DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[vetsoapfan]

 

Although the ratings had been acceptable when the show was written by the legendary Bill Bell and Pat Falken Smith, Corday productions and NBC felt the numbers could be higher, so they fired the best writers the show had ever had, and replaced them with a multitude of other scribes in an attempt to attract more viewers. It ended up being a disaster. New writers came and went on a regular basis, and most of them only axed popular characters, created stories that were not appropriate for DAYS' established tone and theme, and generally decimated the show's core more and more. 

 

Nina Laemmle, who (IMHO) had been a complete and abject failure on the nighttime serials she had written into the ground, was inexplicable given a great deal of freedom to restructure the show as she saw fit. She said it was dull and repetitious, and that several beloved characters had outlived their usefulness. So she axed half the cast, brought in about nine new characters of her own, and inflicted some of the most uninteresting and tedious stories possible onto the audience. 

 

Ratings plummeted, Viewers revolted, and Laemmle was axed within six months. The majority of her new, failed characters were eliminated shortly thereafter. From Laemmle's era, only Liz Chandler became a successful DAYS staple.

[DRW50]

 

Do you think they should have given Elizabeth Harrower more of a chance? 

 

What were Laemmle's nighttime shows?

Edited August 22, 2019 by DRW50

[AbcNbc247]

Wow, they actually fired Pat Falken Smith in 1977. How stupid were they.

 

I'm beginning to think that there might have been a lot of panic at NBC around this time. They saw how GH and the other ABC soaps exploded, so they just panicked and ran with any idea that came to mind, not giving enough thought as to whether their ideas were good or not. Sometimes new characters do save a show, but sometimes new characters mess it up even more. That seems to have happened a lot on the NBC soaps, particularly DAYS and AW. I think a lot of that depends on the writer too. Laemmle might have been a failure (which the exception of Liz, from what I've seen of her, I really liked her too), but look at PFS' second stint. She was there only six months and she created some of DAYS' most iconic characters. I believe if there was just more thinking and less panicking by leaderships, producers and writers, DAYS might not have plummeted in the ratings like it did.

 

I also find it hilarious that the writer that broke up Doug and Julie was SSH's own mother. Was she trying to say something to her son in law lol

[vetsoapfan]

 

The ONLY reason I kept sticking with DAYS, through all the awful writing regimes and cast purges was because there continued to be characters I care about on screen. David, Marie, Doug, Julie, Don, Marlena, Tom and Alice, etc., kept me loyal even when I had to grit my teeth over what was happening to my beloved soap. 

 

Such a line of dialogue from Tom was absurd, to be sure. New writers often saddle actors with dumb dialogue. On TGL once, in the mid-1980s, Kelly Nelson asked Ed Bauer, "Do you remember Steve Jackson, the surgeon?" I cringed. Steve Jackson was Ed's former father-in-law and grandfather to Ed's son Rick. Of COURSE Ed would remember him. Duh. Stupid, irritating line written by writers who were too lazy of incompetent to study the history of the show.

 

On AW, someone asked Jamie Frame how he was related to Sally Fame. He replied, "She's a cousin or something." EXCUSE ME? Sally had been adopted by Jamie's stepmother. How did he get "cousin" from that connection? UGH.

 

You are right: Gloria Loring sparkled. her Liz Chandler was the only character created by Laemmle who really took off. The actor who played Kellam Chandler was dreadful: totally bland, listless, completely lacking charisma. It was a relief when most of Laemmle's creations got written out.

[Bright Eyes]

 

And he's the only actor (that I know of) that Deidre Hall admitted she didn't like working with. 

[DRW50]

 

That's interesting. I didn't know that. Did she say why? 

[Bright Eyes]

 

I don't remember exactly what she said. It was some written interview and I think she was specifically asked, prompting the answer. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

While I found Elizabeth Harrower to be mediocre, she was better than Ann Marcus, who had written the show before her, and miles above Nina Laemmle, who took over later. (Between Harrower and Laemmle, Ruth Brooks Flippen had penned the show for a whopping four weeks or so, LOL.)

 

Harrower tried to reestablish the heightened romantic tone of the series, but she just did not have Bell's and Smith's skills. Still, I would have kept her in place over Marcus, Laemmle, Flippen. Michele Poteet Lisanti, Gary Tomlin, Margaret DePriest, Thom Racina, Leah Laiman, Ann Howard Bailey, etc., etc., etc., who were also hired to write the show during the period.

 

Laemmle's biggest bomb on primetime was Rich Man, Poor Man Book Two. She took over as writer in the second season, as completely trashed the well-written and hugely successful show.

[Bright Eyes]

I do remember seeing Nina Laemmle's name in the credits for Peyton Place when I watched on YouTube. It surprised me because I remember thinking if she could write for a show that I enjoyed so much, why was she so terrible on DAYS. It really shows you there are good writers who can write based on an already created outline while failing when given more responsibilty, and great ones who can truly create and spin and weave stories effortlessly.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Firing PFS in 1977 was the show's biggest mistake in its history. IMHO, 1976 was DAYS's best-written year, ever, and the quality was continuing into 1977. When Smith got axed, the entire show just fell apart and the quality plummeted. It was painful to watch. Imagine Downtown Abbey turning into The Dukes of Hazard overnight. Yikes.

 

TIIC at the networks have never known how to manage the soaps. What always saved daytime dramas was the savoir faire of the insightful writers and producers who knew what the audience wanted to see, and would battle the networks and the sponsors to bring intelligence and excellence to the screen. As they started to disappear, the hacks took over and the soap medium crumbled. The late 1970s and early 1980s were not a good time for DAYS and AW.

 

Bringing back PFS to DAYS in 1982 was the right thing to do, but alas, complications arose from the lawsuit she had filed when DAYS fired her five years earlier, so the network gave her the boot again, and the show fell back into mediocrity. Joe Mascolo, admitted in the press at thee time, "When Pat Falkeen Smith was fired, the quality of the show's writing went with her." So true.

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It must have been like playing scenes with a wet, slimy, dead fish.

[DRW50]

 

Thanks. 

 

I wonder if any of Flippen's ideas really made it to air. 

 

Ah.

 

He must have been bad to mention him all those years later. 

[victoria foxton]

This episode has a coldness to it. The Anderson Manufacturing business stuff is rather dull. Reading old recaps The AM business stuff came across as more interesting. Really liked Doug & Sister Marie's scene. Kellam & Jarvis were boring and unlikable old farts. Early Liz & Neil is a joy to watch. A rare bright spot during this deary era. Where Julie & Neil ever involved ? The way Neil talked about Julie implied that they were.

Edited August 22, 2019 by victoria foxton

[AbcNbc247]

DAYS' mistake became GH's gain, and in the 80's, DAYS seemed to be doing their best to copy them.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Nina was principally a story editor on PP who also did some scripts, but was only ONE of many scribes who collaborated on the story outlines and teleplays for that series at the time. I have always thought that the other writers' contributions and influence minimized or negated the damage Laemmle might have done if she had been alone and in charge. Just like James Reilly on TGL. He was part of a very successful era of that soap in the early 1990s, but I am convinced that Nancy Curlee's influence helped keep the show from descending into the dreadful, low-brow camp that Reilly was known for in his solo work as head writer on Passions and DAYS.

[AbcNbc247]

From what I've read on Jason47's site, there always seemed to be a flirtation between them but they never actually were a couple. Neil was a bit of a cad at that time too.