Soap Writers Original Plans

[pdm1974]

I'm sure Mac's death changed quite a bit of what had been planned. I feel like when Lemay started he also took Rachel back to her core as a character, but then she ended up being the matriarch of the show after Mac's death.

[LostinHarmony]

 

Yikes, I can only imagine how that conversation went. It’s no secret Corday and Reilly didn’t get along at all, and even to this day Ken will throw digs at Reilly even in death. This makes me remember something soap columnist and one of Jim Reilly’s good friends wrote, Marlena De Lacroix in memory of Jim. 

 

She met with Jim for lunch in 1992 when she was in town and Reilly being a recluse rarely met with anyone. She said as they ate he kept saying “I won’t come out for anyone. Bill Bell, yes, and you, yes. And especially not for Ken (Corday, by then his hated DAYS boss).” But when he said things like that, he didn’t sound bitchy. He just laughed and laughed. Jim always laughed.”

 

And that was only 1992! Lol

 

Does anyone know if @Toups ever had the opportunity to interview Jim? I know how much he loved him.

 

On a side note, when it comes to Passions. I know a lot of viewers have commented the show tried to replace Timmy with Cracked Connie after Josh Ryan Evans death. Director Phideaux Xavier has gone on record saying that that’s not true. The original story would have had Timmy resurrected from the dead later that summer and seen a rival between the two dolls representing good vs. evil. Cecil would have never existed.

 

 

 

[AbcNbc247]

 

Once in another thread, some people were suggesting that the Marlena character should have actually been Sandy Horton and that Diedre Hall could have played a recast Sandy, and everything that happened to Marlena would have happened to Sandy. (Roman and Sandy, John and Sandy, Sandy possessed by a demon, etc.) That way the show could have been anchored by another legacy character.

I heard that Timmy was supposed to come back as an angel. 

That was such a bad rewrite. Is it true that the only reason he changed it was because fans figured it out?

 

IMO, it would have made more sense if Ron had changed Fluke to turning out to be Frank or Damian Smith, rather than giving Luke DID

[John]

GH: Was Oscar's Mom Supposed to be Brenda but VM wouldnt retturn so they created Kim

 

GH: Wasnt Rebecca Herbst originally to be Alexis Daughter leading to a Cassadine/Sppencer love story but they made Becky, Sarah's sister, Elizabeth

[carolineg]

I heard the Elizabeth thing a long time ago, but I think it was that she was going to be the long lost daughter, not Sam.  Not sure if it's true or not. 

 

The VM one was just a rumor.  There is no real evidence to suggest that Brenda was ever going to be Oscar's mother.  I think the show just didn't know who the mother was going to be and fans speculated. Just like they are with Dev now even though we have no indication Brenda lost her son in Turkey lol..

 

I have always wondered though if Cooper Barrett was supposed to Julia/Brenda's sibling or Julia's son.  Or if they just randomly named him that.

[LostinHarmony]

 

You're correct, there would have been scenes of Timmy as an angel in heaven. By this point on the show Timmy had been a real boy and “died” due to Zombie Charity. The scenes in heaven as an angel would have played out to bridge the gap between his death and his eventual resurrection later that summer that was planned, where Timmy would’ve come back as a doll. Josh filmed most of his scenes as an angel but the show cut many of them and publicly stated they would not air them. 

 

In an interview with E! News, after further review, the producers decided to air 2 episodes of Timmy in heaven as an angel to give closure to the fans and audience at home, the rest were scrapped. Obviously, Josh died in real life the same day his character Timmy died on the show, and Timmy was never resurrected as planned, and Cracked Connie just sort of remained until her eventual exit with the new doll, Cecil. Timmy and Connie were to butt-heads.

[Khan]

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be the case.  These "scribes" think they have to "shock-and-awe" viewers, when just some well-written, character-driven drama would do.

[KMan101]

 

And considering how close Marlena was with Alice and Tom and Mickey/Maggie, Laura, etc. it would have worked. They could have just said she changed her name and went in hiding and prefers Marlena? lol

 

I don't think she took away anything at the time of her arrival, personally. I don't agree with that at all. 

 

If anything the Brady expansion did that and Supercouple Era of the 80s did that.

[Khan]

 

Agree.  It isn't as if DAYS suddenly became "The Deidre Hall Show" from the moment she arrived.  Even during the '80's, when she was one-half of two popular, front-burner supercouples (Roman/Marlena and "Roman"/Marlena), DAYS still felt like a balanced show to me, all things (such as the de-emphasis of the Hortons) considered.

[KMan101]

 

Exactly.

 

I think some folks on social media are pressed (basically the Cin stans) that the fabulous Deidre Hall is currently leading DAYS as she should and leading a storyline right now and they hate it. Ron knows people want to see Marlena. Stories good? No ... it's a lot of wash/rinse/repeat but that's what Jarlena fans seem to want and I get it at this point after being punished by Higley and Tomsell.

 

It still boggles my mind this show drove away Sarah Brown and seemed to have driven away Vanessa Marcil. Not sure why Frank can hire any out of work daytime actress but Vanessa Marcil sits at home. I get Laura Wright fills that void and they've merged the two characters but it doesn't work.

[ghfan89]

I heard the Elizabeth and Alexis's daughter thing. It was suppose to happen back in 1997-ish. I think Guza might have nixed it when he came back, but I'm not sure. Alexis did get some mysterious old letters from a daugther or something back in the 90's on camera, but it was dropped.

[Gray Bunny]

 

Agreed 110%. Her work from the summer of 2002 through January 2003 was GL's last great era, a short era but a great one nonetheless. 

[carolineg]

Cin stans definitely hate Marlena and John for some reason.  I think Ron wants to feature John/Marlena and it has to be a Marlena in peril thing because, at this point, Jarlena have certainly outgrown any third party interferences that aren't wacky or villainous and it's all Ron knows how to do. Can you imagine him writing a serious cancer story or something?  On Days now?

 

I think it's weird to think Days became "The Marlena Show" after she joined because I only really think she was super heavily featured was in the mid 1990's.  She was always a lead but never overtook the show like Reva or Sonny did on GL or GH.

 

I know SJB has/had issues with GH, but I don't really think Vanessa does.   I just don't think there is much interest on either side.  FV doesn't seem to want her and she doesn't seem to care. When is the last time the show even mentioned her?   She seems perfectly content to just do a Lifetime Movie a year and raise her kid.  I am sure she will come back one day if only for the end.

 

Laura Wright fills that void fine and I guess it's sorta a merger of the two parts, but not the good parts of Carly and Brenda lol. Not anything that made them unique.  LW plays Carly like a soccer mom and that's fine, but it's not Carly.  And her and MB just really have no romantic chemistry.

[Khan]

Bradley Bell should've been busy attempting to lure Vanessa Marcil to B&B, instead of wasting his time (and ours) on the likes of Thorsten Kaye and Ingo Rademacher.

[Soaplovers]

The problem with Marlena is that she's saddled with John.  Her being a therapist alone would open lots of story potential.  Alas, fans and Ron C lack vision.

 

I've always wondered on B & B what the original plan was for the Logans long term back in 1987/8.  Were they always meant to be phased out starting in the fall of 1988... or were they meant to be a long term family (yes, I'm aware the Logans returned in 2000s.. but they were pretty much off the canvas from the 1991 till like the mid 2000s).