Days: Rumor about future storyline

[ademption]

Well, I was lurking at the messages from Dustin's Thoughts on Days again and found some interesting series of posts in the latest open thread....

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/dustinsoa...oct0806/#130073

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/dustinsoa...oct0806/#130968

I looked for the original post about this rumored storyline and could not find it at Dustin's. Apparently, after the rumor was posted, there was a big fight over the rumor and Dustin decided to delete ALL the messages concerning the rumor including the rumor itself!!

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/dustinsoa...oct0206/#126824

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/dustinsoa...oct0206/#127375

I doubt that the reason Farah, Jason and Kyle left Days was b/c of a possible male-male rape storyline. They've each given their reasons for why they're leaving. But I am intrigued by this rumored storyline.

1) Do you think that Hogie would go there and write a male-male rape storyline for Days?

I know that Hogie's rape storyline for ATWT's Marshall and Jessica was controversial. I wasn't watching the show at the time and I've forgotten the details about why that storyline was so controversial.

I also believe that Julia raped Jack earlier in Hogie's tenure as HW for ATWT. So he has written a male rape, but just not a male-male rape storyline....

All in all, IMHO, I think that it's possible that Hogie would want to write a storyline like this.

2) Do you think that Days producers, particularly Ken Corday, would go for a storyline like this?

I'm not sure about the answer to this one. I would think Corday would nix this idea. Based on the way that the show treats topics like abortion, it seems to me that the show targets conservatives/red state demographics. I just don't see how Days' targeted audience would accept a storyline like this.

On the other hand, the storyline would create industry buzz and a lot of free publicity for Days. It's the type of stunt that could get the ratings to increase--maybe?

3) If Hogie/Corday were to pursue this storyline, which character(s) would be involved in the storyline?

Obviously, the rapist would have to be a temporary character. But would Hogie write a storyline that had one of the male leads on the show as a victim of a rape? If this rumor is true, does he have Shawn in mind to be the victim? Shawn's already been raped by Jan. I guess Hogie could explore Shawn's feelings over being raped twice....

I just don't know about this rumor. The other rumored spoilers turned out to be true that I posted from Dustin's site. This one I'm really not so sure. I could see why the producers would float the storyline on message boards--to get a feeler for the audience reaction before committing to a storyline like this. But again, would they really go for this?

[Vee]

I seem to recall this being a troll post originating over here with that guy I thought had Asperger's Syndrome.

[ademption]

Was this recently? A few months ago? What was the name of the poster with the Asperger's Syndrome? I just returned to SON a few months ago so I'm not sure who you're talking about....

[Vee]

I don't know that he had any illness, he just reminded me of someone who had Asperger's because he kept posting similar messages again and again, like lists of ratings and then these rants and I think he would rate threads. He was a troll and he ended up having a variety of screen names that I can't recall. It was pretty recently. And IIRC he kept bringing up something where he said there was a big rape story coming to a soap and asking our opinions on it, with no verification that such a story was being planned.

[Bree]

It was z9z9 who posted the rape rumor.

I wouldn't want them to do it. Not because of the content---Nip/Tuck has done it and I wasn't disgusted by it, because it does happen IRL. But JER left the show in a very dark place when he left, and it's time some characters have some happiness. And if DAYS did do it, it would scream of gimmicks and ratings. Not to mention that when it comes to social issue stories, DAYS doesn't have a good track record when it comes to that. It's been used to drive the plot along and nothing else.

[tylerbo20]

who would rape shawn?

[Shawn]

Here's the thing though. Hogan is a helluva writer, and with Meg Kelly with him, I don't think that it would be gimmiky, if it were to happen.

I wouldn't be against it because it DOES happen IRL, not just to women.

I'm intrigued, but let's just see how this rumor unfolds before we make judgment calls.

[Matt]

It wouldn't be the 1st male/male rape in daytime. 'Love of Life' did it to key character Ben Harper (son of Meg, nephew of Vanessa) way back in the mid-1970s. It was shortly after Christopher Reeve had left the role and while Ben was in prison for bigamy (he was married to Arlene Lovett and Betsy Crawford at the same time). From what I've read, the attack wasn't shown on-screen, but heavily implied. I don't know how the after-effects were dealt with.

[SteveFrame]

I will just chime in to the question about why the rape of Jessica by Marshall was controversial. Jessica was attracted to Marshall and the way the scene was shot it even left viewers wondering (at least me and some others I know) whether Jessica actually wanted to submit or not. It was shot and written to stir viewers up. Some felt it was rape and some felt it wasn't. Even the citizens of Oakdale were torn by it too. I think I came to the conclusion in the end that it was actually rape, but it was definitely a controversial story. And not one of Hogan's best either, but the acting was great.

As to the rape of Jack, that was used as solely a plot point for Hogan in the Jack and Carly story. It was never explored at all. Jack never dealt with his feelings or anything. At least with Jessica we did see her dealing with the after affects and all. Jack never did. Hogan dropped the ball on that part of Jack's rape big time.

[ademption]

Thanks Vee and Bree re: info about the troll. I remember seeing that name but I don't remember that post.

Bree, what you said about social issues reminds me of what he said about social issues in an old interview:

http://soaps.about.com/library/prm/blatwt_...ark+movies+2002

If Hogie was writing this storyline, he wouldn't want to do it halfway and given Corday's cautious tendencies, he would want Hogie to soft pedal the story.

I don't see this storyline happening anytime soon. Shawn and Belle are going to be on their adventure for a few months. Most likely, Salemites would have fun for the next few months or so. If this rumor was true and the show was trying to elicit the audience's response to the storyline, then I would guess that the rape storyline wouldn't happen until Feb sweeps at the earliest.....

[DaysGal]

Actually, I can see Hogan Sheffer writing a story like this. He reminds me a lot of Reilly in using something "shocking" to draw viewers in. Such as the SSK storyline with Marlena.

I will say that I believe the character will be Shawn. Brandon Beemer has a Q&A section on his board and someone asked him if he had a direction for the character or a particular storyline he would like to do. His answer was, "I'm already getting one thing I wanted," and left it at that. So maybe, there is some truth to this rumor.

[ademption]

Thanks SteveFrame for explaining the controversy over Jessica's rape. I remember people talking about it, but I didn't figure out what the controversy was....

Also, thanks Matt for letting us know about the first male-male rape on a soap. I would have never guessed that tv would have had such a touchy topic like that in the 70s....

I guess the controversy would be showing the rape onscreen--kind of like Marty's gang rape on OLTL was the first onscreen gang rape right?

[SteveFrame]

From what I remember (and remember I was a teen at the time), Chandler Harben (Ben) was shown in his cell and the other cellmates came in and the scene just faded out with Ben going down to the ground or the floor. You knew what was happening but that was basically it. And as far as I remember there were no after affects dealt with at all.

It was kind of shocking to me as I think back on it years later. Primetime TV had done the movie The Glass House a year or so before the story (maybe a little longer) with Alan Alda and others in it. In the movie they showed the male rape of a young prisoner. There was even one scene before the rape that was very homoerotic for TV at the time. And then when the rape occurred they even showed the guys stripping him down to his briefs. Afterward you saw the young guy bloody and bruised and he could barely walk.

I am really shocked that daytime could have not gone a little further at the time - given that primetime had. I guess maybe since the viewers were mostly housewives at the time, they just chose not too.

[ademption]

I could see Hogie writing something like this too, but would Corday allow him to do it and particularly allow him to write the story the way that he would want it written? Would Corday not interfere with the storyline if there was a negative reaction to it?

Also, I question whether Brandon Beemer could handle a storyline like this. He's a pretty good actor, but if this rumor is true, it would be incredibly challenging material for a newbie. The only other guy from the younger generation that I think could handle a story like this--realistically that is--would be Bryan Datillo. But Hogie has said that he wants Lumi to serve as a comedic duo so that's out....

Can you tell how conflicted I am whether Days would even contemplate a story like this?

[Vee]

IIRC, Hogan admitted that the Jessica/Marshall story was a mistake.

He deeply admired Tamara Tunie and wanted to write for her - and some of the writing at the time, the dialogue, was great - but he screwed it up.

I think this is all a trollish rumor; I don't think it will happen.