DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Franko]

I remember it as "I Need You" (by Leann Rimes). I want to say Philip sang and played it (by himself?) while on the "Tropical Temptation" island, so that would be in the summer of '01. Maybe I'll be able to find that clip ...

[carolineg]

Why can't I find this on you tube?  Lol I literally searched JKJ singing and Phillip singing and it did not populate results lol

Please, please do.

[Franko]

This was the weekend cliffhanger for Friday, Nov. 3-Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 (thanks, as usual, to @JAS0N47's site). I remember seeing it live, so I either was sick or we had a couple days off from school.

Brady's pointless hate for Marlena was not at all popular. I was convinced the Gay Zorro cape would be ripped open during the fight.

Zenon: The Zequel premiered in January 2001, so it's quite possible that that's where Kirsten was while these episodes were being shot/Belle was in the hospital. One more anecdote from school: we were getting ready to watch a video in class and the TV was turned to NBC. Belle appeared on screen and one boy went, "Zenon?"

[carolineg]

Love Brady being extra by dressing up 3 days late.  Like he literally threatened Marlena with a sword.  WTH?  And John's like he might have aggression problems.  Watch the next 10 mins.  No idea why lol

He was so mean to Marlena for no reason.  I would have kicked Brady out of the house months before.  He was just chillin at Marlena's penthouse the whole time?

Brady did rip off his mask in the spirt of the fight.

I am pretty sure Kirsten was filming the sequel then and it seemed very intentional.  Best work KS ever did was Zenon.  Although I do like Johnny Tsunami as well. 

[Franko]

While trying to pinpoint a date for Philip's musical number, I also looked up Isabella's appearances. Looks like I blended two together: her ghost counseled Eric in 2000 and Brady in 2002. For Brady, it wasn't about he and Marlena, it was about his grief over losing Isabella and fearing losing Chloe, who had leukemia.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Franko

[carolineg]

Isabella had almost more appearances as a ghost than she did as an alive person.  They just trotted her out all the time.  I guess it's nice of Staci Greason to keep making cameos. 

[Franko]

Agreed. I kinda wish Isabella would have just kept counseling the entire Black/Brady family. Can you imagine the interactions with Sami?

Revisiting "Tropical Temptation" ... at the time, I really liked how in addition to Shawn/Belle/Philip/Chloe/Mimi/Jan, there were also side characters like Jason (the class d-bag), Susan (a bigger girl), Kevin (the first sexy nerd I'd ever seen on TV?) and Mr. Woods (who had a hip lecture -- but still a lecture -- about seemingly everything). In hindsight, yeah, they were definitely going for a TNBC thing embedded in their soap opera. Not sure how I'd feel about revisiting it.

[carolineg]

I think Isabella holds up as a character in history more than real time.  Because she annoyed the crap out of me back in the day.  I hated her pressuring RoJohn about the baby (Brady) every single second.   Looking back, I hate, hate, hate the Tale of 2 Romans, but Izzy B doesn't bother me as much in hindsight.  I just remember her sleeping with John when they were in Mexico and Marlena being super devastated and I thought Isabella was so mean.  But I built a bridge after 30 years and got over it lol.

I think the Teens could have possibly done a TNBC spinoff.  It was just ALOT in the regular show.  And I never liked any of those teens much.  I liked Mimi and Chloe, but Belle, Shawn D, and Phillip just didn't do it for me.  I am OK with them now, but they never inspired fandom for me.  I'd rather watch Jarlena or Bope do silly things than Belle/Shawn talk about promise rings.

[Franko]

Okay, found the date (but not yet the clip) for Philip's performance. Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001. Two days later, Chloe and Brady sang from The Sound of Music. Oh, and if this wasn't enough earnest singing, the teen characters apparently also sang "Michael Row the Boat Ashore." Lest we forget, they were all in Puerto Rico ostensibly for a class trip on ecosystems.

[DynamiteKiddo]

I also started watching during Langan (2000) . . . looking back on it, I wouldn't say I have rose colored glasses, but I did just accept everything they were feeding me until about Dena Higley 1.0.  Greta/Eric/Nicole/Lucas was one of the A stories when I started, so I'll say I have very, very fond memories of that and then I became really invested in Austin & Greta and Brandon & Sami (I hated when TL moved Brandon and Greta to the J&J story).  Confession: I look back on Virtual Eden fondly. 

Please register in order to view this content

  And I loved all things Coronation Massacre.  And even though I was there for it at the time, I now object to almost all things teen scene (Last Blasts, Tropical Temptation, etc.).

But as far as the late '00 period we're talking about . . . it's wild how hard TL was working to dismantle the establishment couples like J&M, B&H, Abe & Lexie, and Victor & Kate.  The J&M/Brady/Belle stuff is esp. insane for all the reasons you guys have well covered.  Like, on paper, if TL wanted to take a darker turn for the hero supercouples, that sounds ok . . . but it was so over-the-top destructive.  During this time, Bo also had lost complete faith in Hope, who was suffering from PTSD and constant panic post-Gina.  And this was right after the fans voted John as JT's father instead of Stefano.  This all was also right before TL desecrated J&J.

But the production values were never better.  As EP AND HW, Tom Langan was living with the set list.  Almost everyone had a house with exteriors (like Marlena's penthouse in the video above), there were tons of public spaces, everyone had cars, they were filming at Salem Place and the rest of the lot constantly, etc.  The good ol' "Days" lolol.

I do think that Peter Brash & Paula Cwikly were mostly great hws for the show, despite things like the Gemini Twins and CopBillie lol.  That period was such a high for the show.

And re. Reilly 1.0 . . . I've seen a lot of it online and I agree that there is a lot of mood and atmosphere (he excelled at that), but I have noting positive to say about the plotting or characterization.  Imo, it was all so unsubtle, simplistic, and repetitive.  It also locked the show into J&M, B&H, and J&J keeping the show in a holding pattern until Dena Higley & Chris Whitesell finally successfully transitioned the show out of that stranglehold.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the vets and J&J are probably my fav. couple, but the show could just never successfully break free of them as the defacto leads and status quo.  But anyway, if I have to pick a highpoint for him, it'd be '93/esp. '94 . . . that's before almost the ENTIRE show consisted of hero/heroine/villain triangles with, like, NO nuance lol.

I don't remember any backstage stuff about her firing (she was getting huge airtime before Reilly returned), but I do remember Alexis Thorpe would only agree to super limited appearances when they brought everyone back from the dead.  Which sucked, I liked Cassie relatively (it helped that I had major issues with most of her contemporaries by this point).  Edited to add: I do wish, though, that Rex and Cassie got retconned out of existence . . . like others mentioned, it seemed like this was possible before Kyle Lowder's casting as Rex.  But I think Cassie got mentioned on a call with Kate during TomSell or Higley/Griffith.  Them turning out to be Roman & Kate's kids with Marlena as surrogate was such a dumpsterfire.

Edited August 6, 2021 by DynamiteKiddo

[FrenchBug82]

They pretty much were until the recast indeed but I personally don't mind. Having second- and third-generation characters is always healthy for a show and there is no undoing the backstory.
As for Cassie's disappearance, I always had understood from the grapevine that there were BTS personal reasons for which AT was dropped and barely brought back after Melaswen. 

[victoria foxton]

 

  

[Franko]

I love that ad, even if (to the casual viewer) it makes Marlena sound vengeful, maybe a little like Alexis Colby.

[carolineg]

I think Langan was very obsessed with the teens and the John/Hope thing.  I feel like the show just kept trying to push it over and over again.  I actually think KA and DH have okay chemistry, but I have never met a John/Hope shipper in my life. 

I thought JER 1.0 did an awful disservice to Bo/Hope.  They had the worst stories.  Jack/Jen had an okay story-they were just destroyed by recasts.  I thought the J&M stuff was good under JER.  I think he transitioned them from a fairly stale love triangle with Roman into some great stuff with Stefano/Kristen.  It did securely lock Jarlena in as leads, but I think I am fine with that?  You are right though the entire show was triangles with hero/heroine/villian right down to Sami/Austin/Carrie.  I think Bo/Hope/Billie was an exception because Billie wasn't really evil.

Such a good ad and such a good beginning to that return, but then it gets bogged down by 2 Romans.  I actually groan when Wayne appears and I like him, but it was all unnecessary. 

[AbcNbc247]

 

Couldn't find the complete scene but there's a short clip of Phillip singing starting at 3:50 

And here's this, just for fun 

Please register in order to view this content