DAYS: Monday, Sept. 10

[billyjill]

I have to agree, there's still this feeling of a lack of a Plan for this show, and while they can do holding patterns with more flare than before, they're still holding patterns.

[DrewH]

I'm loving the Philip and Belle scenes. I think it has more to do with the chemistry between Martha and Jay more than the actual story. I had to roll my eyes when Belle told the lady in charge that Philip would never hit a woman. Are we supposed to forget how abusive Philip was to Mimi, Willow and Gabby earlier this year? Because I didn't.

I don't think Shawn should be a cop, but that's just me. I can understand where thoes that are supporting this move are coming from. It has been long coming since both of his parents are cops. And I like the angle they're going with Bo and Hope concerned about Shawn's safety. That makes me think that Shawn is going to get hurt in the line of duty down the road.

[Rhiannon]

Yes......

Today's show was ok, nothing to write home about though.....

[PhoenixRising05]

These B-story shows really should not be on Monday's. That is a big problem. This show is more suited for a Tuesday or even Thursday. It seems like tomorrow is the same as today. Starting out a week with two straight shows that are slow movers and that focus mostly the supporting stories of the show is not a good way of trying to build ratings. It's not so much the characters and the stories aren't bad. The show just has to better organize when they air what and how they put together the shows. The Brady/Dimera story should be on about 4 days a week and the B stories should alternate around that.

Today was boring. Steve/EJ/Roman was good. Enjoyed the Steve/Kayla moments and EJ mentioning how he "made" Steve. Glad EJ is suspicious of Stefano's death.

I don't mind Max/Stephanie because I like the actors and see the chemistry but it's hard to get past their familial connection. I hope this is something building to something else to do for these two. It sucked we didn't get more of Rawlings. I enjoyed him.

Shawn/Bo was nice and I liked the tie in with Shawn wanting to be a cop and Jett's shooting. Belle/Philip was annoying. I like their chemistry but why was Philip acting like the Philip of earlier this year? It was too much of a regression. Ugh. At least the story moved though.

Tomorrow looks slow and the final 3 days look like the money days. It wasn't bad today but it wasn't great.

[NYC123]

Today was pretty boring.

Tomorrow looks a bit better.

[Angela]

I agree. I tried to watch DAYS today because they moved it to two, but I wasn't really interested in anything I saw and it made me want to tune back in to OLTL to see if anything interesting was going on there. They should have tried to start off this move with a bang - the 2 p.m. move in some big markets (only NY?), and PSNS cancellation.

[PhoenixRising05]

Exactly. This was a pivotal day as the show switched time slots in many markets. Stupid move.

It's stupid no matter what week it is. It's just bad pacing. Monday is a day that you want to set the tone for the week and Friday is a day to make fans come back for the next week. The days in between should set up and move story. That is the way Days and other soaps used to do it but it doesn't happen any longer. Days is on a decent roll and this wasn't horrible but, for a Monday, it was a poor episode choice.

[brimike]

I totally see what you're saying, and I absolutely agree. It's like the writers get the DiMera/Brady story, and suddenly they find layers and delve into history... but then everything goes one-note for the B-stories. I don't know if it's because the characters aren't as defined, or because they just don't have the wealth of history to draw on that the Bradys and DiMeras do. But it's inconsistent. I definitely agree and I saw it clearly on today's show.

[brimike]

Well, to be fair, I'm sure they didn't know about the time switch (at least, definitively) three months ago when they wrote this. I believe it only became public knowledge about 4-6 weeks ago. Like, end of July, beginning of August. And they would have written these episodes end of June, beginning of July

[IMissAremid]

This is one of the reasons I wanted so badly to have the Touch the Sky storyline wind up having Andre cause a plane crash that seriously hurt and hopefully killed some of the younger set. What was the point of introducing the fact that the DiMeras were behind that criminal enterprise and sending EJ to the plane to meet with Jeremy if they were going to totally forget the DiMera involvement in this and never address it save for that one day?

[maconrich]

Loved the facial expressions by Roman and then Steve when EJ confronted them about Stefano not being dead. Came thru clearly that they weren't sure if he knew for a fact or not. SN and JS were brilliant as always -- why is it that these two men can show so much depth and emotion thru their eyes, facial expressions, body language and vocal nuances (as can JM and TP), while others just seem to put so much less into their performances? For me that is part of the problem with some of the other storylines -- either the characters are lacking in depth or the acting is off making it harder to buy into the storylines. Maybe it's just me; or maybe it's because there are a select few actors that are just so awesome that it's not even fair to compare others to them...

Anyway, the "press conference" was interesting -- what 2 reporters and a camera man? But when Roman said it was over it sounded like a room full of reporters throwing questions at him. Maybe the rest were ducking down or something...

The comment by EJ regarding Steve was off. I mean seriously off. If EJ is supposed to be 28-30ish, and Steve was taken by the DiMeras 16 years ago (?) that would make EJ pretty young -- yet in Steve's flashback a few months ago, EJ looked just as he does now. Maybe if they'd not indicated Steve had been living as Nick for several years - at the very least - it might work, but as is even suspending reality makes it too hard to believe.

For me the Steve/Kayla; Steve/EJ and Roman/EJ scenes were the winners -- the rest was blah at best...

[Josh]

So why is Belle helping Phillip find his baby? So that he'll leave Claire alone!?

[GBB]

Today's show was okay for me. I agree with those who say it's a little slow for a Monday, especially considering the excitement of last week and considering this week marks the loss of Passions and Days having to sink or swim with no other leadin/leadout.

That being said, it wasn't bad, just a little meh.

I get why the writers are putting Max & Stephanie together. They have some really good chemistry. But I'm still not able to get past the fact that he's her uncle. I might be able to handle it better yet if they actually discussed the fact that her mother is his sister. The line, "My brothers are Bo and Roman. Her father's Steve" was such a tortured way of avoiding saying "she and I are related." Rawlings was funny in a slimeball kind of way and I think they missed a big opportunity by not having him make fun of the fact that they're uncle and neice and clearly attracted to each other. By having someone point out the elephant in the room, at least the audience knows the writers aren't ignoring it and it might make it easier to deal with.

I enjoyed the scene between Bo and Shawn except it made me NUTS that Shawn just charged into a crime scene and expected to chat with Daddy about his career plans. First of all, Shawn, if you're going to be a cop, you might want to respect the integrity of a crime scene. Second, being a cop means you can't always stop (what Shawn believed to be) a murder investigation to chat with your son. Those annoyances aside, I liked the bonding in the scene and I thought Bo did a good job in laying out what being a cop is all about. I also loved "We have this crazy habit of talking about our kids."

I really loved the Steve/Kayla scenes at the police station. I loved seeing the swagger back in Steve's step after getting a blow or two back at the Dimeras. And I loved the raw sexual tension between them when he said "I'm a dangerous man, baby. You'll have to feed me." That's the way to sell a scene. I was shocked to see EJ admit to Roman that he "made" Crazy!Steve. I guess he's not even pretending anymore that he wasn't a part of the torture and brainwashing.

I see a lot of chemistry between Phillip and Belle (a lot more than she has with Shawn anyway) but Phillip HAS to get his anger under control. On what planet did he think it's okay to physically attack a woman in a battered women's shelter?? Much less one holding a baby. He's lucky he got out of there with a bump on the head. He could/should have been on his way to jail.

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Why hasn't Edward J. Scott dropped Touch The Sky? Bored to death by it. It's one of the worst storylines DOOL has ever had. Sheffer is a much better writer than this, or at least was. Perhaps his multiple Emmy wins have gotten to his head. He's one of many writers that THRIVE when they have a talented & dedicated team helping them out. Case in point: ATWT from August 2000-July 2004.

I wonder how people would feel if more of his ex-ATWT colleagues were hired to write for the show. DOOL already has: Sheffer, Kelly, Donato, Tate. Who's next to join? Whitesell? Dansby? Simon?

[PhoenixRising05]

Maybe so but they knew Passions was leaving so the possibility was there and it's also the Fall season so the potential for a time slot switch is there regardless.

Even without the time slot issue, it's stupid to even think of having a Monday episode like this. It sets the week off in a negative way, even if the episode wasn't that bad. The sad part is they have done this all summer with the exception of a few times and I think it has hurt the shows that follow after it, even if those episodes are really good.