DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[DRW50]

Thanks. I knew that Temple from somewhere...

[Paul Raven]

I'm surprised that Donna/Tracey Bregman was dropped in the 'bloodbath'.Here was a young character who could have provided story for Don and Marlena and was the kind of character that could be good/bad ,thus providing a lot of conflict. And as Bregman showed on Y&R,she had staying power.

[DRW50]

That surprises me too. I wonder if it was because they were starting to phase Don out of the show and didn't care about having ties for him. This was also when they broke up Don/Marlena wasn't it? It seems odd they'd get rid of her. I guess they were so focused on the idea that new characters had to be the salvation.

[Paul Raven]

Don stayed around till 85.He was still in the forefront through the Don/Marlena break up,his marriage to Liz and new involvement with Gwen etc.Once Pat Falken Smith was gone and her story projections were worked through,Don became a glorified extra.

I believe Jed Allan was offered recurring,but declined.There was an article in Afternoon Tv,I believe that dealt with all the vets leaving.A Days spokesperson painted recurring as a fabulous thing for an actor as they would still be used but have the freedom to pursue other projects.

[DRW50]

Generally in those days recurring seemed to mean character oblivion. I don't know if that changed until budgets began shrinking.

For some reason I forget he had anything to do after he broke up with Marlena. I guess there was the Maggie relationship, and then Liz (Liz had so many love interests in a few years it's hard to keep track).

I guess you can't say it hurt DAYS in the ratings but in the long run I think it was a mistake to let so many like the Hayes and Launa Sanders, and later Joe Gallison, leave.

[Paul Raven]

I can understand that Days needed to 'modernize' and the ratings were way down.They had Hope,Melissa,Jennifer etc to take over and relate to Tom and Alice but the original children were pretty much ignored.

Had they brought them in at Xmas,or for short term stints it would have kept them alive in viewers minds.

Of course,it was the Hayes decision to leave and I think Lanna Saunders was already affected by MS when she went,so some things out of their control,to some extent.

But so many were forgotten.And aging Scotty was a mistake.maybe David should have returned when Julie did in 1990.

Alice gets news that Jessica has had a child etc

More guest spots and news of missing family members should have been a priority.

[DRW50]

It's strange to me that they never did more with Tom Jr and Sandy, since they were both blank slates. They went to the trouble of inventing children for Melissa and for Jessica, but they didn't have anything with Sandy, other than her quick appearances.

[Michael]

I think she was probably, as written, not a particularly well-defined character. I think the most 'interesting' thing she did was be implicated in a porn scandal that turned out to have been faked. Doesn't seem like they bothered to involve her with the rest of the canvas too much, so I can see why it seemed like it was best to cut their losses and create someone more interesting. But yes, the connection could have helped Don quite a bit!

[JAS0N47]

Back in the mid-late 1970s though, there were a lot of actors not on contract that were used a lot. Samantha, Donna, Steve, Valerie and Danny to name a few.

[Gray Bunny]

It's funny how John Clarke aged so quickly. He looks like an old man in that 1978 magazine, and he'd only been on the show for 13 years! Wasn't Mickey supposed to be in his mid-to-late 20's when the show began in 1965? Funny how they so rapidly aged characters like Mickey and Julie, especially since the same actors were still playing the roles.

[Paul Raven]

In 1977,Julie became involved with the Duvalls ,Karl and Sharon (Sally Stark and Alejandro Rey) that led to the short lived lesbian story where Sharon professed her love for Julie. The whole thing was quickly dropped.

[DRW50]

I wish that story was available. Was this still Bill Bell outlines, or was this Ann Marcus?

[EricMontreal22]

I always assumed it was still Bell/PFS, but that may just be because Bell flirted with a lesbian story around the same time on Y&R.

[Paul Raven]

Bill Bell was official headwriter on Days until May 75. After that he was listed as story consultant and Pat Falken Smith became headwriter, Even when Ann Marcus became headwriter Bell was still listed as consultant until April 78.

How that all worked in practice is another story.

[Gray Bunny]

How sad that the footage of all 45 years is out there and available, yet nobody (Hi, Soapnet!) thinks to rerun them. I suppose there are fees that would need to be paid to the lighting director from 1968 if they dare air an episode that he worked on, etc.?