All: Least talked about eras

[juniorz1]

Honestly? I LOVED Derya Ruggles & the character of Robin- I think she's one of the most underrated actresses & characters in DAYS's history. And I was disappointed that she wasn't the focus of her return- Mike's current girlfriend April was. I severely disliked Lisa Howard's April- she bored the crap out of me and found her to be a less than suitable replacement for Robin. So I figured when Robin returned, it would be clear-cut that Mike would want to be with the classy, intellectual woman that she was.

But that wasn't the case. DAYS at the time was CONSTANTLY trying to make us feel sorry for April, which I never did, and portray her as a tough street-smart girl from the wrong side of the tracks & Mike as her knight in shining armor, which I never bought. The whole triangle & storyline was basically told from April's point of view & it was told as though "That Robin has SOME gall for coming back into Mike's life & trying to take him from poor April." That doesn't work when you hate the character you're supposed to feel sorry for, as many did at the time. Plus, Michael T Weiss, who was extremely charismatic, charming, and funny as Mike, was made dull as dishwater during his relationship with April. Ultimately, he (duh!) chose April, and Robin left again, mere months after returning, with little fanfare. To me, Robin was a missed opportunity, a character that could & should have been further developed, given other relationships on the show, and was a GREAT character in a period of DAYS that was basically chock full of sh!tastically boring airtime eaters.

And it was all for nothing, since April ended up with gangster Nick (a relationship that did sorta work) & Mike eventually left town.

It was like what AW did with Kathleen's return a few years later, but worse. On AW, at least Frankie had been developed, was likable, & was a MORE than suitable replacement for Kathleen in Cass's heart. Plus, they didn't have to FORCE you to feel bad for pregnant Frankie- you just did, probably because Alice Barrett is 1000x the actress that Lisa Howard was. However, it still pains me that Kathleen ended up leaving 6 months later because, in a time when I lost my 2 faves- spitfire, feisty Anne Heche and slinky, layered Cali Timmins in favor of dulltastic Jensen Buchanan & overacting, overcompensating, overbearing Judi Evans, Julie Osburn's Kathleen was one of my only bright spots & a truly grey heroine to root for.

[DRW50]

I often wonder if there are "types" of actresses that we each go for. For instance, I also loved Anne, and Cali Timmons, and Julie Osburn. I think they all have this vulnerable quality to them, vulnerable yet tough. That's not easy to pull off.

Am I the only one who gets Lisa Howard and Anne Howard confused? And for a while I thought Lisa Howard played Donna Krebs on Dallas.

What did you think of Anne Howard on AW? I was never a big fan but I did feel for her when Nicole became an insta-psycho to prop Frankie.

That's interesting that they had Robin return only to make her look bad, because I remember reading in an SOD after Robin and Mike broke up that the show had underestimated how much fans would like them. Yet they never even tried to put them back together?

Who were the headwriters during this malaise period at DAYS?

On AW, I do remember hearing quite a bit about some of this era, especially around 1993-1994, stuff like Matt/Donna, Lorna's rape, Carl's redemption, Grant/Vicky/Ryan. I haven't seen a lot of that era but sometimes I wonder if JFP "fixed" what didn't need serious fixing.

[juniorz1]

The DAYS writers in question are:

Leah Laiman (!)

Anne Schoettle

Richard Allen

Beth Milstein

Maura Penders

and I believe for a period, the much-revered Sheri Anderson.

I agree about gravitating toward those actresses with that vulnerable quality. You wouldn't think tough when you hear Cali Timmins' voice, but she just has a steely quality about her. She was sheer perfection as Paulina and to me, Judi Evans' Paulina was a COMPLETELY different character, moreso than even Buchanan's Vicky (her Marley wasn't so bad). Thankfully, after they all left, including Osburn who I adore & should be on a soap today, Alicia Coppola came on as Lorna & I had my nuVicky to root for. Lorna was SO Vicky and Jenna was SO Lisa Grady. One of the few stories & rivalries that captured my attention at the time.

Oh Anne Howard. I don't confuse her with Lisa, largely in part because they were on DAYS during that period simulataneously. I sort of liked Nicole, but she was no replacement for Kathleen. I was DYING for Kathleen to come in & kill that relationship & I can't imagine the producers weren't going for the same thing, just by the tepid sort of romance Nicole/Cass had compared to Cass/Kathleen. I don't know if Osburn was unavailable, left on bad terms, or what, but alas, it never came to fruition.

Luckily, AW introduced Frankie and, seemingly before AW even thought of it, you just knew she was perfect for Cass. Talk about a pairing that just happened naturally. But no, to answer you Carl, I never once felt any sympathy for Nicole. By the time she went nutso & was revealed as Jason's killer, I was just relieved that she was gone. She was lucky that Philiece Sampler was playing NotDonna at the time, because I would have never bought boring Nicole as Southern belle Donna's sister. Nicole was to Cass as April was to Mike- she sucked all the fun & charisma out of Schnetzer.

LOVED Matt/Donna & Lorna's rape. Coppola should have at least have been nominated, if not won, an Emmy for that storyline. I remember Michael Logan saying as much on E!'s "Pure Soap" (the REAL and original SoapTalk- u think Rinna/Treadway had a love/hate, it was PURE HATE with Logan/Shelley Taylor Morgan).

I will say that I've always had something against Robin Christopher because of her coming in as NuLorna. She was so vastly different looking from Coppola (and Dano) that it just didn't work for me. What looked good on paper did not translate on screen. I will say the only time I did sort of like her is when she was flirting with NuEvan (should have stayed longer).

[DRW50]

Yeah I think Anna Stuart and Anne Howard only crossed paths for about four or five months. Donna is one of the few characters I think was better off without her family, aside from her daughters.

I guess the writing was probably not great for RC's Lorna but I can see where she jarred (I guess she's lucky that JFP seems to be very fond of her). At least you have a valid reason for not caring for her. It took me years to accept her as Skye after Carrie Genzel. Never mind that Carrie was only in the role for a year and a half, after Christopher...I never saw Christopher so she was a stranger to me.

I saw the Best/Worst SOD thing for 1990 and they talked about how Shane and Kim had been so destroyed by bad writing. Do you agree with that?

One thing that always surprised me with AW at this time was they let Felicia be drunk while Jenna was having a miscarriage. That seems so dark for a show to do to a "good" character. That's one of the things I miss about AW, was that so many of their characters were so flawed, yet still human. With a few exceptions, the show didn't seem to start going in for heavy propping until around 1995 or 1996.

[quartermainefan]

[juniorz1]

Gosh Carl, do we have all the same faves? I too loved Carrie Genzel as Skye & had no interest in Robin Christopher's version after, until she hit GH. But I barely ever watch(ed) that show.

See, they give Kimberly this split personality storyline (that caused Patsy Pease to have to leave from the memories it brought up) and then came her relationship with Cal. I was never a big Shane/Kim fan and part of my problem was that he shared lots of chemistry with Gillian Foster & then Gabrielle Pascal (Karen Moncrief). I was actually hoping that Shane/Gabrielle would become a full-fledged couple. It wasn't that they were destroyed, but they couldn't be as lighthearted as they once were with such heavy material. What ruined them was the pairing of Shane/Kayla (which I kind of liked) and the ensuing rivalry between Kim/Kayla. In hindsight, it never should have happened- two Brady sisters turning on each other like that, Shane thinking he could ever replace Steve in Kayla's heart, Kayla thinking the same about replacing Kimberly- none of it made sense & it hurt all 3 characters & their relationships all-around. I remember Caroline basically taking Kim's side & scolding Kayla over the relationship- it was one of the only times I've been on the old bag's side.

People complained that the Kelly/Eden rivalry on SB never should have happened also, but I always felt that was a long time coming. Plus, Garland & Walker played it perfectly & neither was supposed to be the out & out bitch, but they both had some bitchiness at the same time. Whereas Kayla was clearly the bitch in the Kayla/Kim rivalry, only Evans didn't play it as well, probably because she didn't believe in her character's motivations herself.

Funny thing is, the eventual Cruz/Kelly pairing also never should have happened much like Shane/Kayla. Kelly, despite their sometimes rivalry over Robert, NEVER would have gone after Cruz. She knew Eden would always be the love of his life so why put herself through it? Especially since she was always a champion of their relationship. The other thing was Eileen Davidson just all kinds of sucked & was miscast, she didn't know Kelly & couldn't have made it believable, and Marcy Walker was never brought back to lay down the smackdown on her like she should have been. Honestly, I think had the Dobsons kept Carrington Garland in the part, Cruz/Kelly may have worked, but they had different ideas. To this day, if I couldn't have CG's Kelly with Cruz, I still say the only pairing that probably would have worked was Cruz/Julia. I'll never understand why that avenue was explored.

And whoever thought it was a good idea to bring on Kim Zimmer in jeans & flannels as a possible love interest for Cruz & lead actress replacement for Marcy Walker was smoking some serious crack.

[StevieM]

1992 on DAYS was down time between the supercouple era and the Reilly era.

1987-1990 was the time when Bo, Hope and Marlena were all gone and Steve, Kayla, Jack, and later Jen, rose to the top of the show, along with Kim&Shane. During this period the Johnson family did something no other family had ever done--they reached parity with the Bradys and the Hortons. And this "forgotten" era featured the most watched episode of DAYS ever--Steve and Kayla's wedding (Also the last time DAYS was #1 in HH in weekly ratings). And Jack and Jen (Matt and Missy) were on loads of magazine covers. Stephen Nichols and Matt Ashford were consistently listed as the most popular actors on daytime.

Because J&M and B&H were the ones who lasted the longest as major characters, their heydays are more regularly harkened back to. But that period was by no means a bad one in DAYS history. The show was pretty well rounded. Even RoJohn and Diana was a much more successful story than people remember today.

The show started running into trouble in the 90s with the following problems: Patsy Pease coming and going; Steve's departure; Jack and Jen converted into the Ricky&Lucy of daytime; boring characters like Tanner, Molly, Sarah, etc. (Melissa's recast was generally considered a successful one); Shane/Kayla--especially the ending. It was originally envisioned by Allen/Schoettle as Jack/Steve/Kayla in reverse--this time Kayla would lose out to her sibling. Gene Palumbo changed it to have Shane pick Kayla and proclaim "all this time I've been with the wrong Brady sister!"

The Tale of Two Romans was the worst part. It happened long after John had been completely accepted as Roman. It culminated with his former children quickly rejecting him in a conclusion that was both cruel and unbelievable. I don't know if it would have been possible had Christie Clark been on the canvas at the time, given how closely Carrie had always been associated with DDH/Roman.

Steve

[DRW50]

Geez, no wonder fans hated that story so much.

[juniorz1]

Camilla Scott was widely generally considered a succesful recast Melissa by.........who exactly?!?

Fixed!

[Paul Raven]

At Days, it was Anne Howard Bailey who gave Steve & Kayla the Emily/Gideon story and split up Shane & Kimberley with the amnesia plot.

Another pretty much forgotten era is OLTL early 80's before Rauch - when Jean Arley was exec producer.

Wes Kenney at GH- does anyone have fond memories of Dusty Walker etc.

[JackPeyton]

Days was very popular in the 70's, no doubt, and a lot of great soap opera was told.

However, we are talking about the least talked about era. I honestly believe days in the 70's is the least talked about era of the show. Yes we know about Bill/Laura/Mickey, Mickey/Maggie, Laura goes crazy, Julie vs Susan, Marlena coming to town and the issues with Samantha. A few other things are discussed and general knowledge, however the sub plots and other big storylines are not discussed. It doesnt lessen the impact of the 70's days, it just mean its less discussed.

Even now, when people involved at the show talk about pre-80's its all very general and what we already know. Maybe thats because this stuff was the best it had to offer, but 90% of the stuff from the 80's, 90's, and 00's are discussed and great detail is available on.

I dont think 87-90 is the least talked about at all.

[Sindacco]

You said it yourself. Big and important stuff happened in the 70s and people that watched DAYS back then see it as the shows golden era. The current DAYS fans are another story. One half are supporters of the 80s supercouple/adventure era and the other half are supporters of JER's first run (1993-1997).

Cruise of Deception (1990) is probably one of the most famous storylines in the shows history.

[Dion]

Very true and I think its telling that once Christie Clark returned, Carrie and Roman had a major rift develop between them (over her relationship with Austin), with Carrie turning to John who was a more reasonable father figure.

[StevieM]

juniorz1: I said "generally," not widely. Camilla's Melissa was brought on, originally, to serve as an obstacle for Jack and Jen. She did that effectively and believably. Later, she and Jack reconciled, giving their story some closure. It was a nice mini-victory for Jack in his efforts at redemption, since Kayla could never totally forgive and forget, but Melissa could.

Steve

[juniorz1]

Yes, but it lasted about 3 weeks in the summer & is the only storyline discussed of that period. Does anyone ever discuss all the crap storylines I listed above? No, they don't.

Fixed!