My theory is that JER became so disgusted with NBC and Corday that he deliberately wrote [!@#$%^&*] as a way of sticking it to 'em.  Seems like such a childish and expensive way to get even, but there you go.

My theory is that JER became so disgusted with NBC and Corday that he deliberately wrote [!@#$%^&*] as a way of sticking it to 'em.  Seems like such a childish and expensive way to get even, but there you go.

 

I would tend to agree with that theory.

JER didn't 'deliberately write badly.' He simply was bad. Both his years on DAYS and his passion project - named Passions - proved that.

Although the vibe of the show back then was just trash, bleeding tree stumps and cakes were more compelling than elephant statues. I'll give you that.

I think Reilly was already burnt out and exhausted all his resources he had kept up his proverbial sleeve, if not when Passions debuted, then certainly when he returned to DAYS in 2003.

 

DAYS was a joke 2003-2006, and the added visual effects (as mentioned, during EVERYTHING -- flashbacks, fantasies, previews, etc.) made it even more a joke. But it wasn't a joke that we, the audience are supposed to be in on (i.e. like a cheeky show such as Desperate Housewives), so it just came off as this silly soap opera to poke fun at. At least when DAYS had their hokey stuff in the mid 90's, the show itself was still well-polished, and everything was treated and presented in a serious tone.

 

I'm not excited about a serial killer, either. We could potentially have a couple long-term characters killed, but then the town is celebrating a bicentennial in November? I would think the family of whomever it is that is going to die would skip out on the party and be in mourning at home (I guess B&B's Forrester family isn't the only family who forgets the dead overnight).

JER didn't 'deliberately write badly.' He simply was bad. Both his years on DAYS and his passion project - named Passions - proved that.

Eh, to each their own. His writing wasn't for you but it wasn't ALL bad. Passions wasn't stellar soap, I'm not saying that, but it had decent potential and wasn't written as trash (again, opinion) the first two years. Yeah plots were kind of stupid and tedious but it was nothing like what it became. And while there's a good portion who hate 90s Reilly, it was very different from what we got in his return. So ... yeah, he did give up and start writing absolute garbage as a way of acting out. IMHO.