DrewHamilton, I agree completely with your take on nuStephanie. Chelsea, part 2. If it weren't for your misguided love for Willow, we could be great friends!

Well, we will just have to disagree but I don't see any problem with it. Shayna's Stephanie wasn't on long enough to worry about a drastic change IMO. I like her and I look forward to seeing her interact with Steve and Chelsea. If she is a bad girl, so be it. She can act and that is all that matters. It seems people that disliked Shayna like her and people that like Shayna don't. I liked Shayna, especially towards the end of her run, but it's clear her character's development suffered because of the transition and all the writing changes so while she was developed somewhat, we never got a whole lot of layers. I can see her being influenced by people she interacted with in Dayton or maybe her boyfriend changed her for the worse. That could lead to conflict between her and her parents later on. Plus, Max hurt her real bad and had already admitted being involved with many guys and that they all went nowhere. Maybe she felt she had to change. I expect to learn more about the drastic change. If there is one thing Hogan does is he deals alot with characterization. He was here for the end of Shayna's run so I am sure we will see the changes acknowledged as we go along.

Great episode today and very much of a Friday cliffhanger of the old days!

Loved NuStephanie. She is pretty and she can act. I don't miss the old one one bit.

The cabin scenes were great but I had to laugh when Sami launched herself at EJ to keep him from telling Kate that she was there.

Good beginning of the upturn!

I don't think Stephanie's slutty. Before the character came off as down to earth and fun, now she comes off as someone who wants to be and appear dangerous (as versus just being dangerous). I see this Stephanie as being more capable of being a tease. But that doesn't mean the writing will be that way. She's not a terrible actress and I don't care one fig if she doesn't have blond hair.

I don't think Stephanie's slutty. Before the character came off as down to earth and fun, now she comes off as someone who wants to be and appear dangerous (as versus just being dangerous). I see this Stephanie as being more capable of being a tease. But that doesn't mean the writing will be that way. She's not a terrible actress and I don't care one fig if she doesn't have blond hair.

I agree billyjill. I actually see alot more of Steve then her. When Shayna played her, they tried to do that and I couldn't buyt it except for her having a dangerous occupation. With this actress, I can see her being the "hell on wheels" type character that Steve is at times. I like that.

I also forgot to mention that scene where Sami jumped on top of EJ was hilarious

Finally a big event on Days with this cabin fire...Something to be excited about..I don't think i've been excited about anything lately except for the nick/billie/chelsea reveal...Hopefully this starts an upswing for Days and giving the fans some big events..Next week being a shelle event...I'm ready for Days to be exciting again...

The actress playing Stephanie does seem capable, and I'm anxious to see scenes of her with Steve. I'm not slamming the actress at all; I'm just tired of all the bad girls in Salem, and my immediate reaction was that she was too much like Chelsea from a year or so ago. I hope Hogan does something more with her, but right now I'm not impressed with the wild child. Hopefully, that will change over the weeks ahead. And how old is Stephanie supposed to be now? For someone who was supposed to have had a successful career as a race car driver, she seems awfully young.

I do agree that banking on the whole good girl/bad girl thing to sell a character is getting really OLD. Just write realistic down to earth characters and stop trying to push them to one extreme or the other ... my preference anyway.

Before I leave work, I have to comment on a couple of things:

1. Gabby's FREAKIN' HAIR in the last segment. If you didn't know that character was supposed to be evil, THAT was the segment that tipped you off. It defied physics!! And no one make fun of me for saying this, because you KNOW you saw it too! That strand of hair was STRAIGHT and at least a foot from her other hair, and she truly looked like a witch! You kept wondering, "How in the world?!!!" I laughed the whole time, but I'm not gonna deny that it also scared me, and added to the shadiness of her character.

2. Okay, I tuned in the last 20 minutes and didn't see yesterday's or the day before (was very busy). So imagine my surprise when this girl I called "Random Bimbo No. 1" turned out to be MY BELOVED STEPHANIE! WHAT have they done to the character. THAT IS NOT STEPHANIE!!

But the ending was nice. I would have preferred a better cliffhanger though. I mean, Hogan is SO dragging that out for no good reason. We could have had a phenomenal Friday ending -- IF ONLY Sami just dropped the damn match.

LOL I like Duck.

I'll reserve my opinion on Gabby because I'm hoping they will pair her with Phillip. I do not want to see Phillip going after Belle again.

I LOVED the interaction of Phillip and Kate.

Nu Stephanie, she's a pretty girl but I can't say her acitng impressed me but it's only her first day. IA with the poster that commented that she does not make a credible racecar driver. It isn't just her youth she just seems too flighty and silly. Chelsea is about the same age and I can imagine Rachel Melvin pulling it off.

I'm going to miss Ashley Benson.

Sami and EJ! I can see what EJ meant when he told Kate, "You're going to love her as much as I do."

I'm hoping the show will be dropping the stephanie race car stuff...That was a mistake from the get go...i'm watching now and i think she's pretty good...With abby leaving, they need another younger actress this summer to fill the void...

Is it just me, or does NuStephanie's face look A LOT like Ashley Benson's? I swear, when I first glanced at the screen and saw her, I thought Abby went brunette!

Can you be considered slutty if you haven't even had sex yet? Chelsea is selfish and a brat (and sometimes stupid) but I wouldn't call her slutty.

yes, you be a virgin and give the apperance they you are a slut by wearing certain clothes AND telling people you are experienced when you are not.

I don't know if I love NuStephanie yet, but I do prefer her to ShaynaStephanie. Kayla and others would talk about ShaynaStephanie being a tough, independent, feisty racecar driver, but what I saw was a girl who hyperventilated when her uncle "dumped" her after one date and a constantly whined about her mommy and daddy getting together. This one, while coming on a little strong with her "bad girl" streak, is easier for me to accept as the daughter of a professional, single mother and an adventerous former member of the merchant marine.

For the rest of Days today, I'm giving the show credit for making me laugh at lines that were probably supposed to be funny: Philip's lecture to Kate and Duck's assessment of Shawn-D's intelligence.

The Sami/EJ stuff was well-acted but very dark, so I hope that storyline moves along quickly.

For her first day, I liked the new Stephanie. I liked her a lot better than Shayna Rose, who I took an immediate dislike too.