Days: Is Anyone Sick of the Sheffer bashing?

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Watch your damn mouth about OLTL. You know nothing about the show. All you know is DAYS, according to you.

(that post comes off as negative but, I just wanted to make it clear that I am totally not being a jerk )

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Frances Reid is an original cast member and the sole of Days. As much as I love Phil, that title belongs to Erika Slezak,on OLTL. They would never fire Erika Slezak from OLTL just like Frances Reid. What happened with Phil, was bad, but this is not even the same. You dont know what the hell Corday would do. It's Cordays fault, Drake and Deidre haven't been on in like 10 years. Hell, Phil Carey was on more than Drake and Deidre put together, and he was on very little. What would Corday do again?

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Listen nothing buddy. I don't believe a word that comes out of Corday, or Hogan's mouths. Not because they are liars, which they are; because I know things change. How many times were we promised good stuff and how many times have you repeated this. You have repeated the same thing, more times than Corday has said he was going to turn Days around. I only responded to you because you brought OLTL into it. I could say, Cat Hickland hasnt been on in a million years ( like Drake and Deidre), but she will be in a Storyline with Nora and Bo, but that still doesnt make it any better. We were promised stuff by (Corday, Hogan, and in this case, Higley) that we've never gotten. Things change, especially when they are leaked early, they are always subject to change.

[Ponz]

Given how I feel about Corday and what he's done to the show over the past 15 years, I would love to jump to Hogan's defence. But it's hard to do so based on speculation alone. In Corday's recent interview, he said point-blank that it was Hogan's idea to backburner the vets and that he's been forced to reign him in.

SOD: It seems you gave Hogan the freedom to tell new stories when he came.

Corday. Definitely.

SOD But the stories didn't include characters who are integral to the canvas, like Bo, Hope, John and Marlena.

Corday: You know, he's not even here a year. In actuality, his stories did not start airing until last October, and then I let him basically run with the ball/ So sometimes it's too much of a good thing. Letting the head writer have his reign is something you have to do, and then letting the head writer realize that we have to get out of story is also something that I have to do and he has to do.

We know Corday is not a trust-worthy source but even so, these comments read as a damning indictment. Why is a straight-talker like Hogan keeping quiet and allowing Corday to crap all over his reputation?

Also, I haven't read through this whole thread but one factor seems to have been overlooked...

If Corday is interfering so much, why has HS been allowed to axe seasoned writers like Sofia Landon Geier & Peter Brash and hand-pick their successors? You only have to take one look at the writing credits to see that Hogan has 100% control in this area. And the writers he has hired (Essensten, Brown, Bradbury etc.) are vastly experienced and therefore EXPENSIVE.

[Ilovemydays]

I like Hogan and Corday so I hate to sound like I'm making excuses but isn't Kristen Alfonso undergoing contract negotiations this month? IA that she has been MIA for quite sometime but how can they create a SL for her if she might not re-sign? And given that NBC has said that they will not be picking up DAYS past 2009 would it be unreasonable to think that she might consider looking into another show before the entire cast of Passions is released in Aug. with DAYS possible following a year or so later?

As for Drake...is that man that attacked him out of jail now? Did DAYS have to change how they do things to ensure his safety?

[Ponz]

I don't buy that. The lack of storyline for Hope is precisely what created the doubt about her (and Reckell) re-signing.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Now does that [!@#$%^&*] make any sense??? Really. I'll tell you the reason the Vets were backburned. Corday, wanted to try to see if the viewers were still interested in them, and if the fans wanted to see new characters. The fans did NOT want to see new characters that suck like Willow and Jed and the fans stopped watching. When the fans stopped watching, ratings dropped, and Jeff whatever put Days on thin ice. Now Corday is DESPERATE to do something right for the show, so that it doesnt get canned. He is only using The Big 4 because he NEEDS them, and they are who people want to see. If the fans actually liked Jed, Willow, The EJ hour and the rest of the crap. The "Big" 4, would be sitting on their asses, doing nothing.

[Ilovemydays]

Oh really? that's good news. Do you know the date? Because even if Kristen resigned at the beginning of this month and say she started filming just after DAYS two week hiatus ended it will still be mid to late May until we can see her in a more central role.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Show me the Interview, where she says that.

[psychofan]

Umm....that's great, but what does that have to do with her being back-burned this entire year?

[Ilovemydays]

Anything is possible. I do think that Bo and Hope could have been woven into the existing SLs better which only makes me think that their absense was intential. So maybe it was the contract talks, Hogan's interest in other SLs or maybe as Bo and Hope were heavily freatured last year so maybe TPTB thought they earned a minibreak before a new SL.

2006 Episode Rankings. Here's how many episodes each actor has appeared in this year (1/1/06-12/31/06), out of a total of 253 episodes. Ties are noted with an asterisk. Actors who appeared in at least 5 episodes are listed, along with those appearing in other years but less than 5 episodes this year.

Rank. Actor (Character) # of Episodes

1. Peter Reckell (Bo Brady) 193

2. Kristian Alfonso (Hope Brady) 175

3. Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady) 169

4. Farah Fath (Mimi Lockhart Brady) 160

5. Rachel Melvin (Chelsea Benson) 144

6. Martha Madison (Belle Black Kiriakis) 142

7. Bryan Dattilo (Lucas Roberts) 134

8. Jason Cook (Shawn Brady) 128

9. Austin Peck (Austin Reed) 125

10. Julie Pinson (Billie Reed) 123

December Episode Rankings. Here's how many episodes each actor has appeared in this month (12/1/06-12/31/06), out of a total of 20 episodes. Ties are noted with an asterisk.

Rank. Actor (Character) # of Episodes

1. Peter Reckell (Bo Brady) 17

2. Kristian Alfonso (Hope Brady) 15

November Episode Rankings. Here's how many episodes each actor has appeared in this month (11/1/06-11/30/06), out of a total of 20 episodes. Ties are noted with an asterisk.

Rank. Actor (Character) # of Episodes

1. Peter Reckell (Bo Brady) 19

2. Kristian Alfonso (Hope Brady) 17

Episode rankings by Jason at:

http://members.aol.com/jason47b/2006episodes.html

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Damn it. Stop! Repeating yourself.

[psychofan]

Well, for the 2006 rankings, most of Bope's high numbers were due to JER. Even all who hated him need to give him credit-- he used the big 4. For the remainder of 2006 (especially December) Hogan was completing JER's stories....he was writing ends for them. Since JER had started a story with Bo and Hope, Hogan had to finish it. But the second he was done, they were MIA.

I think I just had a deja vu.

[KLN]

My only issue is that if Hogan is being forced to write the Bo/Hope/John/Marlena back in, just how good will their stories be? I can't imagine that they'll be anything spectacular if he's approaching it begrudgingly, under the forceful hand of Corday.

At the same time, I don't want to see the veterans just for the sake of having them on screen. It has to be the total package. Presence and quality story. Corday can promise, promise, promise until his eyes turn red, but the simple fact is that none of the June/July/August material has even been taped yet. Anything can happen between now and then to ruin a possibly good thing. What sounds good on paper doesn't always turn out well. For proof, look no further than Kayla removing John's kidney. It sounded exciting, but in the end? A total letdown.

Corday can promise great stories this summer, but if they're not executed well and everything doesn't line up (good flow from episode-to-episode, good acting, decent scripts from the scriptwriters, better pacing/less filler), I could be just as unhappy then as I am now. Simply putting J/M/B/H on the screen for the sake of seeing them isn't going to keep me glued. There has to be more to it, and thus far, it's too early to believe the spin and say for sure that things are going to be peachy. Anyone who believes otherwise is blind, LoL.

Meanwhile, think about it. We could learn the reason behind the (played out) DiMera/Brady feud in the span of two episodes. Summer lasts a long time. I need more than an anticlimactic and played out family feud to keep me entertained for an entire summer, and Corday banking on that alone is a big mistake and reeks of desperation -- especially considering that their idea of "great DiMeras" are bumbling Bart and cartoonish Tony.

Remember, Tony and Bart were around during the summer of 2004, as were John, Marlena, Bo and Hope, and the show was hardly watchable then. Why am I to believe that their presence will fix things now? There has to be more to it. And until I see it, I ain't believing it.

[Ilovemydays]

JER was being phased out as early as last June and Hogan's writng has started in October so the November and December numbers for Kristen and Bo were Hogan's doing.