On 10/20/2025 at 11:12 AM, Ryanc2 said:

John/Marlena/Roman

The conflict between them in these episodes centre about Brady and his hatred for Marlena. He’s a real brat. He’s like the male version of Sami in these episodes. I am actually rooting a for a Roman/Marlena reunion in this moment and just basing that preference strictly on this specific storyline (with no prior knowledge of their relationship from previous years), but John is annoying me for not being able to see how manipulative Brady is being. 

"Sami, but a dude" was the extent of Brady's characterization until the relationship with Chloe clicked. This resulted in several unintentionally hilarious scenes where Brady came across as glass closeted.

I do recall Lexie being a complicated character when I watched in the summer months as a kid in 2004/2005ish. She was one of those characters who were good but could be tempted to do bad things at times. She reminded me of Eve Russell on Passions (although I’m sure Eve was worst). 
 

Brady is just coming across as a spoiled little sh*t at the moment, so I’m happy to hear his relationship with Chloe gives his character a chance to evolve. I’m not really enjoying the Philip and Chloe pairing either so I’m glad that will eventually change. 

I saw a clip of Days today of a recent episode and I’m like OMG who are these people? 🤣 the only person I recognized is Greg Rikaart and that’s because he was on Y&R. I haven’t even watched the show in probably 15 years so it’s to be expected that the cast would look very different by now. Good on Days for bringing up the next generation though and centering them. That is crucial for the evolution of soaps whether we like it or not. I wish Y&R would do the same. 

1 hour ago, Ryanc2 said:

I saw a clip of Days today of a recent episode and I’m like OMG who are these people? 🤣 the only person I recognized is Greg Rikaart and that’s because he was on Y&R. I haven’t even watched the show in probably 15 years so it’s to be expected that the cast would look very different by now. Good on Days for bringing up the next generation though and centering them. That is crucial for the evolution of soaps whether we like it or not. I wish Y&R would do the same. 

And they use Julie, Marlena, and Maggie very well, and are starting to do the same with Abe.

8 hours ago, Bright Eyes said:

And they use Julie, Marlena, and Maggie very well, and are starting to do the same with Abe.

Good. Hopefully Bo and Hope are still around too. I have been hearing the show has been improving so maybe I’ll give it another chance. I’m sad there’s no Sami or Nicole around to cause trouble though. Has there been anyone in the young set to take the place of Sami or Nicole as their successor yet? 
 

I find with Y&R they shy away from the ‘bad girl’ soap characters these days unless their name is Phyllis.. an even with her, the writing is TAME as hell compared to the 90s.

 

Super rare 1979 Marlena moments

 

@asafi Nice catch, thanks.

What do you make of characters talking to themselves out loud versus using voiceover? I thought it was fascinating to see both techniques used in the same scene. Marlena’s spoken lines felt like her conscious, observant self. She was wrestling with guilt over Laura’s situation.  Meanwhile, the voiceover came across as her unconscious, reminding her that the guilt stems from her own trauma of being locked up. It was a cool way to visualize Marlena's multi-layered torment.

It seems quaint and old-fashioned to have soap characters express themselves in voiceover, but I still found it surprisingly effective.

Also, I have to say something about Jordan’s hair. It’s like a 90-degree mullet—short on top, wild on the sides. Party perimeter, no business center. Bold choice.

 

Edited October 24Oct 24 by j swift

Wonderful to see classic Marlena or any of DAYS before the supercouple era. Being that they were in 1979 and Marlena still mentioned the David Martin clinic, I wonder how much longer the clinic was around, considering Susan was long gone. It would have been smart to never let it go and always have that faint link to the past and small hope that Susan could return at any point. I'd bring Annie Peters or probably her heretofore mentioned grandchild first to re-open it in a heartbeat.

February 2001 Coronation/post Coronation massacre episodes -

Bradys luscious blonde hair I’m sure did not do him any favours for beating the allegations in 2001, especially in those hospital scenes with Marlena. The show should have just leaned into it. C*nty Brady is a whole vibe! 
 

Speaking of hair, Why did Sami decide to dye her beautiful blonde hair after the Coronation to that god awful orange/red colour? It doesn’t do her any favours. It needs to be just a tad bit darker so it’s more of a darker red and then it could totally work. 
 

I must have been tuning out at certain points cause I totally missed the part where the audience was in on Victor faking his death. I genuinely thought Nicole and Philip were grieving but was kind of confused why Philip didn’t seen more sad. If the audience was NOT supposed to be in on it, the reveal of Victor being alive should have been WAY more suspenseful and important but it literally was just a random scene after Kate and Lucas at the mansion on a Wednesday with not even any background music to build up the moment. Either way, it’s a good twist and I’m enjoying it. 

Remind me, does the royal coronation predate the Garden of Eden, or did Greta need to pass that test to be coroneted?

Edited October 24Oct 24 by j swift

35 minutes ago, j swift said:

Remind me, does the royal coronation predate the Garden of Eden, or did Greta need to pass that test to be coroneted?

The Garden of Eden came before the coronation. I remember Michael Logan's year-end worst of column having a cartoon of Austin Peck, who apparently loathed the story, sneering as he played Austin in a pair of briefs made of vines.

1 hour ago, Franko said:

The Garden of Eden came before the coronation. I remember Michael Logan's year-end worst of column having a cartoon of Austin Peck, who apparently loathed the story, sneering as he played Austin in a pair of briefs made of vines.

Did anyone like that story? It was beyond ridiculous.

14 minutes ago, I Am A Swede said:

Did anyone like that story? It was beyond ridiculous.

Good question. I think someone at Days and/or NBC had a thing for fetish wear, though, considering we had Eden in 2000 and then less than two years later, Rex and Cassie's introductory "outfits" being aluminum foil.

I'm always stuck trying to crack the code on these posts.

For example, she's not saying goodbye, and it is on the Peacock feed.  So, are we supposed to guess that she's coming back or going based on this information? 

On Brit Soap for the past few years, an actor traditionally marks their final episode with a social media post, using similar language.  But, it seems more inconsistent on Days, given their production schedule.  For example, Hank Northrop is premiering next week, but when he started filming the White House still looked normal.

Edited October 24Oct 24 by j swift