Michael

It's weird. I find Thaao so supremely unappealing and yet am glad Tony's around and used. 

I never understood why they killed off Tony in 2009. What was the point of that colossal retcon if we lost the "real" character not two years after they brought him back??

7 hours ago, j swift said:

One of the worst BFTD has got to be Tony Dimera.  Not only have they never established how the audience can differentiate between Tony and Andre, but he switches between being a romantic partner and an evil villain every time he is resurrected.  At this point he's returned from the dead so often that I've lost track of how he died the last time.

I've had this thought a million times, but just once I want a soap to go through beats of how one re-establishes their lives after BFTD, like going to the DMV to get a new driver's license, and applying for new credit cards ("I'm sorry Mr Dimera but you and your father have returned from the dead once too often for us to approve your American Express card").  It would ground the story and make it seem more relatable. 

7 hours ago, Vee said:

The really weird thing about Andre is the period when they seemed to legitimately be trying to play him like Tony in the late 2010s, just having him in a normal romantic role with Kate, etc. This is a deranged undead serial killer but the show would not distinguish between them and was like 'they're basically the same! you guys don't mind, right?' Finally someone wised up, killed him and brought Tony (the good one, who Andre posed as for most of the 90s and 2000s) back properly. For now.

The entire Tony/Andre run onscreen is a big soup of nonsense. And because so much of it was actually Andre-as-Tony, Thaao basically always plays them the same. I'm glad Tony and Anna have ended up together and I respect the history there, but he always come off as so smarmy and gross. When Johnny was tied up in that mausoleum with his arms up above his head and his biceps bulging last year... I thought Andre was going to devour him, the way he was practically salivating with each syllable that snaked its way out of his mouth. And I know Andre is the "bad" one, but since the performances and wardrobe and everything are basically the same because their entire beings have to be the same to facilitate all the switcheroos... Tony comes off as grotesque to me, too.

That period of a year or two where they tried to sell Andre as a normal character and romantic lead was insane. I'm convinced that Kate's subsequent pairings with Gilles Marini's Ted and Brandon Barash's Jake were to make up for putting Lauren Koslow through that era.

If they'd wanted Andre (a two-time serial killer!!!) around, he had to be a villain. Like, a real, dark, in-the-shadows villain. And they've never in all these years addressed who his parents actually are/were, how Stefano is actually his dad, or what his original face looked like.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I like what they're doing with Allie right now. As others have pointed out, they brought on the character with an attitude and a sense of drive, and then she just sort of... existed. There really hasn't been an Allie outside of her relationships with Tripp and Chanel in a while. (Does she struggle with mothering a young child and running a business? We wouldn't know!) So using the death of her beloved grandmother to kickstart some bitterness and acting out for her works for me. Johnny punched out Tripp because of the loss of both his grandmas. Allie got snippy with Chanel and Johnny, because of her grief and insecurity. She's like 22 years old. That feels human and believable to me.

15 hours ago, j swift said:

Dorm soap consumption was a premium experience.  I still smile thinking about 15 guys and I screaming at the top of our lungs as Terry Brock sang Amazing Grace in a fugue state, dressed in her wedding gown, walking down Main Street in Laurelton on GH

Ha! The dorms were how I began watching AMC -- a girl who lived on my floor was an avid AMC viewer, and it was on at the same time as DAYS in Oregon (3 pm), so we agreed that we'd watch together and switch back and forth throughout the hour (unless it was an epic episode of one or the other) since there was only the one TV in our dorm's common room. She's still a good friend 20 years later and will be at my wedding this fall, mostly thanks to soaps!

Love this thread idea! 

Spring of 2001: I was a freshman in college, and DAYS was airing Greta's coronation-turned-massacre. I had an Intro to Politics seminar that ran from, like, 1:40-3:10, and DAYS aired at 3 pm, meaning I'd miss the immediate fallout of the cliffhanger for class and probably wouldn't be back at my dorm and watching the show until 3:20. Unable to face this horrifying prospect, I e-mailed my professor that night to let him know that I had a doctor's appointment at 3:30, so I'd have to leave class a few minutes early in order to make it. At 2:55, I legit just got up, waved to the prof (this was a seminar of maybe 15 students), and waltzed out of there... and right back to my dorm, where I claimed the TV just in time to catch the beginning of the episode.

8 hours ago, Darn said:

Question: Does anyone recall an Australian blog from the early 2000s that recapped mid-90s episodes of Days because they were 5 years behind? It just popped into my head and I want to make sure it wasn't some sort of fever dream. I used to enjoy reading them quite a bit.

Was it called Days Downunder? I have a faint memory of this as well...

2 hours ago, janea4old said:

I was curious, too, so I looked it up on the Soap Hoppers thread.
"Sally the Duke's Place waitress     1986-87"
https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/55788-soap-hoppers-the-soap-actors-and-roles-thread/page/110

 

Thank you! It wasn't on her Wikipedia but I just saw it on her IMDB. I'll add her up top!

4 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Brandon Beemer

B&B, Days, GH

Patrika Darbo

Y&R, B&B, GH, Days

I never knew Patrika had been on GH! What was her role?!

I had no idea Marla Adams had ever played Beth! Thanks, @Paul Raven!

1 hour ago, YRfan23 said:

it’s also fun to think of ones who have been on shows in all 3 networks like Andrea Evans: 

OLTL: (ABC) Tina

Y&R/B&B (CBS) Patty/Tawny

PSSNS (NBC) Rebecca 

 

Stacy Haiduk (AMC, Y&R, DAYS), Cady McClain (AMC, ATWT/Y&R, DAYS), and Chrishell Stause (AMC, Y&R, DAYS) fit that one, as do folks mentioned upthread like Genie Francis, Sarah Brown, and Greg Vaughan, off the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty of others!

I had no idea Darlene Conley had done a role on DAYS! Adding her to the first post. Thanks!

The Y&R/B&B crossovers really make a difference here!

3 minutes ago, Darn said:

@Michael you should add the 4 timers to the original post list as we find them.

Ha, was just doing that! Great minds, etc.

12 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Rick Hearst has been on all four ( Scott, Days, Matt on Y&R, Whip on. B&B, and Ric on GH)

I knew there had to be someone else who'd done all four! Good catch.

Ooh, good ones! Thanks.

4 minutes ago, Darn said:

Genie Francis was on Days and Y&R and is of course currently on GH.

Duh! Thank you. I think I blocked out Genevieve...

The only one who comes to mind is Judith Chapman! She was Ginny on GH, Anjelica and later Diana on DAYS, Gloria on Y&R, and crossed over to B&B as Gloria.

Edit: Thanks to others' contributions, we also have:

- Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie, DAYS; Dorothy, GH; Joanna, Y&R/B&B)

- Rick Hearst (Scotty, DAYS; Ric, GH; Whip, B&B; Matt,Y&R)

- Darlene Conley (Sally, B&B; Rose, Y&R; Trixie, GH; Warden Edith Baker, DAYS)

- Marla Adams (Dina, Y&R; Beth, B&B; Claire McIntyre, DAYS; Mildred Deal, GH)

- Patrika Darbo (Nancy, DAYS; Shirley, B&B and Y&R; Sally the waitress, GH)

The ones I can think of who have been on three of the remaining shows:

- Steve Burton (GH, DAYS, Y&R)

- Scott Reeves (DAYS, GH, Y&R)

- Robin Mattson (GH, B&B, DAYS)

- Lauren Koslow (DAYS, B&B, Y&R)

- Greg Vaughan (DAYS, GH, Y&R)

Who am I missing? And is there anyone besides Chapman who's appeared on all four?

17 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

@kalbirIndeed it’s struck me as odd in retrospect that Bell didn’t set up a teen scene around Victoria despite having a overall consistent teen/young adult scene throughout the 80’s. Instead we had a clearly underage Victoria get married. I suppose we did have Brandon Collins but he was never utilized properly. I think Cole was supposed to just be a couple years older than Victoria, but the show cast a mid-30 something J Eddie Peck. Making matters complicated later on is that both JM and SC are older than HT. 

I've always found this to be a strange choice! Not giving Victoria any real contemporaries also did something weird to the character in future years. I know the ages on Y&R in particular have gotten more and more compressed as time has gone on, but having Victoria in triangles with Ashley by the late 90s aged her up in a strange way, and then they teased her with Jack, Brad, and even Michael, right? (I have a faint memory of all that in the early-mid 2000s.) She basically fits into the Nick/Sharon age group -- and now they've crammed everyone from Billy to Phyllis into the same amorphous peer group -- but the way they utilized her as this sole teenager for a few years has always seemed odd.

Idk, I watched Sydney Sweeney on "Euphoria" and season 1 of "The White Lotus" pretty much at the same time and could handle it.

The Cass Winthrop reference was the level of "in-joke" that works for me. If you caught it and got the reference, it was a fun little treat. If you didn't, it was just a name said in passing. At least they didn't bring the scene to a screeching halt like they usually do so that Abe and Paulina could have a random, ridiculous discussion of how Cass used to work in Bay City and had done business in Oakdale and Springfield and, oh, remember that lady Felicia he used to hang out with...?

Rest in peace, John. We were lucky to have him on our screens for as long as we did!

10 hours ago, Tonksadora said:

You didn't think ED was playing Original Recipe in Beyond Salem?

Not really, honestly? I mean, she wasn't bad, and it was fun to see her as Kristen, but that whole portrayal didn't really fit into Kristen's narrative at the time (Why was she after the Peacock? They never explained that), and it was more about "Eileen Davidson playing a glamorous, bitchy character so she could re-enact that Real Housewives scene with Lisa Rinna."

I think they've lost the plot on Kristen regardless of who plays her. I thought Haiduk was very good during her first stint as both Kristen and Susan, but they brought her in with that psychotic energy and it's basically ONLY been that since (aside from that weird period right before the time jump where she was pregnant and suddenly embraced by everyone). I do think Eileen would make some more reserved choices, but the character HAS been manic for years -- she's essentially been a deranged fugitive since the moment Eileen played her for that quick, quick scene in 2017, and all she has done since is commit crimes and go on the run. I get why the character is the way she is, considering what's been written for her, but she's at Dr. Evil levels of cackling villainy at this point. 

They're safe: https://www.tmz.com/2022/10/11/days-of-our-lives-actor-james-lastovic-missing-hawaii-kauai/

Pretty terrifying. I'm glad they're safe -- that could've been a lot worse.

I found Steve Wilder attractive when he was on Days. I cannot even begin to see him that way now. He pursued and abused a 14-year-old girl and is a registered sex offender.

Mark Valley would've been good in almost any other Days role! He could've been Mike, or David, or Austin... He just was not Jack Deveraux, and the total shift in the writing didn't help.