Days: HUGE SPOILER! It's official!

[sungrey]

So true. In fact, Days itself did it in the late 1960s.

[Keith]

Reilly doesn't give a rat's ass who plays who. It's too true a tale. Many can say he hates Matt Ashford (I've been of that number in the past). He also doesn't write with a heavy amount of detail. He writes plot, not character drama. From time to time, however, a plot will mesh well with a character's emotions. Also, he's headwriter, he doesn't write individual scenes. It's his job to oversee the story. While I agree he shouldn't approve half the [!@#$%^&*] the gets onto the screen, he probably only cares, this time around, about the stuff that moves story. He's too busy between two soaps to give two flying monkeys about the details.

I, too, loathe Reilly, but not blindly like so many. I don't expect from him. He can, however, do fallout well if he puts his mind to it. All depends on that if factor. of course, fallout means different things to different folks. The whole different strokes method. All of that said, regardless of behind the scenes stuff, Reilly wrote the first go of the Bo, Hope, Billie triangle and he wrote it well. It sure didn't come across as forced because he didn't want to do it. Then again, maybe he was less a diva back then. Point is, I don't believe Reilly a couple fan (some John and Marlena fans would argue that, given his 90's material for them, but I digress).

As far as scenes go, it's not Relly we have to worry about. It's his writing team. He may or may not write the big scenes, but I don't think he necessarily does. Therefore, if, from your point of view, you've never seen an emotional scene under Reilly, it's not likely because it's under Reilly. There's a reason he's headwriter and many valid reasons he has failed for the most part, this go around. However, indivdual scenes is not one of them.

One thing I would like to point out, though, is people are assuming, with the mention of Abe's eyesight being restored, that Abe and Lexie will have a big part in this story. I'm not expecting that at all, until I read spoilers that convince me this. That could be a throwaway scene. Lexie will probably be too busy making sure Claire gets better and screwing Tek on the side to notice her husband has his eyesight back until Celeste magically appears out of her magic lamp and tells her or Abe catches her in the act himself. Now, I want them to have a big role, because of Zack being Isaac and the whole babyswitch, but remember. Reilly didn't write that. There's a great deal of history he is willing to disregard if he didn't write something.

All that said, I want to be cautiously optimistic. After all, all the actors that will be involved, even without Abe and Lexie, are of high caliber, for the most part. Alfonso, Reckell, Pinson. Now, if this story were executed well, there would be a little bit of everything. The Hayeses as the Williamses would have some great scenes supporting Hope. Cook's Shawn would be torn between the little brother it took him so long to accept as his own and not scorning the little girl who survived because of his brother's death. Madison will be incredible, I'm sure. Potential for Philip to go evil here will be decent, especially since Zack being able to be Claire's donor either reveals the truth about her paternit, or it doesn't (Bo is, after all, Phil's brother). Kowlow and Aniston should get some good material surrounding that. It's just such an awesome set-up. I'm afraid to get behind because of Reilly's writing team during this tenure, less so than because of Reilly. There's so much of a combination that has made DAYS crappy in the past 5 or so years. This could be a salvating story, though.

[PhoenixRising05]

I agree with KR-I am wanting this so much more now so that Days can prove itself to everyone how good it really can be. Based on everything we know and have heard, I am confident this will be HUGE and be one of the greatest stories ever done on Days or any soap. The actors involved are all powerhouses and this will and should affect a majority of the canvas. I can't wait to see all this. 2006 could be Days' year if this is done right like I think it will be.

Good posts Keith. You acknowledged both sides of the Reilly/Days debate in a fair and honest way. I mean honestly who knows what Reilly writes and doesn;t. The stories are his but the writing team itself can affect a story or its execution too. I loved Reilly's first run and have hated his second for the most part up until this past summer when things kicked into gear for m and I have loved everything since then. I just hope everything comes together right on this story as I think it will. Days knows that people will be tuning in for this, even if they aren't regular viewers, so they know they have to impress.

[Carolyn52]

Coming out of lurkdom to chime in on this. Starting about July, I've been keeping track of the script writing by show. With the exception of 1 or 2 shows, it's been 5 writers identified in the credits as the primary writers....Sofia Landon Geier, Jodie Scholz, Michael Slade, Bruce Neckels, and Susan Kirschenbaum. Interesting how that correlates with your observation of when the show got better.

Even among those 5, the day-to-day writing is still too uneven. Geier and Scholz are terrific IMO. They really seem to "get" soap angst and drama. Slade is very good. The other 2 are very spotty at best. Neckels has the credentials, but he relies way too much on dreams, flashbacks and such and has a lot of repetitive dialog. Seems kinda lazy to me. If he steps up, maybe they can drag Kirschenbaum along and this story can live up to its potential.

Just my $.02.

[Toups]

Wow, you pay close attention to the script writers than I do. LOL I agree with your order - best is Geier followed by Scholz and Slade. I'm not too high on Kirschenbaum and Neckles.

Bingo. That's why I highly doubt JER said he didn't want Reckell back.

Reilly's team have proven they can write good/emotional scenes since most of them were writing JT's goodbye/baby switch story. But I still don't really like Reilly's writing team. I love his associates in the 90's though. Great staff.

[sungrey]

I'd have to agree, Toups. Peter has always been one of Jim's strong backers (why I don't know, but it's just an observation), so I highly doubt he'd say he didn't want Peter back playing Bo. Besides, RKK was a hell-raiser during his Days stint.

[dimples]

Wow, sounds like they're really going in for the kill (no pun intended) for this one . Hope they live up to it and that Abe and Lexie play a part in it too. I admire Days for taking this step, copy-cat or not, but the writing HAS to be efficient.

[Bree]

RKK was a very good Bo acting wise, but his personality sucked. It also didn't help that he started dating 17 year-old Miriam Parrish (Jamie) and announced that they had to wait until she turned 18 to marry and start getting busy. Then there was that photo of them naked under sheets. Usually I could care less about stuff like that, but when you think about the story before...it's just icky!

I think Peter likes JER because he has given Bo something to do and generally writes decent material for him. The last few headwriters had Bo dressed up as a mime and virtually non-existent.

[Tony Lord]

I don't think this is a rip off of the BJ storyline. Thing's like this happen in real life alot and i think its wrong to say that no one should ever do a story like this on Daytime again just because GH has done it once.

[FanSoAp07]

This sounds pretty good!

[King]

Wow. After today's, this is going to be more and more tragic. Seems like the little annoying whore is finally coming around and really starting to bond with Bo, Hope, Shawn, and Zach.

[Keith]

No kidding, Mike. Stupid whore.

[King]

I can't decide if I hate Chelsea or not. And I can't decide if I hate Melvin or not. It really just depends on the day.

God, this story makes me feel like I'm bi-polar!

[Keith]

I'm not supposed-to-be-dead-fetus-questioning. I loathe the fact that the character is alive and has become a cricket in all of our spines. I don't mind Melvin. My hate-on for the character is blinding, too much so to care about the actress playing her

[Matt]

If this plays out in a classic soap sorta way, Hope will take a short plunge of the deep end and kills Chelsea (accidentally on purpose), goes on trial, is committed to a sanitatrium briefly, and sets up grand conflict for Bo/Hope that could last for years. Hope could join the short-list of vengeful moms like Meta Bauer White and Susan Hunter Martin.