Jump to content

DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos


DRW50

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Laemmle was such a horrible idea. I'd love to know WHY she was hired. Was she a friend of Betty Corday's? Did NBC force her on the series? 1979 articles seem to indicate NBC was interfering with Days.

It feels like they noticed GH's success without understanding a single bit of why it worked. I had never thought about the age of the new characters, but yeah, only Jessica and her barely-seen friends could have found more of an audience than they already had. Then they seemed hellbent on alienating the fans they did have who were attached to the Hortons.

Laemmle didn't even know how soaps were even conducted, based on what Jed Allan said in an interview that summer. She wasn't even writing the outlines, which I assume was being done by Ruth Brooks Flippen. (I don't believe that Flippen was ever really head writer). Flippen was arguably even more out-of-date than Laemmle, not having written for TV for even longer and also having never been credited for soap work.

Actually, I can guess why Laemmle was hired. Soaps brought in good ratings, but NBC probably didn't respect the process. Laemmle was a "name" and she was probably cheap to hire. I wonder how much Laemmle respected the job. I do have sympathy for her, as her daughter died a few months into her run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 7.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

I do appreciate NL's fearlessness in firing all those actors and revamping (whether it was her decision or the networks), but it doesn't really seem there was a plan for those new characters.  I agree it just alienated viewers and didn't bring new ones in.   But I do appreciate the fact the show was willing to try I guess.  I just think the focus was off and the new characters weren't very good.  Outside the writing, I think casting was a huge problem as well.  Gloria Loring worked as Liz despite the writing and I think if some key parts had more charismatic actors the change would have worked better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I pulled the Flippen/Laemmle script covers to check exactly what they say:

 

For Flippen's 25 episodes, this is how the scripts list the writers:

3634-3637 Story by: Ruth Brooks Flippen; Written by: Ruth Brooks Flippen, (Script Writer...see list below)
3638 Story by: Elizabeth Harrower; Written by:Ruth Brooks Flippen, (Script Writer...see list below)
3639-3643 Story by: Ruth Brooks Flippen; Written by: Ruth Brooks Flippen, (Script Writer...see list below)
3644 Story by: Ruth Brooks Flippen, Michelle Poteet-Lisanti
3645-3658: Story by: Ruth Brooks Flippen; Written by: Ruth Brooks Flippen, (Script Writer...see list below)
 
3634 Perry, Joyce
3635 Stannard
3636 Tomlin
3637 Poteet-Lisanti
3638 Rega
3639 Harrison
3640 Stannard
3641 Tomlin
3642 Poteet-Lisanti
3643 Rega
3644 Poteet-Lisanti
3645 Harrison
3646 Tomlin
3647 Stannard
3648 Rega
3649 Tomlin
3650 Poteet-Lisanti
3651 Harrison
3652 Stannard
3653 Rega
3654 Tomlin
3655 Poteet-Lisanti
3656 Rega
3657 Stannard
3658 Tomlin
 
For Laemmle's 124 episodes, there aren't many where she's listed solo as the outline writer (just 25 of them). But there's no overlap of Flippen & Laemmle. For the outlines, it looks like most are either written by the script writer as well, and then 3714-3760 list it as a duo for the outline: Written by: Nina Laemmle/Michelle Poteet-Lisanti. And then 3761-3782, the outlines were done by the duo of Michelle Poteet-Lisanti & L. Virginia Browne.
 
3659-3673: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: Nina Laemmle, (Script Writer...see list below)
3674: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: (Script Writer...see list below)
3675: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: Nina Laemmle, (Script Writer...see list below)
3676: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: (Script Writer...see list below)
3677-3682: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: Nina Laemmle, (Script Writer...see list below)
3683-3685: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: (Script Writer...see list below)
3686: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: Nina Laemmle (Script Writer...see list below)
3687-3695 : Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: (Script Writer...see list below)
3696: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: Nina Laemmle (Script Writer...see list below)
3697-3703: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: (Script Writer...see list below)
3704: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: Nina Laemmle (Script Writer...see list below)
3705-3713: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: (Script Writer...see list below)
3714-3760: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: Nina Laemmle/Michelle Poteet-Lisanti (Script Writer...see list below)
3761-3782: Story by: Nina Laemmle; Written by: Michelle Poteet-Lisanti/L. Virginia Browne (Script Writer...see list below)
 
3659 Markus, Leah  
3660 Seidler, David & Feather, Jacqui  
3661 Joyce, Patricia  
3662 Poteet-Lisanti  
3663 Seidler & Feather  
3664 Seidler & Feather  
3665 Markus  
3666 Joyce  
3667 Poteet-Lisanti  
3668 Seidler & Feather  
3669 Joyce  
3670 Markus  
3671 Poteet-Lisanti  
3672 Tomlin  
3673 Joyce  
3674 Poteet-Lisanti  
3675 Pommer, Joan  
3676 Markus  
3677 Tomlin  
3678 Seidler & Feather  
3679 Joyce  
3680 Poteet-Lisanti  
3681 Pommer  
3682 Tomlin  
3683 Markus  
3684 Joyce  
3685 Poteet-Lisanti  
3686 Seidler & Feather  
3687 Pommer  
3688 Tomlin  
3689 Joyce  
3690 Poteet-Lisanti  
3691 Pommer  
3692 Markus  
3693 Seidler & Feather  
3694 Poteet-Lisanti  
3695 Joyce  
3696 Tomlin  
3697 Pommer  
3698 Seidler & Feather  
3699 Poteet-Lisanti  
3700 Joyce  
3701 Pommer  
3702 Tomlin  
3703 Markus  
3704 Seidler & Feather  
3705 Poteet-Lisanti  
3706 Joyce  
3707 Pommer  
3708 Tomlin  
3709 Markus  
3710 Poteet-Lisanti  
3711 Joyce  
3712 Pommer  
3713 Tomlin  
3714 Seidler & Feather  
3715 Joyce  
3716 Pommer  
3717 Markus  
3718 Poteet-Lisanti  
3719 Tomlin  
3720 Seidler & Feather  
3721 Joyce  
3722 Pommer  
3723 Markus  
3724 Tomlin  
3725 Joyce  
3726 Pommer  
3727 Markus  
3728 Seidler & Feather  
3729 Tomlin  
3730 Joyce  
3731 Pommer  
3732 Markus  
3733 Seidler & Feather  
3734 Tomlin  
3735 Joyce  
3736 Pommer  
3737 Markus  
3738 Seidler & Feather  
3739 Joyce  
3740 Tomlin  
3741 Pommer  
3742 Markus  
3743 Seidler & Feather  
3744 Joyce  
3745 Pommer  
3746 Markus  
3747 Seidler & Feather  
3748 Tomlin  
3749 Joyce  
3750 Pommer  
3751 Seidler & Feather  
3752 Markus  
3753 Tomlin  
3754 Joyce  
3755 Pommer  
3756 Seidler & Feather  
3757 Markus  
3758 Tomlin  
3759 Pommer  
3760 Seidler & Feather  
3761 Joyce  
3762 Markus  
3763 Tomlin  
3764 Tomlin  
3765 Pommer  
3766 Joyce  
3767 Markus  
3768 Tomlin  
3769 Pommer  
3770 Joyce  
3771 Tomlin  
3772 Pommer  
3773 Markus  
3774 Joyce  
3775 Pommer  
3776 Milstein, Beth  
3777 Katkov  
3778 Markus  
3779 Pommer  
3780 Milstein  
3781 Katkov  
3782 Pommer  
Edited by JAS0N47
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Who was around at the time that Days could have hired as headwriter?

After PFS and Ann Marcus, 2 big soap names, they went with Elizabeth Harrowere who had never been a headwriter. I guess it was good they tried to bring in new blood and maybe Harrower's ideas sounded good on paper?

Anyway, I would suggest Robert J Shaw, who had been at various soaps over the years. Maybe Richard and Suzanne Holland?

Can anyone think of other writers who might have been suitable?

Maybe Rita Lakin should have been offered a sweet deal to take on Days for a period of time. She might have been tempted to return to daytime.

Edited by Paul Raven
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think those firings and changes were spearheaded by Al Rabin, after he was brought on as co-EP, because it all pretty much began right as soon as he got there. Whether all the changes were solely Rabin's decisions or if he was taking orders from the higherups at NBC/Columbia, etc, Idk, but it fell on Laemmle to introduce new characters and she failed miserably at it. Bringing in new characters and immediately placing them in frontburner storylines is pretty tough to do, and sometimes it doesn't work. But ironically, when Pat Falken Smith came back the following year, she did just that and it worked perfectly.

Harding Lemay was available, but he probably would've turned it down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

So Laemmle had to write out these characters and create new ones?  I wonder if she even knew that going in or what it would entail. 

PFS had a much clearer idea of what she wanted to do and where she was going with these characters and new families. PFS also shifted the shows tone a lot to fit the new characters while Laemmle just kept the tone of the show basically the same and inserted new characters doing similar things lol.  The show just seemed 'younger' and 'fresher' even if PFS was ripping off GH.  I always felt Days in the late 70's and early 80's were giving their youngish leads such dour, sad stories that were 'too old' for them.  IMO, it was much more entertaining to watch Marlena/Roman do action/adventure stuff than watching Marlena loose a child, get cheated on, get divorced, and get raped in a year or so.  But I can understand fans missing the more psychological, character driven drama of the past.

I think Laemmle's failure and the failure do make significant ratings gains lead to PFS being able to change the show to her vision without much push back.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Most of the characters were written out before Laemmle ever appears on a script. Based on what I had read years back, I thought it would be all Laemmle, but once I finally got all of the script covers, I confirmed all the firings actually happened before she arrived. The only main characters who were written out once Laemmle first joined the show were Mike, Margo and Hope.

Elizabeth Harrower
3613- Eileen Barnett (Stephanie Woodruff)
3615- Cindy Daly (Cathy Breton)
3626- Margaret Mason (Linda Anderson)
3633- Robert Clary (Robert LeClair)
3633- Mikey Martin (Dougie LeClair)
 
Ruth Brooks Flippen
3643- Mark Tapscott (Bob Anderson)
3652- George McDaniel (Jordan Barr)
3653- Tracey Bregman (Donna Craig)
3654- Ed Mallory (Bill Horton)
3658- Andrea Hall (Samantha Evans)
 
Nina Laemmle
3681- Wesley Eure (Mike Horton)
3681- Suzanne Zenor (Margo Horton)
3708- Natasha Ryan (Hope Williams)

 

He became EP in Episode # 3595, and the characters started being written out as of # 3613, so yes, that lines up with it being Rabin more so than the head writers, since the firings were split up pretty equally between Harrower, Flippen and Laemmle.

Edited by JAS0N47
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

As mentioned above, all the characters except for Mike, Margo and Hope were already written out before she joined the show, but yes, she definitely knew she would be responsible for creating 8 entirely new contract roles, since they all debuted in her first 13 episodes, from 3659-3671: 

3659- Stephen Brooks (Joshua Fallon)
3660- Charles Bateman (Maxwell Jarvis)
3662- William Joyce (Kellam Chandler)
3663- Gloria Loring (Liz Chandler)
3664- Brett Williams (Tod Chandler)
3668- Jean Bruce Scott (Jessica Blake)
3669- Dianne Harper (Leslie James)
3671- Deborah Dalton (Cassie Burns)
Edited by JAS0N47
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Thank you as always @JAS0N47 for all your knowledge.  So interesting!  I wish there were more articles available about this era.  I wonder if NL watched the show before she started writing these new characters.  The idea of a mysterious family like the Chandlers is intriguing, but instead of creating an entire new family it seems like it would have been wiser to just add family to certain characters instead as a lot of non-Horton leads had very little family in Salem.

Thanks! Jessica is still a dud, but those were very nice words by JBS about Philece.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I put together a timeline as best I could a while back with the personnel decisions.

Wes Kenney said in an interview he left because of how Harrower's firing was being handled. Rabin was next man up. I don't think Rabin had total control because newspapers in January 1979 announced Days was about to clean house. This is being announced as Harrower is being fired.

Laemmle was announced as hired that same month. Jason's explanation of the script covers for that year with Flippen and Laemmle is confusing me with how the press handled the transition. Flippen was never mentioned in the papers and only her obituary seems to have any contermporary reference to her work at Days.

Several soap columnists were very insistent that all the decisions were Laemmle from March or so onwards. Harrower was still writing scripts after being fired, making the confusion even worse. NBC would have had to be behind these character decisions, right?

Jason's script listings does confirm that Seidler and Feather were Laemmle's additions. That couldn't have helped, either, that not only did you have two new soap writers, but English ones. They've stayed a team over the decades and have done great work together, but that had to be rought. As far as I can tell, Seidler's only briefly ever mentioned Days. Probably nobody knows to ask him about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Some articles dealing with the Days drama at that time

March 13 1980

Big changes over at "Days of Our Lives" include a new head writer. Nina Laemmle has taken over for Elizabeth Har-rower. Ms. Harrower, mother of Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie, "Days of Our Lives"), might Just return to "Young and the Restless" where she got her soap opera writing start. With Harrower's departure will come the usual exit of stars. Eileen Barrett (Stephanie) has already left, and it looks like Margaret Mason (Linda) may be the next casualty. Of course, many storylines will suddenly come to a halt and new ones will begin. 

April 20 1980

 Days  fans feel cheated as plots fizzle out  NEW YORK — Things are getting worse every day on the set of "Days of Our Lives” Folks on the show don’t know from one day to the next whether they’ll still have a job at the end of the week The venerable and once-Nielsen-ratlngs queen of the soaps has fallen on dire times and desperate measures continue to be taken.

The move to “alter” the cast and character lineup on the show began last month when a new headwriter Nina Laemmle was hired. But within a six-week time period more people have left the show at one time than in any other period in the show’s history. Half of the current cast has been given walking papers or they’ve been informed that their characters will be “in and out tem-' poraries” “Days” is beginning to resemble a graveyard.

Already “killed off’ have been Mark Tapscott (Bob Anderson) Eileen Barnett (Stephanie Woodruff) and Suzanne Zenor (Margo Horton). Leaving towners include Dan Barton (Earle Carnes) Robert Clary (Robert LeClare) Corinne Conley (Phyllis Curtis) Cindy Daly (Cathy Breton) Thomas Havens (Stan Kositcheck) Gail Johnson (Mimi) Debbie Lytton (Melissa Phillips) Mikey Martin (Dougie LeClare) Margaret Mason (Linda Anderson) Steve Schnetzer (Steve Olsen) John Stevenson (Terry Gilbert) and Ed Mallory and Rosemary Forsyth (Bill and Laura Horton).

Wesley Eure (Mike Horton) Tracy Bregman (Donna Craig) and Andrea Hall-Lovell (Samantha Evans) are among those who may “pop up” periodically in the story but for the time being will be put in limbo ' 

Edited by Paul Raven
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Adding those additional actors from the story above. The story does not mention the exits of John Lupton (Tommy), George McDaniel (Jordan) and Natasha Ryan (Hope).

Elizabeth Harrower
3567- Thomas Havens (Stan Kositchek)
3577- Stephen Schnetzer (Steve Olson)
3610- Dan Barton (Earle Carnes)
3613- Eileen Barnett (Stephanie Woodruff)
3615- Cindy Daly (Cathy Breton)
3615- John Stephenson (Terry Gilbert)
3617- Gail Johnson (Mimi Grosset)
3626- Margaret Mason (Linda Anderson)
3628- John Lupton (Tommy Horton)
3633- Robert Clary (Robert LeClair)
3633- Mikey Martin (Dougie LeClair)
 
Ruth Brooks Flippen
3640- Rosemary Forsyth (Laura Horton)
3643- Mark Tapscott (Bob Anderson)
3651- Corinne Conley (Phyllis Curtis)
3652- George McDaniel (Jordan Barr)
3653- Tracey Bregman (Donna Craig)
3654- Ed Mallory (Bill Horton)
3657- Debbie Lytton (Melissa Anderson)
3658- Andrea Hall (Samantha Evans)
 
Nina Laemmle
3681- Wesley Eure (Mike Horton)
3681- Suzanne Zenor (Margo Horton)
3708- Natasha Ryan (Hope Williams)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
 
Wesley Eure was the only one who ever had a contract, and he did remain as recurring from June 1980-January 1981. Tracey Bregman and Andrea Hall were never on contract, and they never did return after their stints wrapped in April 1980 (other than for Samantha to be killed off in 1982).
 
Wesley Eure (Mike Horton) recurring: 6/6/74-9/25/74; contract: 10/3/74-5/21/80; recurring 6/9/80-1/16/81
Andrea Hall (Samantha Evans) recurring: 7/15/77-6/21/78; 1/10/79-4/18/80; 5/21/82-5/25/82
Tracey Bregman (Donna Craig) recurring: 4/4/78-4/11/80
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • 1976 Part 3 Peggy Brooks, the youngest Brooks daughter, upset over her parents’ recent marital trouble, has turned to her college teaching assistant for help with her studies, and then for emotional support. Jack Curtis is deeply attracted to her but tries to warn her not to get emotionally involved. But Peggy confesses she’s fallen in love with him, and he knows he returns her feelings. Jack, whose real name is Johnny Kryzynski, a name he feels is too difficult for professional use, is married to Joanne, a waitress at the Allegro, Leslie Elliot’s restaurant. Joanne, who is very overweight, is on another of her frequent reducing diets, hoping to regain Johnny’s love and attention. She is encouraged by Brock Reynolds, who manages the Allegro for Leslie. Sympathizing with her problem and her need for her husband’s love, Brock tells. her she must feel beautiful herself before other people can see it. One night, while discussing Joanne’s previous, fruitless attempts to diet, Jack asks her a question he’d never actually asked ‘before: Why had she gained all  that weight? Joanne painfully tells him that she found out a year after they were married that she was pregnant. When she sounded him out about children, he had made it clear they couldn’t have a child until he’d finished school, so she secretly had an abortion, which left her feeling so empty that she ate to fill the emptiness. For the first time in a long time, Jack put his arms around her and kisses her. Feeling that Johnny really cares now that he knows about the abortion, Joanne’s trying very hard'to stay on her diet. But Peggy, having lunch at the Allegro, confides in her friendly waitress that she’s in love, and the man’s name is Jack Curtis. Joanne is heartsick, not only for herself but for Peggy, who obviously has no idea that Jack is married. Knowing that Peg’s sister Chris Foster works for Legal Aid, Joanne consults Chris about a legal name change, explaining that her husband, Johnny Kryzynski, uses the name Jack Curtis professionally she may as well make it their legal name. Chris makes the connection and tells her father about it. Stuart confronts Jack, demanding to know how he could do this to his wife and to Peg, and what he is going to do about it. Jack asks for time to let Peg down easily. When Peg learns that her father has seen Jack, she furiously informs him to stay out of her relationship with Jack. Peg later apologizes for her angry words, but she and her father cross swords again over Jack, and, backed into a verbal corner, Stuart blurts out, ‘For’ God’s sake, he’s a married man!” Disbelieving, Peggy goes to Jack, who tries to explain he’s started to tell her many times but, not wanting to hurt her, kept hoping for a better time to do it. Peggy, in shock, goes to the Allegro to think this out. Seeing the pain Peggy’s suffering, Joanne goes over to her and gently tells Peg she understands the hurt she’s going through—they are both in love with the same man, because Jack Curtis is her husband. Jill, having decided she must have revenge on Kay, has liquor delivered to her daily. When this doesn’t drive Kay back to alcoholism, Jill embarks upon a campaign to'convince Kay that Phillip is still alive. Jill slips into the Chancellor house each evening, after Liz has left, and leads Kay into reliving incidents and conversations which occurred over a year ago, when Jill was Kay’s paid companion. In this way Jill shakes Kay’s acceptance of Phillip’s death and has her convinced that Phillip is only away on a business trip. But Liz and Brock discover Jill’s grisly charade and begin to help Kay back to reality. Faced with the enormity of what she’s been doing, Jill realizes how wrong this is and decides to end the hostilities.
    • Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, and Knots Landing episodes for the week of October 24, 1983.
    • I really don't want to see some old P&G actors on the show. To me Lindstrom and McLain have brought nothing special. The show needs to find new talent, so it has it's own identity,which overall they have. Timon, Tricia, Ambyr are breakouts. Most of the others are fine .We all know the exceptions.
    • I would wager that was because it was a new character for the likes of Devon, Lily and Nate to interact with. Watching the likes of Billy fall in love again-Phyllis, Chelsea,Lily and now Sally is repetitive, especially when he is no prize. Josh doesn't really do long term couples. So every year or so they swap partners. It diminishes them as characters as they don't seem to grow or learn from the past. We know those characters so well and they've been through just about everything, so the only solution is to involve them with new characters and have them react to the newbies drama. They tried with Ashland and the Rosales but Josh dumped the latter and wrote so badly for Ashland who could have been a long term antagonist. All we got was another short lived marriage for Victoria and another accidental killing. And Josh thinks having them sit in restaraunts for the whole episode talking business, mergers, takeovers and job switching is interestring. It's not. I feel sorry for the actors who must know they are serving shite.
    • If I were to cast a Soap Opera veteran as Jan.. I would have picked Krista Allen (of Days and B & B fame) since she did move to the Atlanta area in late 2023... and knows all there is about the Soap opera way of filming.  And I could see her playing Ashley's mom.
    • Is the set for Lulu's new house an updated version of the set used for the childhood home of Luke, Bobbie and Pat Spencer?
    • I feel like AMC would be the easiest of their soaps to revive but a reboot seems cursed at this point. I wish we had more insight on what was pitched for the primetime reboot as well as these movies. That would give us a better idea of why it keeps getting shot down.
    • Mansion of the Damned sure is a "talkative" horror movie.  In the past when I've watched those episodes, I was paying attention to The Edge of Night characters and not really zeroing in on the rehearsals/blocking/filming of the actual movie.  This time I've been following the plot of Mansion of the Damned pretty closely, and all I can say is Hester Atherton and Nicholas Harriman are about the most chit-chatty Witch and Devil I've ever heard in my life!     
    • Ashley and Derek have been so isolated that I need the show to develop something, anything to justify their presence. It's not that I think Joey being her father will be the greatest story ever told but at least it would be something and connect her to more characters. I just need the show to move forward with them. Out of all the characters, these are the only two with no storyline/development. We have recurring characters who are better used with less screentime. If the show is going to keep them on contract they need to do something with them.
    • I never thought I'd say it, but SC is B&B's best male actor - by far. SK is next. Has there ever been a US soap that has so much female talent surrounding by Himbos? KKL, JMW, HT, KB, AN, RB could be/have been leading ladies on any other soap. Even the secondary females are the ones who carry their scenes. It's been rare periods when B&B actually had a few solid male cast members. JMW really did a great job in the scenes with AN. Considering everything we've witnessed the past couple of years with Steffy/Hope, I thought reveal may ring hollow. JMW proved me wrong. No doubt this is Emmy material.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy