SOD: Corday Interview

[koos]

Meh... nearly every time they get a new regime, Corday claims the show will "go back to its family roots" and be more like "the golden days." It never is. Briefly, during the transitional time after Reilly was out, it was a little better, IMO, and then even more recently, it was a little better during the Marlena Turns Stefano Into a Vegetable period. But it never lasts. I thought Sheffer and Scott were supposed to bring the real show back, and they didn't... but it's not like they even had much of a chance. I did like the darker lighting and scenery during their run, though.

I would retch if Beemer and Madison came back. Madison's Belle was like a dead fish. A petulant, sniveling, dour, swamp witch. She was a bitch on wheels. Beemer was like a statue. I always thought Storms and Cooke were too Disney-ish, but they made those roles, for better or worse.

And why the hell was an already-adult Taylor SORAS'd to 40? She's older than Zucker, FFS!

[Sindacco]

It's not like those four have frontburner stories that are now in danger. They are just used as filler. Stefano is a prop for EJ and once in a while they will give him scenes with Kate to make Joe Mascolo happy. Kate has no real purpose anymore and hasn't in years, and Lauren Koslow is looking more and more fake and desperate. Victor is a grumpy old man to everyone except Maggie who makes him a love sick puppy. His zingers aren't even funny anymore. In the past people didn't like when Victor turned soft and everytime they made him a bad guy again fans were happy, but for some reason everyone loves soft Victor now, I don't get it. I have never liked or cared about Maggie. She's one of the reasons I don't enjoy Victor anymore. Suzanne Rogers is very overrated on the boards. I find some of her emotional stuff laughable.

[DaytimeFan]

So basically, we're the exact opposite when it comes to DAYS viewership.

[YRBB]

This all sounds promising but I'm afraid it will just stay at that. I am hoping that the people who come back will not take over and suffocate the show. We will see come September... and the months after that. If they manage to keep it going for a few months then, who knows?

As for the show now, there are many elements I do not like but I have immensely enjoyed Kate, Stefano, Victor and Maggie which are the main draws for me. They are seriously carrying the show.

[Sindacco]

If by opposite you mean that I want the real Stefano back and the real Victor back, in real storylines and not just used as filler or props, then yeah, we're the exact opposite.

Please Daytimefan, explain to me what it is you love so much about the way those four are written and why you love seeing them used as filler with no real stories. I really want to know because I used to love three of those four characters and I hate what they have been reduced to.

[DaytimeFan]

I don't see them as filler, I see them as leading the B storyline. Every soap needs a B storyline and these four are ideal for it given the ageist climate of daytime. Maggie, for instance, hasn't had this amount of writing since she was "killed off" in 2003 and for a decade before that she had absolutely nothing and was the epitome of filler, passing out menus at Tuscany and being the town gossip with 30 episodes a year.

Victor and Stefano have both been toned down from cartoons into characters that are more real, at least to me. The invincible Stefano and the impotent Victor just didn't do it for me after a while, especially as their narrative become a loop. I especially appreciate the chemistry between these two characters and their female counterparts. They are in grown up, mature, storylines that give all the actors something to do and contribute.

Lauren Koslow has never been better because Kate is finally outside the realm of meddling in her children's lives. Her narrative is smaller, but it has developed the character from mother from hell to fleshed out woman. I absolutely love the chemistry she and Joe Mascolo share, the dynamic is so delicious between those two. I would definitely say that I prefer Kate and Stefano to Victor and Maggie, I find the dynamic more honest between Kate and Stefano, both have been there and done that and accept each other for who they are.

That's my rationale.

[edgeofnik]

Has anyone kept track of the number of "The Plan to Save Days" over the years? I just don't get it. I'd like to know what is viewed as the "golden days". Anyone? If those "days" were so important and so on track, why have the continually gone off-track and I don't mean for a one-off bad story, but I mean for months and months. Is he not watching the show? The ratings have been tanking for months now. Why wait to do the reset? It's just crazy how this show derails so many times and then we get a reset for six months or a year and it's back to the same old thing. What's most disappointing was that DAYS was really hot 16 months ago and then it fell straight down the tubes.

[koos]

Yeah, just what IS the "golden Days?" Marlena morphing into a panther? A boring family drama? Adventures to tropical islands and rich business tycoons? How about hot-button social issues, mores, taboos? If just ONE soap went back to the '70s model of airing things very few would air in prime time, it would create a HUGE buzz.

[Cat]

1000% agreed with all this.

As for Corday's "big plans," very few of them speak to me at all. Yay, let's bring back the "supercouples" and... then what? Give them swoony megaplots that will take us back to the 1980s? Days cannot afford to do this. It doesn't have the sets to do this. It was working well with a small group of characters (another one of Corday's brilliant new "plans" which he says he now wants to introduce -- what?!) in soapy situations. OK, the last few months have been a bit of a bore and badly plotted out. But the characters themselves, apart from a couple of exceptions, I want to see! I dread seeing Jack hiding behind a hospital plotted plant spying on Jennifer and McHairy. I dread seeing John breathe through his nose as Victor manipulates him with yet another brain chip. I dread seeing the Bradys as the most perfectest family in all the world, conveniently forgetting Caroline's borderline psychosis and Stephanie's shenanigans. I dread seeing those bores Belle & Shawn fight over who wuvs the other more. I dread Kate reduced to Wicked Witch of the East and Maggie appearing three times a year. Honestly, this is what Corday's promises are saying to me.

[koos]

Is it possible she was a better actress back in the '70s, and that's why everyone seems to respect her so much now? I remember laughing and laughing at her "death scene" during the SSK storyline.