Madison died as a result of the explosion. Ian stuck around for a few more episodes to be revealed as the person behind Stefano's death. He had kidnapped Stefano and claimed that he was Santos Dimera's bastard son via the family maid, Sophia, but I believe E.J. and/or Stefano dismissed Ian's claim. The scripts with the Santos' reveal were Tomlin and Whitsell, but I wondered if that wasn't the intention of MarDar all along.
In retrospect, I have to wonder at what point Joe Mascolo's Alzheimer's was diagnosed. I feel like Stefano was used pretty consistently until his murder in 2012, but afterwards, there were so many gaps. Stefano was revealed alive in August and then disappeared again for some time. In 2012, "Days" did a tour of different cities to promote the show and I caught the even at one of the Connecticut casinos. I remember Drake Hogestyn basically walking arm in arm with Mascolo because of Joe's health. Now, I have to wonder if things weren't starting then.
I won't rehash too much on MarDar as my feelings are fairly well known. If I recall though, part of the issue was the business infrastructure wasn't there for Madison to work. The typical business stories of the previous few years were always grounded in the relationships, however underdeveloped they may have been. From what I remember, the business stuff was constantly shifting under MarDar without much impact. Sami worked for Madison, her childhood friend, and then went to work for Kate, I think. And Kate had been a hooker who slept with Ian during his marriage to Madison. Even on days that was a wonky timeline. Almost as funky as Chad's mother being a prostitute with Kate when Chad was conceived under Higley a year or so earlier.
It's always possible that is why Sarah J. Brown was dropped, but I don't think financially there was space on the show for her where the story was heading with Kristen's return and her seduction of Brady.
The elephant story was stupid. I also thought that adding Xander as the third wheel and making him a Kiriakis was just a little too tight. In a post-Sami Salem, having a medical reporter arrive in town with a past connection to Melanie and to Eric opened some interesting possibiliies. It also should have provided Nicole, then also a journalist, a much needed rival. Everything seemed to go south very quick, which is a shame, because I remember thinking this could be a nice pivot.
Nathan was only on for about a year and a half introduced in April, 2012, when the show was gearing up to have Lexi die of cancer. Yancey was out in the fall and then Owens did a one year run (November 2012-November 2013). Yancey had previously appeared as a bartender at the Brady Pub probably around 2010. Owens came in for the Cameron / Abigail / Chad triangle with his big plot being that he was in debt and had secretly been stripping to pay the bills leading to the strip show sequence. When Casey Jon Deidrich left as Chad, Cameron really wasn't going to be able to carry the story, as you said.
Bree Tjaden was a bit part (maybe 3 months) and served her purpose, to propel the mystery of Aiden Jennings' wife. I really like all those bitchy moms that appeared briefly (Bree's sister-in-law was Hope's friend).
Paige Searcy had such a unique look. I thought her Jade could have made life miserable for Kayla for years, but I don't think people really liked the idea of Kayla as this aging helicopter mom. I didn't hate it. I also liked how both Ciara and Claire snubbed her once Jade got knocked up by Joey. Haugh wasn't good, but I thought the show could have recast and gone with a Joey / Jade / Tripp story and there would have been some interesting moments to explore.
None of the Taylors lasted long. I think Taylor was introduced in late January 2011 because someone's contract was up for negotiation (Allison Sweeney's maybe?) and the show was setting up a potential next step. At the same time, there was a casting call for a male that many assumed was going to be Eric, but I don't think that part ever materialized.
Sebastian's story was stunted when Wheeler didn't recast Ed Bauer for the Santa Domingo story when Peter Simon refused to return. The shift to Sebastian and Beth was pointless though I did enjoy where they were going in Sebastian's final days with Blake, Sebastian, and Josh plotting a takeover of Spaulding with Sebastian and Josh developing a close friendship and Blake crashing out when she learned Alan and Holly were in a business deal that would have exchanged ownership of the Journal and shares of Spaulding Enterprises. .
I wonder if Michelle Ray Smith's Ava was originally suppose to be Lena's daughter. I do remember the set up and wondering if they were going to introduce Lena's daughter, but I also thought that maybe it was just backstory to give Lena a reason to look after Harley in prison.
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