DAYS: Friday October 19th Episode

[Chris]

So this is the first time I am watching DAYS life in at least 6 months. It is BRILLIANT. I saw the rest of this weeks episodes online, and man were they good. I can't believe this is the same show.

[Toups]

Very nice flashbacks, especially the old school ones.

Loved Stefano leaving the pawn chess piece.

[Dan]

[!@#$%^&*]. I was really hoping this montage was going to end the show. It would have made for a brilliant ending.

[Pest Spray]

Three of them. She's put her name on the ballot like five times, and three noms (all of which were deserving). This week has just been extraordinary for me. There hasen't been a single moment that I haven't been amazed by her performance.

[Toups]

Oh God, that montage killed me. Simply beautiful.

[Dan]

I LOVE how the montage ends and all you hear is the rain falling as the shot fades to black. Not only has the music been wonderful, but thankfully Ed Scott understands the value of silence, which can be even more powerful than a full-blown musical cue.

[Toups]

It was written as the end of Thursday's show, but like I said earlier, Thursday's episode ran on too long so the Acts were pushed back to Friday's episode.

[Dan]

True. Forgot about that already.

[Chris]

I gotta say, Deidre Hall was amazing in that scene with Martha Madison. Simply amazing and heartbraking.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't get it, Melody made one facial expression in ONE instance, and we're supposed to believe that they hate each other? I'm sure neither Deidre or Melody looses sleep over it at night.

Anyway, it isn't up to Scott's Y&R friends to help, unless they're apart of the blue ribbon panel. The shows only have two votes and that goes towards the Outstanding Drama Series category, Y&R supports it's sister-show B&B, and the P&G and ABC soaps support one another. Days has Passions, but that isn't enough.

As for the acting categories, when there is polling to select the nominees, CBS and ABC soaps bloc votes, to ensure their network gets the most nominations as possible and that's not going to change.

When the nominations are selected, the reels the nominees choose goes to the blue ribbon panel, which is mostly made up of unbias voters (so they say) from OUTSIDE the soap business. They vote on whom will take home the Emmy's.

It all breaks down to politics, and NBC is mostly to blame for why Days will never get any serious Emmy recognition. They know how the process works, yet they continue to cancel soaps and treat Days like a wicked stepchild.

I can however see Hogan getting a nomination for Writing, I don't think they'll be begrudged of that. As for Days getting serious recognition, unless the system changes, I'm not confident they will.

Also, I hear Deidre has a history of not submitting her name, does anyone know why?

[Pest Spray]

I didn't say it was mutual. All I've read is MTS has something against DH.

She's said she won't do it unless she knows she can stand there at the end, win and feel like she's done the work to deserve it. It's not something that's important to her.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't see how anyone can make that assumption, since there's only that ONE instance at that particular award show to back that up. Melody's never commented on Deidre in any negative way.

I wish more actors were like that, it gets too out of hand sometimes when you see the same people nominated over and over again, especially if they didn't deserve it for a particular year (that's you Geary, Zimmer, and Flannery!).

[MichaelGL]

That is something I truly adore about Ed Scott.

I also loved that they held off on using music during the scene where Marlena confides in Belle about being a tehrapist. Such a powerful scene.

Marlena's breakdown=the most powerful scene on a soap oera for this entire year.

I'm still surprised at the amount of flashbacks we got today. Who directed today's show by the way?

[Days4Life]

I thought I was done crying this week, but today was the worst yet for me. Marlena coming home to that empty bedroom, with John's shirt over the chair, the rumpled bed, his cup and book on the nightstand, the rain falling outside...I think my heart is in about a billion pieces right now. Deidre was flawless. And her conversation with Belle about grief and how she had counseled people in the past without fully understanding what it was like--that was so real and heartfelt. I'm very proud of DAYS for dealing with death in a way that is so true to reality and not making it melodramatic and over the top.

I loved the story Marlena told Belle about John at the French bakery, pretending to speak French and she pretended not to know him. Very cute and sweet and I can easily visualize it as they often had playful little scenes like that. I also liked Shawn's toast to his "Johnny, a true Brady if there ever was one", which has me thinking about my Colleen theory again. The flashbacks were wonderful, especially since a lot of viewers may not have seen them the first time around.

I liked having Stefano at the church after the Bradys left, placing the pawn beside John's picture. A nice touch of respect from the man who manipulated him for so many years, only to discover all the mind control and implanted chips in the world can't defeat a hero.

I'm torn about the "is John really dead" debate. Part of me would love to have him back because he's been such a huge and important part of the show for over 20 years. However, this week has been so amazing, with so much pain and grief and emotion that if John isn't really dead, it takes away the impact of this wonderful, amazing week. So I don't know.... I will say this, though, regarding the fan response to John's death--I'm glad that NBC, Sony and all TPTB have received a strong reminder of how passionately devoted DAYS fans are. Ratings are not a true measure of a show's success. (As CBS learned from their Jericho fans.)

I liked that Bo, during his conversation with Shawn, mentioned that John died in a hit and run, just like Zack. I'm curious as to why, ever since he decided to join the Salem PD, we're getting so much ominous talk about Shawn getting hurt and how Hope couldn't lose another son. I can't believe DAYS would kill off another character so soon, but it does seem like some catastrophe may be in Shawn's future. Or maybe he will change his career plans again.

DAYS needs to do a crossover with CSI so they don't have to conduct their accident investigations at the Brady Pub.

[PhoenixRising05]

Dee Hall was superb today. This is her emmy reel and, for me, she has already won it. I know she won't get recognized but she deserves too.

That scene where she smells his shirt and then looks over at the book and breaks down was the most powerful scene on daytime television this year, bar none. This is soap opera. Then the montage, which was perfectly done with song many fans wanted to pay tribute to them was great. The silence and the rain...wow. Flawless. Marlena and Belle's talk with no music at all was awesome to watch. Marlena just kept reaching out for him and it was so sad. Good job by all. Loved the end with Sami and Belle in bed with her.

The beginning with Marlena and Stefano's showdown was fantastic. She showed so much range with this episode from start to finish. The slow motion as the casket was carried out was fantastic. I am glad Ed didn't cut anything.

The Pub scenes, flashbacks (loved the Jate one and Stefano's flashback with his putting the chess pawn on the picture as we got a collection of flashbacks to follow that), Shawn Sr's toast, everything. The little moments like Stephanie realizing she has not been there for Kayla, Tony and Lexie agreeing to have dinner together, etc. Great job.

Nice Bo/Shawn scenes at the end too (I think something had is coming his way) and I did enjoy Steve punching Philip. I like the Pocket story. I had no problem with the investigation scenes at the Pub. They wanted to get started with finding out who did it but they were needed at the Pub. I mean, you have the commissioner there so it's not really an issue. It's strange but they are all family and friends of John and each other so they are desperate to get started.

I was also pleased to know my initial reaction to spoilers was right. This was not about Sami, except for the end of Wednesday's show. Yes, the story was featured earlier this week, but the last two days only had like 2 scenes focusing on Lucas/Sami/EJ. The show did all this the right way and it deserves to be commended.

Fantastic show today. What a week!! I have never cried so much and credit goes to all the cast and crew for the best week on soaps this year!