DAYS: YOUR PLAN TO SAVE DAYS!

[tylerbo20]

What would you guys do to save The Salem you guys love?

[marlenafan]

Give Marlena a major storyline! That has ALWAYS worked to bring ratings up. ALWAYS!! Give her storyline and at least try to win her the emmy she deserves before she retires...What's wrong with these people? What are the writers trying to reinvent the wheel???

[marlenafan]

OH Yea...and I forgot to mention....BRING REILLY BACK!! Yes the man is crazy and over the top and yes his second run wasn't the best BUT, I wasn't as bored with the show like I am now even during Reilly's worst. Plus he always wrote for the people I wanted to see on my screen! (Marlena, John, Bo. Hope, Sami, Kate, Stefano, etc). I think with Reilly writing and with Ed Scott there to make his stuff more realistic and believable, this show would be back to where it was circa 92-97. The best stuff being 93 (as far as writing and drama is concerned) Don't forget that Reilly also has an emmy plus he was nominated 4 times for Days!! Bring him back Dammit! If egos would allow, I would even suggest Reilly and Hogie co-head write! He is the only one that can get Days back to #2 in households again!!

[Jane1978]

There is nothing anybody can do. DAYS is doomed not because it´s awfull and unwatchable, but because it´s on NBC. There is no chance that any new viewer interested in soaps will tune in, because DAYS is now like a little intermission between neverending stream of talkshows and infomercials. And without promos most people will soon not even know it´s on anymore. Yes, the show can buy some time and bring some oldtimers back when it tries to feature the vets more, but it will get them at 2.1, 2.2 at best and only for a limited time because even the most hardcore supercouple fans get tired with the same story being repeated again and again and there is only so much you can do with a 25 years old couple.

And that´s the bigest problem of DAYS. When vets are featured the story is very limited and repeating, so people gets bored and stop watching. When newbies are featured, oldtime viewers doesn´t care and potential new viewers even don´t know the show still exists.

[IMissAremid]

OK I think giving Marlena a storyline would be a very good idea, but I don't think bringing back Reilly is the answer. Just bring on some writer, any writer who knows how to write a freaking umbrella story of some sort and isn't going to treat 25 years of DOOL history as nothing more than windowdressing for his multi-generational mediocre fanfic billed erroneously as the BIG SUMMER STORY.

Here is what I want...

1. End the EJami/Lumi crap SOMEHOW. No more pussyfooting. No more fanbase tug-o-war. Once and for all. Make a decision. Have some convictions. Get a new love interest for the man who loses out. I happen to prefer an EJami marriage of convenience as I think it could be an interesting love-hate relationship to be explored as well as offer all sorts of implications for the Bradys and DiMeras (especially at family gatherings) so if they go with that I want Lucas *AWAY* from them and not interacting with them either because he's spending his time in a drunken stupor, he's working with Phillip at Titan or in some other new job, he's in a new relationship, he leaves town or dies. I don't really care. But If EJami isn't in the cards then just put Lucas and Sami together and send them on a LONG honeymoon so they can both be relegated to the backburner and bond with their twins since Sami as a weepy heroine is NOT interesting and that's all she is if she has to play good girl happy housewife with Lucas.

2. Bring on the Roman/Anna/Tony/Kate quad! All four of them have great chemistry with each other and it would be so fun to watch. And just because the feud storyline is supposed to be resolved it's not like all the Brady-DiMera tensions should go away so this is a fun way to keep it going as both men interact back and forth with both women. Plus Kate vs. Anna battles could be DIVINE. I would love it if they somehow wound up putting Kate and Anna as either co-workers or rivals in the fashion world at a reconstituted Basic Black, or Tony and Anna DiMera Designs or even Countess Wilhelmina (I hate Billie's security company!).

3. On his way out the door, let Andre give up the costumes and non-fatal bomb-toting cartoonish villainy to get back in touch with his psycho killer side and take out some of the dead weight. That means you: Jett Carver! I could also be down for Grandpa Shawn, perhaps Billie Reed, and maybe even John Black biting the big one, but only after we get some crazy reveal like he was actually Stefano's son or brother or something.

4. If John Black needs to die, then give us all a little time with him to say goodbye and in honor of the character a bit of a swan song of a story. No BS hit by a car and no body found CRAP. And give him a real dramatic death that we get to see and that we get to watch Marlena agonize over. I would actually love this story for Marlena if we get to see her real grief and if she rediscovered herself as a single woman and poured herself back into her psychiatry practice. She could help Steve deal with his crazy and maybe even do couples counseling for EJ and Sami. Or work with Lucas on his insecurity/alcoholism issues if that becomes a problem for him after an EJami marriage. Maybe Stefano goes to see her because he is afraid he has Alzheimer's? Who knows? Just mix it up, Hogan! And be sure to put Marlena back on the screen more after you don't have to attach John's face to her in all of her scenes. While I don't think Marlena is some magical elixir to the show's ratings woes, I don't think she will HURT them and it's worth a shot to try.

5. Give the college kids some DEPTH. Make their lives revolve around something besides just sex and partying and themselves. Yes that is going to be a part of it as they are college kids, but how about something really tragic happens that causes them to get a little bit less frivolous for at least a little while (like the shock of Jett's death perhaps? ).

6. Tell a character-based UMBRELLA story. That means using a balanced cast of characters and giving them fairly equal time, mixing them up in interesting ways that have a lot of thought and planning behind them rather than the appearance of just making it up as you go along and by all means do not treat some characters as if they are nothing more than props to tell the story of other characters. Connect and interweave stories for all the characters you use or don't use the characters with no story at all.

That's a start.

[ChiTownBoi03]

I don't know. At this point, I don't think anything can be done. Me personally, I would be more enticed to watch if Marlena was indeed given a big story. I could watch her teach a science class and be content, at least she'd have some airtime.

[jcar03]

Reilly ain't coming back and if he does. I'm done. I couldn't watch for almost 2 years on a regular basis cause it was a mess. Bad stories that made sense. Yeah, ratings may of been up for awhile but for all the wrong reasons. Wanna making it a laughing stock be my guest. I will pass.

[PhoenixRising05]

I agree 100%.

However, I do think something can be done. JER is not the answer. All that man would do is put a final nail in the coffin of a show that is fading but not dead yet.

[mr. sweet]

I think the show is ON FIRE right now. I wouldn't change a thing.

[Khan]

So says Mr. Corday, lol.

[MichaelGL]

I hated Marlena, John, Bo, and Hope under JER's last reign.

For me I found myself bored when we were stuck with the ridiculous stuff surrounding Mimi/Shawn/Belle/Phillip and Iraq.

Right now the best plan to save DAYS is to improve the balance of airtime and restore some of that emotional impact the show has lost. That's all for me.

[David_Vickers]

Bring John, Marlena, Bo, Hope, Tony & Anna FRONT & CENTER! Give Maggie, Alice, Doug, Julie, Billie, Victor, Caroline more screentime. AXE EJ, Rolf, China Lee and those boys, Jeremy(re-cast), Andre, Adrienne(I like Judi Evans but see no point in having Adrienne back on DAYS), Nick (great actor but sick of the lameness of Nick) and Brandon Beemer as Shawn(Re-Cast with a more likeable and better actor, his Shawn is so one-note jealous, yelling & pissed is all Beemer can act!). Also bring back Mickey Horton, Melissa and/or Sarah Horton and some other characters like Mike, Frankie & Jack & Jenn & Abigail.

[dragonflies]

I don't think there's much that can be done to bring in new viewers at this point......

Yep I don't want a Sami who has lost her fire, I hate how she is with Lucas, but she completely lost her fire thanks to the Lumi/EJami ish. FREE SAMI!! Get her away from both losers

[billyjill]

I'm really pessimistic, and believe me I hate being so. But when I sit down and look at what I think has gone wrong in the last year, there's still the Corday factor and how can we ever get around that? Sheffer I think ultimately has other fortes than Days' traditional strengths, but that wouldn't necessarily be damning if he had just kept a Days team. Now that he has kicked them out I don't see how he can be micromanaged to fit Days. But even if they got rid of him can we count on Corday to put the right people at the top? We all know that he has no creative vision himself, beyond maybe his thrift-induced affinity for younger actors, so he needs to choose people who do know what's good for the show (specifically Days, a rather unique show) and who can work with each other. I think Corday can luck out with his picks (how ever he came upon Lorraine Broderick, for example, I have no idea, it's just got to be luck of the draw), so if you compare it to flipping coins, if you flip them enough you might come up with all heads eventually, but we may not have that many flips left. Not to be melodramatic, but, well, its 18 months 'til that 2009 date.

And then there's Corday making creative impositions on the writers. I think the Dimeras were his idea and that Hogan would prefer not writing for them, that's part of the picture of the feud being centered more around EJami. So Corday made the choice to give a story like the Dimeras to a writer who probably can't do it justice. Things like this just make me uneasy. The only one who has been with the show over a long period of time is Ken Corday and he has no clue how to save it. Who can we turn to?

Okay, now that that is out of the way, here's what I wish would happen, as an amateur sitting at home watching this stuff:

• Hire back a Days staff, kick the ATWT team out. Give Sheffer a character-oriented co-head writer, be it Sheri Anderson or whoever as long as they prefer character-driven emotionally open soap. I don't care overly much to see Sheffer stay but I'm willing to accept that he can be a good contributor with help (IF he ever cooperates with others!). I don't really care if Meg Kelly stays in another capacity or not. I'm really missing Brash, Milstein, and Geier for the team. I think if the team is "Days" then a HW who is willing to work with them will have success, and if they do that I don't mind so much if it's someone who hasn't been at Days before. And I think they need better dialog, more real, less expository. So someone should be good at that. Yeah.
• Keep a core at each cast level: veteran, adult, tween. USE THEM ALL. Work out a schedule so that everyone gets screen time for significant stories that further their own characters' personal development. The bigger "A" stories should get more prominence when they reach their apexes but over time things should even out. Balance helps keep the whole cast both fresh and familiar. Nobody is resented, nobody is underused. You know, the top soaps have better balance, they don't restart the entire show every three years (I mean, if you do that, don't complain you have to start over at a new show's ratings).
• Pick an event. I'm thinking either an expansion of the feud or a proper telling of Steve's past. Use it as an umbrella story (no, not a facade of an umbrella story, a real one). Involve a lot of the familiar faces. The feud needs to feature Tony, Stefano, Anna, Lexie, Roman, Marlena, John. It probably could and should involve Bo, Hope, Steve and Kayla also. There's nothing wrong with including EJami per se but they should have spaced it out so the feud was a springboard for them and not the showcase. This would've given their story more subtlety. Steve's past has so much potential it's not even funny and I still haven't forgiven Days for not using that. It could and probably should tie in to Hope's and John's pasts. It could also involve the ISA and the Alamains and would give a platform for some characters to return with different degrees of permanence: Shane, Jack, Vivian, etc. It ... could be so good ... sigh. Anyway, plot it out so it builds to a big development in the next 6 months and then let it have ramifications for the rest of the year. I hate stunt writing but we need an EVENT to get people watching again. If it is planned well it'll be an event that leads to sustainable quality afterward.
• Gear the show towards people and relationships (of all sorts, but do NOT forget romance, real well paced romance between deeply defined and well casted characters). We need to get inside people's heads again to care. No more cheese or camp. I mean it.
• Less tween time, but when they're on, tell a great story that develops who they are as they're entering life.
• Don't forget the Hortons.
• Move into the 21st century with grace. Days is kind of out of touch with reality in so many ways, and it definitely needs to modernize, but do it with tact and care for the characters that already exist.

[DaysFanJean]

You know what. I love Stephanie and Jeremy and think they are the best couple of the unwedded couples on Days right now. We are seeing Stephanie standing by her man who made criminal mistakes, used poor judgment and behaved poorly with her, but we didn't see him from her perspective and if she loves him, so be it. His past is very similar to her father's and even her mother's. Why would she know any better or think worse of him for it. I love how this complicated love story is working out and we have two beautiful characters to watch perform it.

Nick and the boys are refreshing and so cute. I love Nick's character and anything he does is fine by me.

Philip looking for his son is exciting. I can hardly wait until he finds that little boy and see how he takes helm of Titan and becomes the young Victor that Sheffer spoke of.

I could give a flip for John and Marlena. They are dried up, done that been there over and over. Boring. Even Bo and Hope are boring as a daily diet of couple love. Individually they are exciting and interesting and even as a couple on limited scenes.

Get rid of Adrienne and the Cheatin' Heart and bring back Mickey and Mike Horton.

We need more elegance, style and Horton's. That's the main thing missing on Days.