DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[dc11786]

It felt very much like fan fiction. Bringing on a slew of characters with no real story or no idea how to tell the story was bonkers. John and Marlena come back to town and John is accused of stealing pensions. That went nowhere. Austin and Carrie come back for Abby to stalk professor Austin. There was a rich history between all the players involved there with Austin being Abby's donor, Abby's possible daddy issues, Kate's relationships with both Austin and Chad, Kate's history with the Hortons, the history of the Spencer women having mental health issues, and Carrie's ties to Mike. None of that was interlaced into what was a basic story, at best. 

I feel like MarDar got a lot of credit for a story that seemed pretty much in development when Higley and Whitsell were still present: Will is gay. The way MarDar told the story was through a bunch of dialogue with sexual innuendo between Will and E.J. that most saw as provocative I as tepid queer baiting. If MarDar wanted to push the envelope, Will would have convinced Mommy Sami that he had gotten E.J. into bed. I thought Will / Sonny / Gabi was more provocative because even though it was a traditional tale it was told in a way that had long-term ramifications. And because Sonny and Will hit the sheets like any straight characters would have.  

I mostly remember characters getting new jobs which may or may not have led to story and people returning and wandering around the square talking about nothing that would matter in a few weeks. I think there was some weird Faberge egg story that held the secret that E.J. wasn't Stefano's son and Stefano being murdered which meant everyone needed to be locked in a safehouse. And Carrie and Rafe dressed up to celebrate someones birthday because every birthday and holiday was celebrated but storylines rarely went anywhere. 

Lexi's death was probably the best their run had to offer. Renee Jones typically killed it anytime she was given meaty story. The follow up to that was the Abe/Kayla pairing which felt like somthing a show did when it was creatively dead and approaching cancellation.  

I wish Bravo had started their DAYS reruns in August 2013. I feel like they might have gotten a little farther, but I admit my bias.

[j swift]

It was very similar to the plot of Sheri Anderson's first novel, “A Secret in Salem”.  But, it would've taken a huge budget to pull off that plot, and it would've meant another John Black retcon, in terms of who was setting him up.

Both A Secret in Salem and A Stirring in Salem were fun in terms of opening up the story in ways that were unfeasible for daytime.  It is a shame both that the third part was never published, and that Beyond Salem never had the same sort of intricate plotting.

[Liberty City]

I think the foundation they set up was solid. I really do. I enjoyed everything, aside from Ian Buchanan's character and Rafe "2", I felt it a nice era with strong production era; they just needed a bit of a push to amp up their writing. I know, at the very least, Marlene McPherson is capable as she wrote the 2013 AMC reboot, and that was SOLID (aside from a couple of things).

[Michael]

The Rafe double was under Higley/Whitesell in the first part of 2011. It was dumb, but I thought it was some of Galen's best work lol.

I agree that the whole Sept 2011-Aug 2012 felt like fan fiction. A lot of it reads well on paper, but the execution was so devoid of anything interesting. People were just wandering around, getting job offers (Hope and Abigail were approached about being Basic Black models, and we spent several episodes on that and it went nowhere), and they introduced that spa that Maggie bought and it all added up to nothing except Melanie started doing Botox there (which wasn't a story), and they dumped University Hospital for the entire year basically. It was all just kind of ideas of "this could be a good setup for something" except they forgot to write the actual stories that resulted from those setups. It was respectful of history, so that's something, but so much of it just felt like random ideas. 

In retrospect, I should've known we were in trouble the instant they tried to convince us that Austin, a character whose ability to count was always questionable, was a forensic accountant.

As for the 50th anniversary reset in fall 2015, the thing that often doesn't get talked about was how weird the balance was. There were like two A-stories -- the Necktie Killer, which was part of the Chad/Abigail/Ben story and was pretty solid, albeit way too dark, and then the Hope/Aiden stuff. Other people were airing like once every two weeks, or just being threaded into episodes with no story. It was the strangest distribution of story I've ever seen on this show. 

[dc11786]

I remember those books coming out, but having no interest in reading them. If I remember correctly, this was Corday's response to the supercouple crowd who he was still trying to cash in on even though hewanted a more cost effective product onscreen. I vaguely recall the general plot ended up revealing that John and Marlena had another daughter together, which was thankfully not adapted as cannon.  

I felt the setup for the John embezzlement plot was going to be the actual takedown of the Dimeras with forensic account Austin helping them figure it out. I got where it was going, but I literally couldn't care less. I knew these people but all the stories were starting at the beginning and there was just NO energy. 

I'm genuinely curious what you mean by solid. Was it the characters you liked were front and center? Was it the attempt to try more modern ideas? Because I am really unsure what you mean. 

I don't think  they really got anyone though outside a small bubble of characters (John and Marlena and their family). Even they weren't safe from bad story ideas. Wasn't it revealed John and Hope had married when she was Princess Gina? The more I think about that era the more I cringe. I didn't hate Rafe in 2011/2012 the way some did, but I thought Rafe and Carrie was just a bad idea. It didn't make sense to me. 

I thought the AMC reboot was reflective of Marlene McPhearson's work on "Days of our Lives." It was trying to be edgy with the human trafficking plot, but I couldn't watch Cassandra dancing for her captor and being raped. It was something uneasy to watch and it wasn't the idea but the execution. Most people really liked it so I must be wrong. I also thought some of the set up felt very piecemeal (but less so than OLTL). It felt like they were featuring whoever they could convince to come back rather than telling a cohesive story. I remember thinking Colby / Petey / Jordan might have had a little more energy with Colby's arrival, but before that the Jordan character was blah but that may have been more acting than writing. 

I hated that the hospital was gone. I remember in the first week of Tomsell they had brought back Tad, Fr. Matt, and Maxine. The supporting cast enhanced the canvas giving it depth when it had been pretty sparse. 

The business stuff rarely was solid no matter who was writing so I cannot complain too much about MarDar there, but I do remember the constant switching of who was at which company also spilled over into the writing of the couples. In the course of a two week period, Sami could be lusting after E.J., Lucas, or Rafe depending on the day of the week.

I think trying to flesh out Austin and Carrie with more dynamic careers than generic business person wasn't terrible. I came to be okay with Carrie as an attorney because of the potential of her representing people that her cop family members had arrested, but I don't think that ever really happened. Austin's forensic accounting role had no legs though. The idea of him being a professor had slightly more wiggle room, but even the idea that all the kids would take an accounting course was silly. 

For the 50th, the cast was huge. I don't remember all the other stories being that disjointed, but I don't doubt it. The anniversary at the Martin House also was sort of a situation rather than a story where characters were getting ready for something. There was that odd younger set with Joey, Theo, Ciara, Chase, and Claire where Joey was related to all the girls so he ended with Ava right before they introduced Jade. I thought J.J. and Gabi were a great idea with the revelation that Paige and Gabi were half-sisters and Gabi continuing to work her way through the Horton men. Also, weren't Theresa and Nicole working to launch a fashion line with Kate? 

I feel like I liked the start of Higley and Quan with the prison break storyline, Laura returning to sorta usher back nuAbby even if Marci Miller bored me, Chloe's pregnancy, and the Jade / Joey / Kayla triangle where Kayla was a bit of a helicopter mom and Jade was taking advantage of the hospitality. It could be wildly uneven but I could even enjoy things live the jungle madness redux because I enjoyed Sonny and Paul. I wanted to like the Greece kidnapping because I liked Tefler but it never worked. Eric and Jen worked better than I expected. I liked Tripp. I loved Eli. Valerie and Abe worked well for me. Deimos wasn't amazing, but I thought Irizarry was very good.

[Michael]

Yes, they took over Basic Black. We spent months on them hiring Gabi and Paul as models, talking about their plans, etc., and then it all just went nowhere and dovetailed into the weird Nicole/Deimos/Kate pseudo-triangle. There was a Basic Black fashion show on New Year's Eve the night Eric killed Daniel in the car accident.

[Joseph]

I remember watching that! Nicole And Theresa sold their part on the business on early 2016, I think it was due to Nicole being mourning and Kate too much of a b*tch!

[Poolie3000]

The best part of MarDar was the Carrie/Austin/Abigail triangle. The slap Carrie gave Abby was one of the best!!

Rafe/Carrie was extremely stupid and seemed like the writers just wanted Carrie to be the bad guy in a triangle with Sami. I’m appreciative that they never had sex, and that Carrie got pregnant onscreen.

I’ll also give them credit for reuniting Jack and Jennifer as well as trying to bring back Tanya Boyd as Celeste.

Their day-to-day writing and dialogue felt like old school Days to me.

We never found out why Alice was making monthly payments to an account in Africa.

Their big story of Stefano not being EJ’s father was so insulting because we saw EJ’s conception on screen,  and not just once but twice.

Hope and John having gotten married is chronologically impossible. That was their other big story. I did enjoy getting to see The Pawn and Princess Gina again.

I give them major props for restoring Stefano’s obsession with his Queen of the Night.

They botched Billie’s return. 

[Joseph]

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It was definitely a Great Slap!

[Liberty City]

Ugh. Amazing production quality, and the O.G. Horton Town Square. Miss them both.

[carolineg]

This scene was very good, but on a very superficial note-Kate Mansi doesn't look great as blonde or at least that color blonde.  It looks like a wig (it might be?)

Carrie smacking young Abby is pretty satisfying though.

[Contessa Donatella]

Totally agree about that blonde wig! Mansi, IMO, looks much much better as a brunette. 

[Poolie3000]

BTW, it has still never come out publicly that EJ framed John for embezzlement. Having the truth come out and EJ going to prison would be a satisfying exit.

On a superficial note, I’ve never liked the brunette Abbys. Ashley Benson is still the best Abby we’ve had. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Do we have any reason to think EJ is about to exit?

[Poolie3000]

No. I just want him to exit lol