JER's DAYS Discussion

[Nate4]

I didn't really watch then, but I have watched a lot of clips on YT. It was all very good.

What was your favorite JER storyline and least favorite?

Something about JER interests me...

JER Head Writer:

April 29, 1993 - January 5, 1998

August 18, 2003 - August 9, 2006

[Winchester91]

Whatever story that had Charity Rahmer involved with moving in with Phillip, and that whole Jan/Shawn mess.

[theherowithin]

I liked his first run on DOOL except Mardevil. Mardevil was okay but I knew longtime DOOL fans were going to leave. I did really enjoy Aremid and watching Bo & Hope (Reckell & Alfonso) fall in love again. That doesn't happen often. I loathed his entire second term on DOOL. I really don't know what NBC was thinking when they thought he could write for both DOOL and Passions at the same time.

[cassadine1991]

I kind of wonder how it would've been like if JER wrote GH, Douglas Marland wrote OLTL, Claire Labine wrote AMC

[Winchester91]

GH would be the same it is now, maybe with Sabrina being a hermaphrodite romancing Sam and Patrick at the same time. OLTL would be slow moving and character-driven. AMC would be boring as hell, and would make Marlene McPherson's work look like Iron Man 3. Labine's work in OLTL sucked ass.

[cassadine1991]

I don't mean JER's Passions, I'm more along the lines of his stints on Days... well I'm more in tune to Labine's GH and Ryan's Hope... but yeah Marland at OLTL, would've been cool

[Titus Andronicus]

I started watching during the first JER era, specifically Sami's bulimia and the buildup to Carly buried alive. Something must have been decent to hook me.

My favorite storyline was Maison Blanche. I of course didn't know the John Black retcon at the time, which sours it a bit, but it was pretty good. The hurricane where all hell broke loose were some of my favorite scenes. John emerges from the house in shackles and is spotted by Kristen and Tony John chases Stefano to the river, sees Hope in the boat, fishes her out of the water when it capsizes and carries her to the first place he sees. That just happens to be the hotel with Bo and Billie and them about to consummate their relationship. John dumps the body on the bed, runs back to a blazing Maison Blanche and Tony goes back in and is blinded. And it all worked.

JER unfortunately had no idea how to manage the aftermath and the hospital stuff was weak, but getting there was quite fun.

I hated MarDevil at the time, but have found some appreciation of its sappy insanity.

Parts of Aremid were quite good and parts awful. Paris was bad.

[EricMontreal22]

I admit as an AMC fan at time--I was in middle and high school, I resented DAYS at the time. When I tuned in, I found it relentlessly slow moving and with the same scenes repeated over and over. Two things I think JER got only worse at.

[EricMontreal22]

Labine was an extremely poor pairing with JFP but her OLTL was beyond dull, as you say. I remember the first week was a strong change--though all I remember was Carlotta having a fantasy about Hank in leather--and the we got a ton of... nothing. (Oh and Todd talking to his parrot sidekick...)

[will81]

I actually loved all of JER's first run on Days, but I see now it did some damage as it turned into plot driven and many characters suffered.

I think 1993 - 1994 was his best year. The affair with John and Marlena, Maison Blanche, Carly being buried alive, Sami's bulimia, the return of the DiMera's. I didn't like the way Roman was written, but that happened long before JER was head writer, I thought he did a good job of showing why John and Marlena ended up having an affair.

[will81]

I also have to say Mardevil worked for how it affected other storylines such as Tony/Kristen and Sami/Carrie/Austin/Lucas, although showing the devil was such a bad move and only brought the story down to a cheap B movie level. I did think it was a cop out to make Kristen bad and Marlena was so out of character during that time. Marlena should have gone to John in private and told him the truth, then kept up the ruse for the sake of the baby.

I wish JER had mixed more of the psychological elements into the show, especially where Kristen was concerned. I do like that she has become a more three dimensional character under this current regime.

One thing I also wished is that Carrie and Austin were played out differently. I disliked the way Carrie fought so hard to get Austin back in her life then cheated on him with Mike.

[darraholic]

I loved JER first run.

Maison Blanche, Buried Alive, MarDevil, Aremid & Kristen/John/Marlena were my favorite storylines.

His second run was horrible. I can't think of one thing that was good. I guess I liked parts of Zach's death, but then it just became a Hope/Bo/Billie triangle again.

[titan1978]

For me he peaked with Maison Blanche. I loved the reveal of Hope and the storylines before it. Carly buried alive and early Sami and Marlena being tormented by her passion for John.

The puzzle box and letter to Bo proving Gina was Hope was one of Days all time great endings to a mystery storyline. And I felt Bo and Hope were totally in character, and Billie wasn't being played as villainous. Yet.

It's hard to say what JER on GH as head writer wold have been like because he kind of took that gothic energy he was creating on Days and went for it. His storylines might not have sent him in those directions on GH. I do know he was the right writer at the right time when he hit Days, and I believe Labine was the right fit for GH at that time.

[soapfave06]

I would've loved to have seen his 90s-style writing at OLTL personally. They hit a long snag in the late 90s and I think some of that gothic energy and Maison Blanche-like stories would have been perfect. I can't really see JER anywhere else writing. And I just don't know what happened after Passions and his second stint at DAYS. It was just horrible.

[cassadine1991]

James E. Reilly at OLTL??? Interesting..