Reilly on DAYS - a renewed appreciation

[titan1978]

I know- As someone that watched it back then but was kind of driven away by the time we got to Paris, it was really awesome to go back and look at the earlier part of his run.  There are things I appreciate even more now than I did then and I loved it back then.  Binging it really allows you to see all the little clues dropped in to build all his stories, even things you forget by the time of the big climax.

The atmosphere and music were great. All those scenes at night in Salem, almost always foggy.  And when they went somewhere else it felt like it- Maison Blanche interior and exterior scenes felt like a different location than Salem.  And Salem Place was a fantastic and much missed set.

My rewatch was brought on by both boredom with the current Possession and really enjoying the Curlee/Demorest/Reilly Guiding Light when the Pandemic began, before so much of it left YouTube.  I can see his style really clearly on GL, even though he was part of a team.

[carolineg]

On the flip side, where do you think his second Days stint went wrong?  Do you think it was the serial killer storyline?  That is what most people say, but I honestly can't think of a story I did like during that time.

[soapfan770]

Trying to write Days like Passions and also ignoring a lot of character growth. Probably the only thing I liked out of JER’s second was putting Lucas and Sami together but the rest was just utter over the top nonsense. Melaswen and serial killer aside we had Nicole giving Chloe necrotizing fasciitis of all things, Shawn in a cage, Mimi’s abortion and lies, one legged Phillip and Tek and Lexie having sex in a jeep in front of a blind Abe who thought it was the Jeep’s hydraulics was a disaster. 

[carolineg]

I was going to say Sami/Lucas as well, but I don't remember loving it.  They spent a lot of time making out really noisily.  I don't know if it was an audio thing at that point, and it's a weird thing to remember, but AS and BD had some weird kissing scenes back then. 

I actually liked Shawn in a cage lol.  So silly.  Forgot about that but that was so Passions and just a rip off of his own previous Marlena in a cage story.

[koos]

Reilly made all the good guys stupid and clueless during his original run... that being said, his show felt like an ensemble/family thing, not like 2003-2006 where it was like a bad-natured parody. I could have sworn Maison Blanche lasted longer than it did, but it felt involved and mysterious, not repetitive. I prefer '94 to '95. The big thing for me is the early/mid '90s love of gothic horror really allowed Days to do the possession. It couldn't have been done any other decade, IMO.

[soapfan770]

Oh Sami and Lucas were great but the stories they were given were not. A food fight in Salem Middle school’s cafeteria?Sami and Kate having endless fantasies over killing each other including a fantasy about Kate literally being a piranha? (I kid not I remember Sami  looking into the aquarium and seeing Kate’s face on it

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) and the mess that was Brandon’s return. Lord.  I remember a lot of people were annoyed by Christopher Gerse as Will but looking back I totally bought him as the gay teen who shot EJ because he loved his parents together but Days took a few years to get that point after endless fan speculation. 
 

I had already seen the cage plot get used on Y&R and B&B but looking back it’s so weird that Nicole would get caught up in the schemes of Jan Spears. At least I do remember Nicole telling Jan that the name Jan Brady would be fitting for her but Jan asking Nicole what the hell is the Brady Bunch?

[carolineg]

I remember hating those Kate/Sami fantasies.  Some were mildly entertaining, but it just seemed like a pointless waste of airtime. 

I can't remember liking or disliking CG as Will.  He was just there for me.  Nothing special, but I do recall he wasn't very popular. 

The Jan/Nicole team up was odd, but they were entertaining together. 

You're right.  Everything was so OTT that it was almost like JER was parodying himself.

[KLN]

JER's second stint was a mess but I liked Bonnie. She was a throwaway character under Langan but JER put Judi in the role and reinvented her as chain smoking white trash. Right down to the AquaNet hair and bingo addiction. I loved it.

I also liked Julie vs. Bonnie. Campy and over the top but fun. Like a Drag Race skit.

Now I'm remembering the set they used for Mickey and Bonnie's house. The first time I remember seeing it was in Aremid. Then it was the Blake house where "Kristen" drowned in the pool. Then it was Craig and Nancy's house. Then Mickey and Bonnie's. When was the last time we saw that set? I always liked it.

But yeah... Bonnie can go now.

Edited December 5, 2021 by KLN

[soapfan770]

I liked Gerse as Will because he was a normal ditzy teen as he was in real life per his interview on SoapTalk lol. The previous Will before him was a fat kid bully who beat up Abby and Zach and the story was very awkwardly written IMO so his Will being a good kid with troubled parents was nice for a change. And towards the latter part of his run Will started to come on to his own with his absolute disgust with his Uncle Austin and EJ but for whatever reason the show didn’t explore it further until a few years later. Gerse also came off as gay/flamboyant towards the end but the show thought CG was getting too old for the role so they brought even though I think Patton and Massey are older than him.

[titan1978]

I was into the early part of his return- the ghost of Tom Horton (which went nowhere as I recall), the early deaths.  It was sad for those vets that were killed off before they knew they were coming back.  Marlena being the killer was just nonsense though.  Because it went nowhere, she was brainwashed, the deaths were undone.  I could not take anything else seriously.  And everyone got really stupid really fast.

I still would love to know what his original plan was.

I think if he had come back with an eye on tradition (like his earlier run), and more focus of real emotion and the characters not being treated like hollow chess pieces, I think it would have worked better.  It was just a mess.

Was Zach killed off during his run?  Ultimately a mistake IMO.

[carolineg]

I don't think Gerse would have had the chops for Will's later stories, but I don't recall him being awful at all.  Listen, anything was better than those poor twins who played Will for years that never spoke lol.  I am totally blanking on the kid that played him in between the twins and Gerse. 

Chelsea was created by JER (both times), so I believe Zach being killed off was his writing.

I think everyone's million dollar question is how that SSK story was supposed to end.  I guess we will never know.  If we are being honest, this is actually when Marlena should have been repossesed.

[Khan]

That's suggesting his second (or, for that matter, his first) stint ever went right -- which it didn't.

I don't know if I could ever say JER was a great, or even a good, writer.  In fact, I think the Laurelton mystery on GH, which I've heard he was largely responsible for, proved that his kind of storytelling always carried flaws that were deep and hard to overlook.  But, IMO, Reilly's second stint at DAYS, along with the bulk of his work on PASSIONS, was simply the product of a writer who had lost what little skill he had in the first place.  If JER was ever at the top of his game -- and I guess you could argue, from a ratings standpoint, that he was -- he wasn't anymore by the time he returned.

In a way, it's not too unlike what had happened to Douglas Marland toward the end of his life and career.  Of course, the difference is that while Marland's final year on ATWT was morose, it was still highly rated; whereas, Reilly's final years on DAYS and PASSIONS, respectively, which were tasteless, were not.

That sentence right there is exactly why I wish NBC and Sony would just can DAYS already.  Because, one possession was bad enough.

Edited December 6, 2021 by Khan

[Vee]

I will never forget realizing it was grown-up Christopher Gerse who turned up on Westworld as a pervy lab tech molesting the male robots. He was killed while jerking off in his scrubs over naked Rodrigo Santoro!

[carolineg]

Lol, I am not an OG Possession fan.  I am an early/first run JER fan, but if the show was going to do it again that was the time.  Not now when Malena is like 75, but whatever.

[SouthernChick]

Yeah, I never got Sami’s weird obsession/attachment to Roman. She acted like his protective lover more than his daughter.