DAYS: Talk about a slap in the face!

[KLN]

Why get personal?

"Maybe you just have issues."

In fact, I'm sure I do, LoL. But that's really a completely seperate and private issue.

[Andre]

IMO, ever since Steve came back with memory loss, it has been a "Steve" story. Steve didn't take the story from John. John was involved in an umbrella story that happened to involved Steve's memory loss and missing years. Stefano isn't "all about Payla." He has an investment in Steve as some type of pawn he hopes to use to carry out the same twisted designs he has always had.

Is this really how you think when you watch? Who has taken who's storyline? I feel sorry for you. It must be exhausting.

[ilovesteveandkayla]

I missed Reilly's work because, yes, I am one of those guilty of coming back in June with the return of Steve & Kayla ( )

But, I thought I've read alot about how Reilly is the reason why the show is in a mess today. Everyone seemed so excited to be getting a new writer when Sheffer was hired? Did Rielly write for the show all this time? All those years? Sorry if my questions are OT here, I apologize.

[Andre]

He wrote from 1993 to 1997 and again from 2003 to 2006.

[Pest Spray]

It's worked in the past. Several times.

[DrewH]

You missed gold from 1993-1997. From 2003-2006, not so much.

[dragonflies]

I believe campaigns work, at least most of the time. I don't think they're as effective on a show like GH or Days that have alot of popular couples. I feel like all the campaigns for various couple fanbases cancel each other out

[ilovesteveandkayla]

Thanks! So from 93 - 97 he really wrote well for the show & characters, but when he returned, that's when he messed everyone and everything up?

[DrewH]

I wouldn't necessarily say he wrote characters well. He wrote great stories. His writing was unique and something daytime had never seen before and that's what made DAYS so popular. It was a breath of fresh air.

Whenever he returned in 2003, it was the same thing we had seen before. And it made it worse because he had been writing Passions for 3 years by now and DAYS, which used to be popular for whacked storylines, was now being compared to PSNS and that is one thing a DAYS fan never wants to hear.

[KLN]

Yes.

He was amazing in the 90's. He took Days to #2 in the ratings and it stayed there for years, even above B&B and GH.

[DrewH]

Reilly's biggest problem when he returned to the show as that he wanted to write characters the same way he left off in 1997. You had Sami, who had matured a great deal since 97 resorting back to her teenage schemes. Her hatred for John returned overnight. He didn't care how the characters grew over time. He saw that growth as nothing and wanted to write the characters the same way he wrote the before. He's not a character writer. He writes for plots.

[billyjill]

I agree. I think that Reilly didn't like being tied to what was going on on the show before he came to it (both times), I think the first round when he started he was more willing to go with it but as time went on he grew resentful. I think that shows in some of his storytelling decisions over time. Pretty much the first time through though he did his mechanics well -- pacing, sequencing, suspense, etc, and if you came to the show then you'd find a pretty clicking show.

I know a lot were fans and I don't ever intend to condescend on anyone's taste when I voice my own opinions, just so that is clear.

[KLN]

I agree, but I also saw a big difference in his tone.

Back in the 90's, he wrote with a dark, dramatic, serious, somewhat gothic tone. The supernatural stories (Possession) were told with a serious, dramatic tone. Stories like Aremid, Maison Blanche, etc. also had the same dark, gothic feel.

Most of the stuff from his last run just weren't told with that same dramatic, dark, gothic tone. It was all just camp and silliness. Things that should've been played dramatically were played comically, and it just got so bad that nothing about the show was 'serious' anymore... it was all just a huge camp-fest. He told the same types of stories as before, but with a completely fluffy tone. I can't take it seriously if the writer doesn't take it seriously... y'know? For example, the whole "Captive Island" storyline could've been told with the same dramatic tone as Maison Blanche, because there are alot of similarities at the foundation of those two stories. And instead of playing it seriously like MB, he turned it into a freakshow involving magnetized floors and man-controlled volcanoes.

The show was also in a much better place when Reilly took over in 1993. The same couldn't be said for 2003, because we had just spent the past seven years suffering through hack writer after hack writer. The young cast wasn't nearly as talented or rootable as the young cast from the 90's (Sami/Austin/Carrie/Lucas). There's a variety of things that contributed to the second run turning into a huge flop, but above all, I really think that his style just changed. He went from being a serious, dramatic new-age sort of writer to being a comedic, campy writer, and paired with all of the shortcomings mentioned above, it just turned into a big disaster.

[PhoenixRising05]

Brilliant post, Kenny. I agree completely.

I did feel a somewhat gothic, dark tone during the SSK story up until the island. I mean, just look at the scenes where Marlena came to Celeste wearing that cloak. The whole scene was gothic IMO. I think Corday forced JER to rewrite so many times that he got fed up eventually and just starting writing whatever with no effort. I think he got frustrated not being able to do his own thing anymore and not having the flexibility he had in his first run.

[Bree]

ITA with this, and you can say this was a slap in the face to Sami fans who had waited for years for her character to mature and grow in the right direction.

Terpsichore, you are rude and turning this into a personal war which isn't needed here. MBE, SN, and their fans are not at fault for the situation. So why don't you knock it off, or better yet, go to another board that welcomes only one personal opinion.