ARTICLE: Peacock Orders Second Chapter of ‘Days of our Lives: Beyond Salem,’ Kristian Alfonso and Peter Reckell to Reprise Roles

[Vee]

You can do a hell of a murder mystery with Gwen. But Ron hates letting go of villains and antiheroes, he tries to force them into becoming the protagonists. We're 6-9 months away from Leo's abuse backstory a la Kevin on Y&R.

Which in theory isn't actually a terrible concept, but the problem is how Ron tells these stories on his soaps - he slants everything to make the dangerous, volatile characters the good guys in a scenario, and forces the 'good' characters to become what his storytelling clearly views as prigs, hypocrites, etc. to try to make it all work. He's been doing this for most of his career. Ron has a formula and he follows it. He didn't retcon Ben's crimes when it is extremely easy to do on a show like DAYS, because, like Victor/Todd II on OLTL, he stubbornly believed the audience can and should accept the character as a romantic lead regardless of their grotesque crimes simply by the force of his writing talent. It's ego.

Jesse was an angel on at least two soaps (AMC and Loving), lol. But it worked out. The resurrection story for Jesse was full of holes and not very good, but the performances carried it and the net gain for the show going forward with the Hubbards re-cemented was huge. Same goes for bringing back Dixie, or Will or Jack on DAYS, or Bo. The longtime value to the foundation and the families and history can't be overstated.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Vee

[te.]

They could've gone two ways with Ben  - either have all his crimes blamed on him being hypnotised into believing he did them or something by Jordan and having him absolved from being a serial killer OR they could've still done the murder mystery post-time jump with Ciara frantically trying to clear his name only for to find out that he did do it and he hasn't changed. Ben's executed and heartbroken, but defiant, Ciara leaves Salem until they can find a decent recast or Konefal is able to commit to the part full time.

[Paul Raven]

Bo's return is no surprise, just another death reversed.

It's become a Days cliche at this point. 

When a character is killed off there's no emotional connection for the audience, even as characters go through showy grieving.

Same with back from the dead-audience shrugs as characters act like it's some kind of miracle.

Maybe Bo could have told Hope he was sick and they finally agree to face it together.Then Bo ups and leaves, leaving Hope distraught, trying to understand, building a new life, falling in love gain and feeling guilty but angry at Bo etc. 

Makes his return far more palatable.

[Khan]

Thank you.

True.  But does undoing that mistake by bringing him back from the dead after we saw him die on-screen really make it better?

Again, thank you.

There's just some mistakes that can't be rectified.  No matter how much you want them to be rectified.  No matter how hard you try or what lengths you go to to rectify them.

I wouldn't make Bo the lone example.  He'd be but one of many, many examples.  But someone has got to draw a line somewhere.  Maybe, if you can't draw the line at Bo Brady, we'll have to draw it at someone else, but we have. To draw. The line.

So, now we're suggesting turning Kayla Brady into a liar in order to justify bringing yet another character back from the dead on this godforsaken show?  I'm sorry, but as someone who CHERISHED Steve and Kayla's romance BITD, I find that proposition to be just as insulting as bringing Bo back from the dead in the first place.  No way would I ever believe or accept that someone like Kayla would put her loved ones through that much pain.  IDC that she lied for the ISA or that letting others know the truth would have been dangerous.  It's still bullshit.

One more time: thank you.

Oh, please, I beg you, in the name of God and Agnes Nixon, don't bring up that [!@#$%^&*] again. 

God knows I had given up on AMC long before ABC had cancelled it (or, more appropriately, had put it out of its' misery, and ours), but it was bad enough watching AMC "die" on ABC after DECADES of outrageous mishandling on the network's part w/o seeing it all end with a full-on zombie invasion on top of things.  THAT was an insult to my memories of that show -- memories that stretched all the way back to as early as I could remember anything -- and to its' tremendous legacy, too.  It made my feelings of grief and loss both harder and easier to process -- because, really, who wants to save a show that would have stooped so damn low? -- and it also reminded me and many others why we were having to say goodbye in the first place.

So, DAYS should just go on being the silly, ungrounded mess that it is and has been since I-can't-remember-when, instead of spending what is likely its' (and soaps overall) final days with some dignity and intelligence reattached?  If you follow that line of thinking, then Claire Labine should never have tried to re-ground GH after it had spent over a decade being a mixture of action/adventure and sci-fi stories; and Michael Malone and Josh Griffith shouldn't have tried to bring back socially relevant stories to OLTL in the '90's after the show had spent the better part of the previous decades telling wonked-out tales about exploding wedding cakes, absorbable poisons and underground cities.  (And I hated watching much of Malone & Griffith's work on OLTL, so you know I'm pissed if I've gotta sit here and hold them up as good examples of anything!)

And if I hear that phrase "(not the) hill to die on" one more time from anyone....  Note to all apathetic millennials out there, who'd rather stand in the corners and judge the rest of us for fighting (and for compromising when we have to) than put on their big boy or big girl pants and get on with the business of adulting: every hill is a hill worth dying on, okay?

And that (bringing Jesse back from the dead, even though, like Bo, he had died on-screen, and he had made several ghostly or angelic appearances in the interim) was wrong.  I cried ugly tears when Angie and Jesse reunited at that theme park train station, because Darnell and especially Debbi played the hell out of those moments.  But it was still wrong.

Look, some of y'all - and no, I will not name names - seem fine with the status quo of resurrecting hoards of dead or presumed dead characters on these soaps, no matter how impossible it'd be for such occurrences to happen IRL, or how insulting those resurrections are to the audiences' collective intelligence and tastes.  And you know what?  It's fine that you're fine with it, too.  Obviously, TPTB have conditioned you very well.

But please.  Do NOT stand here and pass, for lack of a better word, judgment on those (and yes, I include myself in that bunch) who think and feel otherwise.  Just refrain from telling us you don't see what the BFD is that Bo Brady might be returning from the dead, or that we're making too much out of bringing back this-or-that character or group of characters from the dead, or that we just need to lighten up and accept such ridiculousness as par for the proverbial course, even as a cherished American institution like daytime drama continues to vanish from our screens.  I, for one, do not appreciate being made to feel like I'm the idiot, or the bad guy, or the spoil-sport, because I can't go along with one more unrealistic resurrection when I know there are people in my own, personal life whom I've lost and will never see again in my lifetime.  So just stop.

Maybe bringing characters back from the dead so often that death itself doesn't mean anything on the soaps anymore isn't exactly hurting the genre -- even though, from where I sit, it seems like TPTB's cavalier attitude toward such matters is precisely why we're down to four soaps now -- but let me just say (before I head off to work) that it's not helping the genre either.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Khan

[carolineg]

Well, you obviously feel strongly on this and I mostly agree with you on every other topic, so I will just address what you replied to me on.  I don't have a problem with Bo being brought back at all.  Not a bit. At this point, we don't even know he's not still dead and making ghostly appearances or how this will play out on screen.  Now, there are probably 20 plus characters on Days that should have stayed dead throughout the years.  Everyone comes back on Days and many shouldn't.   That is what makes it a joke-not Bo being brought back specifically IMO.

As far as Kayla being a liar?  She's already bent a few rules as chief of staff.  She was in on the Hattie/Marlena switch when Belle was going to use the DNR after Marlena was shot, so she's not above this.  Again, without knowing if/how Bo's alive it is just speculation on my part.

Days is an ungrounded mess under RC.  RC is writing Beyond Salem.  I wouldn't expect anything less.  If there was a different team on Days or Beyond Salem I would be very open to a more grounded show.  I am not excusing the shows faults,  I make fun of them often, but I don't expect a massive change in tone on Beyond Salem.

So I guess we can agree to disagree on this one.  I honestly don't feel that strongly about it being terribly detrimental to Days as a whole or a spin off series.  In fact, I always assume Bo would end up alive in the end.  Anyway, I just want to clarify my opinions on this a little better.  I definitely see where you and others are coming from and I can't say there aren't some really great points made.  Who knows?  In July, I may come back and tell you everything you said was spot on and I am stupid and wrong

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[Vee]

I don't buy Kayla lying about it (unless Bo was under some extreme life and death mess). I can buy someone conning her.

I respect people's feelings about the cheapening of death on soap operas (which is probably why the X-Men comics at Marvel have now made them functionally immortal, to subvert the cheap shock deaths that constantly recycle themselves in that industry). But I think it's a case by case and show by show issue. With AMC, as campy as aspects of that network finale arc got, it was apparently in full accordance with Agnes Nixon's wishes and creative consultation re: story points and deaths she personally wanted to undo. I can't fault that, but I know some people felt Orpheus was too much. To me it was a device for a redress of fundamental errors, to reset the show for the future. YMMV, but that's fair enough.

[Bright Eyes]

I get your frustrations Khan. I'm happy I'll get to see Bo again because I've felt so disconnected from the show for years and years now that I'll take the few hits I can get amidst the drivel. If it was me inheriting the show, I'd probably reset the show, ridding it of its mistakes (Bill/Laura, especially David at least and that's just the most recent). One last crazy stunt, before moving forward with the more grounded, psychosexual, highly emotive show we all came to love.

[Taoboi]

Li is going to be on this?

 

That said...I don't know how I feel about this. Bo died. Yes, I know which show I'm talking about, but...

 

Oh to see Bo and Hope together again...mmmmm.

 

 

[AbcNbc247]

All this talk and it’ll probably just be Bo making a ghostly appearance to Hope, Ciara and the baby

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I was happy too when I heard that lol

[Vee]

I seriously doubt they are promoting a spinoff with Bo and Hope as the stars only for it turn out the incredibly popular supercouple lead is still dead.

[carolineg]

They could make it all Hope's dream or something silly like that.  I wouldn't rule it out.  It's Ron

[Wendy]

I could see this if not for Susan Seaforth Hayes' tweet about the kids being in trouble, etc. Makes me wonder if Doug and Julie will be involved. The wording doesn't sound like a dream. But with Ron, who the hell knows?

[carolineg]

I didn't see SSH's tweet, so I was just guessing.  Since the whole Christmas movie was Will's story I just thought a fake out was a possibility.  I do think the show will bring Bo back, but I do think a lot depends on what KA/PR are willing to do for Days in the future. 

[Vee]

My assumption is that Bo being back and their being off together is the perfect vehicle to keep Hope off-contract and largely offscreen except for any return engagements KA might entertain in future. It's the only good excuse and it worked well for Sami and E.J. when he was finally resurrected but they hadn't yet recast.

[carolineg]

I mean it's definitely better than Hope can't make this or that major event because her plane couldn't take off due to bad weather lol