6 hours ago, Vee said:

He repeated his own phenomenon when he returned to DAYS in the 2000s, selling the network on a cost-cutting storyline in which the "Salem Stalker" would brutally murder half the cast, including many longtime veterans - Maggie, Roman, Victor, Abe, Jack, Doug and more, even Grandma Alice. This was a legitimate plan of action, not a hoax; the actors were fired after decades of service and took other jobs. Their deaths, such as Maggie Horton's, were broadcast to the horrified townsfolk as she was brutally bludgeoned to death with a liquor bottle. It was tasteless, perverse, and crass, and Reilly loved it. It also got eyes. And rehashing his own possession story, he revealed Marlena to be the killer, for no apparent reason.

 

But the fans eventually revolted, and the network and Ken Corday forced Reilly to reverse it all and hire the actors back, showing the 'dead' characters to be imprisoned on an island and revealing the plot to be yet another "DiMera scheme" (the DiMeras are always and only the only big bad guys on DAYS, there is no real variety). And after that the stories just got dumber and dumber by the year. I'm not even mentioning Reilly's penchant for having the bulk of crucial plot reveal episodes turn out to be one character's pointless fakeout dream or fantasy - like when John imagined Marlena was possessed by the Devil again in a pea-soup vomiting campfest for an hour - or how Passions eventually introduced a transgendered hermaphrodite serial rapist called "the He/She", who raped women and camped it up with goofy one liners, played for laughs for months.

 

James Reilly was a deeply disturbed man with a grain of talent he nurtured until his own limitations and demons caught up with him. He had a mind for concepts but no ear for dialogue and eventually, no interest in character. And his grand fantasies made DAYS what it is today, from the 90s onward. They have been chasing his glory days ever since, trying to repeat them. The problem is, even Reilly's best - and I loved many of those stories - was deeply flawed.

 

I didn't know any of this. I'd read about the Newsalem plot line but I presumed it was always intended for those characters who were killed to return. Fascinating to read otherwise.

Ken Corday, an inveterate liar, claimed it was. It was complete bullshit and the fired actors said so.

 

The New Salem/'Melaswen' "plot" - which could only very loosely be called that - dragged on for what felt like years but might've only been 6-12 months?? and was nonsensical from start to finish. Beginning with Marlena 'dying', being tunneled through the earth's core in her coffin to the island, and having it revealed that the Marlena we saw kill all those people ourselves had actually hallucinated it all while Ninja Andre - a repeat serial killer himself going back to the 1980s, now back on the show again today - shot them with drugged blowdarts as Marlena stood by hypnotized.

That's what you're dealing with here. That and Sami transforming herself into "Stan" and serving in Iraq.

Edited October 11, 20178 yr by Vee

9 minutes ago, Vee said:

Ken Corday, an inveterate liar, claimed it was. It was complete bullshit and the fired actors said so.

 

The New Salem/'Melaswen' "plot" - which could only very loosely be called that - dragged on for what felt like years but might've only been 6-12 months?? and was nonsensical from start to finish. Beginning with Marlena 'dying', being tunneled through the earth's core in her coffin to the island, and having it revealed that the Marlena we saw kill all those people ourselves had actually hallucinated it all while Ninja Andre - a repeat serial killer himself going back to the 1980s, now back on the show again today - shot them with drugged blowdarts as Marlena stood by hypnotized.

That's what you're dealing with here. That and Sami transforming herself into "Stan" and serving in Iraq.

 

The idea of loads of characters 'dying' but actually being on an island sounds like a good one - the other details you mention, not so good  

 

I'd also heard about 'Stan' which sounds bizarre.

 

What are your views on Kate Roberts, and Calliope from the 80s?

Edited October 11, 20178 yr by Edward Skylover

I am one of apparently few who think Kate reached her sell-by date long ago. I can't think of a villain she hasn't fúcked or turned out to have been a prostitute for. It's all the same. Now she's with Andre the serial killer. Ridiculous.

I wasn't around for Calliope but I am always for John de Lancie from Star Trek, who played Eugene.

 

The island was terrible.

Frankly, I think James E. Reilly's limitations as a writer were apparent when he was co-HW'ing GL.  Remember when Nadine hid the very-much-pregnant Bridget in the attic and pretended to be pregnant herself so she could then pass off baby Peter as her own?  To me, that had all the earmarks of a Reilly plot.  (It certainly wasn't anything that longtime GL fans had been used to.)  However, it helped to have writers like Lorraine Broderick, Nancy Curlee, and Stephen Demorest there to offset that craziness with more logical, and more quintessentially GL, writing.

 

And I won't even mention when he was an associate writer at GH and probably responsible for the Laurelton Murders story -- one which shares more than a passing resemblance to the "Aremid" stuff he wrote for DAYS, and one which longtime GH fans on this board have expressed a clear distaste for in the past.

54 minutes ago, Vee said:

I wasn't around for Calliope but I am always for John de Lancie from Star Trek, who played Eugene.

 

I was around for Calliope, and I loved her.  Yes, she was campy, but she was also very endearing, and a wonderful foil for Leann Hunley's Anna.  It's just shameful how her brief return to the show during one of Dena Higley's 1100 HW'ing stints turned out.

Edited October 11, 20178 yr by Khan

2 hours ago, Vee said:

Ken Corday, an inveterate liar, claimed it was. It was complete bullshit and the fired actors said so.

 

The New Salem/'Melaswen' "plot" - which could only very loosely be called that - dragged on for what felt like years but might've only been 6-12 months?? and was nonsensical from start to finish. Beginning with Marlena 'dying', being tunneled through the earth's core in her coffin to the island, and having it revealed that the Marlena we saw kill all those people ourselves had actually hallucinated it all while Ninja Andre - a repeat serial killer himself going back to the 1980s, now back on the show again today - shot them with drugged blowdarts as Marlena stood by hypnotized.

That's what you're dealing with here. That and Sami transforming herself into "Stan" and serving in Iraq.

Omg I watched all of this in real time and had completely erased it from my memory until now. It reads just as awful as it was to watch.

But it DID provide one of the most unintentionally funny moments in recent soap history.  Remember when that hologram of Tom Horton's disembodied head chased Marlena around after she had "murdered" Alice?  God, but that was hilarious (for all the wrong reasons, of course).

Edited October 11, 20178 yr by Khan

1 hour ago, Khan said:

But it DID provide one of the most unintentionally funny moments in recent soap history.  Remember when that hologram of Tom Horton's disembodied head chased Marlena around after she had "murdered" Alice?  God, but that was hilarious (for all the wrong reasons, of course).

Oh god, again something I had completely willingly forgot. No wonder DAYS has the stigma it does.

6 hours ago, Khan said:

It's just shameful how her brief return to the show during one of Dena Higley's 1100 HW'ing stints turned out.

 

How did it turn out?

 

Are there any posters who were around for 60s or 70s Days?

Edited October 11, 20178 yr by Edward Skylover

On 10/11/2017 at 8:00 AM, Khan said:

But it DID provide one of the most unintentionally funny moments in recent soap history.  Remember when that hologram of Tom Horton's disembodied head chased Marlena around after she had "murdered" Alice?  God, but that was hilarious (for all the wrong reasons, of course).

Wasn't there something about Tom coming back as a demon? Or did I get that confused 

Question: why did Higley keep getting hired back instead of someone young and/or better? I understand why she got pushed out before Ron C came in, but looking at her stints, it’s like geez

On 10/9/2017 at 11:23 AM, KMan101 said:

I'd say the 80s was 'the golden years' but Reilly's 90s was also extremely high rated and got me hooked on the show. But they're different eras in many many ways. Some hate Reilly's era and I get it but at least he could write a story with a solid pay-off, it may take years and years but the payoff was often worth it.

'
Actually, the 70s were the real golden years.  The 80s were the supercouple era, but the second half of that decade saw an extreme drop in quality.

I enjoyed the plots of the Reilly years- my issue was always that he never wrote the characters properly.  He brought back Hope but she was a shell of her former self.  Marlena was portrayed as weak, until the gas chamber storyline and then the triangle with Kristen kicked in.  Wayne Northrop's Roman was written as a complete dud waste, which he never was.  Jennifer was written as a confused moron.... point being his characterization was never as strong as his plots.  Character was more often than not sacrificed for plot.  Truly, the only characters he really fleshed out were villains or the ones he created.

54 minutes ago, juniorz1 said:

'
Actually, the 70s were the real golden years.  The 80s were the supercouple era, but the second half of that decade saw an extreme drop in quality.

I enjoyed the plots of the Reilly years- my issue was always that he never wrote the characters properly.  He brought back Hope but she was a shell of her former self.  Marlena was portrayed as weak, until the gas chamber storyline and then the triangle with Kristen kicked in.  Wayne Northrop's Roman was written as a complete dud waste, which he never was.  Jennifer was written as a confused moron.... point being his characterization was never as strong as his plots.  Character was more often than not sacrificed for plot.  Truly, the only characters he really fleshed out were villains or the ones he created.

 

I can't disagree. I didn't like how Reilly wrote some characters, especially Roman and Jack.

 

I agree the 70s were the 'golden' period of the show, but the 80s could also be considered a golden period.

8 hours ago, juniorz1 said:

'
Actually, the 70s were the real golden years.  The 80s were the supercouple era, but the second half of that decade saw an extreme drop in quality.

I enjoyed the plots of the Reilly years- my issue was always that he never wrote the characters properly.  He brought back Hope but she was a shell of her former self.  Marlena was portrayed as weak, until the gas chamber storyline and then the triangle with Kristen kicked in.  Wayne Northrop's Roman was written as a complete dud waste, which he never was.  Jennifer was written as a confused moron.... point being his characterization was never as strong as his plots.  Character was more often than not sacrificed for plot.  Truly, the only characters he really fleshed out were villains or the ones he created.

Why do you think the quality dropped off during the halcyon days of Patch and Kayla, juniorz1?  Were Cruz and Eden a better supercouple over on Santa Barbara?

Edited October 16, 20178 yr by GSGfan2017

On 11/10/2017 at 12:50 PM, Vee said:

Ken Corday, an inveterate liar, claimed it was. It was complete bullshit and the fired actors said so.

 

The show was very lucky that all the 'killed off' actors were willing and able to return, by the sounds of it.