DAYS: February 2025 Discussion Thread

[ranger1rg]

Say it louder for the people in the back!  I agree with all of that.

The show is a mess right now, and ending Body & Soul doesn't end what's wrong with it. In fact, it magnifies the problems with the rest of the show.

We have 2 more months of Ron Carlivati's garbage -- that is a LONG time.

But hey, Janet Spellman-Drucker is working hard. Today we got a drone shot of Salem with everything covered in snow. She's such a visionary!  (Of course, just ignore all that snow when you see characters at Salem Square).

[AbcNbc247]

Agreed it's almost like she's playing a different character

I've always thought Ron had writing talent; his overall personality is the biggest problem. The thought of a suicide mission is still in the back of my mind. 

But there's no excuse for Jamey, who is hands down, the worst soap writer in history. Ron deserved firing just for him alone. 

[Soapsuds]

I agree Janet sucks as EP. She needs to be fired and hire someone competent to do the job of EP. She's done nothing to improve this soap.

[carolineg]

NuSophia is playing the role too meek and almost scared.  It doesn't work.  She doesn't even feel like a viable option for Tate because she's not even trying to get him.

I agree that Ron has talent and good ideas.  He has a tough time executing them and also seems to burn out quickly.  He ends up reusing the same ideas.  I have definitely liked stories he has penned on all his shows, but the bad outweighs the good.

Jamey is just not a good writer for soaps.  His blogs and some of his daytime confidential stuff were funny.  I appreciate his true love of the genre.  I don't think he's a bad person. It's just very much a practical fanfiction writer getting a soap writing job which requires a lot more personal editing and long term plotting.  But listen if I was writing Days every episode would probably have Marlena in it and no Leo or Alex ever so I can't be objective lol.

[Contessa Donatella]

I would watch this show. 

[AbcNbc247]

I can't stand him.

He's always boasting about his "love" for the genre and knowledge of all the soaps, yet treats it all like a big stupid joke and seems to have no understanding of what soap opera is

To me, that's not love that's contempt.

And he clearly doesn't do any research except maybe to read a sentence or two on a wiki somewhere. Liz and Marie was a perfect example of that. I was watching some episodes last week and I found proof that Liz and Marie did make peace in the 80s, so that petty bitchfight in Doug's funeral episode was not necessary.

[Khan]

I said the same thing when Ron Carlivati wrote that now-infamous scene with Monica and "Lester" sparring at the nurses' station.  Granted, Lesley and Monica never were the best of friends, but I thought a lot of the animosity between them had dissipated by the time Denise Alexander left in '84.  Plus, since when did people call Lesley "Lester"?

Edited March 1 by Khan

[AbcNbc247]

You'd think people who are always boasting about how much they love to use history would get it right all the time 

Please register in order to view this content

Seriously, the two of them together was one of the worst, if not the worst team in soap history and I couldn't be happier that they've been broken up.

[carolineg]

Well, you make a solid argument.  There is a huge element of laziness with Jamey.  A couple of google clicks might work for a 1 page article on DC, but it doesn't work for long term soap plotting.  His stories are trite and very IYKYK in a way that is obnoxious.

I don't think he hates the genre, but perhaps thinks he is just smarter than the viewers?  Which is awful as well.  Idk, I am not trying to defend him.  It just seems like this isn't the right job for him.

[Vee]

I think it was supposed to be an in-joke because that was one of Leslie Charleson's nicknames on-set IRL, but it was still unnecessary and juvenile to me onscreen. I also found that scene silly. Lesley is an old woman who hasn't been on staff in aeons but manages to put on a lab coat and sneak in while poor Denise Alexander struggles to cling to the hub to keep her balance. I appreciated their wanting to use her but there were other ways to do that.

I think Ron has a lot of love for the genre, and he's done a number of stories I truly enjoyed and characters or couples I loved at OLTL, and some stories I really enjoyed at GH. Unlike his replacements at GH he also understands energy. His efforts there saved GH and that can't be denied despite the work being very messy. But he's also developed far too much ego since being touted as the savior of soaps, has no filter, he loves to lazily bring up history in the cheapest way in recent years, and without enough constraints or checks and balances he goes off the rails fast. And when he doesn't get his way with either the audience or a show or actor he often develops contempt for it, and that shows onscreen. He deserved to be fired from both his last two soaps.

I know very little about Jamey's actual soap work or the nitty-gritty of what he's done at DAYS but his fanfic always sounded goofy to me.

idk about Jamey, but Ron absolutely does. I remember him writing in a 'get over it' to the fans re: an extended scene about which of Todd Manning's kids was inaccurately older than the other due to crazy SORAS. Like it was a three minute scene of just the two children awkwardly arguing over which of them should be older, and the one who was too old told the younger "get over it". Later he got so pissed about GH fans regularly commenting online that no one is accounting for Robin having PTSD from her abduction by having Robin stop a whole scene at Kelly's to repeatedly say she has no PTSD.

Edited March 1 by Vee

[AbcNbc247]

Here's an example for you

[carolineg]

Oh, Ron definitely thinks he's smarter than everyone.  His writing tends to be filled with contempt.  Again, I do sometimes think he has good ideas.  He's just extremely sensitive and has to just double down on mistakes.  Like, just move on, correct, and get over it.  A bit of humility would go a long way with Ron.

OMG!!!! I pretended this was a fever dream and didn't actually happen!!!

[AbcNbc247]

I try to pretend the same way about Craig/Nancy and Dimitri/Leo, but it never works 

Please register in order to view this content

[Contessa Donatella]

Lester was Lesley Charleson's nickname at the show back to the earliest days of her being on. 

[carolineg]

Dimitri/Leo were super offensive and disgusting to Gwen.   Gross.

I can't believe Ron ruined one of the most stable, interesting marriages that ever came from Salem to humiliate Nancy and have Craig come out for it to amount to nothing?  If there was a point anywhere in that story I would like to know.