DAYS: Jack/Jennifer/Peter

[Cheap21]

MV oozed sex appeal and I cant see MA being written like that. He is great with comedy, but his Jack didnt have the sex appeal that MV broguht to the table. He's more of a joke to me whereas MV was more of a leading man

Thank you. Yeah I pefer Jason Brooks but we both can agree that Jennifer was one lucky biyatch in the 90s....lol. I wish I was her

[King]

I'm so with you Cheap!

[Jane1978]

I don´t find it strange at all. Remember, when Jennifer returned she was written as a perfect wife and an innocent victim of Jack´s neglection. He couldn´t use the Jennifer/Peter part of history because it would tarnished her image and her conflict with Jack couldn´t be so strong. Whenever J/J would start to fight about Colin, Jack would simply reminded her Peter and proved his point. She would look very stupid.

Beside that, that triangle was awfull and boring as hell. I don´t understand how anyone could like it because it just ran in circles for unbeliavable three years. I mean the whole story was either:

J/J getting closer and Jennifer starting to doubt Peter

Jack blaming Peter without a concrete proof and making Jennifer angry again

Peter stopping Jack in time, making him a complet fool and getting back with Jen

It was always the same, the only thing changing being the accusation of the month. Nothing ever moved forward.

[Gino24]

Matthew Ashford's Jack is appreciated by some fans because he was the most complex, conflicted, and fascinating of all the Jacks who briefly came before and then after. Very intelligent and well versed in literature. Jack was the anti-hero; very human.

His humor when written by Anne Bailey and then Richard J. Allen & Anne Schoettle was used as a way to express how he feels to others, because he isn’t very good at expressing his emotions openly. Writers towards the end of Ashford's run and the beginning of his second run took the intelligent, dry, and goofy humor of Jack and turned it into bad slapstick. Jack had become a bumbling and clumsy fool.

Here is a sad and moving Jack + Jenn montage,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDSL_L5FU48

A montage summarizing the dark and turbulent relationship with his father,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM2lANFRVf8

For those who never seen it, I recommend watching these clips in this order

Rape Slap, Post Rape Slap, Jennifer's Confession, Wood Chopping

on denialville.com (a Jack and Jen site) to see how different Ashford's Jack was back in the day written in character. Here is the link, http://www.denialville.com/vclips.asp?page=4

Then watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pMtP5Wxy5M

Jack admits publicly to raping Kayla during Jennifer's rape trial

[Ponz]

Jack as the bumbling fool was always a writing thing. From 87-91, Matt portrayed the character as dark, serious and angst-ridden. Though there were funny moments, he was never defined as comic-relief. Langan changed all of that. I know some have criticised Matt for being overly-theatrical but when the scripts required slipping on banana peels, pretending to be gay, dressing up in drag etc, he wasn't given much choice. The scenes that Gino is referring to showcase what Matt is capable of when presented with serious material.

[Rudolpho Meradi]

I agree. As a matter of fact it seems like the only reason Tom Langan even brought back Jack and Jennifer in the first place was to use them as comic-relief. The character of Jack was more seriously written during 1987-1991. I also remember them writing about Jacks father, Harper Deveraux, who turned out to be a serial killer if I am remembering it correctly. If Langan wanted comic-relief, then why didnt he just keep Vivian Alamain on the show instead? I dont know about you others here, but I myself cant really say that I was any fan of Tom Langans writing.

[Evan]

Steve Wilder sucked!

Mark Valley: nice guy, and he's great on BOSTON LEGAL

BUT

There always has been, and there always will be only one guy who can play Jack Devereux.....MATT ASHFORD!

I will go with any Jennifer recast, if it's the only way to get Jack back on DAYS.

Kristina Wagner is my pick.

BTW: Yes, Jason Brooks is hot!

[billyjill]

I think Jack was brought back in 2001 first as a temporary thing to end J&J and let Jennifer move on to a new relationship.

In 1991 Tom Langan came on as producer, and the dynamics of the J&J couple changed such that Jack was the goofy screw-up and Jennifer was the straight-man for all the jokes. To my understanding, Langan didn't want to deal with Jack's dark past, so rather than embrace the character's issues within the story he pretended they never happened and changed the character to make the audience forget.

Here is a snippet from a 1992 SOD article:

When the fans wanted Jack's role to be permanent in 2001 Langan stuck to the version he steered the writing to back in the early 90's. I don't think it was just that Langan wanted comic relief. Langan just didn't want to use the character of Jack in an overly dramatic way, because of the character's history.

Matt used to speak out a lot about the dramatic direction of his character. Then they fired him (the first time), so I guess he keeps mum now.

ETA another quote from SOD, from Matt's exit in '93:

[Rudolpho Meradi]

So does anybody know what Jason Brooks does nowadays anyway?

[Cheap21]

You see I never saw MA as that Jack. MV was really my first exposure to the role and thats probably why I couldnt stand Jack under MA and Langon. He was an immature fool and written as beneath Jennifer. Even she didnt want to waste her time with him and his stupid over the top theatrics. I felt they destroyed the Jack that I loved under MV and hated that he essentially was written as a cartoon. I loved MA as Tom on GH, but didnt care for him on Days since the return

When talking about a Jenn recast in this thread, Kristina Wagner crossed my mind too. Plus she and MA as Tom on GH were one of my favorite couples when they were on. They have chemistry together

[PhoenixRising05]

Peter will never be back, especially if Missy is around. It would have to be a recast and not Jason Brooks and I can't see that happening. It's because of Missy that there was no mention of Peter since she returned.

I liked MV very much but I agree that Jack was completely different with him in the role. It felt like 2 separate characters. I did like him though. Wilder sucked and, while Cameron wasn't a bad Jen, she didn't convey emotion well.

I remember how much Jack changed when Langan came on and I remember Matt seemed frustrated about that, along with Missy. That is why I knew it was no coincidence when Jack became nothing but comic relief under Langan when he returned in 2001. I think Langan only brought him back on Corday's orders and then was forced to keep him on. I mean, Langan did write alot for him but only when he was a fool. The only time Jack went back to his serious roots was during the Salem bombings and I have to wonder why Langan would write that based on his perception of the Jack character.