless bothered me was smart, sophisticated socialite and career woman Gwen Parrish Frame returning to AW for a week as a homicidal country bumpkin. 

I was a kid so I only watched during school vacations. I didn't know any BTS stuff but it was clear that something was different about the show in this period -- and not for the better. I loved Trish and Mike -- and Trish's singing! -- but the stories were ridiculous.Margo was a simpering ninny. Mickey & Maggie were a bore. Rosemary Forsyth's Laura couldn't hold a candle to Susan Flannery's. I really liked Don & Marlena but hated Donna and everything that came in her wake. Doug & Julie were ill-used. I don't even remember Kate Winograd or Joanne (Barnes?). Josh Taylor was very appealing as Chris Kositcheck (you wouldn't believe it if you've only seen him as Roman) and his pairing with Barbara Stanger (Mary Anderson) worked well. I always liked Margaret Mason's Linda Patterson (and hated, hated, hated Linda's nonsensical '80s return as a high-class madam in the form of Elaine Princi.)

18 hours ago, j swift said:

I just re-read the 1980 synopsis of AW and it was really good. 

Trust me, it reads better than it played out on screen. 

Yes, Anna was great as Toni, but she owned Donna from her very first scene on AW ... the perfect marriage of actress and character. And she got more beautiful as she grew older!

On 9/9/2020 at 6:46 AM, prefab1 said:

Why in the world would Gwen have decided to spike the drink of a total stranger with a psychoactive drug?

Given Julie's reaction to Gwen, I'd venture to guess there's some connection between Gwen and the Hortons (or, at least, the Devereaux branch of the Hortons).

21 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

DAYS definitely plays up its beefcake

Not nearly as much as Ron's OLTL did.

Soaps used to have a lot of these characters and they're one of the many things ti miss about the good old days. Among my favorites:

AW: Vivien & Louise

The Doctors: Martha Allen

DAYS: Robert & Rosie 

OLTL: Wanda (in the later years, when her storylines dried up)

On 7/19/2020 at 12:54 PM, NothinButAttitude said:

 

Nurse Linda Metcalf! For some reason, I thought she was long gone by 1980. I loved her. 

Elizabeth Ashley played Emma Frame on the show for few years, but I think she would have been even better as Cass' mother. Might have had to tone down the Southern accent a bit, though. Then again, maybe not -- it could have helped explain his attraction to Souther belle Lila. 

8 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

Jake as a twin? Predictable but acceptable. Barash gets to play a different character and seems to enjoy it. Let’s see where it goes.

He's a lot more convincing to me as a rough, blue-collar guy than he ever was as a cultured sophisticate. I hope they don't have him running DiMera Enterprises in three weeks.

It's somewhat reminiscent of Days pushing Bill & Susan Hayes aside in favor of Kristian & Peter. TPTB told the Hayes' there was no story for them, which prompted them to leave. They came back eventually, but I don't know if the show will last long enough for Kristian to rethink here stance. 

On 7/11/2020 at 12:27 PM, victoria foxton said:

Julie and Doug Marry - October 1, 1976

Thank you for this. Such a contrast to the chintzy weddings of today. And not a gun, bomb, catfight or deranged lunatic in sight!

If it's going where it looks like it's going, Kate & Abe on DAYS. 

The justly maligned Corinne Jacker run on AW had one plus, IMO -- the introduction of very strong black roles played by some pretty awesome actors (Morgan Freeman! Howard Rollins Jr.! Joe Morton! Robert Christian! Jackee Harry! Petronia Paley!). IIRC, they were pretty well integrated into the larger cast while maintaining their own agency and motivations as characters. Unfortunately, their storylines were not exactly gripping, and many of them were gone within a couple years. I have no idea what black viewers thought of them -- the soap press didn't seem eager to explore that angle. And I don't think AW ever had a big black audience.