7 minutes ago, carolineg said:

It's just a soap within a soap Abe got addicted to when that crazy nurse was holding him hostage.  The characters have some "wink, wink" names and the leads are Deidre Hall, Lauren Koslow, MBE, and a few other Salemites.  They are just supposed to resemble characters like Marlena, Kate, and Kayla and the styling is very OTT and 80's.   IMO, it's just Ron getting some inside jokes in.  It's not terribly offensive to me.  It's more eye roll inducing than anything.

And Kate’s character is played an actor named Margo Lynley.

Kayla’s is played by an actor named Katherine Bell

Steve’s is played by an actor named Tucker McCall. 

Definitely eye roll inducing

Just now, AbcNbc247 said:

And Kate’s character is played an actor named Margo Lynley.

Kayla’s is played by an actor named Katherine Bell

Steve’s is played by an actor named Tucker McCall. 

Definitely eye roll inducing

Oh good lord.

9 minutes ago, carolineg said:

The one thing I always liked about Ron is he seems to appreciate history. 

One of the increasingly few things I liked about his DAYS was that he still gave Susan and Suzanne stuff to do. Not very good stuff, but at least they've been on screen. And you can tell he loves Deidre, though he seems to get a perverse pleasure in using Marlena to prop up characters we could do without. 

28 minutes ago, Vee said:

I honestly expect very little to change.

DAYS has not had a major change tonally, stylistically or structurally since Jim Reilly. Every aspect of the show's production (what's left of it), music, editing, etc. is geared towards that sort of camp or post-camp aesthetic, to chase that dragon. Any attempts to mature the show or update it are generally killed in their crib. We've all seen it happen with other HWs more than once.

I wish Cwikly in particular well and I'm glad Ron is out, but I just don't think there is any will to ever truly change DAYS at this point. Not while Corday is there and not while much of the current audience has been geared to only remember JER and post-JER.

I feel like the show has changed tonally to somewhat severe degrees depending on the writers at the time. Higley, Brash/Cwikly, Griffith, Tomlin, Poulter and Thomas (I couldn't remember their names, but I remember how buzzed about and ultimately polarizing that period was [Rafe/Carrie and Will seeing EJ and Sami screwing and so on], Carlivati, all had their own styles, under the haze of Corday and whoever else still clinging to JER's ghost. That's how you get situations like Griffith coming in and immediately having the very unpopular Ciara rape story and the serial killer story, only for other writers to make said serial killer a hero and a stud, and so on. I don't think the writers form as much of a blob as you have had at Y&R or B&B for a long time. The problem is the show is so poorly supervised and buried under so many layers of old meta mockery, winking, and having no real idea who their audience now is, especially after moving to Peacock and taping 50 years in advance.

Edited July 19, 20241 yr by DRW50

Just now, DRW50 said:

I feel like the show has changed tonally to at times severe degrees depending on the writers at the time. Higley, Brash/Cwikly, Griffith, Tomlin, Poulter and Thomas (I couldn't remember their names but I remember how buzzed about and ultimately polarizing that period was [Rafe/Carrie and Will seeing EJ and Sami screwing and so on], Carlivati, all had their own styles, under the haze of Corday and whoever else still clinging to JER's ghost. That's how you get situations like Griffith coming in and immediately having the very unpopular Ciara rape story and the serial killer story, only for other writers to make said serial killer a hero and a stud, and so on. 

All of that is exactly what I mean in my post, yes. I think McPherson/Thomas? and Josh Griffith in particular both tried to change the show stylistically and tonally, and both bombed out in very different ways.* But you could tell in each case that the post-JER DAYS house style re: chintzy music, corny editing tricks, day to day simplistic storytelling, stunts and Corday's own preferences heavily colored what was going on there as well, in addition to the mistakes the creatives themselves made. Griffith in particular often tried to make a very dark, gruesome show (Jigsaw is John's dad! Ciara raped on the family couch! Hope guns down Stefano! Serial killer on the loose!) and it also came off looking like the Disney Channel After Dark. 

*(I am well aware I am one of quite few McPherson, etc. era defenders here, and my viewing of that very flawed run was brief but hey, I loved her AMC 2.0.)

39 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. I guess he got his wish with DAYS becoming just like Passions - that worked out so well.

(the contortions made for that show just because it was popular with a young demo is a great example of what helped nearly kill off the genre).

I am probably not being fair to Dante's Cove, as at its peak it had better writing than anything he's done since about 2009.

I can't remember who mentioned it above but now I DO wonder if all this Body & Soul stuff was meant to be some kind of window into his exit.

It eventually cost Kalouria his job in the long run—he had to jump ship to work for Martha Stewart before NBCU terminated his contract between the declining daytime ratings and demos by 2005 and Kalouria’s disastrous oversight of the Pax/i/Ion network when he pulled double duty. 
 

Kalouria has never worked for the networks again and last check was doing marketing for Sony. 
 

As far as Dante’s Cove it was a guilty pleasure of mine at the time. I still have the DVD’s I bought (dusting away with my DVD collection) and you’re right the material is a lot better than a lot of what has  been on the soaps in the last decade.

Interesting fact: Ron's material first aired on July 19, 2017. Today would pretty much mark seven years since his material first aired, although his scripts were first written in January 2017. At the time, the show was 7 months ahead. Now they are eight to nine months ahead. 

 

And I'd assume that back then Ron maybe came in with some semblance of a longform bible for a year or more at least. I'm not sure most HWs at soaps have been given that space and leeway since. I'm certain Mulcahey wasn't at GH, and we know Sussman at Y&R had zero time as well.

3 minutes ago, Errol said:

Interesting fact: Ron's material first aired on July 19, 2017. Today would pretty much mark seven years since his material first aired, although his scripts were first written in January 2017. At the time, the show was 7 months ahead. Now they are eight to nine months ahead. 

So was his half year (26 week) contract up at end of June and the announcement is just coming out now....that would be my guess given the production schedule (section below) from Jason47 website. The show has been dark since mid June

Week of 6/10/24-6/14/24 # 15056-15065 (airing 2/18/25-3/3/25)
Week of 6/17/24-6/21/24 DARK WEEK # 9
Week of 6/24/24-6/28/24 DARK WEEK # 10
Week of 7/1/24-7/5/24 DARK WEEK # 11

http://www.jason47.com/days/productionschedule.html

I noticed the Errol didn't say "and Ron isn't going to Y&R either"

Edited July 19, 20241 yr by VelekaCarruthers

9 minutes ago, Vee said:

Oh good lord.

And Deidre's character's actress is named Jessie Witherspoon like her Our House character.  Obscure AF lol. 

12 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think he is, and I think unlike many others still in this business (or occasionally visiting/slumming) Ron does love soaps. The problem since the old days that has developed more and more over time is both his taste and his ego.

At some shows RC knows their history well as a viewer; at others he does not (like Days, I think). But his approach is often the same, a mix of fundamental retcons or just retcon tourism. If Ron can sprinkle superficial history in to get brownie points (like GH still often does now, with things like the return of White Jagger) he will, or he'll go too far with crass characters or outsize, grandiose sociopaths because he came to believe the early hype that he is the final remaining apex of the genre and the audience will either go with him or shut up and suck it up. He much prefers vixens or schemers to any conventional 'good' characters, and if he can't turn the good ones crazy or give them dopplegangers he will leave them as sort of clueless dupes and himbos and try to prove they are more sanctimonious and hypocritical than his favorites. We saw what a hash he made of GH's layered Guza-era young cast in particular, we've discussed it recently in those threads.

I will always cherish some of the work Ron did at OLTL and at GH, despite very very flawed times. I was one of his very first supporters at OLTL, before Daytime Confidential knew who he was (and before most of them frankly had ever bothered watching the show for very long). I knew it was something special in that early period after many years in the dark. But he also had a multitude of sins at OLTL and then at GH, he got high on his supply and he's stayed there. I think he loves soaps, but I think he loves them entirely on his own terms and within his own tastes, and if a soap doesn't share those he'll break it. I would not leave him in charge of a soap anymore without a counterbalance in the writers' room. None of which are going to exist.

Ron does bring in "history" but you can tell he doesn't know Days history at least.  The whole Sarah thinks she's Renee Dimera, the re-introduction of the devil, making Diana Coleville this evil woman who spawned Leo, etc. etc. 

Some plots are okay like bringing Megan Hathaway back.  That worked well enough.

I also appreciate how much he seems to love Marlena, Maggie, and Julie.  It's nice for them to be used even if Marlena mostly just props useless characters lol.

You did hit the nail on the head though.  I actually think a strong co-writer could reign him in a bit, but that would never work for RC.

Congratulations to the fans. From what I've seen, the material was really really bad when he was HW. Cheers to all of you! 

Yall I ran to this post, in fear that his replacement would be Dena Higley 😆

Whew, I'm relieved. I hope Cwikly doesn't prove to be one of those writers who we regret coming back to the HW position, as I really enjoyed 2002/2003 era DAYS. 

12 minutes ago, Vee said:

All of that is exactly what I mean in my post, yes. I think McPherson/Thomas? and Josh Griffith in particular both tried to change the show stylistically and tonally, and both bombed out in very different ways.* But you could tell in each case that the post-JER DAYS house style re: chintzy music, corny editing tricks, day to day simplistic storytelling, stunts and Corday's own preferences heavily colored what was going on there as well, in addition to the mistakes the creatives themselves made. Griffith in particular often tried to make a very dark, gruesome show (Jigsaw is John's dad! Ciara raped on the family couch! Hope guns down Stefano! Serial killer on the loose!) and it also came off looking like the Disney Channel After Dark. 

I forgot to add Hogan Sheffer. That definitely happened with his run too, and I'm not defending it lol. He did plenty of messy shít at DAYS on his own terms and by his own choice, to say nothing of the Y&R debacle later. But he also had some good ideas at DAYS that did not go to fruition in large part due to Corday, and he and later Ed Scott both attempted to elevate the show (or in their way of thinking 'elevate', anyway) and both hit a brick wall and imploded. I remember knowing something was off when the supposedly adult, mature soap Sheffer was previewing in the mags suddenly collided with a Very Special Week of episodes in which John and Marlena were snowbound with special guest Smokey Robinson serenading them in a cabin in the mountains.

5 minutes ago, carolineg said:

Ron does bring in "history" but you can tell he doesn't know Days history at least.  The whole Sarah thinks she's Renee Dimera, the re-introduction of the devil, making Diana Coleville this evil woman who spawned Leo, etc. etc. 

I can't believe they fúcked up a Possession revisit. That is a lay-up if done right, slowly and carefully during an anniversary period, the way JER actually did it back then with the run-up to the '90s storyline. Especially in an era when audiences are more into supernatural/religious horror than ever with the Conjuring franchise, etc. If you'd played it straight, like JER did back then and in these recent movies, you could have grabbed people.

Edited July 19, 20241 yr by Vee

4 minutes ago, Vee said:

I can't believe they fúcked up a Possession revisit. That is a lay-up if done right, slowly and carefully during an anniversary period, the way JER actually did it back then with the run-up to the '90s storyline. Especially in an era when audiences are more into supernatural/religious horror than ever with the Conjuring franchise, etc. If you'd played it straight, like JER did back then and in these recent movies, you could have grabbed people.

Ron played it for laughs.  And the devil just hopped into several people.  Allie, Johnny, Belle, Doug and so on.  JER took that devil stuff seriously.  It wasn't played for camp or laughs even if it was at times campy.  Ron also forgot the fact that at the Possession's core it was a love story between John/Marlena.   JER always had that throughline running even when the stories were ridiculous.  There was an endgame plot.  Ron just thought it was cool to re-visit it with half the budget.  And the whole point was to so the devil could steal Ben/Ciara's stupid kid lol. 

8 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

It eventually cost Kalouria his job in the long run—he had to jump ship to work for Martha Stewart before NBCU terminated his contract between the declining daytime ratings and demos by 2005 and Kalouria’s disastrous oversight of the Pax/i/Ion network when he pulled double duty. 

Kalouria has never worked for the networks again and last check was doing marketing for Sony. 

As far as Dante’s Cove it was a guilty pleasure of mine at the time. I still have the DVD’s I bought (dusting away with my DVD collection) and you’re right the material is a lot better than a lot of what has  been on the soaps in the last decade.

Yes I remember actually getting into the show for a season or two (I wasn't as into the vampire spinoff). Thanks for catching me up on Kalouria. I did like Martha Stewart's talk show (those were the last years before she became a full self-parody).

9 minutes ago, Vee said:

I forgot to add Hogan Sheffer. That definitely happened with his run too, and I'm not defending it lol. He did plenty of messy shít at DAYS on his own terms and by his own choice, to say nothing of the Y&R debacle later. But he also had some good ideas at DAYS that did not go to fruition in large part due to Corday, and he and later Ed Scott both attempted to elevate the show (or in their way of thinking 'elevate', anyway) and both hit a brick wall and imploded. I remember knowing something was off when the supposedly adult, mature soap Sheffer was previewing in the mags suddenly collided with a Very Special Week of episodes in which John and Marlena were snowbound with special guest Smokey Robinson serenading them in a cabin in the mountains.

Oh I forgot him too. I feel like he got a number of his fetishes on (the gruesome treatment of that Willow prostitute or whoever she was, EJ raping Sami), but yes, there were cases of him having all this idea of what he wouldn't do (like being aghast at cousins dating), that then surrendered to the inevitable.

I definitely see what you mean about potential not being met due to the rotting greenhouse that is the JER era and Corday's laziness/ineptness. I still think they sort of get chances to form their own voice, which is more than I can say for a number of other soaps (some now gone, some still around in zombie form), but it never works out, for the reasons you mention.