DAYS: November Discussion Thread

[marlenafan]

Just one final comment to clarify my "Deidre Hall IS Days of Our Lives" comment. When I said that, I didn't mean that the show can't go on without her nor do I mean that it is Dee Hall who makes the show what it is. I was purely speaking from a "popularity of the characters" point of view. Every soap just has those one or two characters that long-time watchers will always associate with being a central character and important to the show. (Stephanie on Bold and Beautiful, Erica on All my Children, Victor on Young and Restless, Reva on Guiding Light, etc.) These are also the characters that people who don't even watch the shows still know about. Bringing Dee back was just a visual representation of the show's determination to go back to their roots. I would also say that Maggie currently having a storyline and not being dropped under this new writing team is also a part of keeping the show grounded. The only difference is that Maggie hasn't been ratings gold in the past whereas Marlena has been. Love them both though because they are both awesome in my book.

Anyway, I was very entertained by Rafe and his job search. I was glad for those scenes because we have all been there at one point or another. It was very real, yet comical.

Madison was VERY out of line today. How dare she react to Sami that way! Sami was having a PRIVATE conversation with her step-brother of which Madison happen to overhear. Madison really needs to get over herself.

I love Bo and Hope, but do they work anymore? They have now been assigned the job of being the Salem Snoops! I can tolerate them doing it for a short time to move this Alice storyline along, however, they need to get back to solving real crimes asap!

I am hoping that this "Daniel is Maggie's son" bit is to throw us off. I am not on board with it just yet, but I will wait and see how this plays out.

How fab was Kate today at the Dimera Dinner of Doom? I flove her! Writers please move this Kate vs. Madison storyline along! This should be the current A story while the other stories percolate and build.

Does anyone else see that Abby is slowly being written to become a schemer and a nemesis to Melanie, as well as her parents? This show does need an old Sami-like character (since they are trying to be classic DAYS again). Can Kate Mansi pull it off as well as Ali Sweeney did in the 90s? hmmmmm

[marlenafan]

They sure do. Massey plays Will so well. I must say that he now totally owns this character and more than makes up for the debacles that were the previous Wills lol

[quartermainefan]

What do people think about Eric Martsolfs excessive face make up? The Halloween episode it was really caked on, but I found it made him a little bit fascinating to look at, and he reminded me a silent film star.

[Gray Bunny]

Some guys look really good in guy-liner. Eric Martsolf and Peter Reckell are definitely 2 of those guys. They both looked good on Halloween.

I'm glad you brought up Martsolf, though, because he is overly done ALL the time. I mean, are those really his natural eyebrows or do they color them in? Does he dye them? His eyebrows have always bugged me because they look like they're coated with something, whether it be pencil or liquid foundation or something cakey to that effect. Either way, it's weird. His lip color is sometimes too pink too.

[Cheap21]

John and Marlena blaming all their problems on Steano is making me want to drop the show

Victor and Maggie are getting married in about 2 days...WTF! They just got engaged.

Bo and Hope are sooo boring

The website story with the teens is also boring. What a waste of time. Who cares?

[gtru1981]

watched the show for the first time in a few weeks, what a snooze fest it was!!

[JaneAusten]

Frankly I am bored with the entire show. The stories I am interested in are not moving at all,

This Jack.Jennifer.Daniel triangle is a real snooze. Maybe its because I don' care about Jennifer. I don't care who ends up with her and I was a long time J&J fan back in the day, Frankly CArly.Daniel. Jennifer would have been more entertaining.

This Embezzlement story is just dragging, The subplots to it including the mayor storyline had gone no where.

Alices secrets might be the most interesting thing happening but the Daniel reveal was a disappointment. Hopefully any future secrets will pack more punch

I am quickly losing interest in Brady and Madison, they need to do something with her character quick other than just flirting with Brady because they are losing me. Other than Sarah looking fantastic with messy hair, I am not interested at all in her character

The show isn't bad I just feel apathy. Its all so slow and undramatic. With Higley at least I had some passion for what was happening. Hate yes but there was passion.

And to top this off for sweeps they are again

[JackPeyton]

so much word to all of this, esp what was i put in bold.

[Cat]

OK, I really like Brady & Madison flirting and bantering with each other! It reminds me of when Days (and other soaps) took the time to set up the dynamics between a couple and gave the chemistry space to flourish.

As to the rest, though? I agree with JaneAusten. It is slow and lacking in drive. I'd be invested in the mayoral race if everything wasn't in such a holding pattern. I don't really care who Jennifer ends up with, either. And lord, they are STILL trying to make Daniel McHairyChest happen. This is, what? His third writing regime?

[JaneAusten]

The reason I don't care about Brady and MAdison is because the show hasn't given me any reason to be interested in her, get to know her and the bantering was cute initially but now I am just bored with it. I am not invested in Madison and I love sarah don't get me wrong but if she were to walk tomorrow I would not care a bit.

And I don't care about EJ and Nicole either and I guess I should because the actors are really good together and I enjoy both characters a lot at times.BUt the same song and dance doesn't interest me. Especially at the expense of telling a real story between EJ and Lexie around the mayors race.

And the stuff with the super couples is just ugh. I loved all of them once upon a time and Jack and Jenn were muy favorites but their dynamic their interaction even together to me has been boring and the same stuff I have already seen how many times before. ANd its all predictable.

[thentherewere4]

i so much want to give the writers the benefit of the doubt, but i can't believe they are paid so much money to to write such crap. instead of bringing back john, marlena, austin, and carrrie, who were all played out, why not bring in fresh characters tied to the current canvas. why put nicole in the background, when it was her strong acting that kept the show going? galen is an appealing actor, but we wouldn't know it, because like lucas before him, he's all about sami, all the time. conflict quick, we really need to understand who rafe is. the jack, daniel, jen triangle is ridiculous. if i was jack, and i had just been put through hell for the last year, only to find that jennifer quicklly moved on to daniel; jack would be the one to dump jennifer's ass, and she would be trying to win jack back. and with the upcoming story with will, i hope initially he brings up every awful, disgusting thing that sami has ever done, and throws it in her face. that would be a highlight

[Cheap21]

Jennifer is such a dumbass. She stands there accusing Jack of being in Salem on Halloween instead of London and refuses to beleive him.Ugh, doesnt she talk to her son? Why didnt she just think to call him to see if he was with Jack? Idiot. Speaking of which, WTF isnt he in town? Have they given any indication as to how old he is? I hope he's at least a teen bc its hard to believe that she'd leave her kid half way across the world for a year by himself with no family. She's never even gone to visit him

Carrie is back and she and Austin are back to their lame fighting. I hate this story

[dc11786]

I watched Friday's episode, which was the first episode I've seen since the third day of the Horton Town Square party. From what I saw, the reboot has failed to fix any of the problems with the series, and, in fact, has only added to the show's problems.

Friday's episode featured Sami, Rafe, Austin, Carrie, Marlena, John, Roman, Jack, Jennifer, and Caroline. Five of the returning cast members dominated the episode. It was like watching a completely different program. Other than Jack and Jennifer's story all the other stories were basically new. Jack and Jen's story was basically a continuation of Jennifer's story that was already in place. There story was the one I was most interested in.

The scenes with Jack and Jennifer wavered from good to awful. The confrontation between Jack and Jennifer over the incident on Halloween night was weak. As previously mentioned, Jennifer should have called J.J. and gotten to the bottom of it. The conversation between Rafe and Jack about post-traumatic stress was good. I myself was thinking how Jack's situation was similar to Shane's return last May. Stranding Jack and Jennifer at the cabin was good, but Jack's Afghanistan flashbacks were overly produced in my opinion. I think the audience was smart enough to figure out what was going on without them. Anyway, the conflict was good and I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of this plays out next week.

On the otherhand, the other storylines did little to excite me. Sami, Carrie, Austin, and Rafe living arrangement appears to be a rather uncomfortable arc highlighting the limitations of the show's sets. Quite frankly, it is rather contrived and seems rather age inappropriate. Carrie / Rafe is the only thing that interested me, but the idea of Carrie and Sami fighting over the same man again doesn't. It was nice to see the Jennifer / Sami connection played again.

The John - Marlena conflict highlights why I was happy to see the characters depart in January 2009. John and Marlena blaming Stefano for everything is boring. This was part of the show's problem. The writers and, to an extent, the fans haven't allowed Marlena and John to grow past this. For twenty-five years, Marlena and John have fought against Stefano without changing the dynamic. Unfortunately, the show has never truly let go of Stefano Dimera supervillain even though the show spent the better part of the last three or four years evolving the character.

In general, I have no problem with the actors who have returned, but I feel they have been a disservice by being forced to carry the show. While returning characters, the audience needed time to readjust to these characters. You don't allow newbies to dominate a show and that is what Jack, Austin, Carrie, Marlena, and John are at the moment. It's a shame that the show didn't take advantage of what was going on and use those stories to reintroduce the characters into the canvas. John and Marlena could have been involved in Sami's and Brady's stories while laying the groundwork for the embezzlement story while allowing the audience to reaquaint themselves with these characters. Austin and Carrie could have been involved in Will's story given the significance of Will in the past triangle between Austin / Carrie / Sami allowing more bonding between Carrie and Sami before ripping their newfound sisterhood apart.

My other issue with the show is I don't get the sense the show knows where it is going next. We all know how the Daniel / Jennifer / Jack situation will end, but I don't get the sense TPTB know where it will be going. Once John and Marlena handle the scandal, I don't see what story there is for them. While the show seems to be heading towards a Rafe / Carrie pairing, I don't see the dramatic potential of this storyline. Other than ruffling Sami and Austin's feathers, I just don't see how this will affect others. Anyway, I hope I'm proven wrong.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Cafe (Carrie and Rafe) NEEDS to happen! That would be so hot & scandalous. I just wish it wouldn't cause Sami & thisAustin to happen (again) to.

Ok so if it really wasn't Jack who was following Jennifer and Daniel around on Halloween then who was it? I can't think of anyone else in Salem who would follow Jenn. Was it Peter Blake? ;-P. Or is DAYS just going to drop this? Jenn didn't seem to care anymore after Jack promised it wasn't him.

I love Jack's PTSD story so far & how it was introduced in his scenes with Rafe. I am looking forward to more of Jack & Jenn in the cabin!

[Eric83]

Jack Jr. was born in 2004, and there has been no indication of how old he is from what I can see. I have no idea why he isn't in town. Its rather ridiculous.