DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Vee]

GH 2012 was messy as hell, lol. So much of it was bad - looking at you, Kate/Connie, Trey, etc. But the good stuff like the water crisis, flawed though it was, saved the show.

 

The Abby/Gabby/Stefan etc [!@#$%^&*] is Ron's worst hits - DID, rape, etc. played for laughs and titillation -  all rolled into one. I literally couldn't believe he was going there again after Connie, Ford, Jessica, etc. But I don't know why I was surprised.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Vee

[KMan101]

 

Yeah, those were the two I was referring to but I've never seen them for myself, personally. I think those were the only two, the rest all feel like shock value.

 

Days seemed to love raping their leading ladies and it was really all about plot and not at all how it affected said character. I mean, I know Maggie was raped by Ian (right? Melissa's older probation officer who disappeared for a while then suddenly came back and was revealed as the rapist, but I could be mixing things up) the hospital rapist, and she had a gun for a while but it all just seemed like a plot device to keep her and Mickey apart a little longer. 

 

I also thought it was damaging when you had Don forcing himself on Marlena (though it was a different time and it was spousal rape, it was still a rape as far as I'm concerned, but it was basically treated like nothing, unless I'm wrong) and then not too long after, Kellam was raping her. 

 

Overall, I've never been a fan of rape stories because I see them for what they are ... not what they could and should be ... JER went bonkers with them on Passions ... but I think it just sadly speaks to his mental state at the time. He truly became very bizarre ...

 

Anyway, on daytime royalty, Jason47 has been posting recaps and it's been a lot of fun to read the 80s stuff (and I'm watching what I can as well ... and there are some VERY detailed recaps that just suck you in, even a recap can suck me in but today the soaps do such a poor job of "drawing you in"), you can easily see the transitional periods where things would get dropped, characters in and out, and then around 85/86 you could clearly see them losing interest in Don, Liz, Neil, Marie (who basically was used as fill-in for Maggie while Suzanne Rogers was out for a year) ... I tended to get slightly disappointed in certain directions they took things. As much as I love the Bradys and Johnsons, I think they ultimately ended up taking a lot of focus away from the Hortons. Mickey and Maggie were finally reunited and only had the Neil/Sarah stuff a little later before no one had any interest in them. Marie sort of became forgotten about and then never brought back for long stints after that. Don disappeared mailing a letter (and they gave him no followup to Sonia's death, which I found odd, but they were clearly checked out on him, he was becoming the Mickey of Days before Mickey became that ... lol if that makes sense!). I thought Don filled a nice role but I'm glad Jed Allan went onto Santa Barbara (I've always loved Jed Allan but often have mixed feelings on Don)

 

I have to admit I liked how they tied the DiMera's to the core players like Liz (through Tony and Stefano), and they involved Doug and Julie (before it became about Bo and Hope), Mickey ... but if you didn't watch at the time or read up like I do, you'd never know most of it ... and it seems "Stefano had plans for Julie" ... fascinating she could have been his obsession before it became about Marlena and Roman.

 

Anyway, kind of random but it's fun, and interesting, to really see the transitions. I thought they gave couples a lot of ridiculous, stupid obstacles to overcome, LOL (which JER doubled down on in the 90s). Especially Melissa and Pete, lawd ...

Edited May 5, 2019 by KMan101

[DaysFanatic777]

If I were to make a list entitled "Soaps The Abused Rape And Treated Like A Trope", Days would be second from the top.  I thought the show probably crafted the best fallout when Jennifer was raped by Lawrence Alamain.  They were able to tie in Jack's past assault on Kayla, and deal with some unresolved issues.  That didn't make it any less of a plot device.  The show needed another year of the buzz Jack and Jennifer were delivering, so marrying them and sending to the back burner wasn't going to happen at that point.  So, they once again returned a an all too familiar subject and used the rape card.  I am shaking my head as a type this.  It's all too much.

 

So what would be number one?  Passions of course!  IF you can call that bullshit a soap opera.  James E Reilly really lost his damn mind when he was "writing" for that show.  When I think about the amount of sexual victimization he penned, it sends waves of nausea pulsating through my body.  

 

I'll tell you plainly, I despise what that man did to daytime, god rest his soul.  He didn't just put the final nail in the coffin for soaps....

 

No, Reilly built the damn coffin, threw the genre inside, nailed the f#cking thing shut, and shoveled dirt on it was it sunk into the ground.  He is the worst thing to ever happen to daytime television.  

 

Sorry Toups. 

[KMan101]

I think what's sad with Reilly is, like Ron Carlivati, I thought Reilly could craft a soap story with beginnings, middles and ends, but then somewhere it all went to hell and I don't quite get what happened. I'm not saying it was perfect but his 1999-2002 Passions is very different (even with Hell in a Closet!) than what followed. DAYS from 1993-1995 was very different than 1996/1997+ and especially his disastrous backpeddling 2003-2006 stint (where Lucas and Sami regressed into splitting up Carrie and Austin again, Billie's swamp baby was suddenly alive, half the town is murdered yet not really, but they drag it out for a year with Melaswen, a castle, etc. Lawd .... not to mention Sami as a man (sort of clever I suppose), Iraq ... lawd again).

 

I feel more disappointed than angry, honestly. But there's no question he was ... damaging

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 lol (not to mention all the soaps who piggybacked off of him, you had voodoo on AMC, Lumina on AW, Dolly the Reva clone on GL ...) but like the 80s, you had a lot of dumb [!@#$%^&*] too (Eterna on OLTL, etc.) ... so it's interesting to see how the soaps went from psychological dramas (mostly ...) to wacky sci-fi [!@#$%^&*] in the 80s that fans lapped up (the college kids, mostly), to back to more emotional character driven material in the early 90s and then back to ridiculous [!@#$%^&*]. The soaps haven't been the same since around 1997/1998, IMHO. And the slide started before that ... (since then they've been stuck in a rotating rotgut of producers and soap tropes that are vastly overplayed; soaps stopped evolving around 1995/1996 and now any "social issue story" basically flops ...)

 

But it's weird, in the 80s, a lot of it gets praise now but I can only imagine the pearl clutchers as Luke was saving Port Charles from freezing ... were folks just more into that kind of stuff then? Was it because there were better production values? More heart? Better writing overall that could mask the ridiculous [!@#$%^&*]?

Edited May 5, 2019 by KMan101

[DaysFanatic777]

I can find good things to say about any writer.  I stand by how I feel about him, but I agree with you completely.  He also had a knack for developing new characters, weaving various characters in different orbits into various stories, and the man understood there had to be an A, B, C, and D story on the canvas at all times.  When the payoff arrived, and the A  story ended, he always had the B story ramping up.  O yeah, and his payoffs were magnificent.  Sure, it take 3-5 years to get a payoff, but somehow he always made even more fun than we imagined. 

 

At the same time, his dialogue was like something a crackhead would write on a used paper bag.  His stunts always delivered ratings, so rival soaps started copying him and it brought the whole genre down to his level.  He made the leading male heroes on his shows so f#cking stupid you'd swear they must have suffered some sort of head trauma, we just didn't see it.  

 

I remember during the big payoff with the secret room debacle, they had Stefano wondering around the mansion in plain sight wearing a mustache, and no one recognized him.  I mean, he literally only had on a mustache and a butler's outfit, but none of those fools was the wiser.  Idiotic things like that soon started spilling into other soaps all over daytime, and now here we are.  Soaps were never respected, but by the time he finished working his magic non watchers were rolling their eyes and making fun of us. 

 

Yes, he had good qualities.  I thought Days was absolutely brilliant in 1994.  He made that year one of my favorites in the show's very long history.  It's always complicated when you start dissecting various head writers, cause like Vee said earlier, you are going to find good and bad. 

 

However, out of all the hacks the genre has been cursed with since "Guiding Light" was sent over radio waves in 1937, I stand by my belief that he's is the Ultimate king over all the hacks. 

[Vee]

I was riveted to DAYS as a kid in the early-mid '90s - Bo and Billie, Gina/Hope, Marlena possessed, all that. The style and atmosphere was thick and brilliant. But the dialogue was so silly. To me it was always a bit of a goof. When I wanted a smart show I watched OLTL, GH and AMC. But in its 90s resurgence DAYS was undoubtedly bigger than life.

The reason Reilly casts such a massive shadow over DAYS is because he was able to make it such an event. He had certain skills and scope that are undeniable. But I found his day to day writing unwatchable later on, as I grew, and especially when he came back. I think he did at least as much damage to the genre as the ways he bolstered it. And I think his deeply bizarre views on sex, sexuality and men and women were antiquated, disturbed and repugnant.

 

That said, if it was me today? Yeah, I'd have someone get possessed again. Albeit I'd do it differently.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Vee

[Faulkner]

Ron tried to do the atmospheric thing with Abby/Gabby, but it was such a snooze and often laughable.

 

Reilly’s DOOL was so weird because they could give Vivian and Kate such witty, marvelous lines (at least from what I remember), but everyone else sounded like they were in elementary school. He was also into that Seinfeldian repetition of phrases. Like Austin’s “I love you, Carrie, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you how much.” I might have heard that line 50 times.

[DaysFanatic777]

I think my issues with him stem from my dedication to Days and my love for what the show represented before he arrived.  He was entertaining, and I felt his first couple of years are an example in rich and decadent soap opera.  

 

I loved the Procter and Gamble soaps.  I was glued to ATWT and GL growing up.  Of course, I had periods of time I'd get into GH, OLTL, and Loving.  I don't know why, but AMC never caught my eye.  That said, Days was always my main squeeze.  

 

Would I do the possession again now.....I actually think the show needs to go there before it's cancelled.  Don't get me wrong, i blame that story for more than I can or will elaborate.  The show could have easily been the heartfelt drama it once was, but the second Marlena morphed into a panther there was no going back.  The show i knew and loved died in that moment, and it became something very different.  That said, bringing back the devil at this point could only help this show.  I am certain Ron has thought about it, and it's entirely possible he may do it if he has time.  I cannot imagine how terrible it's going to look on this budget, but this show could use the buzz it would generate.  Like it or not, it's kind of what Days is known for.  

[KMan101]

 

His dialogue was AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. Characters come off SO dumb. Just really stupid. How actors got through that with a straight face ... lol.

 

I do agree on your take on him and you're right, I can also find something good, usually, in any writer. For example I adored Mal dumping Kevin and Chelsea from Y&R yet I think he's trash ... lol. I find it kind of fun to dissect, I guess :/

 

1994 was a good year. He had it in him to plot well ... and yep he knew the value of having A/B/C/D stories. There was *always* something going on or happening, even if you hated it you were probably entertained on some level. 

 

John and Austin were dumb as stumps during his run. Dim bulb model Austin was nothing like crying, sensitive boxer Austin. John, a smart man, was sooooooooooo dumb. And I hated how Reilly did Victor, "Tony" and Jack dirty in the writing (Jack's initial return under Valley wasn't too bad but it didn't last long ...). 

 

But I do agree he was ultimately damaging to the genre and we never recovered from it.

 

I usually agree with you so no surprise I agree with you here again, lol. I was a kid too at the time of Reilly and I was pretty pulled in. Re-watching as an adult I see the awful dialogue, etc. lol. The day to day stuff was often tedious but I'll be damned if he didn't compell me to watch. But as a whole I can see why he's seen as so damaging to the genre. But it's sad because he kind of had it in him (he also benefited I believe from working with well known and better scribes who also knew how to plot a story and how to structure a soap opera). 

 

Again, all well said. Looking back at the posession, a lot of it was dark, gothic and sort of enthralling. I can get how audiences were pulled in (and also turned off) but then you have the demon mask thing and morphing into a panther .... lol

 

I think it would generate a lot of buzz. I have no doubts Ron has thought of it. He loves referring to the possession. Other writers never acknowledged it (and I can understand why). I kinda like how DAYS is able to poke fun at itself a bit when referring to their history. 

Edited May 5, 2019 by KMan101

[amybrickwallace]

 

I can't say it any better than you just did.

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[DaysFanatic777]

Kman, I want to invite you over to my place for a beer, dude.  We'd have a blast. 

Amy, I have admired your posts for a decade, so that compliment is truly an honor.  

[BetterForgotten]

Outside of popular supercouples, does anyone feel like DAYS was overlooked in the 80's? GH got all the credit and the ratings for pioneering the action/adventure stories, and Santa Barbra got all the awards for essentially piggybacking off the GH/DAYS formula with its own satirical twist and witty dialogue (and music montages).  

[Khan]

 

Ken Corday did.  That's why he rigged the SOD Awards every year.

 

Allegedly.

 

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[amybrickwallace]

 

Thank you so much for the kind words. I always enjoy your posts as well. 

 

I just would rather that soaps would not do rape stories at all. It just rings of exploitation at worst and a lazy way of writing a plot at best. They don't deal with the long-term ramifications (with a couple of exceptions - SB's Eden and GH's Liz come to mind) and it's a real insult to people who endure it in real life. It's just something I really feel strongly about.

[DaysFanatic777]

You are the best!!

 

I'm going tell my truth,  because I have worked past the shame....

 

My father was an evangelical minister, and his best friend and associate pastor molested and raped me for two years (from the time I was 8,  till around the time I turned 11).  Even when I came clean when I was 15, my family only cared about keeping the money flowing, so my parents never sought retribution.  They had a "Suck it up" attitude, and that really hurt.  I have had to live with it.  

 

So, I agree with you.  These stories resonate with me, so I don't want a piss poor rendition of a real personal tragedy thrown in my face.  I'm alright now.  It caused me to reject religion and move in a better direction, so it may have saved me from a different sort of pain.  However, I don't want a soap to water down a very real experience and tell me they are doing a service.  It's insulting.