Members psychofan Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 I was thinking the other day about how so many people praise the JER of 1993-2004. For me, I still love him and think he's a great writer as I've said many times. ...But for those of you who hate him and what he's become, what if he came out in soap opera digest and said "I'm sorry. I know I messed up." And he apologized for all of the things he did that had a negative fan response-- Alex North, the on-going Gwen/Ethan/Theresa, etc. What if he promised that he would go back to his old way of story telling and that the old JER would resurface? I know it'll probably never happen...just thought it would be an interesting what-if. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shawn Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 Too little. Too late. He destroyed Days and Passions is the biggest joke in the history of daytime. He will never be forgiven by me and frankly he should never be allowed to work in the industry again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolpho Meradi Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 I myself dont really HATE James E Reilly. I just find it annoying that he became so damn lazy. Dont forget that the headwriters get paid a lot. So the audience do have the right to expect them to actually put an effort into trying to write compelling storylines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scuba Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 It wouldn't make a bit of difference. Considering how long he's been such a bad writer, an apology is not going to cut it. And it's not just the bad plots over the years, it's his overall writing style. The dumb, repetitive dialogue, the constant flashbacks, the complete disregard of story and character history - the damage he did to Days goes a lot deeper than silly plots. That would be easy enough to fix, but what he did to the very foundation of the show is still being felt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 He'd have to prove it by writing good stuff, but I still love his good material when it is good. I loved some stuff from his second DAYS stint. And I love PSNS' scenes on occasion. He'd have to back his words up with actions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KLN Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 I don't care if he apologizes. Just write decent stories! No apology needed. I mean, it would be nice, but it's not necessary for me, personally. If he would put out some really good soap opera that I could watch and be entertained by without rolling my eyes everytime it cuts to a new scene, I'm would certainly watch it. I'm not going to deny myself enticing, quality entertainment just because of personal feelings towards the writer and his or her past mistakes. Me disliking JER has nothing to do with him as a person and everything to do with his writing talents. So, if he fixed all of his shortcomings, I would have no problem watching another JER soap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 I echo the sentiments of too little, too late. Also there's no way he can guarantee to us that he'll improve, because some habits are just too hard to break. I for one was never a JER fan, to me, Days lost a huge chunk of its identity when this man came on board in 93. The show has never really recovered and he's to blame for a lot of that. JER wrote more for sensationalism than artistic integrity imo and it shows. Though Days was very popular in the 90's, it lost a lot of its critical acclaim all thanks to JER. You know though, I actually liked him as apart of that head writing team over on GL in the early 90's. However, that's probably because he had head writers like Nancy Curlee, Stephen Demorest, and Lorraine Broderick to balance out his stuff. To this day, the only Emmy he's ever won, comes from his work on GL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ATWTCarOn4Ever Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 Like someone above mentioned it would be too little too late. The guy is a menace to the industry and he should never write for ANY show let alone a daytime show for the rest of his life. Days? He severely crippled it and us Days fans should consider ourselves lucky that he didn't cause the show to be cancelled completely. Passions? Lol there aren't enough words to describe the joke that the show is. Suffice to say that Passions could have pushed the soap opera genre out in new ways but instead it became completely stupid and unbelieavable. Bottom line though is that he will never say anything like that so he can go to hell. Which ironically is his favorite subject to talk about on Passions it looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 You have to wonder how this guy worked with people like Bill Bell, Claire Labine, and Lorraine Broderick and ended up the way he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolpho Meradi Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 How a show turns out to be on screen is not only based on the writing though. It also matters what tone the producers choose to have on the show. James E Reillys stories worked very well on DAYS during 1993-1997 beceause he and the producer back then (Tom Langan) made the decision of trying a dark gothic tone for DAYS, which made Reillys stories work out very well on screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shawn Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 Because he got lucky. He's in a world all his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolpho Meradi Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 I remember someone asked JER about his writing style in an interview many years ago and he answered something about getting his inspiration from his childhood in Ireland when his grandpa was telling him stories. James E Reilly then stated that his main goal when writing his stories was to get under the skin of the audience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gray Bunny Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 He could promise he would return to his writing style of the past, but isn't that what he attempted to do when he returned to do? It became darker, gothic, Celeste's spastic orgasmic premonitions returned, Sami's bratty teen issues returned, etc. He proved that the magic he had in the 90's had run dry. I knew that Reilly and DAYS would be a bad fit when he returned in 2003 because I had seen what his work and ideas had evolved into by seeing Passions. But I don't deny I loved the era from 1995-1997 when I first started watching and I love seeing anything from 1993-1994. Perhaps like someone else said, it was a good combo of writing, producing, directing at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members titan1978 Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 I do not need him to apologize for his most recent works. It all fell apart on him, he lost his true voice along the way. All I need from him is good plots for his characters to work their way through, with a plan and an ending. The man had stellar runs on many soaps- He was on GH during Monty's run He worked under Bill Bell on Y&R His fingerprints are all over some of the award winning stories from his tenure as co-headwriter on Guiding Light His first round at Days captivated the audience in droves Passions was very different in the begining, but it always sounded better on paper than the stuff that aired, IMO. I was really excited for the show when the hot promos started airing, but that freaking carnival was Reilly never ending, and the only really breakout star other than Theresa left the show quickly (Taylor Mountz). His stuff is just so flat now, even the shocks are boring, and when he tried more traditional stuff on the show, the characters and actors were not really deveolped enought o give it weight. I hope he doesn't screw over NBC fans by not giving them payoff for the show they have been watching. This would be a great time to drop some old plotlines, and start fresh with something new and different to hook people to Direct TV. If he still has it in him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sungrey Posted June 14, 2007 Members Share Posted June 14, 2007 The Springfield blackout and some of Jim's first Days tenure are memorable, indeed. He worked wonders with Carrie and Austin and the Aremid plot was pure gold (don't get me started on Eileen Davidson's 10,000 characters, though). And I'm sure Jim is a very nice man in person (that is, if you get the chance to meet him). As for his second Days tenure, coming on the heels of some of the stuff that occurred with Passions, I sensed disaster in the making. He delivered on my premonition in spades with the Salem Stalker/Melaswen story, a story that never should have been attempted (and I know many will disagree with me...). The Alex North story wasted Wayne Northrop's generous talent. Sami's regression to bad girl who hated John was character assassination (however, Hogan committed a sin when he had Chelsea regress to still hating Nick for what happened with Billie). All in all, this show is better off without James Reilly. Yet, for some strange reason, I do NOT trust NBC. My worry is we'll be subjected to a third run of Reilly down the road. Don't go there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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