DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Dion]

 

Actually Whitney was during the same period as Isabella, RoJohn and Isabella had fallen out over Victor and split for several months, during which time RoJohn investigated Nick Corelli's murder with Whitney's help (she was a police psychiatrist). I don't think their relationship progressed very far though, only a flirtation, as RoJohn and Isabella later reunited.

 

As for Rebecca, while her flirtations with John were plausible, I thought it was a tad unbelievable that John actually slept with her while still grieving Isabella and being very much hung up on Marlena. Turns out Drake Hogestyn had the similar thoughts which you can read about in this article from the LA Times.

 

In any case, Rebecca was tossed aside the minute Kristen arrived on the scene.

 

 

I preferred Frankie and for a long time wanted him to come back so Jennifer and Emilio were definitely filler.

 

(Of course once Jack and Jennifer got together and I actually grew attached to them, Frankie did come back which was kinda annoying lol)

[AbcNbc247]

Thanks.

 

I wish that Diana was brought back, as opposed to the snobby psycho that Judith Chapman played. If she had just been played a lot more subtlety, I think the whole Diana/Leo story would have been much more well received.

[victoria foxton]

 

 

[carolineg]

 

Wasn't Whitney the one the show kept saying was just like Marlena even though they weren't that similar outside of them both being blonde and doctors? 

Rebecca and John was such a random pairing.  It's like the show didn't really know what else to do with John and they were just waiting for Eileen or to see how popular John and Marlena would be.  I honestly am not sure what the plan was with John.  I think the writers still hadn't settled on J&M being endgame.  It's weird that after Isabella he slept and impregnated Marlena, slept with Rebecca, slept with Kristen and offscreen got Paul's mom pregnant in like a year's time lol

[Dion]

 

That's the one. And I think there were actually three Whitneys lol, the last one left just as the show was preparing to bring back Marlena.

 

 

I think it was known that Wayne Northrop would not stay post 1994 so I'm guessing (with Isabella now dead) the show was looking for John to be paired with somebody that would rival his pairing with Marlena. This new pairing would delay John and Marlena getting back together for as long as possible.

 

For whatever reason, Rebecca didn't work out as John's new love but then Eileen joined as Kristen and her pairing with John actually took off. Riley ended up spending roughly two years seemingly favouring John and Kristen (but always keeping Marlena there as a presence in John's life, particularly during the posession) before finally moving full steam ahead with John and Marlena post-Aremid.

 

 

[Franko]

Damn ... John was a dynamo! 

 

Over in the divas on the set thread, there's a bit of an interview where SSH alludes to being backburned leading up to her and Bill's departure in 1984. How soon was this apparent? I previously thought it occurred around the time Hope got involved with Bo, but Susan made it sound like this had been happening for years. Paging @vetsoapfan ...

[vetsoapfan]

 

As soon as Hope became involved in romantic stories of her own, Doug and Julie were shoved into the parental-figure box and lost a lot of their former glamor, appeal and story focus. Doug and Julie were neither used well nor written well for quite some time before their departures. 

[Wendy]

 

Yeah, but Paul was an obvious retcon, so I tend to ignore that. LOL! Interesting to note, as far as John/Marlena go, that when John/Isabella were on the cover of SOD in November 1991 (so when Roman I/Roman II were heating up and all the various romantic geometric shapes were looming amongst Marlena/Isabella and "the two Romans"), SOD claimed their mailbags were mainly pro John staying with Isabella and Marlena with Roman. Not to discount John/Marlena's massive fanbase (even if I'm not one of them as I'm not big on Marlena as a whole), but I found that surprising. Especially since, I believe, that was just prior to the pregnancy announcement with Brady. Then I'd get it, even if I do think John really did love Isabella and wasn't there just for the kid, etc.

 

I wondered what would have happened in that regard if the rumor that John were to cheat on Isabella with Marlena happened (instead, Staci Greason decided not to renew, so we got the cancer story). I wondered if the loyalty would have just shifted to J&M as it did now or - because of Roman and Isabella - if there would be blow back. Especially when you consider how good Isabella was portrayed and how John was also a "white hat" character, etc.

 

I guess we'll never know. Frankly, as a John/Isabella fan, I'm glad they got the ending they did. Because, with Reilly so "black and white and no shades of gray" character wise, I could see him doing to Isabella what was done with Kristen and, no thank you.

[carolineg]

 

I thought the show went hard with John and Marlena after Maison Blanche IMO  The Possession was a love story.  I never thought Kristen and John were a lovestory.  

 

Weird because I get it, but Isabella was very extra and too white hat.   Like it's great in the lexicon of John's story but she was never going to be Marlena and they were always trying to make her John's great love

[Franko]

I could be off base, but did something similar happen (and at more or less the same time) to Mickey & Maggie once Melissa became a romantic lead?

[Dion]

 

Other posters would definitely know better than I would but I think it's a bit more complicated with Mickey and Maggie.

 

Suzanne Rogers was facing health problems (Myasthenia Gravis) and left the show for about a year during the period Melissa was becoming prominent. Mickey and Maggie had also been separated for a while (he'd been presumed dead thanks to Stefano and Maggie had gotten together with Don Craig during his absence) so there was a reunion story they could play out upon Maggie's return (though that included Maggie's rape by a serial rapist who it turned out was Melissa's former parole officer and obsessed with Melissa).

 

By the time Mickey and Maggie were truly backburned, Melissa's importance on the show was also waning and she eventually ended up an ancillary character in the Steve/Kayla/Jack triangle.

 

 hmmm, yeah I think that's true actually. But I guess my point is is that Reilly spent two years building a history for John and Kristen that would at least make it plausible that he'd settle for her if he thought Marlena was unavailable before going full steam ahead with Kristen as the antagonist.

[Franko]

Yeah, I thought about it afterward and realized there were extenuating circumstances re: Mickey & Maggie.

[Paul Raven]

Bill and Susan complained that Doug and Julie were written as the 'grouchy' parents opposed to Hope's romance to provide an obstacle and give Hope heroine status. They felt that their attitude to Hope was out of character. Also, in being reduced to being Hope's parents and not given any context of their own. When they were told that there were no plans to change their diminished roles they chose to leave.

[carolineg]

Wayne was fired  They said there was no story left for him  I heard Marlena and John were a no go so they tried to  find someone else because Deidre looked too old .  And Dee Hall is my goddess but she does look a little older than John. 

Edited January 1, 2020 by carolineg

[Dion]

I had a feeling that it wasn't Wayne's decision but wasn't quite sure. In any case, Roman was doomed the minute Marlena stepped onto that plane...no scratch that - he was doomed the moment Isabella was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

 

 

I haven't really watched any of this period in depth, but it always struck me as a little bit odd that Doug and Julie would be so opposed to Hope's romance with Bo given their own history.