Days: November 2020 Discussion Thread

[Antoyne]

As do I.

[detroitpiston]

I'm fine with Beemer and Madison but she has always been too old and matronly for the role. It lowered both Belle and Shawn's stock as leading characters.

[te.]

I was never a fan of them aging Belle into a teen when they did. I get it, but I think it complicated the complex story of Belle's conception and with Sami as a leading character they obviously did not want to age it made it all awkward for them when trying to write for the Sami / Belle relationship. I would've preferred it if they had kept Belle in the same age bracket as Will tbh.

[Vee]

I told people Martha Madison was too old for the role when she first started and people kept defending her for years. Now it's like On Golden Pond!

[carolineg]

 

They aged Belle too soon.  I get why because her parents were older, but it completely effs up the Sami part of the story and how important her conception/birth were.  Then they aged Belle again by aging Claire so much.  Belle should be in the Will age bracket and Brady should be in the Abby age bracket.

She has always looked too old to play Belle plus she has always looked matronly.  She had years of unflattering haircuts and wardrobe as well that didn't help.

Edited November 13, 2020 by carolineg

[Soapsuds]

Don't let Martha read this or she'll bite your head off..lol. I made a comment on how bad the acting was on the show and she bit my head off. She's a beyotch.

[prefab1]

I think MM's portrayal of Belle works when you get her in scenes with Sami, because it then makes sense that Belle would be "old beyond her years" to compensate for her older sister's perpetual brattiness. With Sami acting out so much, it makes sense that her siblings Eric and Belle would have grown up to be mature and responsible to a fault, where they sometimes come off as joyless prigs.

 

That said, I have very little interest watching MM's Belle in romantic storylines with Shawn or Phillip. 

[te.]

 

Yup, we went over this in the backstage thread with the Mike / David rapid SORAS in the 70s and how it affected Mickey, Laura, Bill and Julie crew to have their kids age so much. One thing DAYS got right was to subtly age Will when they required a slightly older kid actor, but nothing too drastic and the slight aging only brought Sami closer to Alison Sweeney's real age. Belle is now essentially Sami's age and they have to ignore the history of Belle's conception and Sami kidnapping Belle which could've driven a lot of stories for them both.

 

In all honesty, I don't like drastic SORASing overall, but in some cases like Ciara I can see why since Hope is in her 50s anyway and Ciara's not tied to some big event, same thing with Alli I guess (though I'd argue that Alli should be 18-ish instead of 21).

Edited November 13, 2020 by te.

[carolineg]

 

I actually don't have a problem with MM's acting or how she plays off her scene partners.  I think she sparks with JkJ's Phillp.  Not so much Shawn.  But she looks the same age as AS's Sami.  She can be wise beyond her years, but she shouldn't look physically older like that.   But with Days wacky SORASing I guess it's fine.  It's just the affair storyline had effects for years and it's strange to mess it up with Belle being aged to quick.  They could have waited 4-5 more years on that.

[Soapsuds]

MM is a bland actress. I dont see anything special about her acting yet people threw a party when she was cast.

[carolineg]

I agree.  I don't think it effected John/Marlena storylines much.  They have always been fairly front and center and were after Belle was aged.  It just took probably the biggest John/Marlena story and messed it all up timeline wise.  EJ being aged was weird and jarring, but baby EJ, in the end wasn't as pivotal as Belle was for storyline purposes long term.  Sami vs. Belle should have been more but now they are effectively peers when Sami was a teen when she was born.

Charity Rahmer was a hard act to follow lol.  But that's probably a big part of the love.  She was a lot better than that.

[te.]

Well, I mean...

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[Vee]

She was always a mediocre actress and people just accepted that too bc she wasn't Rahmer. Yes, she has chemistry with JKJ but they took years to get to that story and then dropped it. She still reads too old and is not worth the investment, unlike someone like, say, Marci Miller who is clearly very talented (IMO) even if she is often different from the Abby fans long came to know and a very different performer from what DAYS is used to. You can get someone better and younger-reading to play Belle at any time.

[detroitpiston]

 

 Yeah I think most of us were relieved to have someone better than Charity Rahmer initially. It wasn't until Shawn got out of the cage and you had Jason Cook standing next to a woman who looked old enough to be his aunt that the red flags began to show. MM had zero chemistry with him too.

[te.]

I mean, I accept MM and BB as Belle and Shawn now and wouldn't want a recast. Neither are spectacular (though Beemer is easy on the eyes), but they aren't hopeless either. Unless they want to get Mike Horton-type of messy with Belle's age I wouldn't bother with a recast.