DAYS: Should Hogan Be Replaced?

[JenC]

Are we talking about the same person, LoL? Because the one I was talking about rhymes with Nola Roof.

[ChangedBYSon]

LOL!!!! That's her.

As I recall, E.J. came on the show 6 weeks before Beth's reign started.

So did the gloved hand.

Beth's stuff started in Mid-July. The hand started in May, E.J. came on in June.

Does Nola Roof go with Stephen Wyman?

Last night, Nola Roof won an award for Surfing (ocean surfing) and she sang an African song on video.

They showed a documentary about "behind the soaps" and she was in it. James Reynolds, Henry Winkler and Paul

Michael Glaser were in another one where they were part of a music band.

Susan Seaforth Hayes talked about the time her mother wrote "DOOL". LOL!!!!

Nola was supposed to be Sheffer's Co-HW, and frankly, I got the feeling the show would be much more exciting

if she had been.

She is not boring, though she does seem more like a member of the GoGo's than a soap writer. LOL!

[aMLCproduction]

Now that I can agree too. Days would so be much more intersting and proably more diverese. I am so sick of the "White out"

[DaysFanatic777]

I have been so busy with my job I haven't been to this board in a long time (4 days)...Thats a long time for me. I more addicted to this board than I am Days itself right now

So the post finally started about Hogie taking the low road out of Days....Not surprised it happened, just a bit surprised it took so long for us to out-right discuss it.

Like so many here, I applaud Hogan through December. He was doing a GREAT job, and the ratings had the capability to rise again during that time. I remember reading the post here and thinking, like many, that Days could have a resurgance in 2007. Everything was in place, and Hogan, along with Milstien, had got the show to the point where it could blossom. Then, he and the show tanked.

I never out-right bashed Reilly till he was gone, cause what was the point. Reilly hacked the show to pieces, BUT HE KNEW HOW TO BUILD SUSPENSE AND MOMENTUM. Give the hack writer that much credit. He also understood the importance of the "Big Four". He may not have kept them together enough, but he kept them front and center. He DID NOT understand Days history from a real historic view point, and forever changed the show for the worse. Reilly is worthy of praise and outrage.

Hogan is worthy of niether praise nor outrage, because he has done nothing on this show to really talk about. He has been bland, irrtatingly fast-paced, and confusing. He's moved the stories so quickly that we have not been able to actually enjoy them. There has been no real buzz about the show, because it's been moving at such a lightning pace, we haven't had to ask questions about future direction in a storyline.

It's like waiting for a volcano to explode. With Reilly, we'd all stand with binoculars for months on end to see when it would happen, and finally give up and not care. With Hogan, by the time we arrive to watch the event, lava is burning our feet off, and half the mountain is gone.

SHOULD HE BE REPLACED?......I'm kinda scared to say yes with the show on the brink like this. He shoudn't be replaced with Reilly! AGAIN, NO REILLY!!!!

I think he should only be replaced by a veteran writer ho knows Days and understands the importance of couples, romance, adventure and family. ANDERSON is a possibility, and I love her. She is seriously a masterful writer for Days, and I don't understand why Corday hasn't swallowed his pride and asked her back. She is a great candidate. I also like Milstien and B&C.

So, yes, I think he should if the writer is right. However, if they can't get a writer who is a Days alumn, just keep Hogan. A big shake-up that doesn't payoff with a return to the real Days, could result in complete disaster (ratings bumping at 1.8.... )

[sungrey]

I'll say it again... when Reilly left the first time, he had "creative consultant" status for the remainder of his contract. Do you bring Sheri Anderson aboard strictly as a consultant? I for one would love it. I'd also love it if she were head writer, but that's another topic.

I'm sticking behind Hogan. His stuff has been good... not great, except for a few episodes here and there, but enough that I'm satisfied.

[PhoenixRising05]

Exactly. This show can't handle another transition and asking JER back would be enough to get me to quit watching. I know that will stun everyone but that man further put Days in the mess it's in and I will not watch my show get further watered down under him.

I love Sheri dearly but she should do no more then co-write. She would excel in that. I just think the times we are in would not suit her as a HW and so much has changed that I think she would follow the way of JER and just try to re-create the past rather then starting a new golden era.

Days just needs a strong co-HW with knowledge of show history and needs more people on staff that are the same way. The show began losing it's way when so many of the Days writing staff began to be gutted in favor of new writers. Hogan would be wise to go get people like SLG and Brash back. If not them, go find some others. They would help alot. Hogan also needs to be left alone with his team to write HIS stories. He says these are his but we don't know if Corday had thrown some stuff in or whatever. Just because a writer says it's his stuff doesn't mean it hasn't been influenced somehow.

Hogan is the right choice. He proved it last Fall before Corday and NBC got involved. He just needs to leeway and help to show he can bring what the show needs. Hopefully, he gets it.

[billyjill]

I'm willing to let (as if I had any influence at all) Hogan stay if paired up with someone who knows Days history. There's Millstein, Anderson, Brash, etc ... I don't think he can fully exploit Days' assets, and that's what we'd need to get out of the 2.0-2.2 range ... but he has made improvements, yes. Just, not enough to offset all the other changes.

[ChangedBYSon]

I really don't think Hogan's problem is that he doesn't know the history of the show. He seems to have researched it

very, very well.

I think Hogan's problem is that he's not good at writing to "women's tastes", he's not good at "romance", he's not

good at building strong women characters and he's not appealing to women or teenaged girls in large numbers, because

his writing is "ironic and very man-view oriented".

He's a great writer, IMO, but he doesn't appeal to the show's demographic like Millstein, Anderson or a woman would.

[IMissAremid]

THANK YOU!!! And I don't even think it's just because Hogan Sheffer is a MAN that this show's ratings are in the toilet and women are tuning out. I think it's because he's a misogynist. When JER wrote this show, as many problems as there were with his writing he still was capable of writing strong, smart women when he wanted to. He also knew when to give shirtless time to the guys, when to bust out the strawberries and whip cream and champagne. I know I am a broken record on this point, but I don't think it can be stressed enough how much Hogan's screwed up ideas about sex and women are hurting this show. Chelsea's been arrested for prostitution and sexually harassed and lost her virginity off screen basically just because she wanted to get it over with, Kate's back to being Stefano's whore, Sami had to exchange sex to get something she wanted and had a who's the daddy storyline centered around a rape accusation, Stephanie's turned into a stupid skank and been sexually harassed, Billie pathetically slept with her daughter's boyfriend, Willow and China Lee were new whores brought in to be obstacles to other couples, dayplayers like Ilsa and Candy Cane (the first one) and Jenna are written in as temporary whores, Jeremy gets Max involved in a human trafficking prostitution scheme, Tony has been rewritten to be a womanizer and we see exotic promiscuous island girl stereotypes in Gabby on Tinda Lao and Tony's Leelee and Lola groupies... the list goes on and on.

Until or unless someone stops him from writing women so poorly I do not think DOOL will ever recover.

[PhoenixRising05]

That's a very good point, although I don't see this widespread prositution/weak women/mysogynistic thing going on. Hogan writes strong women, examples being Hope and Kayla. Marlena also fits into that and Belle is very strong, if not bitchy, at times. I disagree about Billie. She was hurting at the time and made a mistake and has come back from that mistake to be the strong woman she always was, if not stronger. While I do enjoy the show right now, I also recognize that there is a disconnect in several areas. Fans feel disconnected from characters and characters have undergone changes but we haven't seen enough focus on why the character changed and how they got to that point. That goes back to poor execution on the part of Days as a whole. While I am not as down on this summer as others, the show has felt choppy and the stories at times are all over the place. The TTS plot actually has a direction and plotted course, which is ironic considering many fans just aren't interested in it. We should have seen some scenes where Kate is running low on cash and we start to see her desperation building up to the point where she made the decision to go to Stefano. Things like that were being done in Hogan's first few months but not now and it's odd because you know he can write it and part of me thinks he knows he should. The question is why he doesn't and it could be that he is pacing things too fast for some purpose or because he was told not to for some reason. It's just weird that he chooses to leave some critical things out when they could help the stories along. That is why Friday was so different. The execution was better and the choppiness was gone. We had good character insight into Chelsea and Nick and what is driving them and that explained 3 months of back and forth that had unclear reasons behind it. The Dimera's also had some great character growth on Friday with Benji, Lexie, etc. I hope that is a sign of things to come under Ed. It's not so much the stories but the execution of them that is the issue.

I also want to go back to the history point. Yes, Hogan knows history but it's all from watching DVD's and the like. I'm sure he knew a bit and learned even more from watching and reading but you have to be able to connect with that history. Otherwise, when he writres, it comes off as just a history mention. The same effect does not occur. Basically, you have to have a passion for the show's history and for the characters. That is why I think having writers like Brash, Cwickly, SLG, etc back on staff would really help as they know the characters and have a passion for the show. Sheri Anderson as a co-HW would also help tremendously as she could help Hogan along in this regard, along with being a fan of the show itself. Hogan is a great writer but he needs someone to help with the disconnect many feel and to help with utilizing show and character history tto it's fullest. He does know alot but he needs help applying it.

[IMissAremid]

While you see this as simply poor execution, to me I see it as Hogan actively contorting the characters to fit his plots rather than the other way around. So I guess you see it more as negligent character distortion by the show while I see it as malicious.

You are right that Hope has been a strong woman, however, she has no job and no big story of her own. Kayla is kind of the same way, although I admit the way she was written from Jan-April she came across as somewhat cold and unfeeling in how she dealt with Steve's problems because we never saw her vulnerable or emotionally breakdown because of them so that was a big reason why I got so bored with Steve and Kayla and found it hard to care about them and also why I found it hard to hold it against EJ the things he did to these people because we never saw the emotional effect it had on them. I don't see Belle as all that strong (yeah she has two men at her beck and call but that's more because she's indecisive IMO) but the show has totally forgotten she was a successful fashion designer, that she did go to Salem U in the past and that she should have enough money independently of any man to be able to buy what she wants as the daughter of John Black so that really weakens her character from where it could be. Oh and I don't think bitchy is the same thing as strong. As for Billie... has she even made an appearance in ten episodes since she screwed Nick? More than 5? So I don't really think you can use her as an example of a strong woman when as soon as she stopped being pathetic and shown having to rely on Lucas to have an apt. and got her own company doing well she backburnered to the point people thought she was getting written out. But really my biggest gripe with all of this is what's been done to Sami, who has been weakened and watered down considerably under Hogan IMO.

Very very good point. You put this all very well. Like there will be these passing references to people like Renee or Tony's being the gardener's son or Maison Blanche but they really don't tie emotionally into the storylines all that well. Although a couple times where something was done well I thought, however, was this scene EJ had with Andre when he thought he was still Tony talking about how Kristen Blake had caused so much of his despair and there was also that scene with Doug's Place that I thought was done well.

[Days4Life]

I agree with IMA's assessment about Hogan's attitude about women, and the way he writes them. His writing style is not the type generally preferred by women--and I know this because I am one. Women want romance, not sleazy sex in an elevator or hospital shower sex involving an extremely pregnant woman. If he wants to keep women viewers and win back the ones that have quit watching, he needs to make some adjustments. Yes, not all viewers are women, but they are the core audience so they have to be considered in the way this show is written. Wednesday's Santo/Colleen story was a good start. That scene was all about romance, from Santo's monologue, to Colleen walking to the door and slamming it shut, and when Santo ripped open his shirt to offer his heart to Colleen--that's the stuff that makes a woman's heart skip a beat or two. Then, the kiss on the neck....lovely. Whoever wrote that script, GETS romance. Some of my favorite scenes of DAYS were in the 70s during the Doug/Julie era. Their road to happiness was tortuous--one of them always seemed to be married when the other was available. They were in love but not able to be together, and we would get these wonderful scenes at Doug''s Place of Julie watching Doug longingly, with tears in her eyes, and he would sing "their" song (The Look of Love) and you just knew that for him, Julie was the only person in the room. That was romance. And it was emotional--you could sit at home on your couch and actually feel the longing and heartbreak coming off the screen. When have we got that lately? All the emotional stuff is skipped over and just referred to briefly sometime down the road.

As for the way Hogan writes women, he seems to be a little behind the times. I don't consider Belle a strong female character at all. She should be and was headed that way with her career as a fashion designer, but that's gone completely by the wayside. Now she's an indecisive, spoiled girl/woman relying on not one but two men to keep her in clothing and a roof over her head. Shawn and Philip both treat her as an object to be possessed, and she not only allows it but seems to encourage it. Billie has been written well lately, with her business taking off, but we never see her. Kate has resorted to bartering sex for money again, Marlena is never seen unless she's glued to John's side--except for the occasional scene where she's mothering Sami or Belle. What happened to her practice and her life outside John and her children? Stephanie is a superficial, silly girl blindly obsessed with her boyfriend and Chelsea--well, who knows about Chelsea because she changes constantly, but she's not a strong young woman (although Friday's episode gives me hope). Sami used to be one of the strongest, feistiest characters on the show, and now she's in training to be a Stepford Wife. Where's the Sami that would stand up to Lucas and fight for herself? That's when she and Lucas were best together, and if I was a Lumi fan I would be very upset at the way this relationship has been handled. Being happily married does not mean the wife becomes a submissive doormat (my husband could attest to that). The only woman being written well is Hope--and sometimes Kayla. Adrienne and Maggie are strong women--but we rarely see them. Notice the pattern--the strong women characters are rarely seen. Instead we get....Belle...Stephanie....Jenna.....China Lee (seemed to be strong at first, then we find out she's a hooker and con artist).

It's 2007, and HS needs to realize women can be more than hookers and accessories for men. His females remind me a lot of the ones in "Mad Men"--and that takes place in the year 1960!

[DaysFanatic777]

Wow! you get it.

I am a happily married man who enjoys Days. Even I see that Hogan doesn't "get" female characters. He almost writes the sex scenes like a buffer or must have scene. It's like he thinks "well soaps have to love scenes so I'll throw this one in..." It all seems forced and not good at all. As a man, I have to admit that soaps can't be all adventure and suspense. There has to be Romance, and the adventure must work around the romantic strtucture of the storyline. Romance must be the catalyst, or a soap turns into just a bland drama. Remember the phrase "Love in the Afternoon'....

Your point about Doug and Julie in the 70's is facinating and to the point. This is one place Reilly got it. The more tortured and star crossed a couple is, the more watchable a couple becomes. We have to feel the pain of the two lovers who seem to be so much in love, and yet unable to act on it. Doug and Julie went for years without having their dream come true. It was painful and it pissed me off, but when it did culminate and they were together, the sparks flew and I was glued. I love sex scenes that seem to just come out of desperation to be together. Like John and Marlena on the plane back in the early 90's. He was leaving town, she didn't want him to go, and she threw herself at him just to get him to stay in Salem.

A strong woman can show weakness and still be strong. A strong woman doesn't use sex, but she enjoys it. A strong woman isn't afraid to lay it all on the line for the ones she loves, and will not except second place in a mans heart. A strong woman isn't strong only in business. A strong female character must be the glue that holds her family together, and the one who sets boundaries in a relationship. Before 1994, this show was a showcase of strong female characters. Now, they've been reduced to almost nothing.

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Sheffer should the HW the show with Beth Milstein or Anne M. Scholette. Sheffer is a very capable writer. Case in point: ATWT from August 2000 to mid-July 2004.