DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[AbcNbc247]

Petrov was Stefano's henchman in the 80s. He guarded Marlena and Liz at Ridgecrest, he shot Bo and did a lot of other bad things. He was presumed dead until he came back to reveal the whole John/Yo Ling and his school of assassins thing.

[carolineg]

Outside of the Marlena issue which was never resolved, Kristen wasn't a good character introduction.  Her devotion to Stefano and marriage to Tony was creepy.   IMO, their differences were more than obstacles-they were complete non-starters lol.   She never believed John about anything from Day one.  The entire town was telling her Stefano brainwashed John and tortured him, but Kristen ignored that until John walked out of Maison Blanche in literal shackles.  But it's easy to say that looking back knowing how the story ends.

I think there was a mention in 1991 that Marlena either saw the real Roman or almost did, but it was after Stefano had her.

I didn't realize John was really Forrest Alamain.  I thought the Yo-Ling stuff negated that, but you explained it much better than I remembered it.  Thanks!

Obviously at this point you just wish Real Roman never came back lol.

[victoria foxton]

 

  

[Titus Andronicus]

Retcons - at least one of them was - but they toyed with John self-destructing.

The 1988 storyline with that pagoda mess put Roman as a Manchurian candidate of sorts. The pagoda hypnotized him to do Stefano's bidding. The storyline was actually meant for Shane, apparently, but the writer's strike and NBC interference changed it to Roman.

In 1991, the ISA speculated that upon discovery that John would implode and commit suicide. That freaked out Marlena, who insisted that John be found. On that rainy night, John did go as far as to hold a gun against his head. I can't remember if he had talked himself out of it or if Marlena talked him out of it when she got there. Really good scenes, though. Perhaps the only well done thing about Two Romans.

While I'm thinking about it, 1988 also had Days recreate the cliff scene. Instead of going cheap and recycling the 1984 footage, they actually filmed some new stuff with Stefano and RoJohn. Stefano's Island was not a fantastic storyline by any stretch, but they tried hard to make it make sense. I remember they even brought back up a Pawn moment with Steve that was logical.

[carolineg]

I have never seen the full pagoda story.  Is it worth watching?  Roman seems like a much more logical choice on this than Shane.  Is it the same story were they hinted Marlena was alive?  Because at least in 1991 there was a strong thread that Stefano had Marlena even if Orpheus wasn't explained.  

Agree 100% about your thoughts on the John imploding/suicidal stuff.  It was good and I wished they explored it more.  It felt like everything was cut short about that and it was more Isabella/Romulus jewel thief focused.  I wish there was more fall out with the children-Carrie wasn't even on canvas.  And making Isabella pregnant almost seemed like too much?  A lot was going on and the show knew Wayne was coming back.  It seemed like an unnecessary complication that was much less interesting than the psychological aspects that could have played out.

I remember seeing the 1988 clips and thinking that was silly because it didn't even make historical sense lol.  To me, there is also a lot of Pawn/John/Victor stuff that wasn't explained in 1991 as well.

[Titus Andronicus]

The pagoda stuff depends on your tolerance for, you know, pagoda stuff. More specifically, Roman can't even look at a picture of a pagoda without going into a trance. Thankfully, it doesn't play a much of a part of the storyline after the summer and it gets back to more traditional heroes and villains.

All of it drags its feet for about a month after the writers' strike ends. Word is that even with an outline, the scab writers blew through everything much faster than they should have. So it seems the regular staff had to dance around while they were figuring out something.

I've wondered how long it was planned for Stefano's return, whether it was originally the end goal or if he bailed them out post-strike. 

And yes, this is the same story they hint Marlena is alive. 

[carolineg]

I think I have an okay tolerance to pagodas.  Not sure.  What I read about it makes it sound interesting and maybe the first sign John wasn't Roman, but your explanation just makes it sound messy.

Not sure why they dropped Stefano.  I believe I read Deidre Hall was in serious talks to come back at the time and it fell through and that's why the show was introducing clues that Marlena was alive.  Maybe when DH decided not to come back, the whole thing just ended up getting scrapped and Stefano's story was done.

A lot of the RoJohn/Diana stuff seems to change tone as well from what little I have seen after that.  But then again, even 80's Diana wasn't a very fleshed out character.

[victoria foxton]

 

 

[AbcNbc247]

And on this day in 1991, Lindsey Godfrey was only two years old 

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[dc11786]

I saw clips from a film with actress Elizabeth Roberts. She looked very familiar, but I couldn’t place her until I checked IMDB. She had played Marge Bernardi, the widow of the officer Sani had killed. I remember that story was one of the last times daytime shocked me. I remember Stefano summoning Bernardi to meet with him. Stefano had just learned that Kate had been carrying on with Rafe. In the story, I believe Rafe had been in a coma after a struggle with the criminal who had raped Nick in prison and had held a pregnant Gabi captive. I remember thinking Stefano was going to order a hit on Rafe but instead he told Bernardi to “to cut it off.” 

I remember loving that twist because I could wait for EJ to learn that Sami actually killed Bernardi because he was going to cut off Rafe’s junk. Obviously, Sami didn’t know Bernardi’s actual intention, but I wanted EJ to stew over that. Unfortunately, that never transpired. I remember feeling that story was wrapped up quick. Some never seen nurse had actually killed Bernardi. It was clear that there was another angle they were going to explore because they had a random scene of a woman cutting up in the square while Sami chased Bernardi around. Originally, the casting call was  for a juggler. I suspect that video was suppose to come into play at some point, but it never did.

I wonder hoW much Joe Mascolo’s health played in those 2013 storylines. Stefano, I believe, was the only one who knew about Bernardi’s original intentions. I also remember the nurse reveal was very quick compared to usual big reveals of the time. Around the same time, I remember speculating that the Jordan storyline was originally suppose to be a Kate / Stefano story where Stefano was going to conspire with Kate to keep Rafe / Jordan apart before Kate decided she preferred Stefano as the Jordan story was incredibly thin. Also, the casting call for Clyde was originally for a character on a six month contract. Clyde felt like a Stefano placeholder. Granted, I think Blake Berris received a similar contract before it was renewed. I think Jordan and Nick might have been an interesting pair. 

I definitely felt there is a bit of current story to mine from that plot. I remember thinking that one day Bernardi’s son would return to Salem to get revenge against Sami and become involved with Allie. Not that would happen now, but that’s what I remember thinking when the story was originally playing out.

[Michael]

I know you and I have gone back and forth a lot on this period elsewhere, but I find it so interesting to discuss. The intro of the Jordan storyline (and all its weird shifts) felt like the time when the TomSell era, which had been so strong from late 2012-fall 2013, started to fall apart. Something was up with the resolution of Sami's murder trial for shooting Bernardi -- that thing with the nurse was so random and unsatisfying. And I always wanted them to do more with Marge Bernardi. They could've involved Lucas with her, for instance. 

Stefano's involvement during that period felt like it changed over and over -- probably when Joe's health improved, they did more with him, and then they had to pull back when it waned. And I don't think they knew how they wanted to position Clyde, either. Setting up that he had raped Jordan and then trying to make him a viable love interest for Kate was insane. That whole Jordan/Rafe story was SO limp and without a real throughline, too. Just sloppy.

I love the idea of Bernardi's son returning and being paired with either of Sami's daughters. At one point, I thought Charlie might turn out to be the child of Alan Harris, targeting Allie as vengeance for what Sami did to his father. This would be a similar vibe.

[victoria foxton]

 

  

[Khan]

To think there was time when Leo didn't dress like Willy Wonka.

[dc11786]

To me, the Jordan story stood out because it was a glaring weak thread on a strong show. Little things started to unravel, but the show was mostly watchable until about spring 2014. I seem to remember several characters being introduced in February 2014 and that felt like a rebuilding period. I know Paige arrived on the scene around this time and Ben #1 was also brought in. I want to say Drake Hogestyn returned after one of his absences during this period. Both of those stories (Ben/Abby and JJ/Paige) took time to develop and really weren’t interesting until third parties were introduced (Chad and Eve). 

When it became clear that Nicole and Eric were no longer endgame, I lost interest. I enjoyed elements of the Percy Ruffles story and Abigail and EJ’s affair. The introduction of Paul Narita was great. Even at its worst, the worst being the elephant statue plot, there were some strong story elements that I felt could have salvaged things. Even in 2015, there were things I thought were things to enjoy like the death of Meredith Jennings, the Abigail / Ben / Chad triangle, and the hint that Eric and Nicole might find a way back to each other after Xander nearly killed them. I really wish we had gotten to see Eve gaslight Jennifer into thinking she was mentally ill.

Going back to Jordan, I wonder if the initial plan was to bring back Chelsea Brady. Kate secretly paying her granddaughters salary to take care of Kate’s younger lover seems a very Kate thing to do. I remember them finally revealing Kate was paying Jordan’s salary and it felt so uneventful. When Chelsea had left in 2009, she has gone to help Billie recover from a car accident. I know that the show tried to bring back Darin Brooks in 2013 so I don’t think it would have been a stretch to bring back Chelsea especially since Casey Deidrick was leaving and Nathan Owens wasn’t setting the world on fire as Cameron. To be fair to Owens, Cameron was underdeveloped under both actors. I could see them pairing Max and Abigail again. 
 

I’ve also wondered if they were going to tie Jordan to Vargas, who was quickly dumped in August 2013 after testing the waters with him and Hope. I remember them making a big deal that Vargas was married as he put his wedding ring on after getting out of prison while Nick and Gabi married for real. I liked Vargas and was disappointed when they sent him back to prison. 
 

The Clyde stuff was odd. I can remember the big reveal that Jordan had killed her mother and baby brother in a car accident and Clyde raped Jordan as result. So bizarre considering Jordan left only weeks later. Then we had Clyde in therapy sessions with Marlena. Eventually, they played Clyde as Victor’s sparring partner I believe. I recall a scene with Maggie and Clyde and thinking that friendship would have been interesting, but truthfully Clyde’s baggage was hard to overlook. I liked Clyde pushing Ben towards Abigail to raise the Weston social standing. 

[Michael]

My mental timeline is probably mixed up, but it felt like it stayed "decent" until fall 2014, for the most part. Abigail and EJ's affair wasn't really a great story, but it had a lot of great moments. Same with Sami, Kate, and Gabi "killing" Nick. In retrospect, there was a lot of stuff that I liked pieces of but had other elements dragging it down. JJ/Eve was juicy, but Paige was so insipid -- and it definitely felt like a retcon that Paige was Eve's daughter, probably as a means of breathing some life into that story, because they'd had Paige and Theresa cross paths without even a hint that they knew each other.

Didn't they say that Eve, Paige, and Ben all recognized each other from Florida at one point, too? That got dropped.

I think we knew that Kate was paying Jordan from the outset, because she hired a physical therapist for Rafe and then was pissed it was a female Jordan instead of a man, right? I don't know why anyone thought building a triangle off a pairing like Rafe/Kate made any sense, but they sort of cobbled together an interesting umbrella story by roping in Abigail, Chad, Ben, and Clyde as things went along. 

The big thing, of course, that was hanging over that era was Daniel. It truly felt like he had to be part of everything. Even when Kristen returned in disgrace after her rape of Eric was exposed, they made it about Daniel. What was with that weird scene of Daniel and Kristen starting to hook up, only to be caught by Brady? Awful.