DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Lye-C]

I always loved Deidre’s special credit. She should have asked for that back, along with her old dressing room with the bathroom, when she returned in 2011.

[Contessa Donatella]

Once Drake was in a cell, had been held prisoner for a long time, may have been chained to the wall, not sure, but his hair was the longest I've ever seen it & his beard was unbelievable. And, there was an awards show & Langan ordered Drake shaved & shorn & Drake argued against it since it would ruin story continuity but he lost & went to the awards show all clean shaven & short styled hair & in a tux & looked fabulous but the next day he looked ridiculous back in the cell with filthy dirty rags for clothes, etc., etc., etc. 

[Lye-C]

I am not sure what this has to do with Tom Langan being a great EP who produced a good-looking show. 

[Contessa Donatella]

It relates to my saying that he struck again when Deidre told about him browbeating her during the taping of the plane boink. Just 2 specific examples. Not supportive of your overall take but of my alternate take. 

[Lye-C]

I’m mostly commenting on how good the show looked under him. Great production values, the cameras weren’t always static, better use of music, ambient sound especially in order scenes, etc etc 

I’d take him or Steve Wyman back in a heartbeat. The EPs who followed them have been terrible. 

[JAS0N47]

IN THIS 2003 INTERVIEW, BURT METCALFE DISCUSSES RECOMMENDING FRANCES REID & JOHN CLARKE TO BE CAST ON "DAYS OF OUR LIVES" IN 1965...

While I was browsing the TV Academy website, I noticed you could check all the videos that people spoke about "Days" in their interviews. Enjoy this look back at Burt Metcalfe, who helped cast several key roles in the "Days of Our Lives" pilot in 1965.

https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/days-of-our-lives?clip=50694#who-talked

[Paul Raven]

Thanks @JAS0N47 Didn't know about that feature.

Burt Metcalfe talks about the Days pilot and casting of Frances Reid, but wasn't Mary Jackson cast as Alice originally and taped the pilot, then replaced by Frances for the series?

Maybe Burt Metcalfe just forgot that detail. But trivial as it might be, its how misinformation is spread.

That's why the need interviewers with a lot of knowledge.

[carolineg]

I thought it was written in fine, tbh.  Stefano had John and Marlena clean up and dress up for the dinner where John was going to eat the poison soup that would brainwash him again.  I actually knew why it was happening, but didn't think it was ridiculous.  In my mind it made sense that Stefano would want Marlena/John to look fancy and dressed up if he was having dinner with them.  

[Contessa Donatella]

I agree that they made it work, Just one of those things that annoyed me that I recall. And I was proud of Drake for advocating for his tradecraft & integrity so I took his side. And, it was forgotten in 2 weeks & only comes up once every .... 25 years? 

[carolineg]

Honestly, it's nice Drake stood up for his character, but he also knew and agreed to host the SOD awards (I believe), so it's not really Days fault.   They just worked around it.

[asafi]

 

 

[JAS0N47]

I took that to mean he either was involved in casting both pilots, or more just the second pilot.  

[Paul Raven]

I didn't realize there was a second pilot. I thought Days was picked up on the strength of the first pilot with the decision made to recast Alice for the series.

Was the pilot(S) just the first episode script or a completely different script?

[JAS0N47]

I just call them both the pilot episodes. The unaired pilot with Mary Jackson as Alice was taped in July 1965. Then the pilot episode (# 1) that aired on November 8. 1965 was taped at the end of October, 1965.

We only know the cast list of the unaired pilot, but there were different characters in it, including a Minister, so it was a different script.

Unaired July 1965 Pilot:
Cast: Tom, Alice, Marie, Mickey, Craig, Tony, Julie, Jim, Minister, Nurse.
Sets: N/A.

1...11/8/65:
Cast: Tom, Alice, Marie, Mickey, Tony, Julie, Mike/Detective, Diane, Carol, Store Clerk.
Sets: Fur Dept. (Store), Precinct-Detective’s Office, Ext. Horton Home, Horton Living Room, Horton Study, Horton Front Hall.

 

[Franko]

Over on the '90s ratings thread, I wondered about what would happen if James E. Reilly started writing for Days five years earlier, in late 1987. I thought about it initially in the sense of if the ratings rise would have happened sooner, and what it would mean to NBC Daytime as a whole.

Now I want to talk about the idea of Reilly 1.0 plots playing out with or being tweaked for the late '80s and early '90s cast. Like Diana being the one buried alive. Anjelica stealing Adrienne's embryo. Eve drugging Frankie to have his baby and getting punched out years later by Jennifer. Kayla getting possessed. Isabella getting involved with her lookalike and their identical siblings.