DAYS: Soap Opera Digest letter about show

[MikeGoldy]

So, I'm reading my SOD and I come across this letter about the show; here is part of it.

"For years, DAYS was my favorite soap. But their brutal treatment of the over thirty cast members, their comic style strip-writing and insistence on ramming jabbering, hyperactive teenagers down the viewers' throats has slowly but surely turned me off."

When was this letter written? It was from the November 19th, 1985 issue! LOL Not much has changed, huh? A lot of us seem to forget that back then, DAYS ditched the older characters in favor of younger characters. It's gone on for a long time.

Dee Hall, Susan Lucci and Eileen Fulton were on the cover.

[Shawn]

Not surprising. Its been going on for all soaps for years and years.

[Days4Life]

I still remember how outraged I was when Julie was backburnered--she was the Sami of the 70s!

[juppiter]

Wasn't there a headwriter of DAYS at some point in the late 70s or early 80s that got rid of like 12 regular characters to make room for the Bradys?

[sungrey]

You're partially correct. The great, wonderful (sarcasm) Nina Laemmle axed some great characters from this show in 1980 like Bob, Linda, Margo, Bill and Laura to make room for some forgettable new characters (a few years later, only Liz was left from that new bunch).

The show's ratings slipped badly and were down until about late 1981-early 1982... they got Pat Falken Smith to return for a short stint. She brought back some former characters for limited runs and then created Tony, Stefano, Roman and a few other characters. When Pat left, Margaret DePriest came up with the idea to "kill" Marlena (Samantha) and the ratings shot way up.

[Toups]

A storyline centered around Marlena that got huge ratings? No way!!

[Gray Bunny]

Thinking back... everyone should've figured Marlena would be the serial killer right from the get-go when Abe was shot! They wanted to bring up the ratings, right?

[Toups]

Yup, it had to be Marlena. JER was wise enough to choose the icon of the show to be the killer and which character would be possessed back in 1994. Any other character in both instances wouldn't have had the same impact or buzz.

If you want to do something huge, you do it with Marlena/Deidre. It's so simple. I don't understand how Hogan doesn't realize that. Simple.

[Gray Bunny]

Word! Wouldn't it be DEE-lightful to have Marlena back front & center? Hell, it can even be a storyline where she's mourning John's death...

[titan1978]

Also, the new characters brought on the show back then, during Smith and DePriest, were better. Bo, Hope, Kayla, Kim, Roman, Stefano, Patch, Shane, those were great characters!

[DAYSisHOT]

Who is this mysterous Marlena/Deidre Hall person? (scarcasm). Too bad she isn't on the show. I bet if they used her in a storyline the ratings might improve for the show.

[Faulkner]

Preach it, preach it! HALLELUJAH!

[Mitchapalooza]

DAYS biggest ratings success stories have ALWAYS centered around Marlena Evans...ALWAYS!

-Kristen/John/Marlena

-The Possession

-Lady In A Cage

-The Salem Stalker

-Murder of Marlena (Samantha)

Just to name a few. All had Marlena as the central or core 3 characters and all were among DAYS most watched storylines that brought in HUGE ratings.

Its a shame DAYS has chosen to reduce her to wallpaper...this women deserves to be in the spotlight and watch and see the viewers come back!

[UKBoi]

Maybe that's one of the reasons why young actors these days dont stick with soaps for too long...Alexa Havins may be front and center constantly just now, but would Babe still be in major frontburner stories in twenty years time? Ali Sweeney is a brave girl for staying on soaps for so long, especially when her show is one of the worst for backburnering vets.

[Shawn]

Its true that some of the biggest stories/ratings centered around Dee, and deservedly so. I think she would raise the ratings again. But if she's going to be some love struck victim cooing at Eyebrow day in and day out instead of being the strong woman she once was, I'd rather she stayed backburnered.

I truly hope they kill off John, because a) I hate the character and Drake is too arrogant, and it would give Dee a chance to truly shine, a la the 70's-80's.