October 23-27, 2006

[SteveFrame]

Yeah but how long can it stay in transition mode and keep fans happy????? I mean we have been hearing transition mode since June. Then it was "ghost writer" transition mode, and then came Beth Milstein transition mode, and now Hogan Sheffer transition mode????

I mean what was the purpose of having a ghost writer and an interim headwriter if it wasn't to get it through transition for Hogan to start his stuff.

As I wrote in my blog, Stefano's supposed return or whatever was not the thing that caused me to lose interest in Days. To sum it up Days lost me alot this summer in it's transition mode. To sum it up, I hated the ghost writers stint. And even though Beth Milstein's writing was better, I was still bored with the stories. And I was esp. bored with Steve/Kayla's story. I mean those 2 brought a new energy to the show, and even me who hates them as a couple saw that. I mean they brought people back, but to me with what they have done with them - it has failed and been boring as hell. If it weren't for their performances, they wouldn't even be worth watching at all. Because I don't like them as a couple, and without an exciting story there for them there was nothing for me to get interested in when they were on the air. I just lost interest in the show in many ways, got tired of the transition, and with the Stefano thing I did not like the direction the show was going in.

I understand that every show has to have a transition period between writers, but I personally have never seen one that goes on this long. If they want to get back more people and hook them, they are going to have to step it up soon. Obviously finishing up JER's stories is not doing it, even doing big payoffs on his stuff hasn't done it.

As we discussed in the ratings thread about 6 weeks ago, today's audience has got to have action or drama all the time. I don't agree with that, but that was the general concensus of those in the discussion at that time. It came about by many who said that ATWT was just plain boring at the time. I enjoy those down times alot, but the majority of today's fans don't.

[King]

It's 3 weeks int his stint, and he has had 4 months to study the show. F. transition!

[PhoenixRising05]

Days is not in a transition but Hogan's stories are just starting and it is going to tale a bit before fans do come back. I agree they need to do something but the first thing I wanted was the episodes to be consistently good on a daily basis and right now they are for the most part. Like I said, Days looks good for November and I think the best time for a big event of some sort should be pulled out around the Holidays.

I know sweeps means big money but I would rather have a show be good 12 months out of a year then 3. That is what GH is. They will get good numbers and then drop until things change so let them go ahead.

No one is telling anyone to be patient regarding Days but everyone is different. Many are enjoying Days right now and some fans want more. Fans need to give Hogan more then a month to get things going. November and December should be good. If Stefano returns, then there will be a gain just like Laura's on GH and hopefully Days will continue to provide good episodes daily so fans will stay following a big return like that, unlike GH who will have a big return for a bit and then go back to it's normal numbers.

Thanks Steve for mentioning that about ATWT. My mind is scrambled so I didn't remember exact days.

[ademption]

What storylines would you like to see KR? Anything in particular? Show's focus on different characters? Or is it that you want the pace of the show to become faster?

[King]

I like the show, adempption. Lots, lots. The dialogue is smart and fresher then it's been in six years. But it's just very hum drum. Very La, La, La. I feel like I'm in a two way mirror with them, and I am just watching them go about their daily lives. Some people like that. To some, that's what soaps are. But I like big stories. And I just feel like it's a lot of talking and bonding and no action. It's just very boring right now. It's like their are no big stories or anything. It's just kinda like random observation. I don't know if I am explaining it right. I just want next week and the week after to get here already.

[ademption]

I understand what you're saying. You're not a "Masterpiece Theater" kind of guy. You want more action-driven rather than character-driven type of stories. Instead of having characters talking, you want them doing something. I think that there are a lot of people at Days who are in the same boat as you.

My question for you is did you watch Sheffer's work when he was headwriter at As the World Turns? Sheffer only knows how to write a soap based on the way that Chris Goutman and the P&G people taught him how to write a soap. I didn't watch it at the time, but from what I've gathered, Hogie is basically doing at Days what he did when he first began writing for ATWT. He's starting the stories very slowly and writing more "character-shaping" (introducing how Hogie sees these characters) scenes rather than the action stuff. Once he has all of his building blocks in place, we'll have the action that you want. If I recall correctly that's what he did at ATWT--that's basically his formula b/w sweeps.

I was fortunate enough to start watching ATWT in January 2004 in the aftermath of Rose's death. It was still pretty interesting but after Feb sweeps, the stories changed to the more character-driven scenes like we've been seeing. I really liked the scenes with the family interaction but I didn't know where he was going with some of the episodes. But once we got to May sweeps, I understood where he was going and the episodes that aired in March/April fell into place for me.

Maybe someone who is more familiar with Hogan's writing can tell you whether this is typical of his writing style or not....

[King]

I'm excited for when he writes some of the bigger events. I have seen some of his biggies on youtube, but I didn't watch ATWT when he was there. I watched for one summer. The summer Jack "died." Don't know if that was him or not.

[PhoenixRising05]

Yeah ademption I get you.

I watched ATWT during that time and observed the same things. He has big stuff coming up for these next two months and I think February will be even bigger because he would've been around longer. He is building stories, repairing characters, and building investment in stories and characters. This way peopple will care when a big event happens unlike the Claire reveal and Sami reveals that many did not care about because no one liked those stories in the first place since the payoffs took too long and they were JER's stories.

Everyone is different but I am sure eventually everyone will be pleased. At least I hope so.

[Reddi]

I like Alexa, but Babe's writing and overuse is not good. Yet AMC will probably think they have low ratings because they haven't pushed the teen story enough. They'll throw some quick sex in for good measure, divorced from any romantic story. They might explode something or shoot Ryan again. and then they'll STILL be puzzled as to why the ratings are low.

[Roman]

--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Chris B @ Nov 2 2006, 10:00 AM) </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->

The ratings for Laura's return is TERRIBLE news, but I expected this. The only reason this worked is because of Genie Francis and the other actors. Because they used another sweeps stunt and the ratings paid off, there won't be any changes. This is how it will always be with this team at GH. Crappy all year around, then they do a big sweeps.

Glad to see the high ratings for ATWT and Y&R seems to be doing well as well with those 4.6's. Tuesday and Wednesday are shocking, but the other days totally balanced it out. I guess Carmen's murder mystery is doing well for them, hopefully the ratings stay high.

B&B is also doing well, which is shocking since the show is still pretty bad, IMO.

Chris, I think they're still will be some changes. It's the very same thing that happened on Days. When trhe stunts stopped working, the ratings went right back into the toilet. Nothing beats good writing.

I also feel as far as Days is concerned, if the Male 18+ viwers can rise up, Days will once again be doing well. It's in the Top 3 in all the female categories, and that's great. I aslo agree with how he is writing. It's slow going for right now, but it's amazing that he and the writing team are still dealing with JER's stories. I didn't think it would take this long to end his stories and fix the characters, and some of them still needs work. When the big stuff hits, it will be something to see (I hope).

[MichaelGL]

Yep that was him. I believe he wrote the show from 1999-2005.

[EricaKane4life]

In truth, the "ghost writer" and Beth Milsteine had to finish up writing directly from James Reilly's outlines.

Don't forget that Reilly stormed out of a negotiations meeting in March-April telling Corday "f U" and was replaced within 2 days by a "ghost writer" who basically tweaked existing outlines and introduced Reilly's creation "E.J.". Anybody want to go back and read the N.Y. Post article that now makes so much sense when it comes to E.J.??? Then Beth Milsteine took over writing Reilly's storylines until they were finished.

Sheffer's stuff started on his first day. Willow and Nu-Shawn are proof of that.

[Gray Bunny]

Alright GL! Nice to see them at No. 7! The show has a real fighting chance at winning 7th outright again, or maybe even higher if it beats OLTL. This week has been great. Heck, even the Marvel comic episode wasn't terrible. It was what it was; a one-day break from the usual drama format. Would I want to see them do this again? No. Even so, the rest of the week has been fabulous. Glad to see the Rick/Mel/Beth/Alan story cooking up too.

[Ilovemydays]

This camera system is cheaper to use, and it shows. LOL

[Angela]

This is so dang tiny, but I tried. I'll upload it bigger one of these days:

Dark Blue = AMC

Pink = GH

Yellow = DAYS

Light Blue = OLTL

Purpleish = ATWT

Red = GL