Now it seems pointless to try to reason with people anymore.

 

I don't mean to be rude, but I haven't really seen you "reasoning" with anyone. You mostly seem surprised or upset that people have different opinions than you do.

 

 

 

different regime. The last were clearly invested in them. Higley has come in and cleaned house with quite abit of the characters that were used alot during the previous writer's reign. I really dont think its some anti-gay agenda. Is that the case then for

 

It's not so much about an "anti-gay agenda" as it is about the usual crass view of gay stories or characters. Good for PR, but also good for shock value and buzz if it's time to dispose of them. I don't believe a straight failed recast who was in a "core" family group would have been offed. They had ample opportunities but rarely went that far. 

 

Ratings are down, so it's time to backburner or kill off all gay characters. It doesn't mean spreading homophobic views on the soap, it just basically means going back to the idea that gay characters are irrelevant or nonexistent - at least until it's time for one to die.

Edited October 11, 201510 yr by DRW50

Now it seems pointless to try to reason with people anymore.

 

 

What exactly are you trying to defend? I prefer the cassadine who spends his time transparently Wikipedia-ing things and then reciting them here to try to impress people.

Edited October 11, 201510 yr by Vee

Kill off Roman or Abe or Kate or Nicole.  All expendable and don't carry as much baggage.  In fact, Kate would have been great.  Even tho the actress is good, it's time.  

No! Lauren Koslow's Kate is the last strong, powerful woman left in daytime - there is no character like her left in daytime. Lauren is the kind of actress who can make any storyline work - she's proven her worth time and again and she's coming into her 20th anniversary with the show. 

Kill off Roman or Abe or Kate or Nicole.  All expendable and don't carry as much baggage.  In fact, Kate would have been great.  Even tho the actress is good, it's time.  

 

No! Lauren Koslow's Kate is the last strong, powerful woman left in daytime - there is no character like her left in daytime. Lauren is the kind of actress who can make any storyline work - she's proven her worth time and again and she's coming into her 20th anniversary with the show. 

I totally agree...she sells it every day!

 

Gay story this, gay story that. Is that the only purpose Will and Sonny had on DAYS, to tell a gay story? What is a gay story? Are all the other stories straight?

I don't know anything about that story on OLTL, maybe it was all plot but it sounds different and interesting. Or was the problem that a gay character was the bad guy? Must they all be good? Chris Keller on OZ killed gay guys he had been with because he hated himself.

 

Clearly that WAS the only purpose DAYS saw for Will and Sonny, given that Sonny wasn't recast, Paul has nothing to do, and Will is dead. It was DAYS who marketed the coming out story and wanted GLAAD awards for it and all the rest. They were fine with being known as a gay story for PR or if they thought it might help ratings. When the awards were over and the ratings were down, we have gay characters either MIA or being brutally murdered for shock value.

 

The problem with the OLTL story was that it all had the whiff of a cheap B-movie from 40 years ago, and had no real view beyond being gay = being murderous, weak, and pathetic. They also chose to have the characters worry about whether he would give his girlfriend AIDS, when no straight characters on the show ever worried about this when their straight partners cheated on them, which also struck me as odd (and hypocritical). And this was the only storyline involving gay characters (minus one that lasted for a few weeks with supporting characters who also only stayed around for a few weeks) during her entire headwriting tenure at OLTL. The only story she could come up with that ran for more than a month was a gay man being a serial killer.

 

Fair enough re the OLTL story since I didn't watch it.

 

I still disagree about DAYS though. Sonny left less than two months ago. Freddie Smith seems open to coming back for short-term appearances. Dena talked about maybe recasting him later. Insta-recasts rarely work, it's better to wait a few months. CS has been doing more on H50 and Paul is new character, right now they are focusing alot on the past because of the 50th anniversary. He is one of the few TomSell creations they have kept, unlike many others - Xander, Serena, Paige, Clyde... They wanted a "big" character to die to raise the stakes in this story. Will is connected to most of the other characters. I think it was easier for TPTB to kill him off with Guy Wilson in the role since he has been so awful.

Kill off Roman or Abe or Kate or Nicole.  All expendable and don't carry as much baggage.  In fact, Kate would have been great.  Even tho the actress is good, it's time.  

 

No! Lauren Koslow's Kate is the last strong, powerful woman left in daytime - there is no character like her left in daytime. Lauren is the kind of actress who can make any storyline work - she's proven her worth time and again and she's coming into her 20th anniversary with the show. 

I agree. Koslow is a valuable asset to the show and Kate still gets decent writing most of the time. I'm looking forward to Kate's reaction to Will's death and the interaction with Samantha, hopefully those scenes will be good.

Kill off Roman or Abe or Kate or Nicole.  All expendable and don't carry as much baggage.  In fact, Kate would have been great.  Even tho the actress is good, it's time.  

I don't think DAYS killed off Will because the show or Corday is homophobic (in fact, I've heard the Corday family has been supportive and donated to gay causes for many, many years), however, it's perception that is key and right now, the perception is DAYS is "De-Gaying" the show and I think the show underestimated the backlash. When you only have 3 gay characters on contract and you decide to kill one off after, one decides to leave on his own, leaving 1 gay character left who is barely being used, people are going to draw conclusions and if you don't have a media plan ahead of time to combat it, that narrative starts to become fact, whether it is or not.  

Edited October 12, 201510 yr by wingwalker

Just got caught up - Friday's scenes were really excellent. The strangulation scene was really well done. Robert Scott Wilson is playing sad and crazy very well.

I don't think Ken Corday is homophobic or that DAYS intends to be homophobic. I'm just tired of gay characters being treated this way. I don't think they deserve special treatment or should be exempt from being killed off.  I just think it was needless and dispiriting to resolve a prominent character's story this way (essentially the "tragic dead gay" trope), and I do wonder if they have decided to phase out having gay characters. And I don't think you have to be homophobic to make that choice - I don't think Bill Bell was homophobic and he made that choice at Y&R - but I think if they have made that choice, then it can be done in better ways, like just writing the characters out but leaving them alive.

Edited October 12, 201510 yr by DRW50

The house cleaning that the writers have done so far has gotten rid of characters that received poor reception from the audience and Will just happened to be one of those characters. They could have written him off some other way, but I think that they wanted to get rid of a core character as opposed to only offing lesser characters. The Salem Stalker storyline was supposed to have an impact because it actually took out core, legacy characters, but was backtracked because it was a step too far for viewers. I feel like Will being gay had very little to do with the decision.

The house cleaning that the writers have done so far has gotten rid of characters that received poor reception from the audience and Will just happened to be one of those characters. They could have written him off some other way, but I think that they wanted to get rid of a core character as opposed to only offing lesser characters. The Salem Stalker storyline was supposed to have an impact because it actually took out core, legacy characters, but was backtracked because it was a step too far for viewers. I feel like Will being gay had very little to do with the decision.

His being the only prominent gay character on the show makes it a part of the decision whether they intended it or not, IMO. Soaps don't have a responsibility until they decide they do - like going to collect awards from (admittedly sham, worthless) organizations like GLAAD.

 

I guess I've seen too many of these serial killer stories to believe having a major character die gives them a real impact to viewers. I tend to wonder how many viewers will even care at this point - this is, what, the 5th serial killer in Salem? 

 

Anyway, I'm probably just repeating myself now so I'll stop.

I don't think DAYS killed off Will because the show or Corday is homophobic (in fact, I've heard the Corday family has been supportive and donated to gay causes for many, many years), however, it's perception that is key and right now, the perception is DAYS is "De-Gaying" the show and I think the show underestimated the backlash. When you only have 3 gay characters on contract and you decide to kill one off after, one decides to leave on his own, leaving 1 gay character left who is barely being used, people are going to draw conclusions and if you don't have a media plan ahead of time to combat it, that narrative starts to become fact, whether it is or not.  

Well if you go back 3 months they had 4 gay characters that were good characters driving major story.  They let Sonny go without recasting, they let Derrick go even though fans enjoyed him, they killed Will and backburnered Paul.  There may be many reasons why they made these decisions but the perception is not good.  It also is a huge problem that they killed such a major character as Will.

The house cleaning that the writers have done so far has gotten rid of characters that received poor reception from the audience and Will just happened to be one of those characters. They could have written him off some other way, but I think that they wanted to get rid of a core character as opposed to only offing lesser characters. The Salem Stalker storyline was supposed to have an impact because it actually took out core, legacy characters, but was backtracked because it was a step too far for viewers. I feel like Will being gay had very little to do with the decision.

I actually didn't mind the Salem Stalker story. I just hate who the killer ended up being (Marlena) and them undoing it. They should've stuck to their guns with that story.

 

Plus, a lot of those characters could've remained dead as they don't write for them now (Abe, Doug, Caroline), or they overstayed their welcome (Josh Taylor's Roman), or are no longer mentioned/on the show anymore (Cassie). I just got upset when the killed off Maggie and Alice. 

 

As a gay man, I am not offended by Will being murdered as I don't think that we should be expendable from stories. What I am offended of is that he was killed off in some half-assed, out-of-the-blue murder mystery. Had Ben been showing homicidal tendencies for awhile and there was some correlation to the deaths, I would've been endeared to the story and not giving them a hard time. 

 

But with Will, I just felt that Will should've been written off as he was a Horton/Brady, who still has much story left in him to tell. Plus, I felt his death was used for shock value and press coverage; however, they weren't expecting the online backlash they are receiving from the LGBT community/supporters. 

 

Again, if it was a well thought out soap mystery, I'd be OK with it. But because this story is to clean house and is based in shock value, I am not happy to see Will be killed. Plus, I feel like there will be no long term affects from it. We won't see Abby, Lucas, Kate, Marlena, etc. reel from the loss of Will. Under Dena, they'll suffer for a few weeks and then move on with Will being an afterthought. Anything consisting of Will will be wiped from the canvas. 

 

It wouldn't matter if he liked dick or not - killing Will, a character with that history, those roots and that potential, is very, very foolish.

 

As it is, it's also DAYS 'de-gaying' its show. Ken Corday flirts with new things, gets high on them, pushes them nonstop and then gets bored and gets rid of them. A major gay storyline is just his latest, so now they all have to go. That's a problem on many levels. Jamey Giddens, for all his silliness, nails it when he calls Corday "woefully ambivalent" about his family business. He loves to come in, make sweeping changes, go with buzz, then disappear and then come back and change it all again. He's an absentee, incompetent landlord.

Edited October 12, 201510 yr by Vee