SOAPnet's--"The Devil Made Me Do it"--Marlena's Possession Episodes

[YRBB]

Actually, that's a very great assessment of JERs work. I completely agree, that's how I felt.

[Ryan]

You mean like the Salem Stalker storyline? Or Mimi planning on telling Shawn about Claire....for a whole freakin year before the truth came out?

Or people having the same conversation over and over and over again? Or having a cliffhanger on Friday with someone about to "reveal" something only for it to be a dream on Monday?

Lol, yeah, let's dangle that carrot again. Woohoo! I'm all for carrots.

[Ryan]

Don't take me too seriously Toups. I'm just joshin ya about Reilly.

You have to give the man credit where credit is due, and though his writing infuriated the hell out of me, I still watched. And Reilly never, never had DAYS at the bottom of the ratings pack (though I think we can all agree that Hogan's writing alone isn't what has driven DAYS to the bottom of the ratings). I think your assessment of Reilly's writing was dead on.

[Toups]

I haven't posted this quotes in years..........

"I don't want my show to be nice and boring. I want it to get under people's skin." - James E. Reilly

"Keeping the audience interested in our devil possession story - and getting through the O.J. trial - was important. At the start, we received very negative mail from church groups. Toward the end, those same people called to say they now use tapes of the show in their Bible classes. It was an attention getter, but it WAS ALWAYS A LOVE STORY." - James E. Reilly (September of 1996)

LMAO at the bible classes. Classic!!

[Angela]

Ryan's right. You're not going to offend much any AMC fan by throwing slang at our sucky show, right now, lol.

I don't think it would have happened, to be honest. JER was doing the same thing over and over for the three weeks of hit-hit-hit (6.2 - 6.5 - 6.9) and it was getting stupider each time he did it. Whatever I think of his writing in general (Buried Alive was brilliant; the 1995-1996 season was brilliantly romantic/gothic; the 1993-1994 season he wrote like any good writer on any good show), like McTavish I think he runs out of steam and it all becomes really too stupid to live and too frustrating to watch.

I know what drawed me in to DAYS right before the ending of the OJ case - it was a combination of DAYS backstage drama (firing the mega-popular RKK), returns (PR's), AMC having weak writing/stories for over a year, AMC losing two of my favorite actors/characters. Everything combined at just the right time. DAYS was offering a nice escape, really gothic romance, the character were still sort of complex and not all entirely too stupid to live yet.

[dragonflies]

WORD

[Toups]

LOL It doesn't always have to be like that. I don't like Reilly's false tags either, but you still have to find a way to dangle the carrot.

LOL It's okay...just bring it. I love getting into Reilly debates. He's always fun to talk about..... 8 threads about a JER storyline.....who would've thought that! There's just something about Reilly that just gets us talking. I love it.

[Ryan]

I can say that DAYS can bring a little more sensationalism to the table. If I were in charge of NBC Daytime, I would launch a marketing campaign called "Escape". The promo would feature DAYS actors in maybe 10-15 second spots saying stuff like this:

Marlena : Escape to a world where love transcends everything...even death. Escape to Days of Our Lives.

Or a "DAYS is...." campaign. You feature actors talking about DAYS and what it is (of course they would be in character).

It would rival that of the GH promos in the 90's and early 00's. Can you imagine DAYS doing promos like this?

[Wendy]

Ladies and gentleman, the second story that killed Days' credibility in the soap world! (Carly being buried alive was the first.)

This was the line in the sand, when Days stopped getting respect and having a chance at Emmys. Sure, ratings went up...but it was a flash. In the end? Days died because of this, IMO. Once many left, they stayed gone.

It took a decade, but the mess Reilly created [and Sheffer exacerbates - in a different way] has finally had the results, of turning a show from grounded to camp, catch up.

[Ryan]

Or better yet, give us some of these:

This is random, but just because you have a "teen" set, doesn't mean it has to suck. GH did great with Jason, Liz, Zander etc. back in the day. DAYS could take a page from their book.

[Toups]

Well...not really.....DAYS went up during the Possession and continued to go up and climaxed 2 years after this storyline aired reaching their highest ratings in the 90's.

[YRBB]

OK, those were two AWESOME commercials!

[Ryan]

ABC sucks, but their promos used to kick ass!

[dragonflies]

I remember those promos with Jason, Liz, Zander, they were kick ass I loved Liason, but damn I couldn't help but love Liz and Zander too

WOW I never thought this thread would have this many replies, I think this is my longest thread ever. Not to toot my own horn or anything

[YRBB]

It almost made me want to go and find those old(er) episodes :D