SOD Best & Worst 2016

[KMan101]

Griffith was supposedly a *fan* of DAYS, too (I shudder then if he weren't). I wonder how much of his stuff was cut and how much of Higley's (who was conveniently on "leave" for most of his run, which I always found suspect) it all really was. It was just so dark and the focus on just a few characters left so many people without a thing to do. It wasn't very good but I'd still take him over Higley or Tomlin. Yep, I said it.

 

There was a lot of stuff cut during his run too, just saying ... it was a mess. Just like it was a mess during MarDar (and same thing, I think things were cut). So we'll never know truly, there's just too much interference apparently.

 

How Tomlin stuck around for a few years I'll never know when everyone else gets axed after 6 months to a year.

 

I'm not defending the darkness that was DAYS during his stint but I think he tried writing a faster moving show with more gritty/real-life storylines and that just isn't DAYS. Ciara's rape was a mess. Bo's death was a mess. Will's death was an afterthought. Aiden was destroyed. I will forever thank him for killing Daniel though. I do hate that Eric and Jennifer were ignored and their addiction storylines were all off-screen. Most would have rather watched them and that.

 

Anyway ...

[DRW50]

 

Higley is a hack but a lot of that didn't feel like her to me - it reminded me of much of the worst of his and Malone's OLTL. For that reason I tend to put the blame on him, although of course those up high had to approve it, and I'm sure the need to brutally murder a gay man (and of course he stays dead because if anyone stays dead in Salem it will be an lgbt person or a minority...) was also from up high because of ratings, but so much with mannequin Ben and with the rape and the stupid "twist" with Eric and Daniel felt like him to me. I could say he's better than Higley (I don't think he was better than Tomlin), but I've seen enough of his grimdark "edgy" plotting on two shows to last me the rest of the century. 

 

I think Tomlin stayed as long as he did because of working within the budgets and because ratings did improve during some of his tenures. 

[Vee]

I think Josh Griffith has great work in his past but anyone should've been fired for the Chase/Ciara rape storyline alone. Anyone. It was unconscionable, and worse it went absolutely nowhere and fizzled out super-fast. Then DAYS amazingly tripled down by bringing Aiden back(???) and seeming to try to sweep it all under the rug with Chase(!!!).

 

It was also a huge waste of the talented kid playing Chase, and his unconventional bond with Hope and the Hortons.

[dragonflies]

I still shake my head at the column she did after Jax on GH was raped. She outright said men cannot be raped. She needed punched in the face for that

[DRW50]

 

I'd almost forgotten that. Michael Logan was another pushing that. Of course if their precious ponies like Zach Slater or Victor Newman had been raped you'd be hearing a different song. 

 

She was a toxic, sour, smug, condescending presence in SOD from the days of her "joking" about Brooke and a fireplace poker to the endless unfunny ramblings of "Marcia from Arkansas" to her using the column to pout when people sent her hate mail to her endlessly lecturing viewers who dared to be upset about networks treating beloved and elderly actors who'd made them serious $$$ over the decades like trash. I sometimes wonder just how many viewers quit watching soaps and quit buying SOD because of her. I know she's one of the main reasons I stopped buying SOD. 

[JONNYSBRO]

Gary Tomlin saved DAYS in 2009 with the big baby switch. When he returned he had some good weeks but it all fizzled in the end. Why not make Gary Tomlin EP of GH? I think Tomlin would bring a fresh perspective and keep the GH budget in line

[Soaplovers]

 

Didnt higley write the baby switch on dayd in 2009?  I have to say I liked nighttime Hope...or understood the motivation for it after Higley was interviewed anout it.   Just wish that motivation was mentionrd or alluded to more clearly on the show.

 

Griffith's strength was more character stuff and less on long term plotting.  I would have assumed higlwy and griffith would have worked good together...balancing their strengths out.  I recall both were interviewed seperately...he was pro Steve/kayla....and she mentioned Jennifer and her demons....well...what we saw of Jennifers story was good...but I do think a lot was cut..imho.

 

EON (off topic)...i sae the last months of the shoe on youtube...it was well written..balancing mystery with traditional soap opera tropes.  Lee sheldon was no Harry S...but did pretty well on his own merits.

 

GH...i dont watch it...but has it improved?  I did watch some clips...and noticed Michelle S has calmed down some of those acting tics she was using at the start of her run on GH.  I'd like to see Altman write a show on her own..or with a stronger co headwriter.  The thing I found fascinating about Altman and pissant was how much they agreed on everything...work must be fun..but sometimes disagreements can help elevate a product, etc.

 

Bold and the beautiful...not best...but best of the worst....thanks to the Avant family....family with lots of untapped stories..that Brad Bell isnt tapping right now...Forresters and Spencers need a break/retool.

[JONNYSBRO]

Whats funny is the worst stuff DAYS had was Griffith by himself it was horrible. When he was with Higley it was good. Higley went on personal leave during all Griffiths bad stuff. I will say the show has improved with Dena back.

[KMan101]

Yes, Tomlin in a sense saved DAYS. I think he works far better as an EP than a HW.

 

Higley and Tomsell are the only two regimes that have gotten me to tune out of DAYS and I'm close again. Even if it's not offensive or that bad now. Griffith, well I guess I just kept hoping but he never really came through and the Ciara rape was horrendous on every level. So was the followup and destruction of Chase.

[RavenWhitney]

I may have been smoking pot when I misspelled grizzzzleee; but you must have been smoking some of Rory and JJ's cracks when you posted this comment.  He has a backlog of a whole lotta craptastic.

[Vee]

"Cracks?"

[Sindacco]

Dena came up with the baby switch but Tomlin and Whitesell plotted it out and made it an actual storyline, something Dena is incapable of. Tomlin saved Days when he introduced the shooting schedule (that has now lead to them beeing six months ahead) but the show has never looked as bad as it did under him in 2009-2011. Everything was pink!

 

I had never seen Josh Griffith's work before DAYS, I heard his writing on Y&R was very boring. So I was suprised last fall when it wasn't boring at all, it was exciting. But he and Dena rushed through everything. The material from August to November last year could have easily been stretched out to at least six months worth of story. So many things were left out, important beats were ignored. Then the show got typical Dena boring in December and January. Then she went on her leave and Josh went berserk. It was one rushed, shocking twist after another, with no fall out. Then when it seemed like he had run out of ideas, we got an extremely boring summer, we didn't even get a real cliffhanger for the Olympics break.  I can't blame him for all the stuff that got cut, and there were alot, that also hurt the show. But the pacing was awul, many characters weren't seen, those we did see were isolated in story bubbles, there were many stand alone episodes that didn't affect anything long-term. In a lot of ways, Josh Griffith's DAYS reminded me of Hogan Sheffer's, only Josh was ten times worse.

[KMan101]

Sindacco summed it up far better than I did!

[JONNYSBRO]

Griffith was very dull at YR.. Jean and Shelly spiced it up with gutsy storytelling and return to characters.