DAYS: April Discussion Thread

[JaneAusten]

I actually don't agree with that.SHE drove the baby swap story. For all the ideas that james Scott for example leads every story, he was a reactor in that story for almost a year.His own fans complained about that fact. Sami was more a secondary player but she did help drive more and she had the Rafe relationship develop. I'm not saying the story would have been as powerful had it not been EJ and Sami involved, but neither one drove that story. It had to be driven by Nicole. She was the main catalyst.

[JaneAusten]

Except it doesn't make him grey it makes him inconsistent. When I think of grey I think of a Stefan Cassadine type character who had consistent threads of good and bad shown daily . He was written pretty consistently and not just to suit plot until his final stint. EJ hasn't had a fluid characterization since he arrived and has always been written to serve plot. He's probably the most inconsistent lead I've seen written on soaps in years. Changing the motives and reasons for the same plot for the same character from day to day is not grey its lazy writing.

[gtru1981]

Yeah..been loving Bille's return. They brought the 92-95 spunky Bille back and not the desperate "i need bo in my life" one back. Thank god!

[frequentsoapfan]

Was just about to post this Ali is horrid with drama and does better with comedy. She was aslso horrible as the good girl that they tried to make Sami opposite Rafe.

They are writing Carrie like Sami in 2006.

[JackPeyton]

THIS! Yes.

[KMan101]

I really will miss MarDar's take on some characters. Billie and Marlena have been totally revitalized. Sami is written much better too.

[Skin]

Alison can build a dramatic scene that has impact, I have yet to see Ari do that. She constantly relies on James to shoulder much of the dramatic burden and she subtly works off him to make her scenes effective. There is nothing that Ari has demonstrated that shows her as a strong dramatic leading performer.

Alison often bears the brunt of most of her work and she is often demanded to have a larger dramatic range opposite her partners usually. In terms of starting a scene, bringing it to a higher level, playing beats of emotions and then being able to deliver a dramatic blow that has power to it - Alison is the more seasoned of the two of them. I think that her craft is very underrated because people just assume everyone can holler and scream and that it would have the same effect if she just blindly did it all over the place, it seems to me that they are not viewing the details of when/why/how she reacts to certain things. Her going off half cocked doesn't work like that - randomly screaming out of the blue. You have to construct the scene to look the way it does and you have to make sure you hit every cue the way it is supposed to be hit in order to get all the nuances. You have to set up the scene to have the most impact. It's not easy. Sweeney just in general has more power to her dramatic scenes and I think that is undeniable. Zucker reacts and supports dramatic performances more then leads them. Look at James Scott and her in scenes, he always over powers her even when they do softer scenes he is always leading her in terms of performance.

Sweeney is more often then not expected to lead her scenes and be the catalyst force that makes or breaks them in terms of motivating the other character to act/react based on her stimulus. She often goes "first" it seems. Zucker often doesn't have that responsibility, again she is supporting. That being said Zucker is a strong performer but in drama Sweeney is stronger then her by quite a bit, at least given what they have shown thus far of their abilities. I would say Sweeney is probably one of the stronger actresses on Days and her work is probably up there with Rebecca Budig's first stint as Greenlee in terms of being able to build a good confrontation scene. She's very aggressive as a performer which is perfect for her character.

I agree. Usually people seem to think front burner, on 24/7 seems to some how = bad actor with limited capabilities. I'm not personally convinced and I don't think that's the case for all, usually. If Zucker was given as heavy material as others get more frequently she would probably start to thin out as an actress as well.

Just because her character was a catalyst that was holding the cards other characters didn't know - doesn't necessarily make her a lead performer. The show focused heavily on JS and AS performances and reactions as characters much more then Nicole's issues she had regarding keeping the baby. That storyline was much more demanding on JS and AS then it was on AZ. The only really heavy scenes Zucker had was when she went about taking the baby and when she was confronted by EJ and she told him the truth. But JS and AS were the stars of that storyline by far especially with the death of Grace, the teenage boy wanting custody of Sydney and then the reveal that Sydney was Sami's.

I don't see why, we are human beings we can have multiple reasons for doing things or carrying out an act. We aren't machines who can only do one thing at a time. I don't see why EJ couldn't accomplish both bury John and be a good symbol for his children. Again that is where the grey comes in. People can want several things often at the same time - it doesn't make them inconsistent it makes them human. We often as people do things that seem contradicting but to ourselves often it makes sense. I don't see how that's different here. I don't see why EJ must be pigeonhold into one category of good or bad. Why can't he just be both?

[Antoyne]

Agree to disagree.

[Khan]

I refuse even to entertain the notion that any of DAYS' characters are painted in shades of grey. DAYS is much too simplistic for that.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Ali did a great job directing Thursday's DAYS episode. There's some quirky little techniques I noticed she used & I liked them.

Wow...loved Billie this week.

Chad & Mel were adorable, I was happy to see them finally pork

John and Marlena's first scene on Friday was AMAZING.

[Cheap21]

Ive given Days alot of flack but this past week was surprisngly good

[Ira]

I'd argue that Kate (and to an extent Sami, when she's not being painted as a heroine) is a grey character. We sympathize with her and see her do good things, even as she tries to poison Chloe or send Sami to death row. She's never been an all out villainess.

That's why I love Lauren so much. I think her portrayal has really made Kate seem the most consistent character on the show in terms of never acting out of character.

[Cheap21]

IDA with this. Kate has been written as a villianess numerous times in her history. Just bc someone can be sympathetic, doesnt mean they arent still a villian. She has shifted back and forth over the years but there were plenty of times when she was downright awful with litte to no grey area of just how wrong she was. It was hard to find sympathy with her nearly getting Sami killed when her motives were as petty as she just dindt like the bitch and didnt wanther son stuck with her.

[Skin]

I think the writers need to look over the terms anti-hero, hero, villian and anti-villian. Sometimes it feels like they don't know how to position characters.

[Khan]

If Kate (or any villain on DAYS, for that matter) has ever come across as empathetic, then it's a testament more to the actor's portrayal than the writing.