DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Franko]

That's another factor I hadn't considered ... Sami would have stayed in Salem?

[carolineg]

 

She hated Marlena at the time, so she could have stayed with Shawn and Caroline.  If Austin/Carrie would have spun off it would have changed so much, but I imagine they would have beefed up the teen scene.  They had Lucas and Jamie and they would have had to cast Eric but there were 80's babies they could have brought on like Sarah, Noelle, Stefanie, Jeannie, Andrew, Jeremy Horton etc.   They probably even could have gotten away with Shawn D and Justin and Adrienne's kids.  It sounds weird now since they were all SORASed in weird order but Sami/Eric were born in 83, so it's conceivable to have any baby born within those 5 or 6 years to be their peers.   Bo/Hope would have probably been the only parents to look too young and I would imagine Days might have extended offers to MBE or Patsy Pease to bring on more heroines.   I would even consider bring Gloria Loring back for either of those shows.  I'd buy she's an actress/singer in New York or she could come back to Salem to raise Noelle.

[carolineg]

 

Deidre's spinoff was Manhattan Lives.

 

Pacific Lives was an earlier proposal dealing with Tom Horton Jr, Sandy Horton and others.

From SOD Feb 1992

 

New Days are Dawning - Marlena gets a Spin-Off

 

After months of whispering and 'no comments',it's finally official: Days star Deidre Hall(Marlena) is getting her own spin-off. Set in New York City and centering around Hall's character, the still unnamed daytime series will probably debut in late spring.

 

"The show will totally throw you back in your chair," says Hall, who also serves as the show's co-executive producer,with Day's head honcho Ken Corday. "Ken is excited about it,I'm excited about it,and we have a great team." Former Days head writer Gene Palumbo will take up that post on the spin-off, together with longtime Days scribe Sheri Anderson. According to Palumbo. Marlena will not be the only familiar face on the show. "You will see a lot of terribly popular and well loved Days characters turning up and familiar couples who won't necessarily be in each other's arms."

 

Palumbo says Hall has taken an active part in story meetings. "Deidre is definitely part of the whole process and she has some great ideas',he notes. According to the actress, she was first supposed to do a spin-off eight years ago. "At the time, we negotiated, we got ready and it never happened", hall says. "Then when I signed with Days six months ago, I had in my contract a development deal. i didn't know what in the world to do about it, but then i remembered the spin-off. I said. "What's happening with that?" And Days producers said."Would you consider it?" and I said,"Of course!"

 

From SOD April 14th 1992

 

"Bible" Thumping: Marlena's DAYS Spin-Off Gets Named And Plotted

 

After months of speculation, Deidre Hall';s DOOL spin-off finally has a name. According to Gene Palumbo, who shares head writer duties with Sheri Anderson, the show will be called Body and Soul. Palumbo says he and Anderson 'came up with a whole list of names and showed them to people around the office. Body and Soul was thought to be the most provocative name, especially with the ladies. Of course, it's really only a working title. We haven't even gotten the go-ahead on the show yet.'

 

Palumbo says the NBC brass has already been presented with Body and Soul's 'bible'-a detailed description of the series and its characters, drawn up by the writing and production team. "We ought to know within the next few months whether the neywork will pick it up,' he relates.

 

While Palumbo couldn't give specifics about the bible, sources close to the production say it includes a slew of new characters as well as six months of story. According to these sources, the show will focus on two New York neighborhoods-one upper crust, one working class. Marlena won't come into a lot of money suddenly, but will interact with the show's wealthy family. the Waterfields, whom the sources describe as similar to the Trumps. One of the show's preliminary storylines is rumored to be a love triangle featuring single mom Marlena and a Waterfield father and son. What will become of Roman(Wayne Northrop)? Since Northrup's contract ends this summer, his character's fate is anyone's guess. Whatever the outcome, sources say Roman is not mentioned in the Body and Soul bible.

 

One character who is mentioned is Marlena's stepdaughter carrie (Tracy Middendorf). An issue oriented teen love story is supposedly in the works in which Carrie learns about safe sex. In addition to her stepdaughters company. Marlena will have a new best friend-PT Barnum. As her circusy name suggests, PT's an outgoing actress type based on Bette Midler's role in the movie Beaches, As mentioned in previous SOD, several ex Days stars are on the Body and Soul list, including Thaao Penghlis (Tony) and Leann Hunley (Anna). while some of the wish list actors have already been approached, real negotiations will begin if and when Body and Soul is approved for production.

So I wasn't totally off on this.  Thanks @Paul Raven for confirming facts.  

That name sucks btw.  I would love to see that bible.

[te.]

I guess it would've made sense as Sami and Eric were sent away to Colorado in the summer of 1992 to live with their grandparents. I assume that once Sami returned SORAS'd in 1993 the spin-off idea was dead.

[carolineg]

I don't think so.  They were talking about Wayne still having time on his contract.  He got fired in 1994 well after AS was cast.  It would have been awkward to have Sami/Eric around without Marlena/Roman, but John could have probably taken over parental duties?   Marlena/Roman would look like bad parents, but it could have been viable.  I could get Marlena's shame over the affair would drive her out of town for sure.  It would just be weird for her to have a new love interest when she had 2 good ones already on the show.

 

It would have been so bizarre to ship Marlena off the show when she had so much to come.  In 1992 I could see it.  She was doing nothing, but by 93/94 she had a lot of story.  Unless they were considering Drake for the spinoff but I have never heard anything about that.  I think a Deidre/Drake/Eileen spinoff would have been gold.

Edited August 8, 2021 by carolineg

[te.]

The way I see it, they probably sent Sami / Eric away as a preparation for the spin-off initially (probably would've been recast on Manhattan Lives), but I feel once JER took over the show and started essentially centering DOOL around Marlena the spin-off idea was dead. I don't think the affair itself would've happened and they probably would've set it up as Marlena needing to leave Salem to clear her head. Clearly they were initially hoping for it to get going fall 1992, but it looks like by 1993 it was DOA.

Had Body and Soul / Manhattan Lives happened I assume Roman would've either been quietly written off in the summer / fall 1992 or moved over.

 

Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if part of the reason why the show got so Marlena focused was to placate Deidre Hall after Manhattan Lives got nixed.

Edited August 8, 2021 by te.

[carolineg]

 

I think part of the issue was Staci Greason leaving.  The affair was planned much earlier, but I think that was always the plan and arc.   I am pretty sure that's why Wayne got stuck playing Ms. Doubtfire.  The affair was supposed to be cheating on both sides. 

I feel like this was always a DH vanity project, but it's not the worst idea.   I just don't know why a show would spin off their most popular heroine.  I know Carly was a major thing back then, but it still doesn't add up to me.

And JER was not wrong focusing on Marlena.  It's just a why do we need a spinoff when we can just refocus on a character? 

Edited August 8, 2021 by carolineg

[te.]

 

To be honest, Marlena leaving in fall 1992/early 1993 wouldn't have been a huge issue since she just returned after a four/five year absence in 1991; it wasn't until Carly was written off and Sami being reintroduced that she show really shifted focus towards her again as the lead heroine under JER. But I think the spin-off was dead and buried by the time that happened, as I said I wonder how much of that was done to placate Deidre at the time.

[victoria foxton]

 

  

[carolineg]

I assume most of it was to placate Deidre to get her to return, but they did let her shoot a movie about her life, so someone had faith in her ability to bring in ratings lol.   I think part of it was also the rumors Deidre was not happy it was the Crystal Chappell/Carly show back then.  You are right that Marlena had very, very little to do post tale of 2 Romans and pre being thrown in that pit.   I always assumed it was because SG left suddenly and they had to play out Isabella dying and had to give it some time after her death for the Jarlena affair.  

If you look at the timeline and info that's available the spin off was looking to replace AW in 1994 not Santa Barbara, so it probably wasn't dead until then.   But by 94 Marlena's character was definitely already on an upswing.  I think if you solidified casting Carrie, Marlena, and Anna and found some male daytime leads for their love interests it would have been good. I would probably keep Wayne as well and just go with Roman/Marlena over John/Marlena.  It would have still had to borrow heavily from Days because of Drake and Ali being on that show, but it has a better established premise with Deidre Hall as Marlena then say Sunset  Beach. They always could have cast Eric and other parts of Marlena's family because Days always said they existed but you rarely saw her side of the family.  I would love to find more info about it.  You have to wonder if Days would have had such a great boost in the mid 90's without Marlena/John/Kristen.   There probably would have been a lot more effort put into keeping CC and maybe MBE if there's no Marlena. 

[te.]

Honestly, it sounds like Manhattan Lives / Body and Soul was initially slated to replace Santa Barbara (which ended January 1993) - they might've kept the concept going for a while longer, especially if they wanted something to use when they negotiated with the Another World producers. But pretty much once JER started moving Marlena in front-and-center I think it was unofficially done. I could see Marlena easily spinning off before that especially in late 1992 / early 1993, but once they went with the affair / pregnancy / Sami drama I feel like she became to solidified on DAYS to really make sense in spinning off to her own show.

Edited August 8, 2021 by te.

[carolineg]

I remember hearing NBC or Corday? thought Deidre looked too old for Drake and that's why they hired Eileen.  So it's seems weird they would give her a spin off if they already had concerns about her age.  I do think depending on the haircut/styling DHer did look older than Drake at times back then, but definitely not anymore.  But the show did go full force with Kristen/John for awhile.

I think JER genuinely loved writing for John/Marlena, but I do think there was some appeasement going on to keep them both happy and front burner.   Crystal Chappell, their star, was out after 1 contract cycle as was Lawrence Almain, who was the big bad at the time.  I think once the Affair story took off it was easy to center on Jarlena and I think the show owed Drake one for being a fairly reliable leading man for years and basically getting his character taken away.

The show was really wonky in 1991-1992.  The 80's goodness was ending (MBE, SN, CS, PP, KA all out) and I think show just needed some tried and true veteran leads to anchor the show.  I think if some of those actors stayed things would have been different, but by 1993, I agree you really needed Marlena on Days.  Obviously, the show could have used Marlena's peers like Maggie, Julie or Laura to anchor, but JER never seemed interested in them.

[will81]

Here are some articles about Manhattan Lives The first is from Sep 92, the second from Oct 92 and the third from May 1993

 

Please register in order to view this content

[carolineg]

Thanks for posting @will81.  I guess that spin off was just lingering around for several years lol.  I have to go into the proposed soaps thread and find out more about the Bell spin off. It makes you wonder if NBC should have just cut their losses with AW and tried one of the two soaps. 

You have to wonder how Corday went from let's move Marlena to Manhattan to let's possess her by the devil lol.

[te.]

Honestly, I think the reason Manhattan Lives continued to linger was because it was a good negotiation tactic to have it on the backburner. If the producers of Another World knew that NBC had something to replace it with, they might've been more willing to cut costs to keep it on the air.

I doubt the Manhattan Lives show would've worked, but I do wonder what would've happened if Bradley and Bill Bell Jr had jumped ship to create their own soap for NBC. Then again, it would've been an hour and B&B really seemed to succeed by being the half hour show of the bunch.