Bizarre soap scenes

[ER Tosh]

Plus the fact that everyone on the show over 40 thought they were Rex and Cassie's parents.

[StevieM]

Except Jack. And Matt Ashford and Alexis Thorpe--over the objections of the producers and directors--kind of played their scenes like they were sexually attracted to one another. Cassie would have been so much better in a triangle with J&J than Colin, Brandon, Patrick or Frankie. In fact, she still would be better when compared to Daniel.

[Khan]

Just another average day in Salem.

Meanwhile, I'm still not convinced bringing them back was part of JER's plan. Ken Corday and everyone else can swear up and down that it was, but I don't believe it.

[Vee]

Uh, it totally wasn't planned. It was a rewrite and a panic move when they realized they were in deep [!@#$%^&*].

I told people this years ago - and had a source on it - and was jumped on by all the Jim Reilly zombies for daring to question his eternal vision of genius. Later, several of the actors confirmed it.

[ER Tosh]

Is the scene on Loving where Jeremy was killed by being entombed in quick drying cement on youtube? That freaked me out as a kid..

[Khan]

Ya think, lol?

It was bad enough to axe that many characters at one time through the flimsiest of scenarios. But it was even worse how each of the SSK's victims were "murdered." To me, that's what sucked more, the fact that each of the deaths wasn't the least bit tasteful.

[Michael]

I won't deny that I was enthralled by the SSK story, but it was more for the "Where the hell are they going with this?" factor than anything. Everything about it was a joke and so disrespectful -- not just the wacky way in which the deaths were played, but the fact that the audience was played for total morons. It's one thing to have red herrings, and it's quite another to just throw a whole bunch of [!@#$%^&*] on the screen with no intention of following up on any of it.

I'm sure JER and Corday had the "They're all actually alive!" thing in their back pockets in case the backlash was too severe, especially once they decided to make Marlena the killer (mostly because I don't think they really wanted to get rid of Dee), but I bet it was more of a "Oh, we'll figure it out when we get there!" thing. The most insulting thing about the entire story was that we watched that crap for nine months and the explanation literally did not even make sense in the fucked-up universe of Days of Our Lives.

[Vee]

They absolutely fired the actors. They were gone, done. And Reilly meant for them to be dead. It was Corday who got cold feet on the storyline and ordered the rewrite. I'm sure they would have found a way to salvage Marlena, but the others were D-E-A-D.

[Michael]

I feel like the save on Marlena was simply going to be "The DiMeras brainwashed her!", but that was so damn obvious and JER/Corday kept carrying on in interviews about how "It's something that's never been done in daytime before!!!", and they completely lost control of the whole thing.

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mne59WQIIQ

[JackPeyton]

Yes! Thenk god somebody said this,

It was 100% legit, and true as it was playing out. There was no "it was fake, they are all coming back" plan, and its been pretty much confirmed by the actors, and Ken in his book (He talks about being lucky they all agreed to come back and were free, as MA was on OLTL). Of course, JER apologists (idk if i used that word correctly, ive wanted to use it for months, so just go with it people...) will use the "they wouldnt kill alice!" argument, and that is true. Alice was never going to die at the hands of the SSK - when it was legit. Of course, by the time they got to that they had high ratings and decided to do the reveal of it being faked, so they killed Alice knowing she wasnt going to die.

As for Marlena, it was supposed to lead into a big trial storyline and revealed that it wasnt actually Marlena, but one of the look-a-likes Stefano sent out into the world in the mid/late 90's, from what I have heard. I dont know if that is true, or even if Marlena was only selected after, but the killings were supposed to be real at the firings were real, at least JR-BH were. Some have said Suzanne was told when she was fired about coming back, but i doubt it. At the movie event they did for her farewell, she was pretty emotional plus, in his book i think ken talks about how hard it was to tell her she was being let go.

The one thing i dont understand is Suzanne tho, because John C (Mickey) told them to fire him instead because he needed to retire and would be doing so soon. They insisted it be her tho, and for no real reason. The only thing they did was Bonnie/Mickey, i guess they REALLY wanted that, recasted Mickey and all.

[Vee]

I would believe it about Alice being the tipping point, except Frances Reid herself contradicted Corday, and said, "bullshit, I was fired."

[JackPeyton]

Really?

Thats interesting because Alice was killed the last week of March and the island reveal was the first week of May. So if they really fired her, then they either just are assholes or decided to bring them all back to the show right after firing her. she was dead on the show for exactly 1 month. Because right after Marlena kills Alice, they have the funeral for her and doug, marlena is arrested, beat in jail, goes to the ER, escapes, is shot & killed, they have her funeral and her coffin flys to the island and Alice is the first person she sees.

I am not saying you are wrong, or that it is impossable, i am just surprised due to the short span between her death and the reveal of the fakeout, esp because if i remember correctly it had leaked the week after alice was killed that they were alive and coming back by someone on set who was there when Corday told the cast.

[Vee]

All I know is what the old bird said, and I'd believe virtually anyone before Ken Corday any day of the week.

I also remember a huge PR push at the time about how this was Alice's grand finale, facing off against the serial killer, complete with her seeing Tom at the hour of her death or something.

[JackPeyton]

Oh, ia bsoultely believe Ken would be like "Granny, your fired" and then two weeks later be like "Oh [!@#$%^&*], we gotta bring these people back" so i believe it, its just a crazy timetable. I am also so used to them filming so far ahead now tho, at the time maybe they were only two weeks ahead, esp to keep stuff going down a secret.

And yes, I would totally believe anything FR had to say over KC. Hell, i would believe almost anyone over KC to be honest.