DAYS: EJ Spoiler

[IMissAremid]

[KSlater]

This pandering is what has ruined Days IMO. This didn't start with Lumi vs. EJami either. For the past few years, I've seen storylines on this show start off with promise and then take a U-turn for no apparent reason. Now that I've been a frequent visitor/user of soap message boards, I see how campaigning for this or that character/couple really has a negative effect on the storytelling quality of the show. How the writers work kind of reminds of how some politicians work -- let me stick my finger up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing to determine my policy for the day. That's how I think Days is written right now--beholden to the fickle demands of the audience. I include EJami fans here too. No one is blameless. Story is not king anymore, pandering is.

I watch another soap, EastEnders. And although like Days it has its ups and downs (although on its worst day, EE has never been as bad as Days is), there one thing I can totally count on with that show--consistency in story and character. Stories feel mapped out from beginning to end and characters' personalities don't suddenly change on a dime. It makes for a much better viewing experience I'll tell ya.

I can't continue to invest my time in a show like Days where as a viewer I can count on nothing being consistent.

[ArizonaDaze]

Even though we like different couples, I agree with all you've said once again. There is way too much flip flopping for all the characters. Just make up your minds writers! In the 40 years I have been watching, there have been couples that I have liked and some I don't but I never quit watching because they weren't together because there use to be good story. That is the bottom line.

[PhoenixRising05]

Alot is being discussed about pandering to fanbases and how it affects Days and you all are 100% right. However, don't put the blame mostly on the show. Look in the mirror as to who is to blame. EJAMIA, LUMI, JARLENA, ETC...they all have contributed to putting this show in such a hole Shakesphere could write it and people would still find something wrong. I mean no disrespect but when you go to other boards and see fanbase wars and boycotts and all that stuff it sends out the ideas to TPTB. They look at boards so what a fair amount of people say could dictate where they go. That is what I suspect happened here. Days had LUMI as the destined couple but realized from boards and fan campaigns that EJAMI had stronger support then they thought. So, Days backtracks and starts leaning more towards EJAMI and even bases the whole Dimera/Brady backstory on a past love affair between two people who look like them. Of course, then came the "Rape is not Romance" campaign which likely scared TPTB and caused them to change gears again and go back to evil EJ.

Fans have a right to like or dislike what they want but I still maintain that these couple fanbases are KILLING Days. They have become a nuisance since the late 90's (some worse then others) and no show has to deal with them this bad. My wish is that Days just goes with the story that provides the most compelling drama and ignores fanbases. Fanbases should never dictate stories or writing. Write a good story. That's all there is too it. If a certain group hates it, tough. Hopefully, new fans are attracted to the show based on the compelling material the show is providing.

Hopefully, ES will help the show to do this because this has been the MAJOR problem at Days for nearly a decade now IMO.

[IMissAremid]

Sorry, but I couldn't disagree with you more.

It is not the fault of the fans that these fanbase wars exist and that the show panders to certain fanbases. It is the fault of the crappy writing and TPTB at the show lacking any firm convictions. If they were giving us good character-based stories that honor the show's history even when our favorites were backburnered or in situations we didn't like, then they wouldn't get so much grief. But instead of giving us brilliant storytelling with a long-term vision that has emotional payoff for the viewers that invest in the stories this show has to tell, they dish out instant gratification pandering as the show calculatedly pingpongs back and forth between the fanbases ensuring that no one is ever satisfied but there's just enough stringing along so that the most recently agrieved fanbase doesn't tune out entirely. I'm sick of it!

IMO the current Lumi/EJami triangle SUCKS for both sides and it's not the fault of either of the fanbases, it is the fault of Hogan Sheffer for being a total hack who polarized viewers of this show beyond hopes of any reconciliation with an ill-conceived storyline without any set strategy for executing it and without ever considering the long-term ramifications of it on the characters involved. I used to think he did this just to try and stir up controversy but the more I see of his work the more I'm convinced he's just simply lazy and incompetent.

[Days4Life]

I think that the writers caving in to fanbases has made this situation much worse than it should be. Fans are smart--they have learned that if they stir up things on message boards, start campaigns, send items to the show, etc. they can influence the writers and make the story go their direction. If the writers would just write and not change their story every time the wind shifts, fans would have no more power over the story and they would either quit watching or simmer down. Sure, some fans might be lost, but if the story is good, new fans could actually be won! Imagine that!

I have never called myself a Bope fan, or a EJami fan, or a Jarlena fan--I'm a fan of DAYS. (I HATE those nicknames!) Sure, I have favorites, but I would prefer to have a good story than constant "appeasement" storylines.

Back to the original post about the EJ spoiler, I believe that airs today. I'm interested in seeing how this plays out--not that it will mean anything because of the constant personality switching.

[KSlater]

I usually agree for the most part with your posts PhoenixRising--they're for the most part pretty unbiased. But I have to disagree slightly about the EJami fans. I'm one of them. And it's not our fault that the show blows chunks right now. I'll be honest here, I did write a letter to the show a long time ago not about EJami, but about James Scott. I was so impressed by him that I felt like I wanted to give praise where it was due. It had been years since I had seen a performance on Days that excited me like his did in December and the months afterward. Watching him gave me hope that the show as a whole would be heading in a new and exciting direction. I wrote this letter BEFORE I ever got started on the boards. I wasn't even aware that there were fanbases like Lumi, Jarlena, and even EJami. I didn't think the characters of Sami and EJ would ever be considered a couple because I know this show so well and its patterns and I hadn't expected that Days would ever break out of its rut.

Lumi the destined couple? Why? It's because of the fanbase, pure and simple. Lumi wasn't on the front burner until recently, and it is completely due to the fans contacting TPTB. I know this because I've read tons of their posts bragging about it at other websites. So if it worked for them, why wouldn't EJami fans try the same thing? We think our couple is the hottest thing. Lumis think their couple is the hottest thing. Jarlenas think their couple is the hottest thing. But none of these couples are going to make or break the show.

The ratings aren't low because of any of these couples being together or not together--or lack of onscreen time. The ratings are low because the writers don't have a vision for the show. They don't know a clue as to what kind of soap they want Days to be or become. All they do is react to the audience rather than try to lead the audience with good storytelling and pacing. I don't even know what kind of soap Days is. Campy? Serious? Idiotic? Fun? Boring? Romantic? Am I supposed to take this show seriously or not? If I hadn't started watching EastEnders years ago, maybe I'd be less dissatisfied with Days right now. But after watching a soap like that one, I find it harder and harder to accept the mediocrity TPTB feed us with Days.

I force myself to watch Days out of loyalty, hoping that something will grab me. Every once in awhile something does, like last Friday's episode did or the DiMera dinner episode. Or I watch because I'm fond of a certain actor, James Scott to be specific. Yet, even he isn't enough to keep me watching drivel now. I'm to the point where I'd rather JS left the show and got picked up on a really good soap that would take advantage of rather than waste his talent. I'd have no problem switching right now. All I need is a reason to watch.

[dawn9476]

It's not suprising. Fanbases killed GH.

[Euclid219]

I have read Prevuz for the next two days and this week is the straw that broke this camel's back. I have watched/listened to this show since before I was born, which makes me a 40 year viewer. I have never been to the EJami board in my life and I think that twice I have click on a spoiler link that led me to the Lumi board, so I can hardly be called some fair weather viewer or some lunatic fan shipper, but enough is enough. I loved Sami and EJ last summer, and I am not going to apologize for still loving them despite Hogan's folly. Lumi is getting DAYS a 2.1 whereas EJami got DAYS a 2.7, but if Hogan wants to stay in the ratings basement that is his business. However, jerking the EJami fans around has gotten old, and it is clear that all we can expect is more of the same. If EJ is going to be DAYS new "big bad" then have him kill Lucas, and let Sami go back to be the first class bitch that she ought to be. If EJ is going to be redeemed at least enough to be a viable love interest for someone, then stop having him commit stupid crimes just to make Lumi look good. Not playing EJ and Samantha as a couple isn't my sticking point. It is that the character of EJ Wells/DiMera is trashed over and over again just as some kind of Lumi prop. Hogan made EJ a rapist, but the EJami fans thought that they would at least get a DiBrady baby and years of interaction out of it. But, no. Hogan started EJ down the path of redemption by making him disobey Stefano and save Sami several times, so the EJami fans think that at least EJ as a rootable character will come out of it. But, no. EJ is apparently going to try to kill Lucas without an ounce of conscience, but then fail to get the job done. Now is EJ is incompetent as well as evil, and the steps towards redemption were all for naught. This is actually worse than last spring, because then EJ wasn't dumb and no one was claiming that he had changed.

Stupid storylines I have tolerated before, and I probably could again. But the fact that an organized group of viewers had the unmigated hypocrisy to scream "Rape is Not Romance", not because they really had an issue with violence against women, but to keep Sami leg shackled to a character who nearly got her killed twice is beyond the pale. Lumi fans, want to know an abusive behavior that is far more common than a man raping a woman on his father's orders as a part of century old feud? It is a man who belittles his wife in public, particularly in front of her children, for all her character flaws, but who himself has been guilty of felonious crimes against that he will apologize to her for only in private. He truly believes that he is a good guy and he wants everyone else to believe it too. Public humiliation and hateful jokes for the little woman, now that is good for her.

Congratulations, Lumis. Your fan campaign was a rip roaring success. Days of Our Lives is all yours now. Enjoy.

[PhoenixRising05]

Exactly.

Let me clarify. I wasn't singling out EJAMI fans or LUMI fans. I was saying fanbases as a whole and my comments are mostly directed at rabid fanbases, the ones who nitpick about scene length and never seem happy it seems. The topic of pandering to fanbases was broached in this thread so I thought I would post on that since it's an issue I feel that is killing the show.

Yes, the show created these fanbases by going with the supercouple concept for all these years but how many times in the past has Days wrote a compelling story only for it to have to be dropped, rewritten, or changed because a some fanbases got together and boycotted or whatever? That is what I am saying. Days has let fanbases dictate writing for far too long and now they think they can control the show. All you have to do is go to other boards where this rabid fanbases run rampant. They don't even want balance. They want their couple front and center and don't care about anyone else on the show. I remember during B&C's period where the show was on a high and some were complaining that B&H had too much airtime and such things like that.

I wasn't really targeting anyone personally in this thread or really anyone on this board. The topic came it so I went with it. I am talking about those involved in the rabid fanbases that create all the problems Days currently has. As I said, my hope is that Days stops catering to them because they are letting them define the direction of the show and that isn't right. That is the writer's job and the producer's. ES is the only hope to break this mold and I hope he does. The show needs compelling drama and can't worry about making one fanbase happy. If you lose them, you lose them. I think they just need to put all their efforts into compelling drama and hope the ratings will come. At least, that way, the show delivers what it's supposed to.

[IMissAremid]

Great post. Sums up a lot of what I feel right now.

[BradLove4Ever]

Wow Lumi fans actually went that far to make sure that EJ & Sami didn't happen?

I'm shocked.

Oh well I'm done with Days. Its been pretty boring lately. Even the whole Santo/Colleen stuff has been dull to me.

[dawn9476]

Yeah. It is all Lumi fans fault. There are plenty of Days fans out there that hate Lumi and didn't like the "rape is not romance" angle of Ejami.

[BradLove4Ever]

Except it wasn't a rape...and thats my personal opinion.

And I don't want to start an argument about it. But clearly most fans that did that campaign were Lumi fans. They got what they wanted. Hence they can be blamed for whats going on with EJ right now and the whole back and forth with this awesome character.

And the problem with Days is that besides EJ and Sami nothing is really exciting anymore. Phillip/Belle/Shawn are boring as rocks to me right now. Same with the teens.

Even the Dimieras/Bradys feud isn't doing much for me.

So until I hear that a decent storyline is coming up or EJ and Sami are on the right track again I'm gonna enjoy that free hour.

[DaysFanJean]

That wasn't what I call rape either, however the writer's are doing their most to make EJ a heartless villian again. I just wish Lumi were written out forever. I'm so sick of them. Well, at least until they are a fond memory.