DAYS: Jason47 to celebrate Susan Seaforth Hayes' 50th anniversary with special key moments

[Paul Raven]

Susan's 50th is commemorated in the latest SOD.

 

Ron Carlivati says it was Ryan Quon who made him aware of the upcoming anniversary.He also mentions that when he came to the show the Doug/Julie/Bill /Susan real life connection was explained to him.

 

I have to say I'm surprised but not shocked that someone who has been working in soaps for over 20 years didn't know of the Hayes. I wonder how much Ron knows of Days history... Does he even know who Maree Cheatham is? I would have thought you would devour the history of the show you are working on and the past work of the greats for insight and inspiration.

 

Anyway back to SSH and SOD

She auditioned in a dramatic scene with Denise Alexander in front of Bill Bell. Betty Corday, Wes Kenney  and Jack Herzberg.

 

The cast were very close in the early days due to spending the day together and recording live to tape.

 

Most memorable story for her was the Salem Stalker killings because of long time people being killed and having to play Julie's mourning, not knowing they would be returning especially Bill.

 

Favorite scene

Where Julie says goodbye to Doug,not knowing he had been killed.

 

Favorite Days moment

Xmas episode where Julie speaks of those now gone- she feels the audience connects with that in their own lives.

 

Likes the Xmas ornament scenes, says they always play well, stole the idea of naming ornaments!

 

Thinks Julie has matured but still steps into conflict.

 

Enjoys getting dolled up by hair/makeup/costume  to be Julie onscreen

 

Loved the music of Doug's Place and using music to tell the story - and the chance for Bill to use his musical talents- not only singing but arranging music

 

Remembers Frances Reid's Xmas parties for the cast.

 

Macdonald Carey spoke to her about her attitude in the beginning and that she should be less combative to try to get others to see her point of view with a scene. Says Days was much happier set than her previous experience on GH, which was deadly serious.

 

Speaks highly of Mary Frann (Amanda) and Lanna Saunders (Marie).

 

Bill has lunch with Robert Clary(Robert) every Thursday for 35 years and Susan was finally invited to join them.

 

Admits her relationship to Kristian Alfonso has been 'a journey' in that Hope took over as the focus of the show from Doug and Julie and that was difficult but now she loves her for her relationship and honoring of Bill.

 

Of course speaks highly of Bill as a wonderful life partner.

 

Favorite Julie wedding was the one off camera where Doug and Julie re-united without explanation ...but loved all the weddings and the input they had.

 

Says being part of the Hortons means she interacts with a lot of other characters but feels that newer viewers don't recognize the legacy of the Hortons.

 

Still excited about getting a script  and having the chance to act when many other female actors have a limited shelf life.

 

Loves the devotion and energy from fans and the responsibility of keeping them entertained and interested.

 

[vetsoapfan]

 

The great, talented headwriters always do. The hacks, rarely.

 

Whenever Bill Bell, Agnes Nixon, Claire Labine, Douglas Marland, Pat Falken Smith, Harding Lemay, Henry Slesar, etc., took over a show, it was clear they had studied the histories in depth, and used their soaps' past effectively. other writers, not so much. Hogan Sheffer did not even know John and margo were related on ATWT. gary Tomlin admitted in the press that when Jacqueline Courtney returned to AW in 1984, he did not really know about her character Alice's history with Rachel. That's like a new scribe taking over AMC and asking, "Erica who?" Or Robert J. Shaw taking over GH and infamously asking, "So who is Luke Spencer again?"

 

 

[KMan101]

 

But I do agree with your overall sentiment. I feel like Julie's a bit of a cartoon at times and I think it's also how SSH chooses to play it. She started overacting in the Reilly return era. Subtle doesn't work on a soap anymore I guess. But I just adore her and love seeing anybody use Julie. It's clear how relevant she can still be. It irks me how her side of the family was ignored over the last two decades and they offed her son David. Sigh.

 

Love her. And she's right that the Hortons are vastly underserviced (and Lucas, while getting an exit, was still quietly ushered out). We should not have had to endure almost a decade of Daniel Jonas being forced into everything when Mike Horton was non-existent (Roark Critchlow is not the be-all-end-all Mike; they could have recast or maybe he'd have even been open to returning, though he was getting a lot of primetime guest stints). The lack of Bill, Marie (non-existent during Nick's two stints on the show, FYI) and Laura is also ridiculous. Why not recast Jeremy? Alice's passing in 2010 was the absolute perfect time to reintroduce the Hortons, not just for the funeral, but back onto the show itself. Sigh. Such a missed opportunity.

 

And kudos to Ryan Quan

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 I'm glad he's paying attention. I'm also shocked Ron hasn't devoured DAYS' history. It's all right up his alley and he'd have so much fun giving nods to it and rehashing some of it. I figured by now he'd have been caught up but sucks he isn't, apparently. I do think he appreciates the show though, actually and he seems happy to be writing for it. I actually think being a fanboy of OLTL and to a lesser extent, GH, helped him more in the beginning but crushed him in the end of his stints there. So I kind of like he's not an uber-fanboy of DAYS (meaning he has no "agenda" either way, unlike say Higley and Tomlin who I think deliberately - in certain ways - sabotaged the show) but I wish he'd embrace the history more and do more with it.

[titan1978]

It should be right up his alley.  Instead he has been very superficial about his nods.

 

I think he was a much bigger fanboy of GH than OLTL though.  Even though Labine hired him at OLTL, I seem to recall him saying that GH was his show.  I could be mistaken.

 

Something about typing OLTL several times made me remember when JFP tried to rebrand it as One Life, and kept calling it that in interviews.  Lol.

[KMan101]

 

I always thought he was the bigger OLTL fan? (Although at times I agree he seemed to be a bigger GH fan). But I think he was an overall ABC Daytime boy. Me, I love all soaps so I dig into their history as much as I can ...

 

Lawd I'm so relieved Phelps is no longer darkening our doors with her attempts at 'hip and modern'.

[Gray Bunny]

 

Remember around '97 when CBS was trying to push "World Turns"? 

[titan1978]

At that point, almost all the fading soaps were trying to update their brands without changing the core reasons they were losing audience.  They all stopped being contemporary at the same time, and started heavy stunt casting, new opening themes, new logos, younger characters, etc.

[Sindacco]

 

 

You guys make it sound like Ron doesn't know anything about DAYS history. When he started he said he knew some of the big stuff like Marlena being possessed and that people had to explain the Julie/Hope relationship to him. And like mentioned in this arctile "the Doug/Julie/Bill /Susan real life connection", when he came to the show. That was almost two years ago (one and a half on-screen), not now.

 

I think it's been obvious on-screen that he is learning more and more about the show and it's history. He taps into in ways many other head writers, more familiar with DAYS, wouldn't do. Looking at Ron's past work and interviews/comments I can see him being the kind of guy that spends late nights reading up on character biographies and Who is Who in Salem. I also think that's why Ryan and Sheri are there, to help him. I suspect Ryan is to blame for the DiMera Enterprises BS. If Ron knew the real DiMeras he wouldn't write that garbage last year.

 

But why judge him NOW for something he didn't know two years ago?

[Gray Bunny]

Agreed. He's doing a lot more to give nods to the show's history than other headwriters have done; even those who were already familiar with their show. 

 

My one suggestion, and this is for the show in general, is to incorporate more flashbacks - flashbacks of stuff that happened way back when, as opposed to the previous couple of days. Flashbacks of the last couple episodes are a necessary evil to help catch people up who've missed a few eppys, but the way-back-when flashbacks is a fun treat for long-time viewers and enhances what the characters are saying when they're mentioning something that happened back in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's... DAYS is fortunate enough to have ALL 53+ years saved, so I say bust out the archival footage whenever you can!

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