DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Dion]

Was it perhaps Samantha drugging Marlena and impersonating her while Marlena was locked up at Bayview?

[Franko]

Or maybe it was Alice's quick bout with uterine cancer and/or Tom's stroke and recovery.

[Khan]

 

Were those storylines happening at the same time as Mickey's breakdown and Trish's DID battle?  Good God, lol! 

Like I said, it's no wonder why DAYS' ratings fell.  That was entirely too much heavy, somber drama at one time.  You might get away with Mickey's breakdown (with Tom's stroke as part of the fallout), but you also need some lighter storylines to help viewers decompress.

[AbcNbc247]

In addition to Neil and Phyllis’ newborn baby dying and Brooke’s mother dying of alcoholism. That was quite a year for Days

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Trish’s DID/Mike being accused of murder came after Mickey’s breakdown. 

[Khan]

Betty Corday and/or Wes Kenney should have had the sense to tell Bill Bell or Pat Falken Smith to ease up on the melodrama.  I wasn't alive back then, but from everything I'm reading or re-reading, it sounds like it was TORTURE.

[Michael]

Didn't the whole thing with Amanda Howard and the brain tumor (which was Neil's intro, no?) ALSO happen in that short period?

[AbcNbc247]

I just checked. Amanda’s brain tumor happened the same year as well.

Again, what a year

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[carolineg]

Were there any light hearted stories during this period?  I took a brief glance at the yearly synopsis available and it appears to be Doug/Julie's wedding and maybe Dougie's birth lol.  I am wondering if the show felt depressing day to day.  It's so hard to tell from recaps only because sometimes they only hit the important beats and not the overall feeling of the show, but it sounds awful lol.

[j swift]

Just a note/reminder about where we shouldn't post old clips.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/12/13/business/rumble-trump-bongino-kirk.html?smid=threads-nytimes

Also, I adored Amanda.  I miss the waspy neurotic types like Ann Tyler on AMC, or Lenore Curtain on AW.  Classy broads, with daddy-issues, who were often sympathetic because they were a victim of circumstances.

Edited December 13, 2024 by j swift

[Titus Andronicus]

Pat Falken Smith left in April 1977. Ann Marcus has the rest of 1977 and all of 1978. Ratings plummeted under Marcus. Marcus was fired in February-ish 1979 because of ... a lot of things. Ratings, storylines and backstage issues. Can't recall if the Kaye Stevens-Susan Seaforth Hayes fistfight was at the tail end of Marcus' reign or at the very beginning of Elizabeth Harrower's.

Harrower seems to have been installed as head writer in February 1979 to try to stabilize things, but was canned in January 1980. 

So here's one thing I haven't figured out. Why was Harrower fired?

NBC brass seems to have been doing a lot of meddling at that time and however the firing went down, it was enough to make Wes Kenney mad enough to leave. Was Harrower fired for something on her watch or did someone really want Nina Laemmle for some reason?

Though Laemmle had no soap background - and doesn't seem to have any credits for a while - she was immediately named Harrower's successor.

Laemmle was delayed for months in actually becoming head writer. Ruth Brooks Flippen is listed in Days paperwork as being head writer, but wasn't mentioned at all at the time. Even Flippen's LA Times obituary from 1981, the closest to a contemporary mention of her time at Days, only described her as a contributor to the show.

Days seemed really committed to Laemmle despite the delay. It's never mentioned what the delay was, but considering Laemmle had an adult child die months later, I wonder if it was related. Personal issues led Laemmle to resign in September 1980. That ended up being fortunate for the show as in between, the cast turnover alienated fans and it seems like  backstage wasn't thrilled either, based on a Jed Allan interview from midyear.

[DRW50]

This is all very compelling - the show seemed to go through so much turmoil in this period it's a miracle they stayed on the air. And so many of the stories just sound demoralizing, so reliant on death and on breakdowns and bursts of melodrama to keep the plot going. The whole treatment of Brooke returning with a new face only to be killed off again not long after would have truly pissed me off if I had been watching at the time.

I remember Chris Schemering mentioning that of all the new characters, Liz Chandler was the only one who had a following. That was one of the reasons I'm glad she made a brief return this year, sort of a bridge to another time the show is moving away (hopefully) from backstage hell to some new era.

Edited December 14, 2024 by DRW50

[cody_1990]

It's so crazy looking back at how chaotic that time was. 18 characters pretty much disappearing, most never to be seen or heard of again. Recasting David, Mary and Mike. 9 new arrivals, majority of them written out before their first year was up.

It's horrifying to think Fred Silverman planned to expand Days to 90 minutes after AW. I can't even imagine the damage that would of done. Days wouldn't of recovered, and probably would of been cancelled before AW. 

Even through all that mess Days was the top rated show on NBCD, overtaking self-destructing AW during this period. Thank god Days had Deidre Hall and the Hayes. They really carried that show and gave the audience something familiar to tune into. Something that can be said about the current state of the show too. Maybe its time for another Valentine's Day massacre???

 

Edited December 14, 2024 by cody_1990

[Contessa Donatella]

11-9-65 Episode #2
20:54 Intro, Star Billing
This is very dark. Hard to see faces. Otherwise quality is typical of these very early episodes.
Cast: Julie, Tom, Mickey, Tony, Marie, Tony's father Craig, a detective
Locations: Cop shop, Horton House
The show opens on Julie having a meltdown. Tom & Mickey are trying to talk to her at the cop shop. She is really shrieking. The detective says he saw her take the stole. Her friends agreed with his version of events.
Tom talks to her about a time when she was quite young & they were somewhere with a large crowd of people & she got lost from him & she got nowhere but just kept screaming, "Grandpa!" You were just spinning your wheels. Well, you still do this. It's what you're doing right now. You're all over the place. 
Tom's going to again try to reach Ben & Addy. Julie persists in saying that they're at some party & wouldn't want to be disturbed. Tom says if he can't get them he'd try to work something out. Julie excitedly indicates to anyone who will listen that she would love it if she could go to her grandmother & grandfather's house. (That's Tom & Alice)
Mickey's trying to get her to see reason while he's looking at a folder on her that shows the authorities have spoken to her about different things on 4 prior times.
Julie really has a mouth on her! They are leaving & taking Julie with them.
At the Hortons: Tony & Marie are kissing. They stop when she begins to laugh. He lights a cigarette. Marie envisions, out loud:
Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Merritt have taken up residence in Boston.
They play around & tease & say they love each other.
Tony's father, Craig arrives & remarks that it's late & don't they both have early mornings. They do.
Craig & Tony leave.
Tom arrives with Julie.
Marie: It's after midnight. What's going on?
Tom: Tell ya later.
Julie: I'm under arrest.
Marie: Did you take it, Julie?
Julie: I was just trying it on. It must have fallen into my bag.
Marie asks if Julie can go upstairs & lie down since it's so late.
Marie shows Julie her bridal gown, to try to distract her.
Tom lets them know that Ben & Addy have been found & are on their way.
Julie doesn't want to see her parents, at all. She says they don't care about her. She wants to know if she can't just stay here? She says that here everyone loves her.
Tom: Just lie down for a bit.
Julie: I'm not even tired.
Tom: If you keep saying it's your parents faults. Get your temper under control.
She breaks down then & agrees with Tom & hugs him. 
 

[Contessa Donatella]

I thought I had all 3 but I was wrong. We are all 3 of us missing the same episodes. This suggests to us that they may not exist at least not in cyberspace at this time. Sorry to bring bad news.

Edited December 14, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
typo

[AbcNbc247]

That was a huge mistake, especially since everyone had just found that Stephanie was Brooke. Like, what were they thinking? Killing off the young, grey heroine right after the big reveal happened. And probably not long after younger characters mandate had come down from the networks. I don’t get it. 

I’m thinking the changes were handled by Al Rabin since they started as soon as he came on as EP. But now I’m curious, were all of these changes dictated solely by Al Rabin or was he taking orders from the network?

I’d love for someone to give us an answer about that lol