DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[BetterForgotten]

Genie of course ended up hating her time and character on DAYS, but the shade at GH in this print ad is hilarious looking back...

 

 

[DaysFanatic777]

I am happier today, and sober (gasp).  

 

Dude, there are good people everywhere....and bad people everywhere....

 

You just have to search for decent people, and any place can become livable. 

 

I lived In Lakeland, FL for 2 years.  It was a fun place to live....right between Pleasure Island and Ybor City.  I was 20.....,.You get the picture. 

[Sindacco]

So much THIS!

Yep.

 

Love him or hate him, but he gave the show a new successful era when it became apparent around 1991-92 that the Adventure/Supercouple formula from the 80s wasn't working anymore.

[amybrickwallace]

 

I like that ad. Why did Genie end up disliking her DAYS stint so much?

[Khan]

GF has complained in the past how her DAYS character, Diana Colville, was...well, was never REALLY a character.  She NEVER knew exactly who Diana was.  This was true all the way to her final scenes, when Diana suddenly packed her bags and left town (with her hair dyed brown, no less), suggesting that "Diana Colville" might not have been her true identity after all!  (Or so she claimed in an online interview with the Academy of American Television).

 

Frankly, I think DAYS hired GF in much the same way that GH had hired Denise Alexander back in '73.  In both situations, it was more about luring away a popular actor from a competing show (although GF hadn't been on GH in at least three years, she was still connected to the show in viewers' memories and hearts), and less about finding the best actor to play a particular, well-developed role.

Edited May 10, 2019 by Khan

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you, @Khan. All I really knew about her time at DAYS was that she was paired with Drake Hogestyn onscreen - and married Jonathan Frakes offscreen. 

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[BetterForgotten]

She also accused DAYS of only being interested in her “celebrity” and nothing else.

 

I believe it was Shelley Curtis who convinced Genie to take the role (as they worked on GH together). They would work together again when Genie returned to GH in 1993.

[amybrickwallace]

 

She was probably right about that!!

[Khan]

 

And that's probably true.  It never mattered whether GF was right for Diana and for DAYS.  They just wanted to get GF/GH/Luke & Laura fans to tune in.

 

OTOH, AMC did a little better by her, giving her an actual character (Ceara Connor) with a real backstory and agenda for being in Pine Valley -- even if, IMO, GF wasn't entirely suited to portray Ceara as conceived.

[BetterForgotten]

And Genie still holds that Ceara is the best soap role she's ever played, but it seems that character became a muddled mess pretty early on as well. Genie said Agnes was pretty involved in Ceara's creation, so I have to wonder if this character ever turned out the way Genie/Agnes anticipated. 

[Khan]

 

Frankly, I don't think so.  I suspect the writers crafted the child molestation story for Ceara, because they realized GF didn't have whatever it took to portray Ceara as the "scheming vixen" type she was introduced as.  But I could be wrong.  (That's not a knock on GF or her talents, by the way.  It's just that she's more suited to portray heroines over villains).  Either way, it felt after awhile that Ceara, and Ceara/Jeremy, had fallen through the cracks -- which might have been okay with Genie, who wasn't carrying the show on her shoulders like she had on GH, and who was allowed to pursue other endeavors (such as theatre) while living in NYC, but it certainly was a waste of actor and character.

[victoria foxton]

Ceara had an edge before the child molestation story. Which she lost after. Ceara became extremely bland. I never saw any chemistry between her and Jeremy. I think Genie did a good job playing a vixen. Throwing her in a triangle with Jeremy and his equally dull son David did her no favors.

[Sindacco]

And back then they worked much longer hours. I remember Drake once said in an interview they could start working 7AM or something and be done 11PM. Go home and sleep for a few hours and then back to the studio, and they also worked on weekends when they shot big events. These days an actor can be done for the day by lunch, or they don't start until after lunch. Plus they have alot of weeks off when the studio is dark.

[BetterForgotten]

Has DAYS completely done away with rehearsal given the abhorrent production schedule? 

 

I know the actors at Y&R, B&B, and GH still talk about having some sort of rehearsal time, but maybe not to the extend of the 'good old days.' 

[will81]

I think so. JLB when she returned said she did a rehearsal with Melissa Reeves and then was told it was a take and that's what aired. They may not be doing it all the time, maybe just when they think a dress rehearsal is good enough.