DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Contessa Donatella]

But are you serif or san serif or text or headline? Maybe italic? 

[Lye-C]

Carly was hotter with Lawrence anyway. 

[carolineg]

I am not saying making Kristen evil was a bad choice.  It was a brilliant decision.  Good Kristen was boring.  I was just saying I wouldn't have wanted Roman to be villainized.  JER had a very clear formula for his triangles and that was generally two good people and one scheming villian.  With Stefano and Kristen being obstacles to John/Marlena I don't know exactly where Roman would have fit.   Perhaps you could have pivoted him towards Laura, but I think it's interesting to think about how obsolete and uneccessary Roman became in just a few short years post-return.

I'll be honest, I think making RoJohn John was one of the worst and most shortsighted decisions Days ever made.  It gave us great material in the 90's, but it really was basically pointless.  I would have just kept John as Roman or retconned it back before Shawn/Belle and Theresa and Brady started have kids together.

[Contessa Donatella]

I did not find Kristen, the social worker overburdened with a case load, to be at all boring. Both she & Peter, to me, were interesting characters, from being the Blakes, wards of Stefano, who had been raised by him, to all of their interactions. Now, I also wouldn't say that Kristen didn't become MORE interesting. Obviously, she did & she is. 

 

When they brought Wayne back, I wonder if they had any clear-cut idea of what in the heck they would do with him! If I understand correctly they decided to bring Wayne & Dee back, at the same time. And that makes me think recreating RoMar may have been ONE of their options. 

Now, here, I completely disagree. To me John Black was a stroke of brilliance. He couldn't be Roman. He just never was. That was so clear when Wayne first was in the same room with the whole Brady family at the Brady Fish Market. Shawn & Caroline knew immediately that he was Roman & that they had been mistaken about the other guy. That scene resonates so. And, then 4 days later they have the DNA results. The resonance really begins the day before when Wayne comes out of the kitchen to where Bo is in the living room & he says, off-handedly, "Hey, little brother!" like he'd seen him only a day ago instead of 7 years ago. 

John was very frustrated & that didn't resolve for a few weeks when they were in the pyramid & he finally realized he had never been Roman & so he wanted to find out who the hell he had been. So begins his identity search which took years of his life. Without his identity search what would you have be his purpose? 

Edited January 2, 2024 by Donna L. Bridges

[carolineg]

Hmm...I thought Peter was much more interesting than Kristen.  I thought the Kristen/John/Tony stuff was okay, but nothing spectacular.  It only starting getting good during Aremid when Tony/Andre/whoever went off the rails and framed John for murder.  Kristen becoming evil was a great decision.  Her descent into evil was well crafted and slowly done.

I believe it was Deidre that made it clear she wanted Wayne back.  Like it was part of her contract deal.  I don't think the show was ever dissatisfied with Drake's portrayal of Roman.  The show just really wanted Deidre back and the Tale of Two Romans isn't a horrible idea.  The execution was just poor.

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this.  I say once Wayne is gone you go ahead and make John the real Roman.  Think of how Sami would have reacted.  I never found John's (or Hope's) search for their pasts that exciting.  In theory John still could have looked into his past as Roman and those missing years and perhaps we could have delved into what Marlena was doing those 5 years.  The show started that story and then abruptly stopped it.

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay, maybe Peter was more interesting. But I agree that her story & the gradual change from social worker to classic villainess was indeed well crafted & had good execution to it. 

 

Okay that makes sense. And the Tale of Two Romans, even at that, still has some very fine scenes in it. I'm just not sure the total picture hung together as well as one might wish. 

Yes, we'll agree to disagree. 

[Khan]

I agree.  And you are right, @carolineg: Deidre Hall did make Wayne Northrop's return as Roman a condition of her return as well.  I remember reading as much in one magazine article or another sometime after the official announcement had been made.  However, I don't think TPTB considered all the ramifications in bringing WN back as Roman.  Even if "A Tale of Two Romans" had been successful, you still are left with two characters (Roman and John) who fulfill the same function on the show.  The only other options the show had, IMO, was either to kill off John, which was not going to happen; or turn him into a villain or anti-hero, which also was not going to happen.

[Paul Raven]

Just occurred to me that Peter and Kristen were Blakes. Was their adoption and connection to Stefano ever properly explained?

And earlier Jessica had been a Blake and she was also adopted.

I think the Blake mom and pop need to be investigated...

[carolineg]

Yes!  I remember reading that about Deidre and I thought I might be crazy.  But in the classic film "Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story" she actually frames it like it was a package deal too.  I assume that movie is 100% facts.  

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It was definitely one of those decisions that seemed okay in theory, but I don't think anyone thought about how to run with it long term.  What are you honestly going to do with two Romans and only one Marlena?  There might have been a way around it if Staci Greason/Isabella stayed longer and John could establish himself away from that fold.   It just didn't pan out that way.

I would have made Wayne the imposter honestly.  He only stayed for 3 years and you could easily retcon that with Roman offscreen.

[Contessa Donatella]

At some point I recall knowing about that package deal. Hate when I forget what I used to know! LOL! 

 

Well, John & IzzyB were certainly very very popular. 

ACK! What a bad idea! You can go sit over there with the people who thought up Alex North!

So, you picked that up from my post. I referred to her as Kristen Blake & to Peter as being a Blake also. And, to them being wards, which they used to be. I'm not sure if there was ever exposition about adoption instead of being wards. 

[carolineg]

No lol!  Roman was offscreen.  Just make John Roman and call it a day.   We had to live through JT as Roman and Alex North.  Both of those things are very bad.  Listen, if Wayne returned and was Roman instead of Alex North it would be fine.  JT could walk up as Chris 3 days later.  That was acceptable.  Nothing about Roman since 1994 has been acceptable, so at some point I would have made John Roman and just went with it.

[Contessa Donatella]

Putting my fingers in my ears & saying lalalalalala-can't hear you-lalalalala! 

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Seriously, though, you are right, Alex North was so bad, monstrously bad, and JT's Roman, we have to face it, it's a failure. I truly do not understand what Corday's expectation was with that idea. And the closet thing to story they've given him is his not liking his son Eric's chosen wife Sloan because she doesn't like chowder. Frank Parker & Peggy McCay are very likely rolling over! That the Brady pub would be reduced to that! 

[Lye-C]

This happened in Aremid. Stefano was obsessed with their mother Rachel. He wanted her badly. He caused an explosion that killed the husband and seemingly killed Rachel. In reality, she was badly burned and lost her mind. She became the Woman in White. Meanwhile, Stefano took in the kids and raised them. 

[carolineg]

Thanks! I knew it was something like this, but I couldn't remember the details.

No relation to Jessica Blake though.  Just a common name.

[Khan]

Frankly, @carolineg, I don't think even that would have helped differentiate John from Roman.  If anything, it'd almost be like watching Roman being married to Marlena and Isabella at the same time (which would have been fine, if Claire Labine was writing the show back then, lol).

I've been curious as to why Deidre made Wayne's return a "package deal," for lack of a better word.  Did Wayne need the money?  Did Deidre prefer (at that time) working with him rather than with Drake?  Did she think it would make for a good scene or two in her biopic?  Just what was going through her perfectly coiffed head when she made that demand?