Members KMan101 Posted September 22, 2014 Members Share Posted September 22, 2014 This. Not to mention I can't stand his breathy acting and how he basically comes across as a douchebag no matter what the writing is. I really wish he'd leave but a paycheck is a paycheck. They used to really pimp Rafe too, in a similar manner (but never this bad, IMO) but that stopped during MarDar and I actually have grown to even like him at times. But he's still not necessary, even after all of these years. Neither guy should be leading this show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Juliajms Posted September 22, 2014 Members Share Posted September 22, 2014 That raises the question of which guy should be leading the show and I'm at a loss. I think they could make Sonny a much better character, but someone in the writer's room has to commit to that. On a different note, Ben is so stiff. I feel nothing at all for this character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Skin Posted September 22, 2014 Members Share Posted September 22, 2014 I doubt there was ever serious (re)consideration in pairing Lumi back together. Lucas is too small time for a character of Sami's magnitude to exist with, especially at this point in the show's history and I think it's obvious he lost that courtship battle years ago. I could have believed they would have re-paired her with Rafe again. That was always a threat and a real Corday sanctioned money pairing that they never seemed to truly want to let go of. But the show did an excellent job vetoing that by using past history, Sami's own insecurities and Rafe's true white knight and hero complex to insure that pairing would never survive. All things considered I think Ejami was always the planned "endgame" and that was written in stone once JS left alongside AS. The show has been giving subtle hints that's where it was going to end, even if the details changed around a bit. Now with just a month left I doubt it's going to change. As to the taping behind the scenes information, I'm convinced that AS and JS told them they were leaving around the time they started writing the EJabby affair. Which would make so much sense from a forecasting stand point. That's the only way I can reconcile this storyline happening at all in the first place. They used Ejami's departure to further fortify characters and secondary storylines for other characters, so there wouldn't be a gaping hole when they left. That's why they have EJ involved in Jordan's family and why they had Abigail in the center of the cheating scandal. This way they can further launch and cement these tertiary characters into main storylines, and have audiences further invested in these characters lives. Chad comes in as a replacement just as EJ leaves. This is pretty much the reason fans went insane for James Scott. He was the best leading man the show had in years if not decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Days22 Posted September 22, 2014 Members Share Posted September 22, 2014 over exaggerated statement is over exaggerated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Skin Posted September 22, 2014 Members Share Posted September 22, 2014 I can't remember the last leading man Days had that didn't make me want to fall asleep or look past the definition of hair model. Even though the Emmy's don't mean anything anymore, it's still striking to me that JS is one of the only actors from Days to crack the Leading Actor category twice, since the 1970's. I think that in itself says volumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Days22 Posted September 22, 2014 Members Share Posted September 22, 2014 Well I see you started watching in 2003 so i'll excuse you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sindacco Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 That doesn't say much when the competition is Shawn Christian, Eric Martsolf and Galen Gering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Skin Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 Fair point, but you are furthering mine as well. Pre-dating 2006 who would qualify as a strong male lead for Days? Reckell? Ashford? Hogestyn? Nichols? If so we are reaching into bargin bin 80's memorabilia here, which is means that Days hasn't produced a viable male lead for the better part of 20 or so years, which would be better left unsaid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cheap21 Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SouthOfSoap Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 James Scott is leading man material. EJ is no more a leading man character than Stefano is, in the sense of being a protagonist. Ergo the problem with this show. EJ is a villain, not even a gray one. One might think he has shades of gray, but that's because the writing muddies the waters. The whole point of the Abby affair is to underline that - he wants Samantha because she is a challenge for him or whatever, but he doesn't view her as a partner the way a traditional protagonist in a soap would. To labor the point home, he is running a drug dealing operation without her knowledge while trying to convince her that she should take him back. In his prime, Peter Reckell was a strong traditional leading man. Hogestyn and Ashford were rubbish, but they had their gazillions of fans too. Days isn't built around leading men, it's built around leading women, and given that advertisers chase W18-49 and not A18-49 in this genre, it's not surprising really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SouthOfSoap Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 Too much Ejami being treacle on Monday when they are anything but. Angry rough sex works better for them. Abby told Woodenblock that Chad is a nice guy? What does she think a not nice guy is? I like Abby but her Horton airs, graces ,pride and pretensions are stopping her inner slut from emerging fullbloom! Chad/Kristen were nice. Not sold on nuChad yet, but at least he has a personality unlike Woodblock. What's the obsession with putting Eileen in badly fitted clothes with animal prints and messy hair? Why is Marlena's arm in a sling? Did John's coma-farts knock her out and she broke it falling on the ground unconscious? Theresa freaking out is getting a little thin now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KMan101 Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 I agree about Theresa and her freaking out. It's getting a little old at this point. She's as transparent as they come. I actually liked Daniel reading her ass. And I don't mind her but the act is getting tiresome. Let's grow her a bit, writers. I think they think they are but it's not translating on screen. I can see them either using this to take her to a less crazy place or taking her to an even crazier place. Marlena at John's bedside was nice. It's nice to feel emotion, because the entire episode other than that left me fairly cold. James Scott is a leading actor, but EJ at his core, shouldn't have been a leading man, and EJami shouldn't have been a pimped couple after all they did to each other. I will never understand how they have fans. If it weren't for the bad writing for them over the years I might have actually liked the coupling. Their lovemaking was gross yesterday and that hair slicked back does Scott no favors. I'm so glad Sweeney and Scott are leaving, TBH. I need a loooooong break from Sami and EJ. I'll miss Sami just because it's Sami, but I'm fine with EJ going away. I wish they had been more consistent with the character over the years. EJ and Sami together killed their potential with others and keeping them so glued together probably wasn't smart, IMO. EJ/Nicole and Sami/Lucas were far more interesting and better pairings that made sense. EJ and Sami never made sense to me. They could have. I'd welcome a Salem Serial Killer again at this point. Jordan, Rafe, Daniel, among others, can all go. I think it's clear they are trying to salvage Jordan and make her feisty like Stause is better at playing. Jordan's not a fail, but she doesn't exactly feel like she has a solid spot on the canvas like others. Hell, Ben and Clyde feel more solid than she does. I'm still disappointed in Kristen's return. Eileen doesn't seem as into it (likely due to her personal situations) and they clearly just brought her back for the sake of bringing her back, which is a shame. I don't see a real plan here at all. I'm just glad to see Susan. Hopefully that makes up for the dud of a return. I better see a damn baby at the end of this stint. The show is really disappointing lately. Things are just so blah and boring and lack spark, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Juliajms Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 She'll be banging NuChad soon enough, not that I blame her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Skin Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 At this point in Soapdom the lines between Hero, Anti-hero, Villian, Protagonist and Antagonist are so jumbled that I don't even think there's really a point in drawing a distinction. We have passed the event horizon in soap world where people like OLTL's Todd, GH's Sonny, and Y&R's Victor are more or less deemed the leading males of their respective shows, I don't think it really matters if they are good characters or not. They are leads. The typical gallant soap hero has been a concept that has slowly receded and died out in recent times, and although Days has clung on it's slowly losing the fasted grip too. Soaps stopped caring about morality in that way for their leading characters a long time ago, and it's not just the men who are written that way, the women are too. The explosive popularity of characters like Kristen and Sami are no better or worse than their male counterparts, and I would say there were many a times when they reached the same levels of depravity so the show could provide some entertainment. The soap villains in so many ways have usurped the soap heroes and ingenues for top billing in these cases. For better or worse soaps have embraced these evil characters who have "soft sides", it's up to individual viewers to decide if they accept that or not. But I think it says volumes that out of all of Marlena's female brood it's Sami who had the biggest lasting impact and who had dominion over the show over the sweet dispositions of Belle and Carrie. I personally don't see how EJ has so many more shades of villainy than a character like Sami or Kristen, and they are beloved and given free pass after free pass for their actions. It comes a point where it seems like gender is the main factor for why he is deemed worse, when all other criteria are more or less equal. As to the Ejami connection, I always felt that they were the natural evolution to both characters, and it made complete sense to me from a story perspective that they would end up together. I won't go further in-depth as to the why's because I think it's pretty obvious why they are drawn to each other and why they keep colliding into each others spheres. There was never a man who understood and "got " Sami as much as EJ did, and it's looking like there never will be. Sami and EJ are continuously in a one up man ship relationship, and I think that will continue to be apart of their relationship because soaps needs tension for their leads to keep the drama "interesting." They feed each other story. They keep secrets from eachother. They cause each other pain but they also push threw that and pull through for one another. They aren't going to be a John/Marlena, Hope/Bo, Steve/Kayla pairing as that wouldn't fit their most basic characterizations. As to asking for a revision of Safe or Lumi, I ask why? Sami is not a Day's princess like Belle, Marlena and Carrie are, and having yet another relationship crash and burn and go through the rinse and repeat cycle of hiding who she is so damn tired for a woman going into her 40's. It makes much more sense to finally evolve her character past that after her regressing and stagnating all of her development for 20 or more years chasing after Austin, Lucas and Rafe -- who are virtually all the same character. Into the subject of leading men, perhaps they aren't the sole focus of Days, but just as with any ensemble drama all bases should be covered otherwise you have a void in your story telling and you have a weak show. There should be leading men on Days, just as their should be leading women and younger leads as well to make an all around strong show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cheap21 Posted September 23, 2014 Members Share Posted September 23, 2014 EJ is not a villian. Maybe in the past but he hasn't been written as such in years. The fake Rafe was his last villainous act Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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