Days: Deep Soap: How Days is thriving by ignoring conventional wisdom

[Aaron]

I can't speak of Y&R, I don't watch that. But I disagree that DAYS obtained structure in the past year or two. In fact, I think the show is so outrageously out of balance, that I think that's what's actually HURTING it. Every story is an island, there's very little crossover between the generations, and characters/stories will appear for weeks at a time and then virtually disappear with little or no resolution for months. Characters (especially the 20-somethings) hook up, fall in love, split up, change partners, rinse and repeat over and over and over with hardly any sense of depth at all. I can't for the life of me figure out why characters like Melanie and Arianna are such good friends. Mia went from heartbroken heroine to selfish bitch in 2.4 seconds, and for what? Trying to choose between Boring Teen A and Boring Teen B?

But where DAYS really suffers, IMHO, is in the day-to-day plotting and dialogue. Characters bounce from plot point to plot point with very little motivation. Everyone has a sarcastic, biting edge to their voices. People behave in outrageously out of character ways. I almost died laughing when "Tough Guy" Bo told Victor he'd "eliminate" Vivian if he had to. Who can actually believe that??? And did Peter Reckell not stop to say "Um, hey, guys, Bo's a grown up now with a young child, he's not the same devil-may-care rogue he was back in the day... I don't think he'd toss away his entire family for CARLY."

Anna's a cartoon, brought back for no reason than to be a plot point for E.J. and with a motivation that made NO sense whatsoever. She'd NEVER do something like that to Roman's family, no matter how much she dislikes Sami. E.J. meanwhile continues to change personas every six months, just like he's ALWAYS done since he's been introduced. Hero to rapscallion to rogue to villain to rapist to confused outcast to repentant sinner to hero, rinse and repeat. Now he suddenly loves Sami again?

Sami and Rafe's plot-driven bump in the road is silly and doesn't feel genuine. He's coming across as a douche and she's back to acting like a petulant teenager. Let these characters behave MATURELY for once.

And don't even get me started on Melanie. What a horrible, horrible, horrible actress she is. Waffling back and forth between high-pitch whining and the fakest, most insincere "soap opera cliche" sobbing you've EVER seen on daytime... it's truly painful to watch. And yet everyone LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES Melanie. Decent characters played by decent actors like Phillip and Stephanie have been sacrificed on the altar of Melanie Layton and I just don't get it.

Meanwhile, the show has a TON of AMAZING actors and characters still at their disposal that should be DRIVING story, not supporting it. We've waited YEARS for a Justin and Adrienne return, and it's likely we'll see them a handful of times a month, if that. Same thing that happened with Tony and Anna.

DAYS has turned into the new version of 90210. Driven by vacuous teens and twenty-somethings, with an occasional glance at the world of the grown-ups.

Apparently that's what NBC wants and, apparently, that's what works.

Sad.

[EricMontreal22]

I find it amusing how Bibel in another blog sorta complained that a GH based soap forum she attended didn't offer any solutions about the future of soaps it just reiterated the situation. When that's exactly what her blog does IMHO--it offers little in the way of insight.

[bellcurve]

+1

And she used to WORK on a soap. In the production office and as a writer.

Of anyone who'd be able to offer insight, you'd assume she'd have the most interesting perspective, given that she was actually in it. Working.

How embarrassing.