DAYS: Possible upcoming "event" spoiler

[Khan]

 

Touche.

[Planet Soap]

Finally took the time to watch the mardevil storyline, heard about it for years but never really got to watch it till I discovered 1995 DAYS episodes on youtube. Do you all think Corday should have green lit this?

 

The least I could say is that it was fun to watch and probably would have been 10x more outrageous had it been done on Passions! But Im sure Rielly's storyline further eroded soap's credibility and exacerbated the negative perception of soaps as being utterly rediculous. 

[Contessa Donatella]

When DevilDoc was playing I was an avid poster at RATSm and on a Soap Opera Forum I ran on Delphi. It was remarkable that fully half of the venerable, long-time fans of DOOL quit the show over DevilDoc. Others hung in there but Reilly got approval to stretch that storyline out & make it much longer. Original plans had it running much shorter but for all the fans they were losing, they were gaining newcomers and adding weeks to it was irrestible to them. DevilDoc's levitation & yellow eyes made it on lots of lists of Worst Soap Event of the time.

[Khan]

 

No.  In fact, I think Corday (and NBC and SONY) should have canned JER on the spot and suggested he seek therapy (or religion). 

 

It was bad enough to show Vivian burying Carly alive, but Marlena being possessed by the devil?  At best, those and other decisions displayed, on JER's part, an utter disdain for DAYS, as well as for the semblance of reality and normalcy it had managed to maintain even throughout the '80's, when this show had the audacity to suggest that brain tumors could be healed with prisms.

 

At worst, though, stories such as Marlena's possession were signs that all was not well inside JER's mind.  Everything he would go on to write for PASSIONS was shocking only if you hadn't been paying attention to what he'd been doing up to that point.

 

As I've said in the past, storytellers have what I call a moral responsibility to their audiences.  You entertain, yes, but you also educate and enlighten. 

 

Unless you're dealing specifically in the horror genre -- a genre, by the way, which I've never cared for, but which I respect enough never to censor -- you, as someone whose job it is to entertain millions everyday with your stories, must be ever vigilant about what you think your audience can process -- physically, emotionally, psychologically, and yes, spiritually, too.

 

I realize this is soaps we're talking about, and that soaps have always told some rather seamy tales (albeit, ones that, in the past, contained a moral or redemptive message within).  However, there are lines you shouldn't cross, doors you shouldn't open, regardless of their inherent entertainment value.

 

Call me a prude and a religious zealot, but there just are certain things (such as demonic possession) that I wouldn't want "in my spirit," or to put in anyone else's.

 

Truthfully, since that story occurred, it's been difficult, if not impossible, for me, as a longtime fan of DAYS, even to WATCH Deidre Hall without my mind recalling the few glimpses I caught of Marlena being possessed.  I'm not lying or exaggerating when I admit I have experienced nightmares about that storyline in particular.  Not even watching DARK SHADOWS has done that to me, folks.

 

Is THAT how a daytime soap opera supposed to affect its' audience?  By causing some to have nightmares?  Because, if you ask me, I think the answer is "no."

[Planet Soap]

I can go for moderateley over the top storylines like Todd Manning selling a baby then bringing it back upon finding out its his own, or even Vivian burying Carly alive... but devil posessions, Reva being cloaned, Vampires on Port Charles, undergeound cities, gorilla in a cage, or UFOs are just unncesary for the genre. 

 

Its interesting how soaps went from basically a theatre play on daytime tv to the latter. Ive said this before...from what I've watched there appares to be a specturum of realism on soaps with Y&R and B&B being closest to real, GH, ATWT, OLTL somewhere in the middle, with GL and DAYS closer to over the top, and Passions waaaay off the chart. 

 

Not to stray from DAYS but I've read many commentators across discuss the soaps citing Luke and Laura's Ice Princess saga as the turning point of SOAPS going for larger than life plots. Undoubtably DAYS must have been influenced by this with John Black the Pawn and Stefano etc..

[Contessa Donatella]

Wait, hon, tell me it's not true! You hate Julie and always have? I've had a serious crush on Julie since I was a teenager!

Now, Stella and that pit, that was a tale to be told!

 

[AbcNbc247]

I guess we can thank Thom Racina for all that. Like him or hate him, it was like he was the original JER or RC

[Khan]

 

Except, Thom Racina's stories, despite being OTT and often outside the realm of possibility, were still better told, with bigger payoffs, bigger suspense and more emotional investment.  '80's DAYS might not be every DAYS fan's cup of tea, but I'd still trade it for what we get today.

[AbcNbc247]

Same.

 

Tbh, from what I’ve seen of Racina, I enjoyed his work. I don’t even mind OTT stories that much, as long as their written well.

[pdm1974]

Julie is one of those characters, who despite some OTT acting, makes DAYS feel like DAYS for me when I see her. Soaps need that connection to their history...it even makes the stories richer for new viewers. 

 

Another one for me is Lucas. I think he did a great job recently with Kate's almost death, and I always enjoy the character. I don't understand why he's not full-time on contract. He's sort of the missing puzzle piece that helps round out the Hortons and make them feel like a "real family" since he's Jennifer's brother. Bring him back full-time with a grown up Allie (we need more youth character since almost all that's left is Killer Ben and Ciara). I also think that this, story-wise, would be a great time for Theo's return since to me he and Ciara will always be endgame...it was set up when the characters were "children."

[Contessa Donatella]

Now, here I love hearing you talk about Julie! Did you see the 50th anniversary show they did last fall? It was just so rich & full. Julie was on the phone with her grandparents who were inviting her to come visit for Christmas. Later in the hour Corday let Bill Hayes perform to a live orchestra instead of to tape -- and once again he sang, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" to her & then they kissed. Yay, Corday! Way to go!

 

I'd like for them to have him with Allie with him! And, I would love for them to bring Theo back!

 

That night after that show Julie did a Digest podcast with Stephanie & Mara & she told them that she didn't remember ever looking like that! Very funny. That's what she looked like! It was a good podcast.

[AbcNbc247]

I take all of this back lol I just looked up the Days writers list on Wikipedia, and it was Margaret DePriest and Sheri Anderson who wrote most of the three prisms story. Racina didn't show up until the end of September.

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay, I am blank, a woefully unusable place to be. Do me a kindness & remind me what "the three prisms" story was. Thanks.

[AbcNbc247]

It was the big adventure story of 1984-1985. Stefano was suffering from a brain tumor and if he recovered the prisms, which were supposed to be very powerful objects and joined them together, he would have been cured of his tumor. The first prism was in New Orleans and ended up being eaten by an alligator, the second was in Daphne Dimera's necklace and the third was buried in the ice of an ice skating troupe, I think. Stefano had a whole bunch of characters and other henchmen and women trying to find them for him. And a lot of characters, mainly Bo and Hope tried to recover them before Stefano did. The story led to the death of Daphne and the "deaths" of Andre, Roman and Stefano.

[Khan]

 

Was the story silly?  You bet.  Yet, it was more believable to me than Kristen running around Salem in a "Nicole" mask like a villain on "Scooby-Doo."