DAYS: January Discussion Thread

[JaneAusten]

I think unless you goto cable thats true although the female investigator on The Good Wife is smart, sexy, and bisexual and they allow her character to use her sexuality with men and women.Daytime won't touch it.

[DRW50]

I watch The Good Wife sometimes, and they do a good job of making her a complex character, and fortunately they don't seem to do a lot of shock value stories (the affair with Julianna Marguieles and Josh Charles was done tastefully).

Even most cable shows just don't care. I remember the endless hype over True Blood having a "homoerotic" moment which amounted to some wet dream almost kiss between two of the leads, and which had zero impact on storyline.

I guess I'd take DAYS' bad mix of PSAs and teary-eyed fits over something like that, or more Ryan Murphy crap.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

I can't believe Kate doesn't know that Sami and Madison are trying to put on over on her.

[Cheap21]

I hope Sami's ass gets sued. Actually being arrested would serve her right. It would be so great if Will found out what she;s doing and exposes her

Melanie is too damn old to be acting the way she is. Girl get a grip! Daniel is moving; he's not dead

I dont get all the gushing over Gabby. She's very regular and is NOT all that. She has the new face is Cant stand her

[Eric83]

EJ is considered the show's leading man. No way in hell are they going to make him gay. I could have seen this on OLTL or AMC or something, but definitely not on Days.

[jcar03]

I'm hoping for April, which is another common month for elections.

[JaneAusten]

I for one was not suggesting making him gay. Bisexual yes but TV can barely handle gays much less bisexual.

Isn't that is what Adam is or was supposed to be on Y&R before they chickened out.

[Vanguardian]

Bisexual EJ (or faux gay/bisexual EJ) would generate so much surprise and heat with this storyline and I'd welcome it with open arms. I do think, however and unfortunately, that the show is probably dedicated to keeping him only in the orbit of women. Having said this, I'm annoyed by the suggestion and premise that leading men seem to always have to be straight. Perhaps it's time to step outside of the box and give us a studly gay/bisexual dude as the leading man. People seem to say the same thing about Chad: He can't or shouldn't be gay/bisexual because he fits more as a young leading man for women. Really? Mileage varies as does opinions, but in my eyes, Chad generates more chemistry with his male buddies than he does any of those girls. I only wish the writers thought differently than some of the viewers. STEP OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!

[Eric83]

I'm not saying a leading man can't be gay I'm saying Days wouldn't let THEIR leading man be gay.

[dc11786]

I think a lot of interesting and valid points are being made.

I get what you’re saying Carl, but I can see Jack’s point as well. The beauty of soaps is watching history repeat itself. As I explained in an earlier post, I don’t think this is how it should have been done, but I see the excitement in writing Will as a thorn in Sami’s side even if Chandler Massey was competent at playing a morally strong romantic lead. I had similar issues with Tammy’s descent into depression on ‘Guiding Light’ at the hands of Jonathan, but that is another story. I think your point is Will isn’t compelling on his own, but rather because of those within his circle. While I’d argue one of the best things about soaps is the pinball effect, I don’t see where this will lead in terms of Will’s own story. Are we going to watch him bitch about the mother the rest of his life while in storyline limbo? Where are we going from here?

Watching Bo and Hope brow beat the bank manager was reminiscent of Kriezman’s GusH scenes. I apologize for all the GL references, but I was ‘GL’ fan between my ‘Days’ viewings. Bope didn’t come off well in those scenes especially when Carrie pointed out that the manager was following bank policy. Personally, I prefer Bo and Hope as couple still hesitant about trusting one another completely, but not going behind the other’s back to accomplish their goal.

Nicole was more than a prop when she returned. I loved Nicole meddling in Sami’s life and later finding happiness with her miracle pregnancy. Nicole broke my heart when she lost that baby and did everything she could to hold onto a life she believed she desperately wanted. Nicole was compelling, complex, and was the reason to watch ‘Days of our Lives’ until the baby switch was revealed. Her connections in Salem have been diluted with the arrival of the new regime, but they seem to be trying to work her back into the canvas with chemistry tests.

I agree, but I assume this will even the score so Sami and Rafe can stay together. Not that I agree with this, but I feel like this is where it’s heading. On a similar note, while I appreciate how Sweeney has kept Sami’s emotions in check during her scenes with Will over the car, I find it leaves the audience in an odd position. Sami is an emotional person, who reacts before she thinks which is why she had sex with E.J. recently.

I have no problem with Sami calling Marlena on her absence in her daughter’s life. Sami was shipped off to Colorado for years before returning to Salem. I don’t frequent any boards with large Marlena / John fans. I wonder how they react to this sort of scene. I’m finding myself enjoying Marlena / Will scenes, but not because I see this loving bond between grandmother – grandson. I enjoy it because Marlena treats Will like a patient almost exploiting their emotional connection, while downplaying it at the same time. Hall plays Marlena a bit cold, clinical. For me, Will shouting ‘I need you to be my grandmother, not a shrink’ resonates and is at the core of the relationship.

While Marlena hasn’t eaten the show alive, I’m disappointed how Will’s story has been streamlined to focus on Sami/Will, Will/Marlena, and Marlena/ Sami. I want to see Kate’s reaction to all of this. I want to see Maggie’s reaction to all of this. To be fair, Sami’s story has been played in its own orbit for the past few years, but I wish we saw more of the people who were in Salem when Marlena was off in Europe with John.

The only interest I saw was when Will yelled at Sami, since so many people hate Sami.

The younger set has suffered do to the backlash of the Salem High ‘Days.’ Across the board, soaps have shied away from building younger sets because of the constant gripes, some deserved, some undeserved, for the past decade. In general, Massey has been well received with an increase in attention when it looked like Will was going to be outed.

In the past few years, the only thing to raise the ratings has been story. ‘Days’ proved it with the baby switch and ‘One Life to Live’ proved it with the tale of two Todds. Long term plotting with well earned pay off brings the ratings. The problem is this cannot be done overnight, which is what is killing daytime. To be honest, it would take ‘Days’ a good six months to build a story given the current climate.

The irony of this statement is it goes against everything the revamp stood for. The audience doesn’t need to see the same beats played over and over again. Utilize the canvas and don’t give the same three characters the same scene to play day in and day out. Playing new beat means straying from the beaten path, the path the revamp was meant to bring the audience back to. Overall, I wish the show shook up the canvas more, while playing on the show’s history.

I don’t think this would help ‘Days.’ The show really doesn’t need another mass exodus even though there are several characters I would like to see go and several characters I’d like to see return. The show needs to rebuild the canvas with the cast of characters they have. There are moments I see the show doing this, and there are other moments I see them scrambling to figure out what to do with the characters they had. This is dangerous and I don’t think ‘Days of our Lives’ could survive another cast turnover without strong story in place to keep the audience watching.

[Eric83]

Gotta say I am loving the Will and EJ story just got finished watching edited clips on YouTube. MarDar are doing at least one thing right.

[DRW50]

This "even the score" type of writing is what kills daytime. The whole point of this was supposed to be that Rafe is a good man who was betrayed by Sami. Instead, they have repeatedly taken the easy way out. She only cheated because she thought her son was dead. She's still a devoted, loving wife, and Rafe just isn't satisfied. They haven't even really had her pull away from Rafe and this makes him move on.

If they have it where this "happy" family is full of lies and adultery, and Sami's adultery is more understandable (since she thought her son was dead), that takes away a lot of the point of this Sami's downfall story. It makes Will look even more stupid, because he's siding with a man who will cheat with his aunt.

[quartermainefan]

I feel bad for Kate. She actually tried to help Sami and everyone is just against her. She had the idea for cosmetics and Titan turned her down only to go with Madison, she was going to be a local company only for Titan to move Madison into the office literally across the street, it's tough to make Kate sympathtic but DOOL is trying their hardest.

I like Chad but when it comes to Stefano he is a bit of an obnoxious prick. Just have dinner with the guy, for christ's sake, it won't kill you. He is still better than Joe Isuzu for a parent. I wish Stefano was 20 or 30 years younger, because Chad could benefit greatly from a strong father figure to just start laying down the law. Chad needs someone to take charge of him the way EJ took charge of Will. And for all the talk of blackmail, EJ's authoritarian ways got Will out of his blackmailing and crying jag, a place to go everyday, a respect for authority and a lesson in sometimes you have to do what you are told, and he seems happier for it.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Love Kate, but after all the scheming things she has done to Sami in the past, I do not feel bad for her one bit. I love this twist. If I hadn't seen the promo for this week, I would've truly been shocked by that sudden Madison/Sami scene. LOL.

[Michael]

The Sami twist is a good one, but couldn't they have been really soapy and had the reveal of her and Madison at the end of an episode, and then picked up the next day on them? These writers need a lesson in how to pace drama for maximum impact.

When Bo told Hope to repeat the thing about "being someone I'm not anymore," did anyone else think that he was going to have her pretend to be Princess Gina to get access to Stefano? I was so excited, and then it just turned out to be "Let's have some dayplayer make a phone call."