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In the eyes of fans and critics? Who are these fans and critics? You mean some of the pretentious posters on various boards that jump from soap to soap depending on which one is good at the moment. DAYS should not try to become "legitimate" just to please soap jumpers. DAYS should be DAYS and write stories that real, loyal DAYS fans like.

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I would've loved to see what a Tomlin/Reilly team could've done. I think they would've worked well together and I wished that Tomlin was Reilly's EP at DAYS in 2003 instead of Wyman who hated Reilly. Reilly consulting at Sunset Beach in 1998, was the show's best year. But if they worked together closely in 2003 at DAYS, it would've been awesome. Too bad it didn't happen or can't happen anymore. :(

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Frankly, if Tomlin hadn't insisted on pairing her w/ Christopher Whitesell (who, IMO, should never be a HW), I think he and Lorraine Broderick would've been much more successful at OLTL in the long run. Theirs was the perfect combination of character-driven drama (Broderick) with an outrageous, almost cartoonish sense of humor (Tomlin).

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That might've been interesting, Toups. But I really feel that Reilly was burning out right around when he returned to Days. I've been going through some of the 2004-2005 material, especially post-SSK, and it honestly seems sooooo tired. That whole Sami/Austin/Carrie/Lucas rehash was totally on autopilot, Billie was just wandering around acting like a desperate ho, Marlena had one stupid malady after another... and that was when Passions seemed to take a major shift, too. I think the demands of the two shows were way too much for him (as they probably would be for almost anyone).

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I don't get the hype DAYS gets on this board either. The storylines are just awful and Higley is one of the worst writers ever. Every plot goes from A to Z with nothing in between. How can you care about a storyline when there is no build up? A great example is this new Carly storyline. In theory it could be a great storyline but there was hardly any build up to Carly's addiction. Yes, we saw her struggle but it was like one episode and she's already freaking injecting herself. The only good storylines are Stefano/Kate & Victor/Maggie and their just basically filler storylines for when Molly Burnett, Galen Gering, Ali Sweeeney, James Scott or Arianne Zucker need a day off.

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First of all, given the circumstances surrounding JER's death (didn't he die of complications from heart surgery?), it's entirely possible his health affected his ability to write toward the end. Second, even though I'm not a fan at all of his, I think any HW would crack under the pressure of writing ten hours (two soaps, at five hours apiece) of drama every week. Perhaps, a better alternative would have been to allow JER to focus exclusively on DAYS, but stay w/ PASSIONS in an EP/Executive Story Consultant position?

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Absolutely -- I can't imagine the strain of trying to actively oversee two daily, hour-long shows. I wonder if it would've worked for him to be a consultant on both shows or something, maybe unofficially HW-ing and driving the story while having a Co-HW actually dealing with breakdowns, etc.

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I've been watching since 1992. I'm with the crowd that says this is this is the best the show has been in a decade, however the bar for comparison is set very low. 2000-2001 featured Langan, the hackiest hack of all hacky hacks - do you not remember sweeps November 2001 which consisted of Mimi and Belle getting ready for movies? I'm still scarred by that teen treasure island nonsense. What could be worse than that? Oh yeah, the Garden of Eden. Higley 2003 was wow boring so bad. Sheffer was just as boring as Higley with Santeen and Belle/Shawne/Phillip/Clare zzzz. The only writers who put on a better show than now was Brash & Cwikly and their run was unfortunately too short.

Just because the show is better than most of the last decade doesnt mean its good though. Its very inconsistent - It can be 3 months unwatchable and then 1 month can't miss a day. And frankly thats no good. The plotting and pacing is really bad, like Darraholic says. But thats only mostly Higley to blame (mainly because she gives no direction) - her AHWs are meant to plan the show out and they suck worse than her. The Script writers deserve praise because they have to turn lacklustre breakdowns into something watchable, and if they fail, its not through lack of skill and effort. Tomlin, Higley lucked out on the baby storyline and got the plotting right but then went and mucked it up by playing it out way past its sell by date. Most other stories on paper sound great, but have aweful pacing and execution. How much of this is Tomlin's fault, I don't know.

Anyway, my point was just because the show is better than it has been for a decade is not a compliment to Tomlin and co., but an indictment on all the hacks that preceded him.

This.

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He was burning out because, IMO, his heart wasn't in it. He was battling Corday and Wyman at the same time, and that makes it a bad working environment. If there was someone, like Tomlin, who would've worked together cohesively, the show would've been better than what we saw. I also agree that Reilly should've had a Co-HW at DAYS. And if Tomlin was the EP, the Co-HW would've been Whitesell. I think Tomlin/Reilly/Whitesell would've worked.

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DAYS is a Dena Higley show. I see all of her lackluster boring as f.uck hallmarks whenever I watch, and very little of Tomlin's.

My guess is, other then the budget control, some casting decisions, and some friends he's brought to the writing team, Tomlin has very little creative influence at DAYS. DAYS feels very personality-less, but at the same time, the show has lacked one for a while, and at least now very little long-term damage can said to be done, as opposed to Y&R and the ABC soaps.

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wow, the last year or so has been horrible I felt. I went from watching daily to watching 5 mins of each episode once a week. It all hit the rails the moment Sami was reunited with her baby only the story didn't end. For a year or so now they just drag out the Nicole/Sami/EJ garbage needlessly. The year Tony died and Stefano and Victor went to war because of the patent was good stuff. The airplane story was great. Even the sorority house rapist turned out to be decent. If it were not for Vivian I think this entire year would have been a washout storywise.

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I like DAYS, or as I still call it sometimes "nuDAYS'', the way it is now. However, I don't love it. There is a certain way the show used to feel, even through the horrible periods of time, that I really miss. DAYS is completely different than it used to be. It has its advantages but I think the disadvantages outweigh them..

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