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[Contessa Donatella]

Frankly I was just SHOCKED at the episode I just watched. I couldn't believe that Marlena all of a sudden, turned on a dime, said welcome home & you are all I need & show me you love me. WTF?!!! Obviously it's not going to be that simple but BOY did they tie it up in a bow in this episode!!! 

[carolineg]

Yes!  That's what I was talking about John/Marlena go from conflicted....to not at all and I don't even think it was more than a few episodes.  Even little Sami/Eric just take to Roman immediately.  I don't know if there were backstage things going on, but the writers were just quickly wrapping it up.   And I know some people think it was to gear up for the eventual affair.  I don't really get that sense.  I don't think it was some long term plan.  I know Roman leaves to go on assignment pretty soon and I think it's when PR's Bo leaves and RKK's Bo appears, so maybe the show needed to move things along.  But even John moves on to the Romulus/Danielle story and the characters of John/Marlena/Roman don't really intersect that much.

[Contessa Donatella]

The HW from 6/19/91 to 1/30/92 was Gene Palumbo. Romulus was also '92. RKK was revealed at Vivian's masquerade ball also in '92. Wayne played Roman this stint from '91-'94. 

Of course, we know Marlena is not actually 100% sure of her feelings. But, right now, she can't have John. So, is this "Love the one you're with"? 

[carolineg]

Okay.  So 1/30/92 is about a month out from where you are.  That could explain the pace and things wrapping up.

Even if Marlena played it more as her own guilt for choosing Roman or Sami/Eric have a difficult time bonding with Roman.   It just felt so easily solved in the moment.  And like I said it's been a few years since I watched.  I just remember being very disappointed overall.  I find most of 1992 to be a snooze to be honest though.  It's sort of a lull in the show until it moves into high gear in 1993.

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, too easily solved! She's been saying day in & day out that they have so much tough ahead of them, then they bite the bullet & tell little Eric & Sami (1) John's not their Dad, (2) the man they've called Mr. Patrick is their Dad and (3) now they have 2 Dads. Roman graciously tells John to take them up & tuck them back into bed. He can afford to be gracious as this is going to be the last time John will be present at bedtime. Then when John left, Roman made a nice speech telling Marlena that they are going to have to get to know each other again, that it's been 7 years & they've both been through so much & have changed. He says they have to find out if they still fit together like they used to & he tells her good night & goes to the other room. In a bit he finds her still in the living room, writing something. She hands him the page. He reads aloud, "Welcome Home!" Her turn to make a speech. He'd asked her what she needed to be happy & she'd not given him an answer. Now she has the answer. She needs him & only him. He says he wonders if she knows how much he loves her. She purrs, "Show me." POOF! That old cop & doc magic happens. 

Soap Opera Digest 9-10-85
"Why Some of Day of Our Lives's Best Loved Characters Have Vanished" by Ginger Myers & R.J. Johnson
Missing Person Number Three: Julie Williams, a resident of Salem for 16 years. Last seen Aug. 1984, packing for a vacation. aka Susan Seaforth Hayes.
We (she & her husband Doug)  went on vacation & fell off the end of the earth. Julie had a long history on DAYS OF OUR LIVES & did just about as much as she could do. I don't hink age had much to do with my departure. I had 16 productive, happy years. But I was glad to see it end, so that I could go on to something else.
I was still in contract negotiations on my last day. I'm now Joanna Manning on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS. I'm happy to tell people they can still find me on another network. YOUNG & RESTLESS has a full spectrum of characters & ages. I appreciate the ingredients ... the quality of production, writing, the attitude of the cast and the network. It's all extremely positive and high class.
Missing Person Number Four: Doug Williams, resident of Salem for 14 years. Last seen: April 1984, packing for vacation. aka Bill Hayes. 
After 14 years, I walked upstairs to pack & walked off the set with no good-byes. Producers and writers control the show. Actors do not. 
If I had been the producer or writer, I would have given Julie (his wife) and Doug a whopper of a storyline. They should have had a big exit. To send them upstairs packing is not wrapping up any storyline. It is jolting and unsatisfying to the audience. But times change & they seem to be going after new viewing markets. 
 

[carolineg]

Yeah, you definitely get what I am saying.  We trekked through Mexican ruins for what felt like months (I know it's not, but it moved a bit slow) and it all ended without much drama or conflict.  Putting Roman and Marlena back together was never an issue with me.  I don't know how you could avoid that.  It was just the aftermath of them getting back together after 7 years didn't play out at all.  And I swear, Roman goes undercover very soon after this and stories just move on.  I can get John moving on and stepping back because he's committed to a pregnant Isabella and wants to know who he is.  Outside of a handful of scenes that show some awkwardness.  John, Roman, Isabella and Marlena just become good friends.   It just wasn't a very satisfying conclusion to a story that started out so well and if I was watching live back then I would have been disappointed.  

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, yeah, we are on the same page! At this point it fits nicely for them to get back together. But, it happened too fast, too abruptly, with a lot of talk about the coming struggle ... and then we jumped over the struggllng part?!! 

[carolineg]

Yeah.  Roman and Marlena make sense at the time.  And a lot of these issue pop up later and that's the beauty of soaps and years long storytelling.  We just didn't get much trauma from two people who were kidnapped for years at all in the moment.  Marlena just gave up on even trying to find out what happened to her for 5 years lol.  John's story is better told IMO.  Anyway, most of these things are answered much later on, but it was an immediate slide into Roman and Marlena's domestic bliss......until it wasn't a few years later.  There were just so many options and places you could go with Roman/Marlena's returns and it ended up just a bit blah.

[Contessa Donatella]

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 Roman & Marlena, 12-13-91

 

[Khan]

IIRC, viewers' reactions to the Two Romans saga were rather lukewarm.  They didn't hate the revelation that Roman was alive and that John was an impostor, but it didn't excite them either.  (Wink-wink, lol).  So, I wonder if the fact that there was little to no immediate fallout was because TPTB, disappointed that the storyline didn't garner a more enthusiastic reception from the audience, just chose to move on, rather than continue with the next part of the story.

[carolineg]

IMO, it was a decent story in theory.  I just found it boring after the initial returns.  The momentum was just lost.  The stuff in Mexico was both drawn out and overexplained and then they all went home and it was all tied up in a bow and everyone was happy (well, except John I guess lol).  I can see wanting to move on, but I don't have too many nice things to say about the next stories (Romulus, Roman undercover).  I think I remember hearing Wayne and Deidre only signed on for 6 months or something initially, so maybe they were trying to wrap it up in case one or both left.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Here it is longer 

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[Maxim]

I love Roman and Marlena! Roman is my favorite OG character. 

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[Contessa Donatella]

As you can probably tell, he's mine, too! Although I was in love with Julie before Roman was even in Salem. He's my favorite OG fella & she's my favorite OG gal. 

This week I played the 1st episode of DAYS in my forum & they loved it & someone posted that Julie was Sami before Sami was Sami. Tickled me. In the first episode Julie is caught shoplifting! 

Edited January 20, 2024 by Donna L. Bridges
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[Lye-C]

What exactly was Marlena up to in 1992? It seems like I never hear anything about a Marlena story from between her initial return and Stella/The Pit. Was she simply a casualty of Days going through multiple headwriting teams that year? 

Also, is Deidre’s rivalry with Crystal Chappell a true fact?