DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[carolineg]

I go back and forth between Aremid or Maison Blanche being my favorite. Aremid is probably better overall but I loved all the Stefano/Marlena/John stuff and finding Gina/Hope in Maison Blanche.  The Possession is not really one of my favorites, but it was fine at the time.  I don't ever re-watch it though.  

 

I still think the Lady in White is the most annoying character ever.  So much crying and wailing.

[AbcNbc247]

Somebody refresh my memory 

 

After John was cleared of Tony’s “murder”, why did he go back to Kristen? Why didn’t he just immediately tell Marlena about the letter and reunite with her? I can’t remember.

[carolineg]

 

It's pretty dumb.   John and Marlena both think the other has moved on and don't want to tell one another because it would be a burden or obligation even though they have a bunch of scenes where they clearly have sexual tension and also are inappropriately close with one another .  There's a lot of hemming and hawing and dancing around telling each other.  Then Kristen asks John for another chance and Marlena encourages John to go for it-which is silly, but whatever.  Kristen also has a weird fertility issue where she only has a short period of time to conceive so John just agrees to knock her up immediately.  Then Kristen finds the letter, schemes, and Marlena finds the letter and goes to tell John she loves him and Kristen announces she's pregnant before she can tell him.  Then the whole Paris fiasco starts shortly after.

 

Re-watching it now it just seems like John and Marlena are being lame and clearly ignoring the obvious-especially John, but Kristen becomes thoroughly enjoyable.   

 

[AbcNbc247]

Thanks!

[amybrickwallace]

 

Yes, but Kristen's fake teeth flying across the lawn into Vivian's champagne glass was worth it!!

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[carolineg]

 

Of course.  I don't mean to disparage the story at all.  John and Marlena were just being silly with all their he/she doesn't feel the same stuff when they clearly were the closest exes in the history of ever lol.  All those stories were great.  I love Paris through the Secret Room.  It was just very Reilly.  They both were just oblivious to obvious social cues for approximately 2 years.  But I ate it up.  Kristen and Marlena in the Secret Room was everything.  DH and ED played off each other so well..  It's so soapy, but I feel like John and Marlena both come off a little dumb and ridiculously self-sacrificing.

[titan1978]

Maison Blanche was my favorite.  I loved Hope’s return, and Stefano was so much fun back then.

 

And I agree, the Lady in White was just annoying.

 

Was Melissa Reeves still there during Aremid?  I know I cared very little for Jennifer storylines when she left.

[carolineg]

 

Maison Blanche is great.  And I always sorta forget Roman is still on the show at the time because it's so Jarlena focused.  

 

Stefano was so much more fun when he was a scary villain before Paris and The Secret Room when he was kinda ridiculous. 

 

Missy left halfway through Aremid.  Stephanie Cameron is in the conclusion of it.   I didn't hate her, but Mark Valley's Jack and her Jen were just 2 different characters.  I am pretty sure MR leaving screwed up the spinoff they had been thinking about with all the Aremid characters like Sarah.

[YRBB]

 

Yes, this is definitely a more lowkey period now that Aremid, Jude St. Clair, and Bo/Hope have been resolved and before other major developments happen. 

 

I agree -- Kristen's POV is completely understandable. John and Marlena are nearly salivating at each other. Also agreed on Peter. He should still be driving major story on the show.

 

I have no idea how the Sami/Austin/Carrie/Lucas stuff moves on from here. I'm excited that Kate is starting to discover what Sami's like. Sadly, I had a feeling about Bo/Hope. I recall watching an episode a few months from now (June I think) years ago and I believe Bo and Hope were arguing because he doesn't want her to go back to work? Maybe I'm completely making that up but it just seemed really uninspired and boring. I'll see how I feel this time around.

 

Reilly does know how to structure a (umbrella) story, build tension, and deliver payoffs for sure.

 

Interesting! Aremid was great fun. I can see why it worked so well.

 

 

Welp. Good thing I know about that already.

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Honestly, over the months, I think Stephanie Cameron's improved a little. She's not a master or anything, but not nearly as breathless and annoying as she was. But I adore Mark Valley. Wonderful. Wonderful.

 

An Aremid spinoff? Interesting. Would that have been a whole daytime soap or...?

[carolineg]

 

 

The reason I feel for Kristen is the other villainesses at the time  (Sami, Vivian, Billie) knew their beloved was in love with someone else.  And John adamantly denied it and she believed it.  She genuinely thought John loved only her, so the letter was a tough blow.  And haha, John/Marlena just get a room already. 

 

Austin/Carrie/Sami/Lucas gets amazing.  I LOVE LOVE  Carrie but Sami was great as a villain.

 

With Bo/Hope I hate the intro of Franco into the story.  They make Hope a model.  Which just seems weird.

 

There was a whole plan to make the Aremid  thing a spinoff before Passions.  But Missy leaving screwed it all up and maybe it wasn't that great of an idea but IIRC it was going to be Jen, Jack, Peter and the Aremid crew.  I also think Jude St. Clair would have been involved but there was some backstage issues..

[titan1978]

I wonder if Passions would have even happened if Reilly had been allowed to run with that spin-off.

 

I loved Matt as Jack, but I also grew to really love Mark too.  He was definently more of a soap hunk version, but he was still great.  He still had sparkling chemistry with Missy.  Jason Brooks certainly had plenty of chemistry with her too.  Allegedly.

 

By the time we got to Cameron and Wilder that was like the bland of the bland.

[carolineg]

 

I think Passions sounds better on paper than an Aremid spinoff.  Or Manhattan Lives the Deidre Hall spin off that was proposed in the early 90's.  Although I don't know why you would take your main heroine off of your flagship show.

 

Jason Brooks had chem with everyone.  It's too bad.  I actually love Mark Valley too.  He had a certain swagger that was so charismatic.  He just wasn't Jack.   Steve Wilder and that shower scene was the worst.  He wasn't good at all.  Cameron was fine.  She just wasn't Missy.  She probably would have been fine in another role except for the fact she looked just like Jennifer lol.

[Gray Bunny]

 

Reilly had characters (and us viewers) ignore the obvious social cues everywhere... good grief, from Austin/Carrie to Bo/Hope/Billie. 

 

One thing that bugged the hell out of me, especially during his 2.0 (2003-2006) era was when characters would literally stand and look off to the side while having a flashback. Like, you'd have people like Belle, Philip, Shawn grilling Jan Brady about something and Jan literally takes a step to the side, looks far off camera and has her flashback moment. I wanted the other characters to be like "WTF? What are you doing? Snap out of it!" 

[Gray Bunny]

 

Those Reilly-era spin-off ideas never made sense to me, long term. Be it AREMID (never heard of an official title) or SALEM HIGH (early 00's), neither have legs to stand on. If they were to stay in Aremid, the mysterious small-town atmosphere would've gone stale quickly, and soon enough they'd be talking about Aremid's international airport. 

 

+1 on the Mark Valley love. As I said recently in another thread, with DAYS' love for recycling actors, he could be brought back as a new character for Hope. Kristian Alfonso is in desperate need of a strong male lead and she and Valley had great chemistry together. 

[carolineg]

Lol.  I buy Austin not being able to pick up obvious social cues.   

Reilly had a weird fetish for flashbacks and fantasies and for characters talking to themselves lol.

I can't say there was a lot to like about Reilly's 2nd stint.  Did he have a single good story that stint?  And, no, I absolutely will not count the Salem Serial Killer story.

 

 

Agreed on the Aremid spinoff.  It's not like any of the Aremid characters were particularly great or stand outs. 

I think the Manhattan Lives spinoff may have been okay because I think it included Carrie and possibly Jen?  too.  I don't remember the details anymore.   And that would have really harmed Days, so it's probably just a pipe dream that helped Deidre Hall sign her contract in 1991.

The Salem High spinoff would have been horrible.  Days doesn't even feel the need for these characters now and I like Belle, Shawn D, and Brady mostly because of their parents not because they are the most awesome characters.

 

I doubt Mark Valley would ever return, but if he did I wouldn't have a problem with him as a new character.  Hope really does need a strong love interest and I don't think MV would be as jarring as say Tamara Braun as Taylor lol.