DAYS: Thursday

[Pest Spray]

She posted on Poison Soup (a John & Marlena fan board named after that famous scene) a year ago or so, and that just made me want her back even more. Just in those posts, she showed why DAYS needs her back.

And that's it right there. Hogan may be perfect for any other soap, but DAYS has always been about romance, mystery and adventure. And that doesn't mean two early 20 year olds on a deserted island with an annoying barkeeper and her pops. That means loved characters in danger, fighting for each other and against the true evil. It doesn't mean sci-fi, it means character driven drama. That's why The Pawn worked, Stockholm, all the killing storylines... they were ultimately character driven... Of course we need Stefano, but we need Stefano to be evil while showing human sides of the character. They need umbrella storylines and focus on characters that the audience already loves. Marlena, John, Bo, Hope... The characters that the fans have loved since the 80s and watched through the 90s and the early 00s. They need to focus on them, while slowly bringing in the new generation.

A good semi-recent example IMO is the character of Nicole. She came on in 1998 and she was on every day, all the time, being pimped and propped by other characters. But most people from what I can gather didn't start to enjoy and love the character until they were given time to do so. She was given a backstory, flaws, depth and complex characteristics. Ari came into her own eventually and she was amazing, people loved her (I didn't start enjoying Nicole until they wrote someone who wasen't one dimensional).

[Days4Life]

Nicole is a good example. I didn't like her at all at the beginning--she bored me to death. However, over time and as we got her story, I grew to love her and really enjoyed her scenes. Same with Kristen. She came on as a boring social worker; I wasn't interested at all. She was very vanilla. But then when we learned her story, that she was adopted by Stefano, engaged to Tony, the mystery of her mother--I became obsessed with her!

It all comes back to what so many of us are saying over and over--give us good stories and a reason to be invested in the characters! Give us romance and mystery and excitement. And don't force feed us storylines that clearly aren't working or throw on a bunch of newbies just because they look pretty.

[maconrich]

I can get that things might be slow right now because of the changes (Wyman, Scott etal) but things have seemed off with Days for a good while. This isn't about the hit and miss thing that's been going on; and I'm not even sure what it is.

Using the Santeen storyline as an example - in particular those involved in the feud:

First it took forever for Sami to see a picture of Santo and when she finally did she insisted lucas not see it. Later lucas "teased" her about fate based on EJ looking like Santo. It was built up to be important but must not have been since they decided not to show the scene.

Also does EJ realize that Sami has seen either picture?

And why isn't EJ reading copies of the letters (he could read them on his own).

They've left out details that might have been interesting to watch, and totally ignored other things that could have made the story better and stronger. This feud had the potential to be explosive and exciting - and it does interest me because I love the DiMeras, but right now it looks like they're blowing it big time. Since this storyline started there have been two scenes that really blew me away: the DiMera family dinner and EJ drinking on the pier.

Instead of excitement we get Lumi, the touch the sky people and vets reading letters. It's hard to even watch the Santeen scenes because they cut away to show other stuff - so it feels like it's dragging on forever when it's really just not getting enough time to get anything accomplished.

Wow, I guess I'm really not liking much of what Days has been doing...

Days4Life - LOL at the stalker comment

[IMissAremid]

I feel pretty much the same way about the continuity issues. I don't know if it's Hogan Sheffer's lack of organizational skills/lack of attention to details or them needing a better script editor or this is stuff that should get better when Ed Scott comes aboard, but aside from those two episodes you singled out (which were actually two of my favorite DOOL episodes EVER) this whole storyline has been spotty at best, which is maddening to me because there isn't a favorite of mine who is not on the canvas right now save Vivian and most if not all are getting an adequate amount of screen time. The execution is just off. And speaking of those letters... why haven't they let Anna sit around when they are reading any of them? Where the hell is she? Are she and Tony so busy catching up on old times that she can't visit with her old friends AT ALL? And she supposed hung on to these letters for DECADES yet we're supposed to believe she isn't the slightest bit curious about what they contain? So stupid.

And the Santeen stuff I think is broken up poorly and the letter reading can get redundant which I think hurts the storyline some even though I am quite pleased with the performances turned in by Ali Sweeney and James Scott. I think one reason I like the storyline quite a bit because I happen to check out online clips that often allow me to see the scenes without the commercial/other scene breaks and find the individual Santeen scenes really well done, almost movie-like with the lighting and effects and the pacing but then when I watch the show they don't have as much impact because there are so many breaks and I am taken out of the magic of the romantic storyline to go see Jeremy and Stephanie hump or watch Chelsea whine or have to look at a Jarlena swap spit or have someone try to sell me laundry detergent while I am waiting for Colleen to break her silent stare to tell Santo whether or not she'll go on the next picnic or whatever.