SORAS predictions

[carolineg]

I think this is just a problem across all soaps, but Days seems especially bad at having characters in their teens and twenties act like young adults.  It's 2023 not 1965.  Most 21 year olds don't want to get married and have kids yet.  Days consistently ends up with characters under 25 with way too much life experience Ciara (married, 2 kids), Allie (1 kid, engaged once), Chanel (married twice), Johnny (married once), etc.  The last group of characters that felt defined by their ages was honestly JER's 90's characters-where the age groups felt different and Carrie/Austin weren't in the same place as Bo/Hope or Jack/Jen, but Bo/Hope were still younger than John/Marlena and Victor/Vivian were older than them.  

But to @Darn's point, on Days the vets still get stories that are very current and frontburner.  Marlena/John aren't Alice/Tom, but no one has really moved into that role as the next in line after them.  There isn't a steady married couple on the show to take over and everyone from Brady to Johnny get storylines in the similar vein.  While Days would have been much better served keeping Jack/Jen around or even building up Shawn/Belle/Claire, but we end up with a huge gap between the long time vets and their kids and everyone from 20-45 just feels the same age. 

[AMCOLTLLover]

Huh? I thought Doug and Julie are like Tom and Alice now these days?

[dragonflies]

They are, they're the only ones who fit that bill

[carolineg]

I was saying John/Marlena aren't Tom/Alice.  I guess Doug/Julie could be considered that.  My point was that some time in the future John/Marlena have to retire as frontburner and there is no one directly behind them to take on John/Marlena's and Steve/Kayla's place.  Without Bo/Hope or Jack/Jen who is there?  There is no Carrie/Austin, Sami/Lucas, etc as a steady, established couple.  Sorry if that was unclear.  

I don't really care about Doug/Julie being the next Tom/Alice.  I personally don't really think they fit that bill, but I don't think John/Marlena do either.  I am more concerned about what happens with the next few generations.

[te.]

Absolutely and to be fair - I don't think the lack of sets help. If you're in (let's say) your early 30s you probably do have your own household, but in DAYS nobody else does. Chanel/Allie/Johnny etc would still be finishing out their educations and trying to get started in life. But there's no budget to have entirely separate storylines and sets, so they all end up in a blur. I agree that it's sort of problematic how there seems to be no characters to truly pass the torch to - of course a part of that problem is that even if they find a young actor to develop, DAYS's strange and erratic filming schedule scares them away and they bolt for the first best opportunity they can get (and in general, soaps used to be seen as steady work that could go towards your retirement, it's far from a given that these shows will be here in a decade so better to try to build your resume). 

[carolineg]

You are absolutely right.  I tend to place Days issues with bad planning and management, but I don't look at the full picture.   Not to absolve Days at all, but daytime isn't what it used to be and the genre isn't producing stars like Deidre Hall, Susan Lucci, or Tony Geary anymore.   Of course Days has no budget, but I don't think it would be that hard to make a small classroom set or even say the younger crew goes to college over having Allie, Chanel, Wendy, etc having businesses and serious careers.  Days has also never been great at keeping young talent and they have had a lot, but I think the biggest blow might have been losing Ali Sweeney.  I am no Sami fan, but I think most thought AS was in at Days for the long haul and Days invested a lot in her to the point she could be the bridge in the gap in the canvas now.  It's too bad Days didn't invest more in Belle's adult life, left Eric as such a dormant character for so long, and either killed off or did very little in the next Horton generation. 

[Forever8]

And then they had Kyle who was born only months after Cousin Abby remain 10 years old for "reasons." 

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[AMCHistory]

Hayley was fine for me. Abby still read child, despite now being a teen. 
 

Emme Rylan was too much too fast. She read “30” to me. In fact, Melissa Ordway early in her run read younger to me than Emme.