DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[vetsoapfan]

 

I wanted Gerald Anthony to remain on OLTL, but Marco's pretending to be a doctor strained credulity, even though we did see him reading through medical textbooks. Neil was supposed to be an internist, and the idea that the imposter had practiced medicine and presumably written prescriptions for many years was ridiculous.  Samantha passing herself off as a psychiatrist? No way. Obviously, the two women were twins, but they were easy to tell apart. Bad, bad writing that depended on the audience being morons.

[Franko]

I felt the same way when I saw Catch Me If You Can. Frank Abagnale, Jr. was lucky he didn't hit with a whole bunch of malpractice suits!

[vetsoapfan]

 Right.

[beebs]

Exactly how I felt reading through the monthly recaps during the Sam locks Marlena away story. I can just see how absolutely put off viewers would've been after years of Bell and PFS' brilliance to see that mess play out. Not to mention the fact that not only do they NOT look identical, but Sam's voice was markedly lower than even Deidre Hall's voice TODAY. How they expected us to believe that not only her colleagues of over a year, but her intimate partner wouldn't notice the difference beggars belief!

Edited April 13, 2021 by beebs

[vetsoapfan]

 

It was painfully stupid, and such a drastic deterioration in writing quality from the decade of BB and PFS writing the show.

[j swift]

This is probably too picky of a point, (although that's never stopped me before), but DOOL also tends to overlook the idea that their hospital is attached to a university, hence the name University Hospital. 

 

First, a teaching hospital is unlikely to have so many rich doctors, in fact many doctors leave university based placements early in their career in order to make a better salary.  I know Greg and Neil had a private practice, but the others docs should be much more middle class. 

 

Second, none of the doctors seem to be burdened by teaching duties.  Nobody does rounds with students, there are no lectures to prepare, nobody seems to be concerned about tenure, and there is no pressure to get research funding.  At UCLA most departments have a minimal expectation for research grants, because at least 30% of those funds go back to the university, but I guess in Salem they get by on the fees from gunshot surgeries (because nobody in Salem has their baby in a hospital).  I know Sandy and Mike trained at University Hospital, while Jennifer and Sami were candy stripers, but Kayla and her colleagues never have to worry about student evaluations or government contracts. 

 

I will concede that given the nature of the soap we need to suspend our disbelief that the wealthiest members of Salem society would not want to seek medical care at a private hospital (although everyone at University Hospital is treated to a private room).  However, the research/teaching aspects of the hospital seem to be furtive territory for stories that goes under used. 

 

I wonder overall if DOOL has had more doctor characters than GH?

[Franko]

Excellent points, @j swift! I suspect GH probably leads, what with the number of short-term or dayplayer doctor characters in addition to the regulars, but DOOL's had its share of doctors over the past 55+ years.

[j swift]

The one concession to that story was, (as I recall), Sam cancelled most of Marlena's patients so she didn't have to do therapy or pretend to remember their histories.  That was one of the red flags of how she got caught because people around hospital began to wonder why Dr. Evans was cancelling so many of her appointments.

Edited April 13, 2021 by j swift

[Wendy]

Makes me wonder why Marlena and Roman would name their kids after a sister that kidnapped the babies' mother and took her place and a great uncle [to said twins] that molested his niece [Kimberly Brady]! (Although, in the case of Eric Brady, Sr., maybe that wasn't known when the twins were born. But the Samantha stuff would have been remembered!)

Edited April 13, 2021 by Wendy

[carolineg]

I am glad I am not the only one who has huge issues with the Sam/Marlena switch.   They are obviously twins, but you can literally tell them apart.  The whole story is just implausible.  I get it was cool because Deidre had a twin IRL, but c'mon, I doubt Sam could have pulled off such an elaborate scheme.  It made everyone, especially Don, look ridiculous.

Sam and Marlena were fine by the time Sam died.  They had long since reconciled.  I assume they wouldn't have named a twin after her if she hadn't died.  Eric Brady, Sr. molestation stuff wasn't known until after the twins were born.

Edited April 13, 2021 by carolineg

[beebs]

Nah, you're not the only one. Especially all because Sam was addicted to pills that impaired her judgment? Sam ain't THAT smart. It made Don look even dumber than he usually does.

And yeah, they made up within a year. It was honestly stupid to me, because it felt like Ann Marcus refused to give that story any long-term fallout, and AFAIC, the breakdown of Sam and Marlena's relationship could've been GREAT, especially since AM introduced Marlena's parents and all. Marlena's tension between knowing that Sam only did what she did because her drug abuse, and the deep mistrust and trauma of being locked away falsely, could've been a GREAT story, but instead, we got....Donna.

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[j swift]

Speaking of naming your kid after your evil twin, how about Shane Donovan's son Andrew IV who was officially named after Shane's father, Andrew II, but also shared the name of Shane's evil twin Drew aka Andrew III?

 

The story of Shane's evil twin was even worse given the proximity in timing to the story of his ex-lover Gillian (Eve's mother) who had an evil twin Grace.  Which of course was just a few years after the revelation that Tony had an evil twin Andre. 

 

The third time it happened you would expect at least one Salemite to ask if the suspect had a twin.  But, after Tommy/Addie, Samantha/Marlena, Sami/Eric, Hope/Gina, Susan/Kristen, Rex/Cassie, Charlie/Tripp, and Eli's twins, I guess nobody in Salem is good at recognizing patterns. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by j swift

[carolineg]

 

I was going to say wasn't Sam on drugs as well lol?  

Anyway, they really didn't play the fallout between Sam/Marlena or Sam's psychological issues enough.  I know it was drugs influencing her, but that's some crazy scheme she pulled.  A year later wasn't Sam living her best life as a successful actress?

I have often thought it was short-sighted to kill Sam off so early in Marlena's run.  I think the Strangler story is really good, but think of all the stories Sam could have been involved with over the years.  And Marlena never got any other family aside from a cousin that got killed off as well.  Idk, seems like a waste of potential.

[beebs]

Oh for sure! And that's the thing. Not a year later, Sam's back in Hollywood, and Marlena has forgiven Sam so totally that she's asked her to be Maid of Honour at her wedding! But somehow Donna isn't worth forgiving  at this point, for much less horrific crimes?? It all just made no sense.

I honestly think that PFS just saw what a terrible set of stories Sam had and just decided "nah". The twist of everyone thinking the Strangler got Marlena was too inspired an opportunity to pass up, and, in all fairness, watching what I have of Andrea Hall, she's not much of an actress. She would foul up her lines more times than she'd get them right. So unless they were gonna have Deidre do the double role, it hardly felt worth keeping both characters.

 

The fact that we're only NOW at the point where folks are suspicious of death, suggests to me this community at large doesn't have a particularly high ratio of Mensa members, put it that way.

[Paul Raven]

if they did want to go with the twin angle, it would have made more sense for Sam to impersonate Marlena around town in parts where she wasn't well known with a view to setting up Marlena to be discredited or embarassed in some way.

Samantha could say she was leaving town and get some LA buddy to verify that but sneak back into Salem and be seen up to no good.

Maybe Marlena had a vulnerable patient who Sam could manipulate to be her partner in crime.

 

Later on after Sam's death they could have introduced a new character who was Sam's daughter-maybe vengeful at first but then becoming a surrogate daughter to her aunt Marlena.