DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Paul Raven]

Seeing Susan, only a few years older than Deidre, but looking much older. Her posture and overall demeanor gives off an older vibe.

I think all she's been through this year has taken it's toll. Recent flashbacks show her looking much sturdier.

[Dion]

Yeah but that wasn't revealed until 2002, when they decided to make Daphne John's mother (since retconned several more times lol), in order to have Tony (later retconned to be Andre) and John be half-brothers.

[j swift]

So, would Vivian be Daphne’s sister-in-law (at least during that retcon)?

[te.]

Eh, that hair do did a lot for her height, plus she's likely switched from wearing heels to flats. It also wouldn't surprise me if they had Alfonso wearing flats in those days to make her look smaller too.

I mostly realised that someone had a very obvious nose job... 

[asafi]

Is it just me, or did the show have no idea what to do with Mickey and Maggie in the '80s — and even less so in the '90s? It feels like it was just a steady paycheck for John and Suzanne because their storylines were painfully boring, aside from the 'Mickey presumed dead' arc in 1983.

[asafi]

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[Khan]

It's not just you, lol.

For sure, I think Suzanne Rogers' real-life health issues played a part in the show's conscious choice to de-emphasize Mickey and Maggie, but I also think TPTB had a hard time figuring out how the two could have fit into the kind of show DAYS had become by the '80's.  As we saw, it was really easy to slot Marlena into those action/adventure storylines through her relationships with Roman, Bo, etc.  But, as it was with Doug and Julie, I think it was just hard to write those kind of stories for Mickey and Maggie without making them look foolish.  It's a good thing, though, that Melissa, Neil, Liz, Marie and (for awhile) Don also were on the canvas, or else Mickey and Maggie would have had literally nothing at all to do.

Edited December 11, 2024 by Khan

[DRW50]

I know some fans also felt it was down to how John Clarke had aged. Sometimes I am surprised they stayed on the show as long as they did. JER in particular seemed to have no interest in Maggie, even though she's proven since that she really will commit, no matter how awful the material.

[Franko]

I apologize for repeating myself, but I remember visiting the old Beth's Days Page circa 1999-2000 and reading fan comments that wondered what exactly was the point of keeping Maggie around. People were tired of her being the one to declare such and such was evil and that (insert couple here) were going to have a happy ending. I think the conclusion was that Maggie was the backup talk-to for when Alice would no longer be available. I guess the pecking order would have been Alice, then Maggie, then Caroline.

Edited December 11, 2024 by Franko

[asafi]

Exactly! I'm glad Suzanne stayed with the show for all those decades, but compared to Marlena, she was largely sidelined until the Victor Kiriakis romance. I mean, she had practically no storyline throughout the '90s, aside from that ridiculous Sarah/Neil plot.

[teplin]

Yes, the last really decent storyline Maggie got was her (abbreviated) involvement with Don, though I did like what little I saw of her den mother phase with Melanie, Nathan and assorted other young folk. The Victor storyline was almost as outlandish as the Rachel-Carl romance on AW, but like in that case, it at least gave screen time to a "mature" actress. I love her, regardless of how badly she's been treated by some writers. 

[j swift]

In the early to mid 1980s, in hindsight, I feel like Maggie played a similar role to the Quatermaines on GH (with less charm and pizzazz).  Much like how Monica and Rick's affair was the grounded, mature, b-plot during the summer of the Ice Princess.  It seemed like Maggie, Don, Neil, and even Liz were around to remind us of the stakes if the citizens of Salem fell victim to Stefano or Victor's schemes.

Personally, I prefer a villain like Alex who was motivated by self-interest and self-preservation, rather than world domination.

[Paul Raven]

Mickey/Maggie seemed to reach a storyline dead end once they got their 'happy ending' after the Bill/Laura/Mickey story wrapped up.

There seemed to be a negative response to Mickey the mental patent so he was cured and all the years of angst left behind.

So they tried the Janice story that lead to Maggie becoming an alcoholic, and various other bits and pieces to keep them in story. Then Maggie had a brief flirtation with the football player that went nowhere followed by the surrogate story.

After that the Mickey presumed dead, Don/Maggie affair, Maggie leaving town, returning and remarrying Mickey.

It was all pretty haphazard and often not in character. 

Mickey seemed more like Tom's brother than his son and that was a factor, but really Days was going young and Mickey/Maggie were kept around to keep some links to the past. There was zero real investment in them.

Edited December 12, 2024 by Paul Raven

[Khan]

I think it was mentioned some time ago in this thread that one reason why DAYS' ratings dropped in 1978 or so was because there were too many depressing storylines going on at that time.  You had Mickey's mental breakdown, you had Trish Clayton's bout with DID (which, IIRC, was something Pat Falken Smith did not want to write, even though it was included in Bill Bell's long-term story plans) and then you had another storyline with similar themes that fans from that period would have to remind me about.  To me, it just seems like there was too much heaviness going on, without anything that was comparatively light to counteract it all.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Rick and Monica’s affair was during the summer of Luke and Laura on the run from Frank Smith not the ice princess