DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[FrenchBug82]

I have done some research and the tape storyline was early 2001. That should narrow it down but there is so little of it online from that time unfortunately.

[JAS0N47]

SUSAN SEAFORTH HAYES LEADS MONTHLY RANKINGS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1984...

 

Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie) led the monthly rankings in September 2021, appearing in 11 episodes. This is the first time she has led the rankings in over 37 years, since January 1984. She is now tied with Deidre Hall (Marlena) for 6th place all-time with 39 monthly leads. Here's the complete list of the months she has led: 3/69, 5/69, 3/70, 7/72, 8/72, 11/72, 2/73, 3/73, 4/73, 7/73, 8/73, 10/73, 12/73, 2/74, 9/74, 10/74, 11/74, 12/74, 1/75, 2/75, 3/75, 9/75, 4/76, 5/76, 8/76, 9/76, 12/77, 2/78, 3/78, 12/78, 1/79, 5/79, 7/79, 8/79, 10/79, 11/79, 8/80, 1/84, 9/21.

[teplin]

Love it!

[MichaelGL]

This makes me happy! More of this please Ron. 

[KMan101]

 

Agreed completely. The Susan storyline really dumbed John down to the point of Austin levels. 1998 was rough. 1997 started the decline. 1996 was a mixed bag.

 

And to the other posters, JER didn't like actors speaking up. He viewed them as their characters. John Aniston, Thaao Penghlis and Matthew Ashford were all pretty much a victim of this. Aniston has never gone back on contract after he left. 

Edited September 30, 2021 by KMan101

[carolineg]

John was an idiot post-1996 Paris, but in his defense, I want to think we were supposed to believe he was so distracted over Marlena/Stefano/danger stuff he wasn't fully paying attention.  Austin has no excuse lol.

Did MA ever speak out against JER?  I thought JER just didn't like or understand Matt's version of Jack and wanted someone more conventional.  TP seems grating even now on Social Media, so I could understand him not being JER's cup of tea.  His castmates seem to love him though. 

[Vee]

JER's conception of men and women, heroes and heroines was generally very narrow IMO. That he resented Ashford's Jack was not surprising.

Thaao is a character and a TV legend.

[FrenchBug82]

Out of curiosity, as someone who doesn't follow actors' social media, how does he come off as grating?

 

[soapfan770]

Why exactly did JER leave Days in the first place in ‘97? I’ve heard and read various reasons why. Carrie knocking out Sami was great fun, but the Rome story, the Jungle story, Vivian babysitting and dancing as a French fry, and whatever was going on with the Jack/Jennifer/Travis aka Trent circus story was a mess. Some say he tried to sabotage the show before he left which may have some truth there but I think some of it was Reilly becoming lazy on his way out.

The worst Reilly moment aside from all the rape, incest and bathroom stuff really came on Passions when it took 5 years to reveal the mystery of the shed

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[carolineg]

For me personally just the way he speaks out.  He's given away spoilers like the fact Marlena was the Salem Serial Killer and he makes a lot of posts about Days not honoring history or him.  It just rubs me the wrong way.  Others may disagree.

I believe JER left because of Passions.  He was still story consultant for a year after he left while making his bible and gave SSM tips and outlines but it did seem lazy.  Honestly, most of his initial story arcs had come to a conclusion so maybe he was just tired, done, and over it.  Ready to move on to Passions to let his true freak fly.  I do think some casting decisions at the time effected the show in 97 badly as well.

[Franko]

Quite a few to choose from: Josh returning ... as Roman, having Eileen play two more roles, Steve Wilder as Jack, John Aniston's firing. Was Jensen Ackles the only real casting success of the year, or am I forgetting one?

[soapfave06]

I am continuing my Aremid binge and have seen on and off 90S DAYS I wish they had just moved on from Jack, Jenn and Billie following the recasts as none of them worked. It would have been nice to see a larger focus on the Carvers plus Wendy or maybe a new family. 

I have only seen minimal of wacky Vivian Era during a Secret Room DVD watch but it was pretty unbearable. 

I really love everything I have seen of the 1993-1996 tone, I do think Susan is a hoot and a little of that went a long way but watching the 1998 Kristen climax the whole tone was off and there was nowhere to go IMO with John, Marlena, anyone. 

 

I wish Passions had a tone similar to that era of DAYS instead of 97-98 DAYS. 

[carolineg]

Those were all the ones I was thinking of.  I might include KA's Billie flopping even though she was hired earlier and getting rid of Jason Brooks as Peter but those were both late 1996 I think.

I was thinking Eileen playing like 5 roles plus the fact she checked out after the Kristen/Susan reveal

Do you think Kristen had nowhere to go or the entire jarlena/roman/kristen story?  Because I think Kristen had nowhere to go.  There was no viable love interests for her on the canvas after to pick up the pieces of her craziness and redeem her, so Idk what her plan would have been.  To just bide her time until John/Marlena fell out of love and steal Susan's baby lol?  The only thing I could imagine is if they hired a hotter recast Roman and they could have hooked up out of spite or something. 

Edited October 1, 2021 by carolineg

[Vee]

Kristen was larger than life by the end of her run. She was not viable to continue indefinitely. That's why I was a little shocked when she came back in the 2010s, bc I didn't know how she could feasibly return to Salem and coexist after all she'd done. (I guess Stefano bought her out of trouble) It worked, but long-term multi-year runs don't, I think.

They tried to quasi-redeem her with Haiduk, and it was worth a shot for the audacity's sake given such a talented recast. But they defanged her and got too far away from the character.

I think Mark Valley's Jack worked, but the problem was he was almost a totally different person. He was a more conventional leading man in the more simplistic Reilly mold.

I never accepted Krista Allen as Billie and never will. It was alien to me. And Julie Pinson was always just a stand-in AFAIC, no matter how much of a cartoon Rinna can be these days.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Vee

[carolineg]

So I know Kristen was super OTT, but I think if the show got Wayne back or someone with actual chemistry with anyone for Roman she could have done the same thing in leading Roman to Jarlena at the plane, but could have got Roman drunk and slept with him, got pregnant with her miracle baby and skip town.  It could have led to years of conflict with a Eric/Sami/Carrie Dimera half sibling showing up later.    Her being trapped in white slavery was not the ending Kristen deserved lol.

Kristen could have continually worked as a Stefano like big bad popping in and out

I agree Mark Valley was fine but not Jack.