DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[FrenchBug82]

In that telling, what was the falling-out about?
Coz if it was JA pissed he wasn't written for, both versions are not incompatible with each other, I guess

[Vee]

There was also the rumor that they toyed with making Eric gay when he came back, which I'm not sure I buy given the show's extreme Catholic bent both before, during and after Reilly.

[carolineg]

I believe it's an interview with Drake that he tells the story about JER/John Aniston.  He basically says that JER was very particular about viewing actors as their characters and that's why he wrote for Dee and Drake.  He says John Aniston confronted JER about his lack of airtime and went "out of character" at the Daytime Emmys and JER put Victor in a coma the next day lol.  I will try to find that interview.  So I guess JA was pissed about his lack of airtime, but he definitely made it worse.  Plus, I don't think JER liked Jennifer Aniston going on talk shows asking people to write in to bring her father back on the show, which honestly would have only helped Days.

I think Eric was going to be gay and that backed out for sure.  To me it was pretty obvious with the male gloved hand following him around when it turned out to be no big deal at all (an ex-girlfriend or something?).  It really seemed like that's wear it was heading and the show just backed out last minute because the end of that was so anti-climatic I can't even recall it.

[Vee]

I remember that well, which is why I was shocked to hear him talking about them like they're actual human beings and he lives on Planet Earth lol. That was rare for JER.

[carolineg]

This is the direct Drake quote, but I can't find the OG article lol:

James loved John and Marlena …
DH: But you know what? Dee and I were smart to never address him as actors but as characters. I remember when John Aniston yelled at him during the Emmy Awards complaining about how these snot-nosed kids were thwarting him after he outsmarted the CIA, etc.. Aniston was like, “Victor is smarter than that — something needs to change.” James’s response? “It will.” Well, literally the next day, a rewrite came in and Victor ended up in a coma after a heart attack! James was very passionate about the show. This is a testament to James’s power at NBC — the network was furious because John is Jennifer Aniston’s father, but all he said was, “You keep him happy. He’s off my show.” And as we know, James won that battle. But when James went to Passions, Victor miraculously came out of his coma. When it came to James, if he saw you out of character, you were done.

What a strange man. Could you imagine having to talk to your boss/writer in character?  How awkward. So JA was complaining about his writing not lack of.  Who was outsmarting him at the time?  

Wasn't there rumors that JER used to play out scenes with dolls as well?

Edited September 29, 2021 by carolineg

[Vee]

Yes. Reilly was nuts. And it showed in his work, especially in the 21st century.

He could be very smart about long plotting and getting attention for a show, he did some of my favorite stories and couples, but in his later years he turned the dialogue and character work on DAYS into puerile schlock from which it has never fully recovered. I enjoyed DAYS immensely in the mid-90s but I remember the dialogue work being poor even then compared to other shows. People used to get on me hard about this back in the day on here, and they know who they are. We all grew up with the same show. That doesn't mean we're all still in sixth grade, lol.

Irna Phillips was the same.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Vee

[FrenchBug82]

Thanks for tracking that down!

[Forever8]

Irna fired an actress on ATWT because she appeared nude on stage during a play. 

[Vee]

Yes, Jane House, famously killed falling up the stairs and IIRC an integral part of a central quadrangle at the time.

[titan1978]

Thanks for posting these!

Very interesting to see how not just the Possession, but the show itself hooked viewers.  The ratings were steady and climbing, but then they go even higher after Marlena’s exorcism, and stuff like Hope/Gina and Sami/Carrie/Austin is hitting peaks.  The DAYS team too advantage of all the buzz and more eyeballs to get the whole show rocking.

Maison Blanche was my favorite of all the Reilly pocket storylines.  Marlena in a cage underground was my least favorite.

I have been rewatching his DAYS run in edits up through when I got sick of the Possession story the first time.  There is a significant shift in how the show is written.  By the time he left for the first time, it felt like people spent entire episodes talking to themselves out loud and being interrupted by the person they were talking about- and a cliffhanger established if they heard them.  In several stories, in every episode.  I found with Passions he really leaned into the style of writing he was using towards the end of his DAYS run, it wasn’t for me.  This is the same guy that wrote grittty and emotional stuff up through the possession.  It’s like he got a personality transplant.

[carolineg]

I totally got sick of the Possession and quit my re-watch too.  The dialogue isn't awful yet, but it gets progressively worse.  I find Kristen so obnoxious during the Possession.  I know she's right, but I was at the point where I wanted the Devil to seduce John just so he would win and Kristen would shut up lol.  Poor Kristen, if she just would have let it go her life in the future probably would have been easier because Marlena would have been dead.  I think I just loathe good Kristen.

I liked the Lady in a Cage Paris stuff.   Just because it was so glamorous.  This is where the dialogue starts really stalling though.  Carrie/Austin/Sami have the same conversations over and over again. The show probably went a little too far with the guillotine and the people of the night and the hypnotizing mirror but I liked it.  I know it was just as ridiculous as the Possession, but I liked it better.   I also liked that all of Salem ended up in Paris lol.

I assume NBC/Corday looked at the ratings and made JER drag things out so long to the detriment to the show.  Carrie/Austin/Sami could have ended much sooner and I think the Bo/Billie/Hope stuff could have as well.  I think the John/Marlena/Kristen et al lasted probably the right amount of time because there were a lot of twists, but most of these stories literally could have been cleared up with two parties having 1 conversation to fix misunderstandings.   

[Dion]

A friend of Eric's had been raped back in Colorado and both Eric and another friend of Eric's - Jed - were both suspected of the crime. It was Jed who followed Eric around Salem and when confronted, Jed tried to make out Eric was the rapist. But Eric managed to finally get Jed to admit that he'd done it and return to Colorado to face the music.

 

I actually noticed some of those things happening as early as the acid storyline with Carrie and Austin in '93 (when JER first kept them apart for a year and it was Lucas rather than Sami that was the main villian in their storyline). But it was fairly limited to just Carrie and Austin at first (and those in their circle, such as Sami and Lucas). All of the other storylines didn't seem to have that problem. By the end of possession it had spread to everyone.

Edited September 30, 2021 by Dion
not just Carrie and Austin but those in their circle too

[carolineg]

Thanks!  You just explained Eric's story and I watched it and I still don't remember it.  Usually with a reminder I can recall at least part of it, but, nope, nothing.  I do remember being 'that's it'?  And early Eric was super annoying with his pro-Roman/family stuff.  He was never around for his family either and it's something to expect from Sami, but they were adults.  It was just selfish when John/Marlena had their own young kids and it made Eric seem like a whiny manchild, but Jensen was hot and grew on me.

And now that you mention it, Carrie/Austin did have the same conversation for that entire year.  Austin/Carrie probably had only 5 or 6 different conversations their entire 90's relationship tbh.  Austin/Carrie had more careers than shared interests really, but I loved them anyway.

[FrenchBug82]

Does anyone know what the thought process was for the writing turning Kristen to the dark side?
They explained it well enough on-screen but I wonder what prompted them to go there with the character in the first place since it really wasn't what she was at first.
Did they think the character wasn't working as a good person? Was it opportunistic - the story presented itself so they took the chance even if it meant rewriting the character? 

Additionally: does anyone remember the storyline where Sami had a recording of Kate admitting... something (I don't recall if it was about Franco's death or something to do with her plotting against Victor) on tape and blackmailed her. There was a scene in that storyline where she told Kate she was going to "burn and burn and burn" and I used to be obsessed with that promo back then (don't ask; just one of these things that spoke to me for some reason).
Anyway around what time would that have been? Anyone know?

Edited September 30, 2021 by FrenchBug82

[carolineg]

I would think the evolution of Kristen was always planned. I think ED said she did want to play a villainess as well. There were anvils all over the place about Kristen not being able to escape her father's evil for most of her run and they are a ton at the end of the Possession where the Devil tells Kristen she is evil at heart.   Maybe if John/Kristen or John/Kristen/Tony really, really took off things might have changed, but it was clear JER's vision was always John/Marlena so Kristen had to be dark to be the third wheel, as JER was incapable of writing a triangle with 3 rootable people.

I can't help you with the Sami stuff.  She blackmailed Kate about being a hooker as well but all were different years.  Lol.