DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[carolineg]

I do think she looks a lot younger than Greg Vaughn at least.  Xander and Sarah do look close enough in age.  I think Sarah is vaguely enough of a blank slate where you can manipulate her age, unlike, say, Belle who's life and age was clearly part of history that is still relevant.  Her ageing doesn't bother me as much because no one is like hey, Sarah remember the time you set up your own father to look like he had an affair with you?  

[Planet Soap]

In the episodes being posted by D Goldenson to YT, you can really see the the production value begin to slide around 2009. I've said this before but DAYS looked pretty good up into the mid 2000s in comparison to the ABC soaps especially. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by ironlion

[AbcNbc247]

Production wise, Days has never really recovered from that budget crunch of 08-09

[DaytimeFan]

Those episodes are a total treat. Over Christmas I watched all of the Lucas Shoots Franco Kelly/Sami Execution storyline and was impressed with 1) how great the show looked 2) all the music cues and 3) how riveting it was to watch. 

[jam6242]

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[soapfan770]

https://soaphub.com/days-of-our-lives/days-of-our-lives-stefano-dimera-debuted-on-this-day-40-years-ago/amp/

[te.]

Yup, Neil's last scene was supposedly talking to Victor about Carly and saying that he had to go and see some patients. I guess he got locked in some janitor's closet and has been there ever since.

[Planet Soap]

I take it that budget crunch was in response to the "great soap purge" that was occurring at that time.

Edited January 19, 2022 by ironlion

[AbcNbc247]

Yeah. That and the economy spelt trouble for Days. I’m glad they actually made it through it all. 

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Yeah. It used to be on YT but it got taken down. And you never know, even though Don can never come back from mailing that letter, Neil might come back from seeing all those patients

[MichaelGL]

It's interesting how we watch episodes/stories like that now and it's riveting, but at the time I remember the whole the Franco saga getting flack for being heavily drawn out. However looking at back at that time period (I've watched a few episodes myself too recently) I can agree that it's good stuff at least compared to today's show. 

[DaytimeFan]

You're absolutely right. At the time, the Franco/Sami storyline felt like it would never end but watching it now, it's riveting and I couldn't wait to see the next episode (and this is despite the fact I knew how it would end!). It is surprising to know that DAYS really received no love from the Emmys - no performers, writers, or directors got nominated for that storyline and watching it again Sweeney, Koslow, Dattilo all had material that should have got them nominated. The production values when Sami is in the execution chamber were top notch. 

It might be that binge watching has become the norm thanks to streaming services and so devouring a storyline like that one in a compressed period of time feels natural. 

What is evident is back in the late 90s, before the budgets were slashed and trashed, there was a lot of time put into these shows. You can tell the actors had time to rehearse, that the editors had time to add music with thoughtful cues in the dialog, the sets were detailed, large and had depth to them, and while the storylines lagged they also had layers to them. There are scenes between characters that might not get made now because they seem excess to supply, but what they really do is add context and realism to storylines that can seem off the wall. 

[beebs]

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Ahh, all these storylines Harrower set up that went absolutely nowhere.

Edited January 19, 2022 by beebs

[te.]

Wow, what an exciting promo mentioning taxes! Really makes me want to tune in.

[beebs]

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You can really see why AMC and OLTL were trouncing them at the time.

[AbcNbc247]

I love how they got Casey Kasem to be the narrator

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And yet all the changes they made went nowhere either. I wonder what would have happened had Harrower stayed a little longer, had the massacre never happened, etc.