DAYS: "Geezers, Step Aside!"

[KLN]

Oh, no. And I'm sure that Victor and Stefano will always have presence. But this show has survived for a long time without Victor's evil aura. For the longest time, he was a vegetable and a softy! Besides, this is Phillip's fight. For Victor to carry it along full-term would make no sense. And Stefano's been re-fried to a crisp.

[Bree]

I know this not a popular opinion, but I am glad Stefano is not on to fully terrorize the Bradys. He had a long run and it's time for a new generation of DiMeras to take his place. We could have had this earlier with Rex and Cassie, but Higley made sure to muck that up. But I digress. EJ is doing fine, and hopefully we'll see more of Benjy as well.

As for Victor, I'm glad Hogan and his crew have restored Victor to the quiet but vindictive and dangerous man he was in the 80s. Now that's happened, it's time for Philip to take on that role.

If only JER had realized this instead of pleasuring himself over his contrived triangles and butchering characters, we could have had this sooner.

[HJBJDJ]

Let's not forget, EJ's tory isn't with a bunch of newbies. Alison Sweeney and Bryan Datillo are vets themselves. They may be young still but they have been with the show for 13 years now. And Ali defintiely can carry a story through.

Phillip, Belle and Shawn, while they may be recast, though Phillip is recast with a previous portrayer now, they may not be the strongest actors, but they are characters who have been on the canvas for a very long time. Shawn has been a character on the show since 1990, 1985 doesn't count cause he left town as an infant. So it's not like there are a lot of new charcters Sheffer is adding to the mix, at least not now. He is using what he has on hand already. He is just finally stepping these charcters up to the plate and making them really be adults now.

If you think back, when Bo and Hope, Kayla, Steve, Jack and Jennifer were all the ages of Lucas, Sami, Shawn Belle and Phillip didn't they just seem a lot older? They were written as older, and weren't referred to all the time as 'kids' or treated as kids.

[KLN]

Actually, looking back, I'm glad that the "next generation of DiMeras" didn't begin with Rex and Cassie. I'm not sure that Eric Winter could've pulled off anything even close to what James Scott has pulled off.

[KLN]

...plus, Rex/Cassie came out of nowhere and Elvis is a character with legitimate SEEN history.

[HJBJDJ]

I agree with you there. Rex and Cassie were ruined from the get go by having them make their appearance as Aliens. Who could really take them seriously. They came on as robitic idiots who didn't have a clue about anything.

[KLN]

You're right about all of that.

Hard to believe that Phillip/Belle/Shawn/Mimi have been on this show as "grown up" characters now for eight years. Almost an entire decade. By this time, they've earned their place. I disagree about the "they might not be the best actors" part, though. I'd say that Brandon Beemer is right up there in the Top 3... which isn't saying much since Days male cast isn't really the best, but we DO have goodies like Dattillo, the young actor playing Nick, James Scott, Peter Reckell, etc. and I would rate Brandon right there among them. As for Martha Madison, the girl is putting VETS to shame! She's probably the best actress on the entire show right now.

As for the "teens," they're working for several reasons. One, they haven't all been brought on at once like the Salem High gang of 1999. Abby's been gradually aged for years now. Chelsea's been here for going on three years. Max has been around for a while, and has never been thrown in our faces. Nick's a recent addition, but he has familial ties (and not in a contrived way). Same with Stephanie, although she's leaving soon. And they're all being played by actors who have talent... it's a breath of fresh air to enjoy the young generation of Salem rather than groan everytime I see them.

[Days4Life]

This is exactly why the SORASing of EJ doesn't bother me. He has a history coming from a fantastic storyline. Who wants to wait another 15 years for him to be "old enough". If characters aren't SORASed, if we have to wait for them to legitimately grow up, new characters from new families will have to be introduced and we'll lose the rich family history DAYS is famous for.

[LuvPatch]

He has ruined Days.

[Bree]

If Hogan Sheffer is ruining DAYS, then JER stomped on it, spit on it, and dug its grave.

[LuvPatch]

I'm disappointed. ATWT was so good when he was there. What is he doing to Days? Why is he changing all the characters? Why is he getting rid of the good characters and bringing on so many newbies? What is with the illogical, unintelligent stories?

Where is Benji? Why did he disappear? He was such a good character. Why did he ruin EJ? Why did he ruin his best story - Nik and Chelsea for Billie?

What is he doing to Patch? Why was Phillip in all those bandages, that was so strange? What was with Shawn and Willow when we waited so long for Shelle? I can't watch BB as Shawn since Willow. He is ruined. I don't like him as Shawn at all anymore.

Why is Lexie leaving? Tek? Why are Lumi all of a sudden such a happy family when they just recently had so many problems?

I'm disappointed. I haven't watched in a couple of weeks. Days was so much better. Now it's just disappointing.

Jer had some good stories but they dragged on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on...... But he didn't drastically change characters to suit a storyline. And when a story did finally, finally, finally finish up, we got what we were watching for. He made it good.

Why did HS ruin his best story???? (Nick and Chelsea)

I'm not saying Jer is better. Days was hard to watch when the same thing happened everyday. But HS isn't much better either as it turns out.

[PhoenixRising05]

Uh. HS didn't change the characters. I don't know if you know the characters or watch the show enough to know but he is being very true to character. There isn't even that many newbies. He has only added Nick (a Horton), Connor (a Lockhart who may not be here long), and Willow (who isn't even on much).

He brought the characters back to the way they used to be prior to JER's destroying them.

He matured Sami and is redeeming Chelsea. He didn't ruin Chelsea/Nick. It's called A STORY. Billie added drama to it.

Sami and Lucas had been building to a reunion for months so it was not out of nowhere. He is doing nothing to Steve-Steve is remembering what happened after he "died." Again, it's called a story.

Philip was in a war accident and his face was destroyed. Again, have you been watching at all? It seems you missed alot.

Now if your mad about EJ, that's fine but a good majority like him as a villain.

The show needed to make cuts. Tek was useless. I agree about Lexie but sometimes you have to make hard choices. If you can't watch BB as Shawn because he was with Willow, then you clearly like to nit-pick. Benji is a recurring character and was on two weeks ago.

HS has revitalized Days and made it what it can and should be. Whatever, different strokes I guess.

[Ridge]

Again IA but the show shouldn't become full blown about Shelle/Phillip either, that's what the point is here. If they take over the show then it would be pointless, even though they are a great group of actors. Victor has started this story and should be there along the way, even if it is not full term.

All we can do is wait and see though! Balance is key like everyone is saying...

[LuvPatch]

You don't have to be upset. I'm glad you like it. I don't like it at all anymore. I'm so disappointed in the direction.

As for HS, I'm glad you like him. He was good at ATWT. I don't like what he has done on Days.

I love Days; I hope the ratings beat Y&R someday! Days and GH are much better soaps than Y&R.

(And I have to say this. Billie sleeping with Nik didn't add drama to the all ready dramatic story. It added yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!! ewwwwwww!!!! grosss!!!!!)

[jadestar]

I am sick of Stefano so I like this news. I also like EJ so it will be nice to see a different DiMera as a villain.