DAYS: EJ NOT Recast

[Skin]

Sami and EJ were a thousand times more interesting than Sami and Lucas. That's not opinion, that's really just fact. No Sami pairing before or since got as much of a reaction from audiences than what she got when she was fighting with him, cursing him out, and eventually when she was paired with him. 

 

Lucas, Rafe and Austin are pretty much the same character in the end, which is why all their stories with her ended the same way. With them calling her a tramp, or telling her how much of a horrible person she is, while they leave her crumbled on the floor crying. EJ was the natural evolution of Sami's character. An "evil" man who had many commonalities with her naturally villainous character, who loved her fully, completely and wanted all of her, rather than hoping and praying she would transform into "good sister-lite" Carrie. Sami was always hiding who she truly was with all of these men, which is why those relationships failed. She was herself with EJ. That's the difference. That's why they worked. 

 

It's a shame that JS won't be returning to give the character and the pairing closure, but surely Days can do something else than have Sami hate herself, and go crawling back to Lucas for a fourth or fifth time, so he can again tell her she is maggot meat and deserves nothing good in life. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Skin

[janea4old]

 

That's your opinion.

My opinion is different.

[Skin]

It's not opinion that EJ and Sami got much more publicity, discussion, and overall engagement than a typical soap couple on DOOL from 2000 onward. That's not up for debate. You can hate them or love them or be sick of them, but regardless of that, Ejami  created so much discussion during their time on the series that it (and them) was virtually inescapable. Lumi, Safe, Saustin never had that. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Skin

[Darn]

 

Doesn't change the fact that your first statement was absolutely your opinion.

[Skin]

 

Wrong, you interpreted as an opinion (likely because you disagree). You can measure interest, fascination and demand for characters through data, and at all times when the story was playing out EJ and Sami were the generators of interest in those stories they had. You can dislike them, hate them, not want them together, and still understand objectively that people were interested, engaged and connected to their stories because those characters resonated with the audience at large.   

[dragonflies]

Sami and EJ were sh*tty. I still see a huge demand for Lumi to reunite while most people seemingly aren't bothered by EJ's exit and don't seem to care if he returns or not

[JaneAusten]

EJ did not join the show until 2006.

[Darn]

 

You said this "Sami and EJ were a thousand times more interesting than Sami and Lucas. That's not opinion, that's really just fact."

 

This is what we call an opinion. I have no horse in this race, you're just...wrong. Objectively wrong. And that's okay, everyone gets things wrong sometimes. We clean ourselves off, stick out our chests and try again.

[Skin]

 

I know this, I am saying the reaction from audiences was something not seen since that period. From fans, and non-fans alike.  

 

 

No. It's really not. Not when we have data points which attest to this point as a fact by how audiences reacted and engaged with them to demonstrate the effect and impact of them as characters. EJ and Sami had more engagement than any of her other pairings ever have. You can hate the pairing all you like, and still be able to objectively come to that same determination and ultimate conclusion that they caused a reaction that was not seen by Days in quite sometime. What caused that level of impact? Interest between and with these two characters. 

 

I hate the pairing of Phylis and Nick - however I can't deny that the pairing was much more interesting in 2005 than Sharon and Nick were, even though I liked Shick more than Phick during that time period. I also can't deny that Phick completely changed the course of those characters and those characters within their orbit since their affair. The impact of that couple is undeniable, even if I don't like or care for it. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Skin

[koos]

Sami and EJ were terrible. James Scott was terrible. Sami was just a shadow of herself by then.

[Khan]

For all I care, you could pair Sami with that lone park bench.  It ain't gonna work.  Ali Sweeney is chemistry poison.

[Darn]

 

I've rarely seen so many words used to exhibit someone's lack of comprehension of basic language skills. Fascinating.

[Michael]

What are these data points you speak of? You seem to want to establish something objectively, but "more interesting" is not something that we can objectively measure.

 

Also, Sami and Lucas's heyday (2003-07, roughly) pre-dates Twitter or social media as we know it. Sami and EJ's relationship largely coexisted with the rise of those venues for fan feedback. So it would be tough to do a one-to-one comparison on that, anyway.

 

And a million people a day tweeting that they hated Daniel Jonas didn't mean he was objectively a better or more interesting character than, say, Bo. People were mentioning his name because they hated him. X number of tweets or whatever mentioning EJami don't necessarily speak to their overall impact (and I don't know if tweets are what you're referring to, because you haven't gotten more specific than "data points").

[Vee]

 

Nah, it's opinion, but thanks for resurrecting a dead thread just to lecture us all.

[Skin]

 

I honestly don't know how else to word it. When I look at the definition of interesting here is what is defined within the term: 

arousing curiosity or interest; holding or catching the attention.

 

The word fits. They aroused more interest in the show then Lumi did at that point in the story (or really ever). This was referenced multiple times in MSN, TV Guide and in Soap Opera Weekly publications back when soap magazines were still a thing, and were still of interest to the viewing community.

 

Soap interviewers would even interview Bryan Datillo and ask him what he thought about the EJ/Sami pairing generating more fan mail/interest than Lucas/Sami did at that time. Datillo even had to respond to the fact that a lot of fans liked them as a pairing even though he was part of a rival ship. All of this was way back in 2007, 5-6 years before EJ and Sami even got together.

 

Listen, I don't really care if people like EJ and Sami, that's not the point I am trying to make. I am simply saying if you loved them or hated them, they generated a level of interest not seen by any of her pairings since the turn of the century. I don't care if you prefer Lumi or Ejami - that's not the conversation I am even remotely interested in having. You preferring one ship over the other - is an opinion. But there are things that are measurable and you can determine based on quantifiable facts. If your barometer is fan sites, tweets, fan mail, music videos, YouTube screen clip views, publication space on magazines, or even mainstream media attention like having 5 minutes dedicated to them on the Colbert show, or whatever else floats your boat the answer is pretty definitive and clear. At the end of the day EJ/Sami generated all of that on their own, and it made the pairing notable and standout amongst all her other pairings. That's not something her other pairings replicated. That's objectively a fact. It doesn't bother me if other posters like Lumi more, because that's not what's being talked about. You can hate a pairing and still acknowledge that they had a huge impact on the show and beyond. I just did a few posts back with Phick.  

 

 

You are mixing quality and personal preference with interest, which is not my point. You are looking for a value statement, which is antithetical to what I am talking about. I am not trying to define if someone is "better" or not. I am trying to gauge interest, engagement and fascination and measure that within context. 

 

The bolded definitely does speak to their impact. It's a direct and quantifiable number of what people are willing to engage with and find interesting. You can bet any intellectual property and television series will want to capture what is causing a reaction for their viewers and that they will want to understand fans relationship to the material that they are writing and producing. Television series want to trend, they want the news publication publicity and they want awareness of their shows. Writers would rather you hate or love something, then feel ambivalent about it. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Skin