DAYS: Thaao Penghlis attacks the late James E. Reilly

[Kstaff]

Actually, Thaao has pretty well said this is probably it. Why would he want to go back to a ship that's probably sinking? And, Thaao and ass kisser in the same sentence is pretty laughable.

Dang........The whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. Jimmy, I love it that you said it like it is, as far as I'm concerned.

[David V]

Well network execs have their share too. Those geniuses thought that to capture the younger market, they had to promote eye candy over real talent, and had to promote stupid, shock value, sensationalistic over-the-top storylines to entice them. If anything, they have been well off the mark in every way, because plenty of people in those desired younger demos were turned off by it. They don't like their intelligence being insulted.

Daytime's promotion of image over talent and its blatant ageism... we all know where "image over talent" got the music industry, it was a trend that climaxed in the Milli Vanilli fiasco. People fell for the image that was being projected but when they found out the truth- that they didn't sing a note on record (not that one of the guys couldn't, but that's a story which belongs in another forum)- they rebelled big time. Do executives think people will fall for that trick on TV as well?

Look at almost every successful, enduring Primetime show out there. Most of these shows have middle-aged to older characters, and less likely to subscribe to the "image over talent" line that Daytime fell for. Most of them have stories that keep you watching and resonate well.

Also, violence and misogyny have become increasingly ingrained into Daytime, or more specifically the ABC soaps under Frons which are by far the worst offenders in this regard.

And also, may I also add that many of Reilly's ideas on Days weren't even that original???? The Possession storyline, I believe, may have actually been inspired by Another Life.

[TheRedWarrior]

I for one think of him as evil. Only an evil person would do what he did to Daytime with that crap of a show called Passions....

And whoever posted that link to Wikipedia about Vincent! LMAO! Thank you for reminding me of just how stupid and inept his writing was. I can't believe NBC kept that garbage on air for as long as it did.

[ian]

Wow... and I get accused of flaming in the other thread?

Anyway... the only thing that bothers me is that Thaao insulted Reilly, because he was a safe target. He says this that or the next thing about Dena and Gary but honestly his only real target is Reilly, who can't defend himself. Totally agree with everything he said and it's not off-limits to criticize the enduring work of someone - even if they are dead - but it's when you have to bash someone for cheap shock value and you decide to go after the one that's not as responsible as others simply because he's six feet under.

I'm glad Thaao thinks so highly of himself, must make it absolutely wonderful to get up in the morning knowing you're king sh!t of turd island... when reality I think he's just the biggest turd in the bowl (sorry about poo analogies )

[juniorz1]

I don't deny that I didn't necessarily care for his brand of writing, but to call him evil? I'll remember that every time you b!tch about people criticizing CK & TS's acting in the Y&R threads.

[All My Shadows]

It's not that serious...

[juniorz1]

It SO isn't, which is basically what I was saying in my People, please post.

[SteveFrame]

I never had a problem with anything that James E. Reilly did with Passions. Passions was what it was. It was created for that type of story and people that watched it for anything else didn't watch it for the right reasons. Passions was advertised as being different and was never intended to be taken as serious as a show like As The World Turns or Guiding Light.

If you base your total perception of Reilly on Passions then you are totally wrong. Then you have to go back and lump in people like Gordon Russell and Dan Curtis who brought us Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows did not have any great production values and its stories were out there too. Yet no one ever criticizes Dark Shadows the way they do Passions. And that is wrong.

My problem with Reilly, Monty and those like them is that they brought the stories that belonged on Dark Shadows and Passions onto the shows where they were completely out of character and didn't belong.

It is strange that even with the cult status that Dark Shadows obtained in the late 60's and early 70's that the other writers at the time had the sense enough to know that the out there stories didn't belong on the other shows. And guess what they didn't copy them and incorporate them.

Later writers chose to ignore that and incorporated whatever they wanted and be damned whether it belonged or not.

[Sindacco]

Because he was a safe target? That is BS, Thaao has talked about JER before when he was still alive and he did it now, there is no difference.

[Gray Bunny]

What's funny is that nobody, not myself nor anyone else, compared Reilly to Hitler or Manson. We're just trying to understand this concept of ''don't speak ill of the dead'' idea, as if someone's actions in life don't matter once they're dead.

Eh, whatever. I guess TV really does rot the brain. I'm off to the gym, LOL

[Rakesh]

So why doesn't he talk about Corday? Corday is the boss and he decides if you're staying or not. I bet you my girl Ellen Wheeler has bigger balls than Mr. Penghlis can ever dream of having.

[TheRedWarrior]

Except do we have this convo (regarding JERk) daily in the Y&R threads...I think not. And there's actual proof to back up my feelings on his writing and him as producer and probably as a person. Only a sick person would do to the audience what he did with Passions for all those years...

I mean really the whole Vincent in itself tells you what sorta person JERk really was. But that's my last statement on the man.

Again I'm not sure how you can compare my complaints about your constant comments regarding TS & CK with my few posts in this thread. Which I'm sure will be dead soon and not be repeated at all.

[David V]

As usual, you've hit the nail on the head.

I will also add that over-the-top, ridiculous or downright stupid storylines existed on soaps for years but the far out stuff was more the exception than the rule. This has been one of the negative effects of JER's initial success at Days, that this sort of thing came to be the rule rather than the exception on Daytime.

Raising the stakes with cheap stunts is simply unsustainable.

[EricMontreal22]

Remember how mad he was when he was killed off by the Salem Stalker? I know the character was LESS cartoony in the 80s but was he really by much? I always thought when Days became NBC's answer to GH in the 80s )love couples on the run) he was brouhgt in to be one of the super villains.

As for JER's asexuality I assume you mean in person and not the way he made soaps even more homoerotic (shirtless guys daily)

Steve Frame I agree with you that Passions did what it wanted to do (well partly--remember the original ads? WHere they promised it would be genuinely creepy and scary?? It never ever ever was if you ask me) and can't be faulted for that. But I also think the stories and especially the dialogue on Dark Shadows wasSO superior to anything on Passions. Dark SHadows could be watched on two levels--camp and more serious. Passions never could (and they repeated the dialogue and scenes so much it even got boring as camp--for me ayway)

However while I don';t really like what Monty did to soaps in a way to criticize what she did to GH seems silly. The show would have been GONE in a matter of months if she hadn't gone to it. The same isn't true of DAYS pre JER (and I still think DAYS was on its way there pre JER anyway) or other examples of bring ove rthe top stories to old soaps--not usually anyway.

[juniorz1]

No offense guys, but UGH! Are we STILL talking about this?