Question about JER

[aMLCproduction]

^^^Very True

[Gray Bunny]

There's a great article about how/why DAYS had to change from a SOD from 1993 that has John, Marlena, and Roman on the cover with some caption like, "Why DAYS Had to Change" and I definitely see the point and it's something that most soaps were doing: transition from the glory years of action/adventure & supercouples of the 80's to trying to be more contemporary and real (well, at least until the late 90's when clones, angels, demons, etc. ruled the scene) and not so out-dated. It's no wonder that half the soaps changed their opening themes around 1992-1993; they were 3-4 years into the 90's but still using 80's titles.

[soapfan770]

Actually wasn't JER at Y&R for a lot longer, like for most of the late 80s? I've wondered if Corday knew Reilly from that period given the Columbia(now Sony) as well as historic Bell connection between Days and Y&R. Would make sense if Corday hired him, after all a lot of his storytelling had roots going back to Bell. I've long suspected Ken Corday and Brad Bell are drinking buddies.

If I recall right Ross' election nighmare episode on GL in November 1992 was written by Reilly himself. It's quite an entertaining show(is it on YT now?), on par with the Life After Alex special GL did a few years before in 1989 and was quite widely received and was part of the Emmy win for writing.

[beebs]

Indeed it is!

[aMLCproduction]

Thanks for finding that. Any one else have Rielly info? I know JER was at Y&R but I didnt think it was for a long period. Does any have any more statements regarding JER joining Days in 92?

[JAS0N47]

I checked a few days ago all of the Soap Digest and Soap Weekly issues from the fall/winter of 1992 and early 1993 and couldn't really find any story about Jim being hired on Days. Perhaps I missed it in browsing the issues, but I didn't see anything at all about his initial hiring. The first mention I found of him was about the firing of Susan Seaforth Hayes, that he had no story for her. In one of those first mentions, he's listed as the co-head writer. And as 1993 progresses, and storyline previews are given, he's then listed as the head writer. Tried to find something for you...even checked some of the Soap Opera Magazine issues from that time frame (but for that magazine I don't have the complete run), but I struck out!!

[Max]

I apologize for adding fuel to the fire, as it's no secret that I hate Reilly and everything that he stood for. However, his most impassioned defenders credit him with single handledly saving DOOL from cancellation. Yet, when one looks at the history, I really don't believe this claim is true. Below are the ratings for the 1992-93 Season:

Since NBC didn't cancel the much lower rated AW in 1993 (in fact, NBC gave AW a six-year renewal in 1993), then why on earth would they have cancelled DOOL?

Before I conclude, I don't want to suggest that Reilly accomplished absolutely nothing. Indeed, if it was not for the huge ratings boost he gave DOOL in the 90's, I'm sure that soap would be off the air today. However, even if Reilly never came to DOOL, there's no way that NBC would have axed DOOL prior to cancelling AW in 1999.

[beebs]

I think it's more just the fact that he managed to turn the tide so quickly on a sinking ship. Looking historically, 1992-93 was DAYS' lowest-rated season EVER in all their 27 years to that date. I honestly think that DOOL was not in imminent danger, mostly as they were still close enough to the rest of the pack to be competitive (not in their timeslot, per se, since AMC and Y&R were pretty much neck-and-neck for a lot of that year, but generally speaking). But I do agree that if things had not turned around the way they did, considering how everything went elsewhere during the mid-to-late 90s, we would've seen DAYS canned alongside AW, never before. We would've also possibly seen NBC withdraw completely from soaps in daytime.

[soapfan770]

I remember the NBC daytime president at the time by the name of Roebuck I believe wanted to cancel all the soaps and replace them with game shows hence Santa Barbara's replacements. AW was actually almost cancelled itself in '93 too. I think Days's turnaround and AW managing to hold a little of it's own and coast change things. That and Roebuck was hauled off to rehab, and that's not a joke either!

[soapfan770]

I'm sorry, his name was John Rohrbeck. Here's his obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/27/obituaries/27ROHR.html

Here's the rehab thing:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19749131.html

Thanks so much!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

That episode, at least the script, was written by Patrick Mulcahey, who has taken credit for that episode a few times over.

Here's an old SOW article with Jill Farren Phelps talking about it:

[soapfan770]

Well you learn something new everyday I've always heard Reilly was the one to write that episode. Perhaps it was his idea? I've heard that Nadine's faux pregnancy and Bridget in the attic were also Reilly's stories but now I'm not sure. Guess I should start digging in my own attic!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I believe Reilly was already at DAYS by the time those stories started to heat up, but maybe he was involved with the initial idea/outline.

I did hear he was behind the Springfield blackout (though JFP and Stephen Demorest were also very proud of this) and the Daniel St. John story.

[DRW50]

Jenna Bradshaw seems more like a Reilly character to me than most of the other GL characters created in that timeframe. Or at least Jenna before she was destroyed by being Buzz's chattel.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Stephen Demorest created Jenna, according to Nancy Curlee.