Days:Stefano Spoilers

[Angie79]

These were some more emails from the people at the Fan Event two weeks ago.

Stefano apparently has had a tracheotomy, he will only speak in a raspy voice, we'll only see his hand. This may explain the original spoilers as to him being found in some kind of oxygen tank/tent.

It was said that it was a dayplayer playing his hand, so my guess is he's not going to be around very long. It was also said this was to tie up loose ends.

As for the spoiler about John and Marlena watching Will while Lucas and Sami go away, you're guess is as good as mine. I'm assuming it happens after they return from Italy as Sami and Lucas obviously didn't go on Will's ski trip.

http://www.w3pg.com/w3-cgi/getmsg.pl/3/6396.html

[RionPassions]

What's the point of making Stefano alive anyway?? I could see the potential for the long-term, but what kind of loose ends need to be wrapped up?

[DrewH]

Um, maybe EJ being a DiMera? That's kind of loose end, lol.

[King]

A tracheotomy? Please NO! That's silly.

[RionPassions]

Which could easily be explained without Stefano.

Well, at least this will tie into the Salem Stalker/Melaswen storyline!

BTW, does this mean Tony was really talking to Stefano on the phone after all?

[PhoenixRising05]

Wow...that is a pretty good way to do this without Joe.

I wish he were back though.

I look forward to seeing this.

[DaysFanJean]

I had hoped we'd see the one and only Stefano, but since he isn't available, it's just as well to stick with the DiMeras we do get. I wonder what is supposed to have happened with Benjy....why did he appear only those two days and then nothing?

[PhoenixRising05]

He is recurring Jean and it is not clear whether his purpose was to just show up and help Steve or if there is more on the way.

Alot of people exaggerated and thought he was on contract and he never was. I haven't heard of anything coming up with him as of late.

[DaysFanJean]

I remember reading that EJ isn't too happy about his brother being around and so far we haven't even seen Benjy and EJ in contact with each other. That is why I'm wondering where he is and think we will see more of him.

[Ridge]

But then why bring back Benjy for just these episodes?!!???? This makes no sense. DAYS has never tried to make sense of situations like this and missing families so why now? With Kayla recovering it would make a lot of sense to use Benjy in this process and bring out some of this show's history. But just having him appear and then disappear is SUCH a JER kinda thing. I hope eventually they do use him or bringing him back to sign to Steve was so pointless.

And so do these spoilers sound regarding Stefano. EJ being a DiMera can easily be explained without Stefano. Its stupider IMO to bring him back as a muppet than to explain it without Stefano especially when the show tried to so hard to convince viewers that Stefano was really dead.

[SteveFrame]

Ridge, I hae said all along that EJ as a DiMera could be explained without Stefano. Any good writer can do it and make it convincing. I felt that Stefano, by Mascolo, as a short term character all along was a ratings gimmick. I have heard both ways that it was only Corday who wanted Mascolo short term, and I have heard it was Hogan who wrote it that way, and I heard both agreed on it. With the way Hogan wrote Stenbeck at ATWT and Stenbeck and Stefano are alike in many ways, I feel what I read about Hogan writing it that way is true. I don't understand why after they didn't get Mascolo why they even went this route with Stefano. Why make him alive to show him this way. To me this disempowers the great Stefano to see him the way that it is described he is going to be.

To me and I seriously hope Hogan fixes it all somehow there are just way too many things right now that don't make sense. This with Stefano seems weird. The Benjy thing seems weird. And the inconsistencies in characters going back and forth from day to day is very weird. Either Hogan doesn't have a full reign on all the writing staff, and some are trying to sabotage him or something. There are just way too many things that don't add up right now. Some days things are really on, and some days they are off in some ways.

It is still better than it was, but somebody needs to tighten up things in a big way.

[PhoenixRising05]

I beleive the purpose of Stefano being there in some capacity is to pass the torch. He brings such a aura and presence that it would really make things much better with him around even for a bit. I hate Joe not being there but I can love with this because it will serve the purpose IMO.

As for Benji, the actor is recurring and isn't finished yet. I am sure they will pick him up after Steve/Kayla are reunited.

There still may be a reason behind the wishy-washy writing for some characters (see ademption's theory). I also think it could be on the fault of the writers (mostly the problems have been when the JER's former bunch writes) but I also can see in the cases of Hope, Shawn, and some others why they would act differentl from day to day based on what they are dealing with. We'll see. Jury is still out for me on that.

As for it being a ratings stunt, so what? Every other show is doing it so why get on Days for it?

[SteveFrame]

Phoenix, I didn't say it was a bad thing. All the shows do them. The only thing I will say about that is that again if it is okay for one show to do it then it is okay for others. So if it is okay in your book for Days to do it then there should be no criticism of other shows who do it. End of that.

As you know I don't want Stefano back anyway. As I said I feel like the story can be told without him, whether passing the torch or not. There was just no reason to make him alive to do that. End of that.

With that aside when I found out it was only short term, I was even more disappointed in Hogan because I knew that even he realized it could have been told. I was still hoping that in my mind maybe Stefano was still dead and would appear in flash back scenes with EJ passing the torch. Then I read this and I am even more disappointed in this. I just feel this is a very poor way to do this. This degrades Stefano even further to show him this way in my opinion. This is a poor tribute to the greatness of Stefano in my opinion. It was bad enough when JER had Tony burn him. That was degrading enough, but now this just ruins the character even more for me.

This is all just my opinion because as I said I wanted Stefano to stay out of it. I might have accepted him still dead with the flashbacks a little more. Even with that I would have seen it as a ratings gimmick but with a purpose. I just don't see this purpose at all.

I know that by making him alive, instead of the ghost or flashback thing, if anything ever works out with JM then it will be easier to bring him back, but if nothing does work out - this is the last memory of Stefano many fans will have.

[DrewH]

I kind of see where Steve is coming from with the flashback scenes. Yes, Stefano will be on the show, but Mascolo won't be. How are they effectively show the "passing of the torch" if we won't even see any scenes between EJ and Stefano. The flashbacks would've been more effective, IMO.

[PhoenixRising05]

We don't know it will be the last memory. They may get Joe back or bring Stefano back for good at some point.

As for the ratings stunt thing, it's ok for a show to do it once in awhile but if a show relies on them and does them consistently and don't deliver anywhere close to the same caliber of story the rest of the year they deserve to be criticized or called on it. Period. That is why I am not going after B&B for bringing Betty White and Ally Mills. B&B doesn't do many sweeps stunts and when they do it's once and a while or not even during sweeps. I will always call it GH and the rest of ABC because they use that idea the most.

But whatever. This is about Days and I guess the factor here is you don't want Stefano back to begin with so how could you be accepting of this? I see your point though.

Oh yes I totally agree. But Joe wasn't coming back for something like this no matter what it was and they still would've had to do something similar to this to give us the idea Stefano was in the flashback so it would've been close to what we are getting now in some ways anyway.