DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[beebs]

Yeah, I would say that would have to be it, especially what with Harrower returning to Y&R under his watch. I'd imagine there was a rapport there. I wish I had more insider info there, because it really feels like Harrower didn't get a fair shake. Her stories just seem to get cut off over and over again, and network interference seems like a logical reason. I have seen what that looks like before, and it feels like Ann Marcus had been given the room to tell her (rotten) stories, while Harrower didn't. Just my observation.

 

 

Shall we venture into Harrower's last weeks? Ruth Brooks Flippen starts March 14, these writeups go til' the 21st, so her first week will become self-evident, I think.

 

 

 

 

Linda is furious over Bob's divorce settlement terms. Bob has declared that Melissa should stay in Salem to complete school, and Linda leave town. Linda won't hear of it. Linda feels Melissa has turned against her, and thinks she's ungrateful. Melissa insists she's just torn between her love for both Linda and Bob. Linda coldly tells her "you can't have it both ways, honey".

 

Don has managed to get Linda a new job in Cincinnati, but Linda doesn't really want to take it. Hoping to stay in Salem, she visits Bob in the hospital, apologizing for not coming sooner. She is contrite, and admits that Bob has a right to be angry, but that separating her from Melissa is a step too far. She grovels at Bob's feet, laying on the theatrics thick with how much she cares for him, and to give her another chance...and Bob doesn't say a damned word. Linda continues to lay herself at Bob's mercy, asking how he cannot see how much she "loves" him. Bob finally speaks, telling Linda that it's too late, and if she doesn't agree to his terms and leave Salem ASAP, he will reveal how she left him to die. Linda finally gives in and says her goodbyes, Bob tells her she already said her goodbyes ages ago. OOF!

 

Mary tells Bob she's marrying Alex. Bob isn't thrilled, wondering what Alex wants from Mary to be marrying her so soon. Mary is certain Alex isn't up to anything, as he's just as well-off as she is, therefore couldn't possibly be marrying her for untoward reasons. Oh Mary, my sweet summer child. Chris is defensive of her when he hears the news, and tries to be gracious. He tells Mary that Alex is a lucky man and that if he does her wrong, Alex will have to answer to him. Mary notes that Alex reminds her of Bob, and Chris makes the connection (Mary always has had a rather...excessive loyalty to her father). Chris notes "she's finally marrying her father". OOPS!

 

Linda and Mary say their goodbyes, with Mary being her usually icy self toward Linda, but she does promise to watch over Melissa in her absence. When Linda approaches Melissa, she decides to leave with her mother. FOOL.

 

MASSACRE VICTIMS #4 and 5!!!

 

Beebs' note: This is TWO DAYS into the new writeups. ALL OF THIS. DAYS was wasting NO time. WOW.

 

 

Bob tries to tactfully tell Phyllis that her daughter is marrying her most recent boyfriend, but the news still shocks Phyllis. Bob tries to find out more about Alex, but Phyllis doesn't really know, beyond the fact he reminded Phyllis of Bob. Telling. Mary later tells Phyllis, who pretends she's shocked and hadn't already heard from Bob. She tells Mary the news hurts her, but she'll still be there for the wedding. Speaking later to Bob, Phyllis admits that Alex is a rotten choice for Mary, but she can't stop her.

 

Mary brings Bob a letter from Melissa, explaining why she left with Linda. Mary forewarns Bob that while Melissa loves him, she also loves her mother. Bob is enraged after reading the letter, which explains that she needs to be with her mother, as she will have no one in Cincinnati. Bob is certain Linda manipulated Melissa into leaving with her, and is enraged by the letter. Mary calls Mickey on Bob's behalf, to have Linda and Melissa tracked down, only to learn they never arrived in Cincinnati. Slippery Linda strikes again!

 

Bob is released from the hospital, and Mary wants to care for him. Alex, desperate to get married right away (and get his hands on that sweet sweet Anderson dollar), suggests Phyllis care for Bob, which suits Phyllis just fine, as she and Bob are beginning to reconnect after years apart. Phyllis hints upon bringing Bob home that she'd like this reconnection to become permanent (HINT). Bob lets her down gently, saying that losing so many people so close together has worn him out emotionally. HE CURIOUSLY DOES NOT MENTION STEPHANIE, but "the thing with Linda and Melissa, and losing MARY". Mary's getting married, it's not like she drove herself off a cliff while on pills or something, BOB.

 

Mary asks Margo to be her maid of honour (Mary really has no closer friends than Chris' bloody secretary??), and Alex decides to smooth things over with Chris, and with Bob, by asking Chris to be his best man (speaking volumes about the depth of Alex's interpersonal relationships). Chris agrees not to leave Anderson for Bob's sake, and to being Alex's best man.

 

 

 

 

Jordan observes more and more that there's a certain...something between Marie and Alex, and he notices that Marie is spending an inordinate amount of time counseling unwed mothers. He confronts her about this, certain Alex played some part in her past.

 

 

 

 

 

Marlena returns home, but, upsettingly, without DJ, who is too small to leave UH. 

 

Donna, despite Terry's article in the paper, is still being teased for being the porn girl, so she asks again to move in with her grandmother. Don and Marlena agree, but worry what Grandma Craig will say when Donna tells her the circumstances. Donna then tells them she already explained the whole situation and Grandma Craig is totally fine with it. Don is amazed at his mother's attitude!

 

DJ comes home, and Marlena and Don dote on the boy. Donna loves him as well, but is haunted by the baby she lost. This nagging pain only reinforces her desire to leave Salem. And off she goes (to be seen only three more times after this) to visit Grandma Craig. Looks like it's a visit for now, but became permanent in April.

 

MASSACRE VICTIM #6 (though Donna appears again in early April, she leaves town March 6).

 

 

 

 

David is BIG MAD Trish wants to work to pay Doug back for bailing her out, by singing with the terribly-named rock group "Wet Wash". David doesn't want these dopes near their home or their son.

 

 

 

 

Margo starts to feel weak at work, and Chris gets her to the hosptial. Tom sees that it's bad news, but is nervous to tell Margo, knowing she'll fall apart. (WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING, I WONDER?)

 

Bill calls Margo to the hospital, and Margo already knows the news is bad. She tries to put him off, but eventually relents, heading down to his office to hear that her cancer's back. Bill recommends she start chemo immediately, and agrees to keep quiet about Margo's diagnosis to Mike for now, Margo will tell him herself after Tom & Alice's anniversary party.

 

Tom and Alice have a big surprise party for their anniversary. Mike presents them with a gift from the entire family: their wedding pictures in a lovely frame. The happy couple lead the group to the dancefloor. Mike and Margo soon follow, as do Bill and Laura. Bill remarks how weak Margo looks (dying'll do that to ya, Bill). Bill swaps partners with Mike, and while Bill and Margo dance, Margo quickly runs from the room. Bill and Mike rush her to UH. Margo desperately wants to minimize the severity of this incident, and wants Bill and Tom to not tell Mike how grave the situation is, hoping she'll pull through this, and if not, she'll be able to leave Mike with happy memories of the night before he hears the news.

 

Bill and Laura agree that Mike needs to hear about Margo's condition, and Laura agrees to talk with both of them.

 

 

 

Robert asks Julie to watch DougieCharleswhateverhisnameis while Robert is in France, but Julie isn't up to it, still too depressed from her previous year's ordeal. Julie suggests asking Doug and Lee, but Robert isn't certain if Lee would agree. Julie and Robert both agree that Doug would be thrilled to spend time with the boy, however. Robert asks Doug, who excitedly agrees, but Robert makes him promise not to tell Lee he's the boy's father.

 

Lee agrees to take Dougie in, but when Robert leaves Dougie with Doug, Dougie has a meltdown. Robert realizes the boy has been through too much upheaval too quickly, and realizes he MUST leave with Robert. So Robert takes the boy with him, and after a final performance at Doug's Place, where Robert breaks down crying and Doug has to come sing to him to keep his spirits up, Robert and Dougie share a warm toast and a goodbye with Doug and Julie, before heading for the airport. Julie comforts Doug, who breaks down, realizing Robert and Dougie aren't coming back.

 

MASSACRE VICTIMS #7 and 8! (March 14)

 

As Julie embraces a sobbing Doug, Lee enters the club, and spots Doug in Julie's arms. She's PIIIIIISSED, and declares to herself that "this friendly divorce has gone too far". OOOO SH1T GONE GET REAL NOW!

 

Julie, still bored by the antique business, is contacted by Tony Kingman, a businessman she met in NYC (with the mob bossiest name I've heard in years). He wants her to ditch Salem and head to New York to work as an antique buyer for him. Neil tries to talk her out of it.

 

 

 

 

It seems they're really selling the goodbyes here. WOW, I can imagine why the cast felt the sense of doom and gloom in the air. The show really was gutted during these final weeks of Harrower. I get the VERY strong sense that Rabin made a lot of these big changes, considering how they start almost immediately after he took over as EP, and that press statement about clearing house to remove the "negative vibes" on set. At least here they seem to be done with a sense of reverence for the show's history and audience, unlike Stephanie's departure. Even Linda gets a decent send-off, despite being the heavy in that story.

 

I do wonder if Robert's breaking down while performing at Doug's Place was rehearsed or not. Because, honestly, it doesn't seem like, from what I've been reading up until now, Robert was leaving permanently. So I wonder if that was changed, or if the general sense in the studio that the DAYS they knew was ending hung heavily in the air and that that moment just organically occurred.

 

The energy in these episodes almost feels like the show is ENDING, tbh. If, indeed, these changes were spearheaded by Rabin, it amazes me that he lasted so long as EP after this, because WOW, this is a rather dramatic beginning for what would turn out to be an extremely successful turnaround.

Edited November 25, 2020 by beebs

[Paul Raven]

Final Dates

Linda/ Melissa  March 6th

Robert/Dougie March 14th

Donna March 6th one day return March 20th

 

Debuts/Returns

Tony Kingman March 12

Tommy Horton one day return March 7

Laura Horton March 7, 10 and 19.

[beebs]

So Tommy literally returned JUST for the party and nothing else. What a joke of an ending to a bloody core character. WOW.

[asafi]

is Tommy Horton still alive? when was he last mentioned? 

[vetsoapfan]

 

He had disappeared without mention for YEARS before. Then he disappeared AGAIN. It was a baffling and disrespectful way of handing a once-important character; the eldest Horton son.

 

 

He was neither seen nor mentioned at either of his parents' funerals (in fact, his existence was actually denied at Tom's funeral, when Alice referred to Mickey as "Tom's eldest son."), so after decades of being left in oblivion, I think we are meant to assume Tommy is dead.

[asafi]

 

I don't understand why TPTB treated Tommy and Marie Horton like this.. Marie was a wonderful and original character and they should have brought her back permanently as the Horton Matriarch! 

 

Regarding Tommy.. he has a daughter, Sandy. why not bringing them back???? at least for Alice's funeral, come on. by the way, according to WIKIPEDIA, "his nieces Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes) and Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) reveal that he is still alive as of 2016".

 

----Thomas Horton Jr. is the eldest son of Dr. Tom Horton Sr. and his wife Alice. He is Addie Horton's twin, born in 1931 and affectionately called "Tommy."  Before the series begins in 1965, Tommy had married a woman named Kitty and had a daughter with her named Sandy. However, Tommy is subsequently presumed dead in the Korean War in 1953.

In 1967, Tom and Alice's youngest son Bill Horton returns to Salem with a man named Dr. Mark Brooks. Mark is hired at Salem University Hospital, and Bill's sister Marie becomes Mark's research assistant. Mark and Marie begin a relationship, but the Hortons soon begin to sense something strange and familiar about Mark. Dr. Tom Horton Sr. and his son Mickey mount an investigation into Mark's past which reveals that Mark is in fact Tommy. Disfigured in the war, an amnesiac Tommy had been held as a prisoner of war until he had saved the life of a Soviet soldier, for which he had been rewarded by reconstructive surgery to his face. When Tommy/Mark and Marie learn that they are brother and sister, a devastated Marie leaves town to become a nun.

Tommy tries to get to know his daughter Sandy, and wants to reconcile with Kitty. But Kitty is now pursuing Dr. Elliot Kincaid, and unhappy to be suddenly trapped in a marriage to Tommy. He confronts Kitty, who fakes chest pains to avoid his questions; Tommy soon discovers that Kitty has had numerous affairs, and realizes that their marriage is a lost cause. They divorce in 1969. In 1977, Tommy proposes to Linda Paterson, who initially accepts but later breaks things off to marry Bob Anderson. Tommy leaves Salem for good in 1979, returning only once, for Tom and Alice's fiftieth wedding anniversary in March 1980.

While he does not return for several important family occasions, including the deaths of his father in 1994 and mother and brother Mickey in 2010, his nieces Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes) and Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) reveal that he is still alive as of 2016.

 

 

[Khan]

Honestly, some of these exits "read" like bad fanfic.  As eager as TPTB appeared to be in ridding themselves of these characters, I'm surprised they didn't have Stephanie mow them all down with her car on the way to getting herself killed.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Khan

[Franko]

Tough call, but I think Dumbass of the Three-Quarter-Month should be given as a tie among Mary, Melissa and Margo.

 

Oh sure, Grandma Craig is all open-minded and with it on the phone, but you just know that when Donna got there, she started acting all Piper Laurie in Carrie ...

 

Not going to lie, I am a little choked up at Robert's exit. I'll bet Clary and Bill Hayes really went for it there.

 

It's strange to think of an alternate 1980 where DOOL is cancelled and perhaps TEXAS is closer to the original vision (i.e. no Iris). What on earth would NBC Daytime look like from there?

 

As for Sandy Horton, it's been 36 years since she's shown her face in Salem. If you can get a story out of that ...

[vetsoapfan]

 

 

I think at this point, nobody on the show cares about long-gone characters, since they have aged beyond many viable storyline possibilities. I'm sure we'll never see Tommy, Sandy and Steve Olsen again. Perhaps Mike Horton and/or Marie might pop up at some point, but I wouldn't count on seeing them again either. TPTB gratuitously killed off Bill Horton and David Banning. They just don't give a damn...or, at least, think the target audience does not give a damn.

 

There are various mistakes on Wikipedia, Soap Central, etc., which alert fans pick up on. If Julie and Jennifer mentioned Uncle Tommy being alive in 2016, no one I know seems to have caught it. And it's very telling that Tommy is never mentioned at Christmas, or even during funerals for his siblings and parents. To save myself further aggravation, I have just told myself he has passed away.

[asafi]

 

it's sad. no more original Hortons left in Salem other then Doug, Julie and Maggie (I'm not considering Jennifer as Cady is a sweetheart but she's not Melissa Reeves, sorry). 

 

I guess we will never again see any other members from the Horton family, I don't think Marie will ever come back (why should she? her parents and siblings are all dead). 

 

I really feel the end is near for DOOL... 

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[vetsoapfan]

 

Julie, Doug and Maggie are the only characters left on the show whom I care for. I would have included Marlena until endlessly-atrocious plots destroyed her character. As you say, with her parents and siblings dead, Marie would not have any urgent need to return to Salem. Both Mike's fathers are dead now, and his mother is not there, so aside from possibly visiting his sister, there's no important reason for Mike to come back either.

 

I do think the show's life span is mostly behind it now, but to be fair, I thought that the "real" DAYS died forever in 1982 after Pat Falken Smith's second, brief tenure as head writer...and yet, somehow, the show has continued to limp and stagger along for another four decades, LOL!

[jam6242]

Tommy's absence should have been addressed but he was not an interesting character to me past the story with Marie.  I do wish Marie would pop up at least one more time.  She should have been around for the 50th anniversary. 

[Khan]

 

I'd say the same about Maggie.  Her endless Daniel-propping ruined her for me.  Now, when I watch, it's strictly for Doug and Julie.

 

 

Reading all the synopses, I feel like Bill Bell had some hope that Tommy and Kitty would provide a ton of conflict and drama, but it seems like Kitty was written into a corner almost immediately.

 

Is there anything keeping DAYS from introducing Jessica's daughter and Marie's granddaughter?  Or has it been established that Nick was an only child?

Edited November 25, 2020 by Khan

[JAS0N47]

"DAYS" CHRISTMAS 1967 VIDEO CLIP PROVIDES FIRST GLIMPSE OF EARLY (AND POSSIBLE) ORIGINAL HORTON ORNAMENTS...

 

 

 

With "Days" positing a video clip from the 1967 Christmas episode, there is now confirmation that none of the early Horton ornaments survived into the 1970's. These ornaments were either all thrown out or not expected to be used again after 1967. There is no mention of the named ornaments in 1968 scripts, but they are mentioned again in 1969 scripts (which might be the episode where some of the more well-known versions of the ornaments that were donated to the Smithsonian first made their debut). The 1967 ornaments were all silver balls. "Days" did mention named ornaments in 1966 scripts, which could be the same ones used in 1967, but until a video clip of the 1966 Christmas episode is provided, there will not be confirmation if these truly are the original Horton ornaments.

[vetsoapfan]

 

The possession story is what made me finally abandon DAYS in disgust, so I was there to endure that nonsense, hence my being turned off Marlena. I was no longer watching the show on a daily basis by the time the awful plot with Maggie and Daniel began, so I can totally ignore it and pretend it never happened.

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It was reported that the original intention was for Kitty to die quickly, to provide a major obstacle for Bill and Laura to overcome, but Bell thought Gleason was an interesting actress, and kept pushing back Kitty's death. Bell could always make bad girls interesting, and Kitty Horton was no exception!

 

 

Writing Nick into a corner and then killing him off was yet another bone-headed move by TPTB regarding the future of blood Hortons on the show.