te.

What's interesting with DS is how some things just happen off screen - like David befriending Adam. It didn't happen on screen - but if we didn't have the full run preserved I think people would've totally told it like he had done that on screen since our memories are malleable. It's interesting to think about how much of those classic storylines/moments that people talk about on soaps actually happened off screen.

Honestly, showbiz storylines just never seem to work for soaps - maybe it's because if you really wanted to make a movie (or have a successful singing career etc) you'd be off to either Los Angeles or New York and not stay in little Salem in the middle of America. As others said, if Johnny had actually been a teenager doing a high school project it might've worked better with having people around him in the cast. Maybe they should've just brought on Sydney as a teenager and eventually had all the secrets of her family coming out as a reason for her to turn into a mini-Sami nightmare.

I'm currently watching Dark Shadows and it becomes really obvious at some points that they're restricted by having max six characters talk on screen due to budget contraints (there's been one - maybe two times where they've exceeded that in the ~660 episodes I've watched so far). Obviously Moltke was very favoured before she left the show since she was technically the lead, but another thing that becomes very obvious is how other characters stay weeks - or even months off screen at the time, usually explained away with "having been on a business trip" or I guess having been somewhere in the house the whole time. I'm guessing that the focus on one character became quite natural though when soaps were Winsor-esque morality plays focusing on "X's search for human dignity and compassion". I imagine that Vanessa Dale (as a character on Love of Life) must be up the Mary Stuart's Jo in terms of ratio.

I had an issue with the tempo of the pilot but I think episodes 2-4 have been better paced as such (though I still wish they would stretch out things a bit more). My biggest issue is that the writing just isn't very good - when they try to make some sort of political commentary it always come across as rather forced. I don't remember feeling this way with Empire or Star, even when they were quite badly plotted. If anything their attempts to do social/political commentary comes off as the recent "vax" episode of DAYS - just weird and shoe-horned in. There's something that quite won't gel with this show.

I agree. Now that Ryan Murphy and his team has noticed her (she was also on American Horror Stories), I'm not sure how much incentive she'll have to ever go back to DAYS in the near future. They like to recycle actors and that she's pretty much Jennifer Love-Hewitt's de facto replacement while she's on maternity leave gives me the impression they must really like her.

Congrats to Vanessa! I hope we'll still see Valerie now and again though.

I just sent these great storyline suggestions to Ron 🥰

I like how they're absurdity of the pro-shot plot:

I think it helps that Beyond Salem had some extra Peacock money + they had a focused story that was supposed to last over five episodes; no more no less. I don't think it's fully fair to compare it to regular DOOL since they have more to juggle.

Honestly, I find this a bit contradictory - in general shows that focuses on African-Americans have always had a bit of a rougher time selling in overseas markets (Empire bombed despite being huge in the US; Tyler Perry's shows aren't in general shown etc; so it had to be even rougher in the late 80s, even with The Cosby Show and Family Matters managing to cross over to the international market), so adding that as a main aspect to the show when the goal was supposedly to sell it overseas seems a bit like shooting themselves in the foot. Then again, at least that explains why they threw it in such a historically bad time slot and then gave up on it quickly when it didn't really end up selling.

I mean, shows can literally stay in development for years and years if the network wants to make it work. It's not unusual. If they've indicated to the ones who've worked so far with the script etc that it's still in contention, then it's still in contention. Not saying that I necessarily believe it will come to fruition, but it doesn't mean it's dead because it's quiet.

Really fun "Behind the Music" - lol at the mock up Ricki Lake appearance:

The follow up Down Boy was better, but her album didn't sell as well as they had hoped ("only" went Gold, clearly they were aiming for Platinum) and her second album bombed. And that was that for Holly's music career.

WE WEREN'T WORTHY! 😭 1993: Vivian buries Carly alive and Louise Sorel gives a performance of a lifetime:

Sounds like they're going from The Exorcist to Rosemary's Baby...

I doubt they're looking for huge ratings for this and will settle for "solid" which it should do. It's obvious this will be taking the planned place of the scrapped L & O: For The Defense on Thursdays. NBC will get a solid night of programming.

This week was much better paced, but it feels oddly dated. One thing is transition things when changing the scene and at the same time trying to show off how wealthy Martha's Vineyard is and how it's The Hamptons for black people - I mean, I get it in a way because as a white guy from Europe I had never heard of it before, but surely it could be done in a less... early 2000s way? A lot of the script also comes across as a bit 20-30 years out of date weirdly enough. I can't quite put my finger on it.

To be fair to Reilly, he managed to see the storylines and triangles he started when he first arrived out, but after the Marlena/John/Kristen, Jennifer/Jack/Peter, Carrie/Austin/Sami, etc were done he didn't really get to do much with the storylines he started after - obviously he started developing Passions and then he left the reigns to others. So we don't know how he would've continued those stories if he had stayed - imagine him leaving in the middle of the possession?

Yup. I was watching this last year and I thought they did a fine job with explaining it as a part of Allison's character and storyline. She was wearing a wig for a bit though.

Hell, Belle would probably be a more exciting character with a bit of incest.

4x21 was very messy, very soapy and very entertaining. It's probably one of the top ten episodes this show has delivered. I love how Cristal is turning into the puppet-master behind Blake - hell, it's a plot the original show should've pulled if they hadn't had the attitude that "people like their women strong, but their men stronger".

Considering they have their restrictions unfortunately, I'd say maybe two-three days would be decent enough. Continuation on Monday-Tuesday, blah filler on Weds-Thursday, then Friday again. Of course, hopefully once the possession starts affecting more of Salem it'll flow better.

Apparently there was a 2xCD release in 2010: https://www.discogs.com/Ken-Corday-And-D-Brent-Nelson-Days-Of-Our-Lives-Original-Television-Series-Soundtrack/release/3530753

Even if they did that, Ron seems way too in love with making Kristen go crazy. I thought initially that the friendship with Lani would be a good way to ground her a bit and well...