On 9/30/2019 at 11:26 PM, ironlion said:

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?

 

Marlena's possession was really the end of Days for me. Oh, don't get me wrong, I watched it every day. It was so audacious, I just couldn't believe they were going there. But it destroyed all of my investment in the show and its history, and in Marlena, who had always been one of my favorite characters. It was clear, especially in the denouement to the storyline, that nothing that happened on this show mattered. 

 

And don't get me started on the Salem Stalker -- Reilly didn't even bother to try to make any sense of that. Marlena murdered all these people, but she didn't really, but we saw her do it on screen and the "victims" were buried before they were magically transported to a tropical island. Was everything we saw the Stalker do just a figment of Marlena's imagination? Were the victims also hypnotized so they just thought they were being murdered by Marlena? More importantly, why do I bother with questions about this idiotic tripe?

1 minute ago, teplin said:

And don't get me started on the Salem Stalker -- Reilly didn't even bother to try to make any sense of that. Marlena murdered all these people, but she didn't really, but we saw her do it on screen and the "victims" were buried before they were magically transported to a tropical island. Was everything we saw the Stalker do just a figment of Marlena's imagination? Were the victims also hypnotized so they just thought they were being murdered by Marlena? More importantly, why do I bother with questions about this idiotic tripe?

 

That's why I don't 100% buy the story that JER had planned all along to bring back all the Salem Stalker's victims OR reveal that "Tony" had brainwashed Marlena into believing she was the culprit.  JER could be very sloppy in his storytelling, but not THAT sloppy.

3 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

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."

I wish full episodes from the early 80's were available to watch on YT again. Not only would I love to see the full three prisms story, I'd love to see a lot of other things from that time like the Neil/Liz/Marie triangle, the Anna/Tony/Renee/David situation, etc.

4 minutes ago, teplin said:

And don't get me started on the Salem Stalker -- Reilly didn't even bother to try to make any sense of that. Marlena murdered all these people, but she didn't really, but we saw her do it on screen and the "victims" were buried before they were magically transported to a tropical island. Was everything we saw the Stalker do just a figment of Marlena's imagination? Were the victims also hypnotized so they just thought they were being murdered by Marlena? More importantly, why do I bother with questions about this idiotic tripe?

It was way too half-assed and created way too many plot holes. I never stopped watching Days, but I do believe that it took years for the show to recover from that.

18 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

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."

Thank you both, @AbcNbc247 and cranky @Khan, I am pretty sure that I wasn't watching that, just missed it. You did a fine job of telling a clarification to a lifelong DOOL fan. And, I've been more than clear about how stoopid I think this Stacy Haiduk business has been! Even if they hadn't had ED as RealKristen, they could've done some level of better Kristen story!

17 minutes ago, teplin said:

And don't get me started on the Salem Stalker -- Reilly didn't even bother to try to make any sense of that. Marlena murdered all these people, but she didn't really, but we saw her do it on screen and the "victims" were buried before they were magically transported to a tropical island. Was everything we saw the Stalker do just a figment of Marlena's imagination? Were the victims also hypnotized so they just thought they were being murdered by Marlena? More importantly, why do I bother with questions about this idiotic tripe?

I had stopped watching by that Salem Stalker. I just read about it then. I hung in there through DevilDoc even though fully half my DOOL friends quit the show then. As a matter of fact, it was during DevilDoc that a RATS committee (RATSmers and RATSaers) began to write some fine RATS fanfic named AltDAYS. It was great writing from DOOL fans & GH fans. Mostly "peels" & "cores".

Edited October 2, 20196 yr by Donna B
Add 1 line of text.

27 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

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.

 

Wow Stefano did the Infinity Saga before Thanos did.

23 hours ago, ironlion said:

 

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. 

 

 

It's funny you say that about GL, because aside from them going completely off the charts from 1998 through 2001, GL was always a down-to-earth slice of life kind of show, like ATWT and AW (fellow P&G soaps). This was TPTB's way of competing with then-popular DAYS, along with the over-the-top NBC sudsers, Passions and Sunset Beach (low rated, but high demos, especially Passions).  They came back down to reality from 2002 til the end. 

 

18 hours ago, pdm1974 said:

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."

 

+1  I wish Bryan Dattilo was on contract. I never understood why Lucas is always given the scraps. I don't care if he's not as tall as EJ or Austin. 

Edited October 2, 20196 yr by Gray Bunny

18 hours ago, pdm1974 said:

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."

I still miss Lexie, too. I read something where Renee Jones, after 20 years in the business, just wanted to live the quiet life. She made a reference to growing up on a farm in Georgia. I  don't know if that meant she was headed back to a rural setting or not.

32 minutes ago, Donna B said:

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. 

 

 

Were it not for Julie, Maggie and Marlena, I'd never bother with this show.

 

None of them have been treated well story- and character-wise for the last 25 years, but they are my link to the glory days. 

Doug & Julie are my perpetual Salem tentpole characters.

Just saw the mardevil storyline scene which "Isabella" turns into a deamon....they...they didnt haaaaave to add that part. Meanwhile everyone else in Salem is carrying on with relatively normal plots ex. Jack & Jennifer.

This was just oddly placed in a show in which nothing else supernatural occurs.

1 hour ago, Gray Bunny said:

 

It's funny you say that about GL, because aside from them going completely off the charts from 1998 through 2001, GL was always a down-to-earth slice of life kind of show, like ATWT and AW (fellow P&G soaps). This was TPTB's way of competing with then-popular DAYS, along with the over-the-top NBC sudsers, Passions and Sunset Beach (low rated, but high demos, especially Passions).  They came back down to reality from 2002 til the end. 

 

 

+1  I wish Bryan Dattilo was on contract. I never understood why Lucas is always given the scraps. I don't care if he's not as tall as EJ or Austin. 

 

That phrase has a nice turn to it - a spectrum of realism.

1 minute ago, ironlion said:

Just saw the mardevil storyline scene which "Isabella" turns into a deamon....they...they didnt haaaaave to add that part. Meanwhile everyone else in Salem is carrying on with relatively normal plots ex. Jack & Jennifer.

This was just oddly placed in a show in which nothing else supernatural occurs.

They didn't have any business doing that to Izziebee!

54 minutes ago, Donna B said:

I still miss Lexie, too. I read something where Renee Jones, after 20 years in the business, just wanted to live the quiet life. She made a reference to growing up on a farm in Georgia. I  don't know if that meant she was headed back to a rural setting or not.

 

Yes, that's what her final SOD interview said. She was going back to small-town Georgia. I hope they can scoop her back up for a bit when the day comes that DAYS comes to an end. 

1 hour ago, Gray Bunny said:

 

It's funny you say that about GL, because aside from them going completely off the charts from 1998 through 2001, GL was always a down-to-earth slice of life kind of show, like ATWT and AW (fellow P&G soaps). This was TPTB's way of competing with then-popular DAYS, along with the over-the-top NBC sudsers, Passions and Sunset Beach (low rated, but high demos, especially Passions).  They came back down to reality from 2002 til the end. 

 

 

+1  I wish Bryan Dattilo was on contract. I never understood why Lucas is always given the scraps. I don't care if he's not as tall as EJ or Austin. 

I agree in that GL started going off the rails in the mid 90s with Amish/ghost/clone Reeva and Annie 2.0. Prior to that they didn't seem too extreme to me (from what I've seen).

 

Supernatural and OTT stories have their place but soaps, especially given their budgetary limits and prior attempts,  should stay clear of them.

Edited October 2, 20196 yr by ironlion

Well, there was a period in the mid-'80's when GL attempted to lure away GH viewers with stories such as the Dreaming Death (a tropical disease that killed off Lesley Ann Monroe), Infinity (David Preston brainwashed Billy Lewis into shooting his presumed half-brother, Kyle Sampson -- this storyline ultimately ended with Lujack's death) and Miss Piper/Barbados (which killed off Hillary Bauer and revealed that Brandon Spaulding had not died and was, in fact, living with his African-American wife and children).

 

Personally, I loved those stories.  As OTT and uncharacteristic as they might have been for GL, I still believe they were far more entertaining than crap like Ghost/Amish/Clone/Princess Reva or everything related to San Cristobel.

 

1 hour ago, teplin said:

Were it not for Julie, Maggie and Marlena, I'd never bother with this show.

 

I feel the same way, @teplin. 

 

51 minutes ago, Gray Bunny said:

Yes, that's what her final SOD interview said. She was going back to small-town Georgia. I hope they can scoop her back up for a bit when the day comes that DAYS comes to an end. 

 

Staci Greason (ex-Isabella) has made several, brief appearances since she left DAYS and acting behind.  I don't see why Renee Jones wouldn't be up for making a tiny cameo at the end, too.

 

48 minutes ago, ironlion said:

Supernatural and OTT stories have their place but soaps, especially given their budgetary limits and prior attempts,  should stay clear of them.

 

DARK SHADOWS is a prime example, though, of a soap where the supernatural storylines worked -- and that's because they were part of the show from day one.  (Well, almost from day one.  I don't think Laura Collins, the phoenix and (I think) DS' first supernatural character, was introduced until after the first 13 weeks.)

 

Of course, the downside to being a "niche soap" like DS was that it never appealed to the mainstream soap viewer.  Ergo, it shouldn't have been surprising that it ran only five years.

Edited October 2, 20196 yr by Khan

3 hours ago, Darn said:

 

Wow Stefano did the Infinity Saga before Thanos did.

Lmao Stefano was the original of everything when it came to being a larger than life character