DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[carolineg]

It could have been such a good story, but like every writer ever wanted to make it their own and it made it the biggest clusterf*ck of all time.  And at some point it barely matters.  John is what he is.  Unless you make him Roman I don't really care.

Edited May 8, 2022 by carolineg

[Khan]

IDK why, but I feel like that might happen in the very last episode of DAYS.  Sort of like how OLTL's Allison Perkins told Clint and Viki toward the end of the show's network run that both Jessica and Natalie were Clint's biological daughters all along.

[Contessa Donatella]

Well, that stopped me in my tracks. I never once thought of it as something that could've been a good story. To me, anyway, it was such a mess from the get-go. I guess I'm just relieved that they are probably done with any amount of re-re-retconning, over however many generations of changes they've done! I give them credit for putting imagination to work to effect the changes they want to, but it's just never a pretty sight!

[carolineg]

Maybe.  Then the show doesn't have to deal with Belle/Shawn being related.  I would overlook that if I had to.

 

Really?  The story had potential.  John could have been so many interesting things: Stefano's son, Roman's twin/brother, someone who had a family in his past life, someone truly evil, the real Roman etc.   Instead he's just a rich, nice guy with an everchanging backstory and soap's longest case of amnesia ever.  Like Jason Morgan on GH, I always figured someday he would regain his memories, but I guess not.

I think at the time it made sense to make John an Alamain because Lawrence was the big bad and the Dimeras weren't around.  But the Alamain presence was gone soon after and it would have made much more sense to connect him to Stefano as his son or the show could have taken the easiest way out and made him Roman's twin.

[Contessa Donatella]

The best I can say about John's life path being a good tale, ya know, is to say that you seem to have some nice ideas that could have been implemented with some grace or elegance & the show just slammed the poor character with inelegant changes. My favorite John won't be anyone else's I'm sure. It's likely unpopular but, international jewel thief. Some of us online didn't necessarily like what they did with the characters & would make stuff up. We had fun doing it. If you & I had been in the same space I probably would have encouraged you to write for the Alt*Days we did.

[carolineg]

Lol!  I am sure there is enough John/Marlena fanfic out there in the world already.

In a perfect world the tale of 2 Romans would have never happened, but then the show wouldn't have had years of story via the John/Marlena affair.  

I don't know if the show stuck with just one backstory and expanded on it most anything could have worked.  I do think trying to tie it to Hope's was a weird choice though.  

The jewel thief stuff got scrapped pretty quickly along with the wife, but I think that was because Staci Greason didn't re-sign and Izzy B was going to kick the bucket shortly.   John/Gina were art thieves I believe so it could have all tied together pretty easily.

Again, I think there were two very clear choices to make for John : Roman's twin or Stefano's son.  Neither happened lol.

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, and scrapping the international jewel thief stuff really annoyed us! LOL  But, I found good stuff within the IzzyB time. We could have had John & Gina like The Avengers only on the wrong side of the law.

[carolineg]

Back then they were still going with the fact that John's appearance had been altered as well.  Something that I believe was dropped a few years later around Maison Blanche where he found his name in the prison cell even though we saw him choose the name John Black off a plaque in 1986.  A story like the Tale of 2 Romans really needed an endgame or at least a solid idea for John and I just don't believe it did.  I often wonder if the show just figured Drake would be out in a few years and didn't think he would become the leading man in the 90's.

[AbcNbc247]

 

Yeah, that's what I was referring to; how they explained it in the 90s, before the rewrite about Yo Ling and the school for assassins.

On the bright side, as of now, I think John's backstory is pretty clear. Unless they rewrite it again 

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[Khan]

Agree.  In fact, I've been saying for YEARS that John being Stefano's son was the only outcome that would have made sense, and that the show was avoiding the obvious, likely because they were more concerned with shocking viewers than with being logical.  Hence, all the ridiculous retcons to his past that invariably land with a thud with an audience that is truly past the point of caring.

(But, of course, whenever I argue the theory, I'm always argued down.  But Stefano has tried many times to kill John, they say.  Why would Stefano try to kill his own son?  As if Stefano would be above murdering his own son simply because his son had proven himself to be disloyal to him.  Anyways.)

And I also agree that, on the face of it, the "Tale of Two Romans" had potential.  Of course, it wasn't something I would've done, had I been the HW.  (At best, I would have said that John and Roman were twins, that John was stolen at birth, and that Stefano (and Victor) had somehow tracked him down and brainwashed him into becoming The Pawn). But, the idea behind it was certainly creative.  It's just that its' execution is what ultimately let it down. 

It was clear the show didn't really know who John was supposed to be once he was no longer Roman, so they kept stalling, hoping to come up with some explanation for how he came to be that would "stick."  In the process, the story became far too convoluted; and when they finally landed on the idea of making him the presumably dead Forrest Alamain, it didn't have the impact it should've, not just because the Alamains were gone soon after, but also because the folks at home had simply moved on.

That's my theory, anyway, and I'm sticking to it, lol.

Ironically, though, it would solve what I still think is Belle and Shawn's biggest problem - which is that they're together in the first place, lol.

Of course, you'd still have the issue of Claire, but I think that's easily resolvable, too.  Either we learn Sami did succeed in switching Belle with another infant OR Claire dies by her own hand after learning that her parents are in fact brother and sister and that she is a product of incest.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Khan

[janea4old]

The "John Black FAQ" as of May 30, 1999, by Dustin Cushman

Page 1
https://web.archive.org/web/20160407025253/http://www.soapoperafan.com/days/misc/johnfaq.html

Page 2
https://web.archive.org/web/20150905232611/http://www.soapoperafan.com/days/misc/johnfaq2.html

Page 3
https://web.archive.org/web/20150908090152/http://www.soapoperafan.com/days/misc/johnfaq3.html

Edited May 8, 2022 by janea4old

[carolineg]

Haha!  Reading comprehension was not my friend last night.

I assume you mean flimsily explained and might possible make a tiny bit of sense if you don't think about it much, right?  But, again, I don't want to go down that road again so just leave it.  Please Ron.  I am begging you.

 

I am of the mind that making John Roman's twin was the easiest way out. A clear reason Stefano wanted revenge on the Bradys, a reason Marlena and the family was fooled, a path to have the affair happen still, and truly the most logical way to get out of that mess.  It seems so obvious, but that was never even hinted at.

John as Stefano's son is the more dramatic and interesting idea.  I would buy Stefano felt so betrayed by John he would try to kill him.  Through all Stefano's machinations against John/Marlena, it seemed he really respected them as adversaries as weird as that sounds.   There have been many times over the years that I thought Stefano cared for John as sick as that may be.  Both ideas work for me.

The Tale of 2 Romans was a cool idea.  I think if they had Marlena come back much earlier and really work her way back to RoJohn and then real Roman appeared months later it would have helped.  I would have not made Isabella pregnant as well.  She could still have Brady down the line just not at that moment.  It made the choice on who would end up with who very obvious.  The other problem with the Tale of 2 Romans is it was very convoluted and seem to drag on forever without even answering the question about what happened to Marlena or who John was.  So we have two huge things that just weren't addressed and hung in the air for years.  JER tried to address the emotional ramifications with the Affair, but just decided John was a priest to do the Possession.  I think the only way for the Tale of 2 Romans to succeed is to establish who John was at the end even if it got retconned later.  Being an Alamain just gave John a boatload of money (which I believe he already had a ton from IzzyB croaking) and some business stories.  That's extremely boring lol.  It might be the least exciting place to go for that story.

[Khan]

That's possible.  Remember, Dee and Wayne were popular BITD.  Therefore, TPTB might have assumed that Roman/Marlena fans would be SO thrilled to have the original Roman back that they would forget all about Drake.  At the very least, they likely thought they could parlay Drake's own popularity into having TWO supercouples on the show: Roman/Marlena, and John/Isabella.

Unfortunately, three factors went against everything going smoothly, or according to plans: 1) the piss-poor planning of, and lukewarm reception to, the "Tale of Two Romans"; 2) the off-key writing for Wayne's Roman once he had returned, an issue that was apparent even before JER put the final nail in Roman and Marlena's coffin; and 3) Staci Greason's decision not to re-sign, which torpedoed the show's chances of developing John and Isabella any further as a duo.

[AbcNbc247]

Thanks!

Yeah, pretty much 

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[carolineg]

Idk, they never seem to have a plan for Roman/Marlena.  They were backburned for so long after the Tale of 2 Romans.  I also think WN's Roman didn't age well.  Not physically, but as a character.  He was boorish and dismissive to Marlena in the 80's and that worked BITD, but Drake's Roman was more evolved and likable.   Seeing WN's Roman have the same characteristics that he did in 1981 didn't work anymore. They unfortunately did lose some of their charm and chemistry together.  Roman/Marlena seemed more like good buddies than a hot couple.  I love RoMar, but even rewatching their awesome initial lovestory I feel like the way he acted with Marlena wouldn't work today.  I also think Wayne and Dee had very short contracts that had to be re-upped and there might have been some drama with those that stalled the story.  I believe Wayne even briefly left the show or was off contract while working it out.

I do think the show had a large investment in Isabella/John and for whatever reason Staci decided to leave.  I could easily see Isabella/John together with Roman/Marlena and that quad could have gone on for years even incorporating the affair into it.  At the same time I do think the show thought they could quietly get rid of Drake if OGRoman proved to be a ratings draw, but they knew Drake was popular and wanted to see how it all panned out before making any decisions.