DAYS: Why Nick & Chelsea should be backburnered

[Ponz]

Great points, Ryan.

Also, soaps are a family experience for many viewers. Teens and Twenty-somethings often inherit soap watching from older relatives. If long-term viewers are tuning out because their favorities aren't on, it follows that not as many of their kids/grandkinds/nieces/nephews will be tuning in.

[Josh]

So the vets will be back in....MAY???

[Mason]

LMAO! So it's June now?

[Keith]

No one should be backburnered. Ever. But, that's not realistic with the mentality that execs have. In a world where execs actually knew what they were doing, we'd see a perfect balance. New faces should never, EVER be seen in isolation. That has been a big problem with Days over the last three months, and to a smaller extent, ever since Hogan took over.

If, when Willow debuted, we didn't have Bo & Hope & Marlena & John so involved in their kids' lives (Shawn & Belle), it would have been no different than what we're seeing now. And it sucks.

When Nick debuted, it worked. Maggie, a very familiar face, came out of the darkness of backburnerdom and became a surrogate parent to him and Abby. And he was on very little. But, after a few months, there was an isolated story, which while good, could never be embraced by the right audience, and actually help the ratings.

On soaps, familarity is the ONLY thing that's going to sell. We can't call a show 'Days of our Lives' and shove newbies in people's faces. There are people who we associate with the show. The way to make these new people part of that is not to shove them into a frontburner storyline right off the bat. It's to have them involved in a secondary story where they provide support where the viewers can connect them with other characters that they know and love, or even hate. We sort of saw that when Chelsea and Nick helped Shawn and Belle, but Shawn and Belle are even too new to many viewers. So, good as that was, it probably wasn't the right story. I think a great story for them would have been directly dealing with Chelsea's relationship with Bo & Hope. Another thing that hurt this particular couple as far as airtime is that Billie is a new face in the grand scheme of things. She's not a series regular and this is the third actress to play her. She's just now becoming familiar to many people. I think that Nick sleeping with Billie should have been used as a catalyst to have Chelsea truly repair her relationship with Bo & Hope. By association, she'd probably forgive Nick overtime. It would have been great, in fact, had Chelsea moved in with Abby & Nick, because she wasn't ready to trust Bo's offer.

The biggest problem is that very few people of power, so to speak, recognize what actually worked in the past, because they've been stuck in this trail of quick fixes for over a decade.

[Pest Spray]

I like the teens. I like Nick and Chelsea, or I did before Corday's SHELLE-d them (aka make them average, boring, angsty). I love Shawn and Belle, but Gabby's macking up those scenes.

I don't tune in to TV shows to watch people the same age as me get it on in the nastiest way possible. I watch to see characters I've loved, grown up with and followed for years, I watch to see their history utilized and I want to see my favourite couple face obstacles that aren't another psycho screwing with them, while going on adventures and bickering while being madly in love. Some of my favourite stuff in 2006 was the October 24th episode. Marlena walks in with breakfast, they carry a conversation WHILE she goes into the kitchen and then they talk about their lives. They're kinda tiptoeing around each other because they both know John's about to propose. Later, he calls her for help with Patrick and they do what they do best, they work together to catch bad guys. Or the plane stuff in November. I loved that. They were just sitting in a plane being cute, bickering because she was being stubborn and so was he. Excellent stuff. It was cute, it felt real, and it played on what Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn have always been better at than anyone else... chemistry.

I wanna see Marlena, John, Bo, Hope, Alice, Maggie, Jack, Jennifer, Victor... I'd love Anna back, Don even and I want Max/Abby, Shawn/Belle, Lucas/Sami to represent the teen/new generation quota.

I don't care if Willow burned down Bo and Hope's house. I'd care if it was about Bo and Hope's house being burned down, because I care about those two characters. I don't care about Willow. I don't give a crap that Gabby's a psycho baby killing bitch, because I don't give 5 craps about Gabby. I wanna watch Shawn and Belle work it out, but Gabby's making me wanna tune out.

I want fantasy mixed with reality. I LOVE it when John and Marlena fight. LOVE IT. But it needs to be belivable. Have them fight about which resturant to go to, or which movie to watch. Have the fab four go out and have another Mexican Fiesta night. Or show Marlena and Hope going out for a drink because good geez those two need a drink right about now.

A good soap to me focuses on romance, friendship, talented actors and chemistry. Chemistry can make or break a storyline. The only reason the Brady/Marlena storyline from 2001 was half watchable was because of DH's excellent acting choices (watching Marlena break down a little more in every episode) and the fantastic chemistry between her and Kyle Lowder. The writing sucked, but the chemistry between the actors was fantastic. The writing doesn't have to be Oscar worthy, but it needs to be in character and focused on the right people.

[ClayZebra]

That sums it up for me.

I really like Nick and Chelsea. I think they're cute, and the best young couple Days has come up with for a very long time. (I basically hated the entire Saved by the Belle set of teens.) The actors are talented and work well together. There's some decent (not brilliant, but decent) characterization going on.

So, I'm fine with them having some airtime. I don't want them slipping off into "unseen for months" territory any more than I want John and Marlena there.

But they have just slightly too much airtime now. If they lose some, and Lumi lose some, and Shelle lose some, and Patch/Kayla lose some and EJ loses a LOT (James Scott is great-- but give the man a day off every so often!), John/Marlena/Bo/Hope should be back to airing a few days a week without anyone only airing once a month.

No one needs to be on for twenty minutes five days a week except when a storyline that's been building for months is climaxing.

No one needs to be on for five minutes one day a week except when another storyline is climaxing and/or an actor is having a break.

Nick/Chelsea shouldn't need to be back burnered, because there shouldn't be a need for an either/or deal with them and a couple like John/Marlena. Eliminating all the vets causes a very real problem in the present; eliminating all the kids/newbies causes a very real problem in the future. There's no need for Days to have EITHER problem.

[KLN]

I, personally, still love Nick and Chelsea. I think that both characters are unique, the actors have mega chemistry, and they mesh together quite well.

At the moment, they're the best of the younger set, so I don't mind seeing alot of them. However, I don't want them at the expense of show veterans. Unfortunately, that's what's been happening and people are beginning to resent them, sadly. I hope that Days fixes the problem and that it's not too late for Nick/Chelsea, because they really are a great couple.

[Ponz]

So you keep maying...err...saying.

[ReddFoxx]

I agree, I don't see the point in them being on the front burner. I'd much prefer to see some of the more veteran characters involved in good story lines.

[Queen_Nubia]

Nick and Chelsea are “okay” by me. I think the actors are capable, and they do have chemistry. However, they should not be on 4-5 days a week in a front-burner storyline. I think they should be on 2/3 times a week in a “C” level storyline that is actually interesting. What has been offered thus far is rather pedestrian.

Outside of that, they should use them as supporting characters in the main storylines (in contrast to the current state where Bo is appearing as “Chelsea’s dad”). I think this would also for more gradual buildup and consistent character development (especially Chelsea), they would be more interesting and integrated characters.

[Ridge]

Ryan I luv ya just for posting this topic!!

I think all the beats have been pointed out.

Many people hated the Chelsea overblow that JER had, especially during the time when she knocked down Zach. Some were even calling DAYS the Chelsea show back then, I wonder what it should be called now?? Nick is all right. Fans or not, I don't think he is lead material and though him and Chelsea are nice odd couple, I don't think he is the right one for her.

I wish DAYS went back to introducing new family members and next generations older than 20-24. What happened to do the day when older characters were revealed as long lost family members not Disney styled twenty somethings.

Everyone here has said everything anyways. Why is it that Bo and Hope's storyline is revolving around Chelsea (last time Corday said Hope and Bo will be seen more in Chelsea's storyline); In fact Chelsea now lives in Bo and Hope's house and we still see less of Hope.

This is a long standing problem with DAYS and it has caused its ultimate demise or the events leading to it.

[Ridge]

What is worst about this is that this young generation/teen formula has NEVER worked for DAYS. Not in its prized demos and certainly NOT in HH. If you want to win back viewers you go with formulas that work. Austin/Carrie/Sami/Lucas were in their very late 20's/early 30's in their heyday. They were recognized as young adults not teenies/or tweenies.

[Ridge]

Exactly. If teens wanted to see teen shows, TeenNick and Disney channel (along with MTV, BET, etc.) have enough to cater to their audience. Someone here (I think it was GrayBunny, not sure) once posted an excellent post on what young-uns watched soaps for. It was for the adult drama, the imaginary world that they didn't live in, it was something like a "level up" from the drama they lived through day in and day out and it was FUN to watch it. No one wants to watch a soap if it is going to be another version of That's So Raven or Saved By The Bell. Perhaps that is why people started tuning out, b/c IMO, the latters are better at it than soaps ever were. It is just not what there purpose is.

[Vee]

I happen to like what they've done with Chelsea a lot. Until the changeover last year I found her reprehensible and unwatchable, but Hogan found the humanity in the character and that and the pairing with Nick has done wonders. While I don't think any couple should dominate and they may well be on too much, burning through a good thing when they should be showing the vets, I think Nick/Chelsea are great.

[Ridge]

Easy... the writing for them sucks. Redundancy will get no viewers.