DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[carolineg]

MTW and RC are the same age pretty much and there is about a decade between them and Wesley Eure.  He became a Dr in his time away, so I don't think we were supposed to think Mike was any younger.  I do think RC looked really young and hung out with people who weren't born yet when he was a grown man and that made him seem younger as well.  The only true de-aging I can think of is Sarah because she was born 40 years ago on screen.  I know kids SORASing is a joke on Days, but I don't think anyone except Sarah is younger than when they were actually born.

[Khan]

I'll put it another way: MTW and RC's Mikes were pretty much the same age that Wesley Eure's Mike was toward the end of his stint.  (I don't count Paul Coufos, lol.)

As far as SORASings so, Sarah's is certainly the strangest.  It either de-ages Maggie, or it makes it seem as if Sarah was a change-in-life baby.

[Paul Raven]

Mike was SORASED  because of the Bill/Laura story and I guess they needed an older actor to play the angle of the son with mixed up parentage.

Couple that with the need for a next generation of family esp after Y&R put the focus heavily on the young 'uns.

Viewers at that time knew Mike and David were roughly the same age so they wouldn't have bought David being years younger than Mike.

Wes Eure and Richard Guthrie both were popular so TPTB probably were happy with the decision.

But long term it backfired.

My solution-age up Mike and David less drastically so maybe they would be 12 or so by the mid 70's. A competent actor could play the necessary beats in the Mike and David's stories.

In terms of young male characters my solution ,as I've stated before, would be to have Richard Guthrie as Julie's brother Steve, with Julie taking on a motherly role. Steve could be involved with Brooke, Valerie etc.

Wesley Eure could have been Maggie's brother that she raised, who is welcomed into the Horton clan. He can have the romance with Trish and Margo.

That leaves Mike and David ready to take over in the early/mid 80's as new male Horton leads.

[carolineg]

Nothing about Maggie's retconned history makes a lot of sense and didn't add anything to the character.  Yeah, I don't get that choice with Sarah.  It's not like they couldn't have found a more age appropriate actress.  An actress 10 years older than her wouldn't have changed the story that much.  PT is in his 40's. Kristen was in her 50's when the whole baby switch happened.  But again, I think this a situation where Sarah is supposed to be older than LG.

 

That all sounds really good.  To be fair back then of course I don't think writers/producers etc would imagine the show would still be on today and Mike's paternity went on for an insane amount of time for a soap.  The direction of Days changed so much in the 80's to be so youth focused that I don't think anyone considered how it would age Julie.

[Chris 2]

The only thing they cared about for Julie in the early 1980s was how to get her off the show. Susan Hayes admits that she was difficult behind the scenes in those days. She should have looked at how unceremoniously Bill and Laura (Doug and Julie’s peers, age-wise) were written out just a few years earlier.

Edited January 31, 2022 by Chris 2

[carolineg]

If Days didn't let the Hayes go where would you see them fitting on the show during that period?  I honestly have a hard time picturing what they would do besides be involved with Bo/Hope.  I am curious to hear peoples ideas.

[titan1978]

It is hard to say, isn’t it?  Because Marlena had moved into the central heroine role with Roman.  And I loved how involved in their lives Tom and Alice were.  Would Doug and Julie have lead to less of Tom and Alice?  Or more likely, Mickey and Maggie?  I can’t imagine the show as it was then keeping both sets of characters, even if M&M were mostly on the backburner or in C stories at best.

[Paul Raven]

I guess Doug and Julie would have continued in the parental role. I think they were still on 3 days a week before they left  so they would go down to once a week to worry about Hope .

They were told that D&J would not have a story. Maybe they would throw in a few subplots like Julie getting a new job, or Doug having business problems etc.

Had they decided to stay maybe things would have imporoved down the track and David, Dougie or Steve might have come back to give the Williams more to do.

[carolineg]

The only idea I had is Julie somehow gets entangled with Victor via Bo/Hope and maybe move that into possible romance since they did almost test that later on, but the Bo/Hope parental stuff would have dried up a few years later too when they left.  It so hard to guess.  A good writer could do it but the show was so Marlena/Brady/adventure/youth focus it's hard to imagine for me.  I see them mostly used in a capacity as Doug Place's owners where they were there when things happened and just peripherally involved.

[Soapsuds]

Please register in order to view this content

 

[Khan]

They're still together?  Wow, that's crazy!

[victoria foxton]

 

Please register in order to view this content

[Soapsuds]

No pun intended....right?

Please register in order to view this content

[victoria foxton]

 

  

[Khan]

But seriously.  I'm legit surprised that Billy Warlock and Julie Pinson are still together.  Whatever you might suspect about him, or his...proclivities, I never took BW to be the type to remain committed to anyone for more than five minutes.  But, I guess Peter Pan had to grow up sometime.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Khan