The State of DOOL

[Faulkner]

I agree with [s.W.S.N.B.N.], who said the show feels "too masculine." I like having fleshed-out male characters, but there are times when the show has a real GH feel with all of the swaggering violence and aggression. I think the balance has improved a bit recently.

[JER Soaps Fan]

I agree. It's just WAY too sexy right now.

[Bree]

The J/M storyline and the insistence on having Willow as a frontburner character are the two major things wrong with DAYS now, IMO. I do wish JKJ would tone down Philip now that he's had a couple of months to get into this on the run saga, but now we know he can act. The young set of Max, Abby, Nick, and Chelsea is one of the best DAYS has had in years. Steve and Kayla have been re-energized with this EJ storyline, and Billie is the most enjoyable she's ever been. I can actually tolerate Sami now instead of wanting to strangle her.

The writers have made a lot of improvements. It's not easy taking over from JER. However, because DAYS has so many fickle, fly-by-night fans and huge groups of fan!@#$%^&*]es that complain when their couple is not on five days a week, Doug Marland's ghost could write this show and people will still complain.

The show isn't perfect. Many days are boring. I keep saying most of the stories aren't bad, they need a good kick. Especially Sami's story. Now that LUMI are engaged, I hope we start to pick up the pace. The beam crap was terrible.

[psychofan]

As a JER fan, I think the show is OK right now. When Sheffer is good, he's great but when he's bad, he's the most boring writer ever.

[HJBJDJ]

I'm liking DAYS again and am actually watching episodes. Full episodes. And my favorite people (Jack and Jennifer) aren't even on the show anymore. I used to watch just for them because I couldn't stand any of the stories. Now even though they aren't on, I'm watching and finding myself actually liking Chelsea, Belle and Shawn. Characters I couldn't stand only a few months ago. I still can't stand Mimi but she's on her way out. YEAH !

December and the beginning of January there was a lot of excitement on the show, because Hogan was finishing up the ends to the last of Reilly's stories. You had big climaxes to story. Now we are pretty much starting fresh with all new stories by Hogan. The only trouble with that is that all the stories are at the same beginning phase in the story, just starting out, laying the groundwork and just getting off their feet. Usually you would want to have your storylines all in different phases, so one storyline is just heating up as another is winding down and another one is somewhere in the middle.

As for Bo and Hope and John and Marlena being sidelined.

I just shake my head at people in disbelief to people outraged that Bo and Hope are off to the side for now. They were on almost every day last year. Peter Reckell lead the way for most appearances last year. They had the majority of story and were involved in almost every aspect of the show. Not only do Peter and Kristian deseve a little break but so do I. LOL I like Bo and Hope but they can very often be very overplayed.

They weren't on for two weeks. Is that what the big deal is about? Ha. After they've been backburnered for 5 years, and one of them is killed off 4 times in 2 years then we'll talk. I know a lot of Bo and Hope fans are uneasy now with all the rumors that they could be leaving when their contracts are up. Hey, I know the feeling. I can relate. I'm a Matt Ashford fan, I KNOW what it's like to wonder everytime you log into the site if you're going to find an annoucement of departure. I lived with it for years. lol

As for John and Marlena, yeah I can see be pretty upset finding out that Drake is not scheduled to work til at least sometime in March. He's been in a coma for a month now and it's set to continue for a a couple more at least. Basically he's off screen except for a few ghostly appearances scattered here and there. Yeah, I can relate to that too. lol

To me, it's just another day in Salem.

[Days4Life]

I agree with everything you said, Bree. Especially the insistence on Willow being front burner. She can be in a scene and say absolutely nothing, and she still annoys the crap out of me! And Philip definitely needs to tone it down; he's coming across as almost psychotic. However, he is much better than I thought he'd be. I was one of the few who wasn't excited for his return as I didn't think he had the acting skills required for him to be the villain; I will now happily admit I was wrong. But I saw his brief appearance on Scrubs last Thursday and have to say he's so much better looking when he doesn't have his jaw clenched and his teeth grinding together (which is how I think he looks in almost every scene).

DOOL is not perfect right now but much improved and hopefully things will continue in an upward trend. We had good momentum going in December/early January and need to get that back again.

[Days4Life]

Good point!

[darraholic]

IMO The show is much better. It may be boring but when did JER give us anything exciting after the Serial Killer. The show became one big bore with it's constant love triangles.

Hogan's done good for the most part. He hasn't been exellent but he's been good. I think if he were to give Bope & Jarlena more of a story and kill off Willow the show would be much better.

I also have to give him props with this Shelle storyline. I think for the first time I don't mind Shelle being front burner.

[Ponz]

Hogan's not perfect but how anyone can compare him to Reilly is beyond me. The stories no longer drag on for months with no plot movement. Flashbacks and false cliff-hangers are minimal. The dialogue is sharp, witty and funny (I never considered Reilly's outrageous self-parody to be humorous). He's weaved stories together and expanded the circle of each character's interactions.

His actual stories are a mixed bag. Chelsea/Nick and Shawn/Belle are enjoyable at the moment. That HS could make me tolerate and even like characters I previously could not stand is worthy of credit. Reilly had me disliking the vast majority of characters and even some of my faves. Although the use of tarot cards and mind-control in S&K's story is irritating and Reilly-esque, I do find that story and its central premise (Steve becoming a threat to Kayla and his family) intriguing. I agree that Bope were due a period on the BB so that doesn't bother me. We are still seeing PR on a regular basis so it's not like they are totally off the stove.

The Sami/Lucas/EJ/Kate/Billie story is probably the weakest at the moment. There have been some good indvidual scenes but having Sami tortured by this secret that could blow her out of the water at any moment is such a stale concept. And Kare and Billie are nothing more than props in the story. This story is only going to heat up when Lucas finds out about the rape. Until then, it's basically filler material.

I'm not really interested in Mabby but I'm glad he's elevated Ashley Benson to the frontburner and given her a story of her own. I also love that we're seeing alot of John Aniston. He has great father-son chemistry with Jay Johnson.

[SteveFrame]

ONe of the biggest things I think he is failing with is the family angle with the Shelle story.

IN December and even the very first part of January the thing that intrigued me with the Shelle story was it was multi-generational.

Bo & Hope were involved with the Shawn part, and one of the only times I could tolerate Willow as the day that she told Hope she was pregnant.

John & Marlena were partly in on the Belle side even though they had problems of their own, but Belle was still there confiding in Marlena and there when her Dad died.

Then Victor and even Kate was involved in the Philip side.

It was multi-generational family drama at it's best.

I know that he has used Chelsea, Steve and others to help them some, but basically the family element was taken out of it. Aniston only appeared 4 times in January and was virtually out of the story. Kate has been moved to the Lucas/Sami story more. Bo is seen but not really involved. Hope is not even there. When John & Marlena are on now it is the ghost stuff.

I don't mind Shelle and love Madison & Beemer but sorry I just don't enjoy the story and I have no problem with Bo & Hope being backburnered. It is their time but they can work secondary to a story - esp. a story involving their son and granddaughter.

The next generation just not being more involved just takes away from the family drama for me. And I far prefer family drama over couple drama any day. You have far more dynamics to work with.

So for me that is just the big thing that is lacking in the Shelle story now for me. I know the families can't go on the run with them, but it would work better for me if we seen them working the Salem side of the story more.

[JackPeyton]

ya know what i think would be a good twist?

for sami & billie to become friends. really god friends. true friends. billie could prob understand alot of what sami has done and all that. she can relate, and give good advice cuz shes older.. but not to much older. then sami could billie the truth.

can u imagine what lucas and kate would do when it came out about sami/ej and billie knew?

[JackPeyton]

ya know what i think would be a good twist?

for sami & billie to become friends. really god friends. true friends. billie could prob understand alot of what sami has done and all that. she can relate, and give good advice cuz shes older.. but not to much older. then sami could billie the truth.

can u imagine what lucas and kate would do when it came out about sami/ej and billie knew?