DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[AbcNbc247]

I think the fact that pretty much all of them worked together at some point over those years, and the fact that their styles were similar to begin with really contributed to the cohesive flow all through that time. Days ended up being one of the few soaps that was actually successful when it ventured into “Copy GH” mode.

The same couldn’t be said for Anne Howard Bailey though. I’ve haven’t seen much of her work on Days but a lot of people weren’t big fans of it.

[victoria foxton]

 

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[JAS0N47]

If we can figure out the episode #, I can try.  

[Dion]

Al Rabin.

He's the one who kept the throughline that you mention. After PFS left the second time I guess Days had more of a producer era than a writer era - same goes for General Hospital with Gloria Monty once PFS (again!) left that show.

 

 

[titan1978]

Sheri Anderson cut her teeth creating the supercouple formula that fueled DAYS in the 1980’s when she was under PFS at General Hospital.  Thom Racina was with her there when the show began to transition to action/adventure, and so was Leah Laiman.  They took that formula and wrote the show in that style between the three of them for the decade.  I would classify that period as the Sheri Anderson period because she really focused on romance and that was the whole DNA of the show in that decade.

I never felt GH was as blatant with the supercouple formula as DAYS was because they rarely had 5 or 6 of them at a time.  DAYS was full of them!

Al Rabin certainly deserves credit too, but I kind of think that style was just dominant because they all had the same sensibilities and worked together.  I’m sure Rabin was of the mindset that if it ain’t broke (which it wasn’t yet), then keep the formula going.

[AbcNbc247]

He sure made his mark on Days. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (though I wonder if those were all his choices, or was he taking orders from the big shots at NBC), and supercouple formula. After all that success, it seemed like instead of Copy GH, shows went into Copy Days mode.

[soapfan770]

 

It wasn’t good. We got Diana shooting Roman/John, Marina Toscano, Cal Winters saga, Saul Taylor etc. 
 

Basically giving Patch a back from the dead wife, Shane getting amnesia, Kimberly thinking Shane was dead sleeping with the enemy, and RoJohn losing his love interest were all lazy plots to create some pedestrian drama. The ratings dropped and the quality dipped. Making Scott and Faith a super-couple didn’t work either. At least Marcus and Gail got some substantial storyline but Gail’s big secret she was ISA was also cheap and lazy to give them drama.
 

[AbcNbc247]

Must have been a mess lol especially considering they got Al Rabin out of retirement to be the co-EP again.

Was her hiring meant to be some kind of compensation by NBC after everything that happened at Santa Barbara?

[victoria foxton]

I liked Marcus's backstory. His aborted interracial romance with Faith. And the aborted Marcus/Faith/Gail triangle. Sadly after that Marcus never had any stories of his own. He just became a sympathetic ear for others. I also liked Yvette Dupres. The whole Shane/Kim/Cal/Rebecca story was a messy mess. Kim & Shane were so played out and running on empty by this point.  You're right a lot of ABH's run wasn't great.

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Edited November 20, 2021 by victoria foxton

[Forever8]

What would you have done with Shane & Kim at that point? It's too bad they didn't come up with more story for Marcus. Wasn't there hinting a romance between him and Carly when she first came to Salem? 

[victoria foxton]

Years and years of obstacles had badly damaged them as a couple. I would've broken them up. Which is what Days did in 1991. with Shane becoming involved with a very recently widowed Kayla. And Kim becoming involved with Lawrence of all people. While working with Shane to bring Larry down. 

 

I don't remember anything with Marcus and Carly. Marcus did show interest in Kayla. Around the same time Shane did. Of course that went nowhere.

Edited November 20, 2021 by victoria foxton

[soapfan770]

Could have been. I noticed NBC had a habit of sharing for its three soaps at the time…I mean DePriest, Racina and Anderson were all writing for AW 87-88 lol although I am quite sure NBC forced that on P&G. 
 

I forgot about Yvette I liked her character too.

Shane and Kimberly were definitely the most tortured supercouple of the 80’s.  It’s a shame they couldn’t be given some normalcy and breathing room instead of paternity questions, evil twins, assassins, amnesia and what not happening every other month. 

[Dion]

There was a brief flirtation with Marcus and Carly, and I remember them being at some sort of University Hospital carnival (fundraising for the trauma center I think) where they suddenly decided they were better off as friends. This was roughly the time when Bo was either still on Ernesto's island or had come back and was still grieving for Hope.

Then Marcus developed feelings for Kayla once Steve "died" but she ended up with Shane.

[will81]

To sidetrack slightly on this. I read that after PFS left GH that Gloria Monty simply hired a bunch of new writers but there was no official HW for that show until Ann Howard Bailey in summer 1982. I get the feeling after Gloria took over during the 1981 strike and when PFS left pretty much a month after the strike was over, Gloria decided the show didn't need a HW and she could basically do it with the assistance of a writing staff. Which ultimately led to a massive drop in ratings. 

In terms of Days you also had an overlap of writers throughout the 80's. Maggie DePriest and Sheri Anderson and then pretty much Sheri with Leah Laiman and Thom Racina then the two of them then Leah solo. Pretty sure they all worked on GH during the PFS era at some point or possibly together. There was no totally new regime between 81 - 89, they all kinda overlapped. Pretty sure I read PFS brought most of her GH writers with her to Days. 

I do think if PFS had stayed the show would have been less fantastical, but they certainly got the GH formula down. 

[DynamiteKiddo]

Ya, I think AHB is mostly panned for everything except Jack & Jennifer . . . then RA & AS really catapulted them into the center of the show.  As a J&J fan, I'm not complaining lol.