38 minutes ago, Khan said:

Now there (Samantha's long-lost child) was an opportunity to introduce an African-American character with ties to one of the main families on DAYS.  They could have said that Samantha got pregnant by a black man - perhaps, an O.J. Simpson-type, who was a successful professional athlete-turned-actor - but gave up the baby, because of her career, and because she was afraid her family never would accept a half-black grandchild.

It's always been strange to me that the show never really did much with Marlena's side of the family.  Outside Sam and a cousin no one else from Marlena's family ever really showed up through all the different regimes and writers.  And I suspect Sam was only added because of the novelty of Deidre having a real life twin.

4 minutes ago, carolineg said:

It's always been strange to me that the show never really did much with Marlena's side of the family.  Outside Sam and a cousin no one else from Marlena's family ever really showed up through all the different regimes and writers.

For sure, I would have introduced a brother or half-brother for Marlena at some point.  And since this is DAYS we're talking about, he would be a love interest for Carrie, lol.

2 minutes ago, Khan said:

For sure, I would have introduced a brother or half-brother for Marlena at some point.  And since this is DAYS we're talking about, he would be a love interest for Carrie, lol.

I think the easiest time to integrate Marlena's family was in the early 80's, but the main focus was building the Brady's.  There was also probably a great window between Roman's death and RoJohn's appearance as well.  By the 90's I guess Marlena had enough to deal with in her romantic life and her own Salem family.  I don't really don't know why the show wouldn't easily introduce a long lost son/daughter for Samantha and even teenage grandchildren.  The same way they introduced Jada and Talia.  Their ties to the canvas are much more flimsy.

18 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Another idea-have a young woman turn up at some point turning out to be Samantha''s child-giving Marlena a surrogate daughter.

Oh, if only they had considered this before introducing the SORASed Sami ... I will concede that so much of the drama from Sami's storylines has been because she's Marlena's daughter.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

Now there (Samantha's long-lost child) was an opportunity to introduce an African-American character with ties to one of the main families on DAYS.  They could have said that Samantha got pregnant by a black man - perhaps, an O.J. Simpson-type, who was a successful professional athlete-turned-actor - but gave up the baby, because of her career, and because she was afraid her family never would accept a half-black grandchild.

Casting ideas? For whatever reason, Phillip Michael Thomas was the first guy who came to mind.

16 hours ago, carolineg said:

It's always been strange to me that the show never really did much with Marlena's side of the family.  Outside Sam and a cousin no one else from Marlena's family ever really showed up through all the different regimes and writers.  And I suspect Sam was only added because of the novelty of Deidre having a real life twin.

I thought her parents were on screen for just a few days at one point.

15 minutes ago, AmandainNC28655 said:

I thought her parents were on screen for just a few days at one point.

I also thought we had a brief glimpse of the Evanses at some point. But it certainly was not much! 

15 hours ago, Franko said:

Casting ideas? For whatever reason, Phillip Michael Thomas was the first guy who came to mind.

Last week I was listening to an audio only interview from BITD with RKK. He said his first gig was as a stand-in on Miami Vice & then he got promoted & his second gig, also there, was as a background actor. He said it taught him so much, that the biggest part of being an actor in TV is sitting around waiting & it taught him to have patience. 

17 hours ago, Franko said:

Casting ideas?

I guess it would depend on when the story was told, but I'd love to have my mom's all-time favorite, Fred Williamson, in the part.  That way, I could laugh and say, "So, I finally got you to watch DAYS!," lol.

23 hours ago, carolineg said:

It's always been strange to me that the show never really did much with Marlena's side of the family.  Outside Sam and a cousin no one else from Marlena's family ever really showed up through all the different regimes and writers.  And I suspect Sam was only added because of the novelty of Deidre having a real life twin.

Their parents made brief appearances. I’ve seen a blurry screencap of Frank Evans at Marlena’s wedding to Don, and I’ve seen a clip where Roman phones Martha after Marlena is seemingly murdered (remember, he didn’t know Marlena had a twin).

Edited December 15, 20231 yr by EdibleFlowers

I know Marlena's parents were on screen at certain times, but they were never developed at all.  I was referring more to her side of the family having stories and appearing on screen in a meaningful way and actually living in Salem.  

I prefer Marlena as a standalone character. Plus she was like a daughter to Alice and Tom.

2 minutes ago, EdibleFlowers said:

I prefer Marlena as a standalone character. Plus she was like a daughter to Alice and Tom.

More to the point she was a daughter-in-law to them. She didn't have to be "like" something she wasn't. 

33 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

More to the point she was a daughter-in-law to them. She didn't have to be "like" something she wasn't. 

No she wasn’t. Marlena wasn’t married to a Horton. Her relationship with Alice in particular was mother/daughter. 
 

I think it’s important to remind you, Donna, that Roman only exists because of Marlena. He was brought on specifically for her. Bo, Kayla, and all the others owe their existence to Marlena and Deidre’s popularity. She is the star of the show after all.

Edited December 16, 20231 yr by EdibleFlowers

15 minutes ago, EdibleFlowers said:

No she wasn’t. Marlena wasn’t married to a Horton. Her relationship with Alice in particular was mother/daughter. 
 

I think it’s important to remind you, Donna, that Roman only exists because of Marlena. He was brought on specifically for her. Bo, Kayla, and all the others owe their existence to Marlena and Deidre’s popularity. She is the star of the show after all.

Oh, yeah, my mistake, I was thinking Caroline & Shawn. Not paying attention. And, yes, Queen Dee is the star of the show now, and she has been for ages but she wasn't originally.

Before, there was Julie & Susan. Denise Alexander was once the highest paid actor in daytime. And, Pat Falken Smith was paid an absolute fortune to create Roman. And other Bradys & Stefano. The show was also an ensemble. 

I just saw an interesting poll, who was the better performer Lucci or Dee. Dee won by an amazing landslide. Of course she would win but I was surprised by how much.

I honestly have no need to be schooled about Deidre Hall. 

I actually don't think it's fair to say characters like Bo/Kayla owe their success to Marlena/Deidre.  Idk, I just think if a character is written to be related to someone that's not the reason they exist or become popular.  For example, I would say Bo owes his existence more to Hope than he does to Marlena.    

11 minutes ago, carolineg said:

I actually don't think it's fair to say characters like Bo/Kayla owe their success to Marlena/Deidre.  Idk, I just think if a character is written to be related to someone that's not the reason they exist or become popular.  For example, I would say Bo owes his existence more to Hope than he does to Marlena.    

Nah. The Brady family exists specifically because of Marlena. Roman was brought on to be her love interest.