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So, Days, what are they thinking?

I know that we’re talking about an ever-changing set of behind-the-scenes players other than that Corday guy, but I’ve decided that figuring out what Days casting and story strategy is may well be impossible.

Let’s look at what we know irrefutably:  Days got renewed for a relatively short period of time with a much reduced budget.  

As viewers, I think that no matter how much we may like certain characters, we understand that means changes and cuts we may not like, but can ultimately accept.  Those cuts were most noticeable with Days letting, over a period, 7 veteran actors/characters go.  John and Marlena, who I am on record as believing were played out anyway, Steve and Kayla who never really got the return story they (and we) deserved, Tony and Anna who were in a similar boat to Steve and Kayla but got a more respectful exit than the other four put together, and, earlier, Adrienne, who was never really used.

Okay, we don’t like it necessarily, but we get it.

At the other end of the spectrum, they finally, finally, developed their 30-something set, introducing some new and recast characters and moving it to a group as opposed to just a trio. But they then had the previously strong early-20s set decimated thanks, mainly, to the call of prime time.  Sure, Nick was sent off by choice, but Blake Berris was already booking prime time gigs when that happened, and Rachel Melvin and Darin Brooks have followed.

So Days casts a new “Horton”, and then, in stark contrast to their behaviour over the last six-odd months, goes on a veteran casting spree.

First, Crystal Chappell as Carly Manning.  Which I, for the most part, totally get.  She’s one of the best actresses in daytime and currently part of the most buzz-worthy couple in daytime on a soap that’s already cancelled.  Go for it.

Now, Wally Kurth as Justin Kiriakis.  I love Wally.  I wish he was still being used extensively as Ned Ashton on GH for any number of reasons.  But despite the resurgence of the Kiriakis family, isn’t the return of Justin now just the MOST FRUSTRATING THING EVER?

See all those comments above about Adrienne and Steve and Kayla, aka Justin’s family?  Not to mention all of those comments when Adrienne was last around about where the hell Justin and their four boys were given that Kurth was already dumped to recurring status over at GH by then?

When Adrienne last appeared is was established that she and Justin were still married, so now are we just going to have the reverse, with Justin present and Adrienne and the boys absent?  Will he take over management of the Cheatin’ Heart?  Or will they pull Judi Evans back from selling cemetery plots?

Either way, though, what’s the point now when Adrienne’s family, aside from Stephanie, is gone with and without explanation?  And do we really think they can write for Adrienne now when they couldn’t before?  Will Justin be back to do anything other than spar with Phillip and Bo about an inheritance Justin himself gave up 20-odd years ago?

To summarise, I’m pleased Wally Kurth is back, but I have no idea what the powers that be are actually thinking, if anything.

And I do really, really hope they surprise me enough to get me watching again.  Because although they seem to be making the right casting moves in terms of the actors, unless they’re going to deliver me story I’m interested in they’re not going to get me back.

Come on Days, pull a Y&R

 So, Crystal Chappell is returning to Days as Dr Carly Katerina Von Leuschner Manning.

My first response is, of course, a big yay! for Days bringing back one of the best actresses in daytime.  And a character I liked.  And breaking their no one over 40 rule.  

My second response is déjà vu, going back to this post.  Not that you need to be bothered reading that post, because essentially what is was about was a few questions on Y&R bringing back Tricia Cast as Nina.  I was concerned that Nina was no longer – at the time her return was announced – much tied to the canvas due to the rampant retconning that had taken place during her absence, and therefore what was the point of her return unless they were about to undo some or all of those retcons?

The answer, fabulously, was “all”.  Jill is once again not Katherine’s daughter, Cane is not Jill’s son, and Nina and Phillip Chancellor IV are suddenly tied right back to the canvas.  All without the need to bring back Cricket.

With Days bringing back Carly I have some similar questions.  Of all the people she was involved with, the only one really still around is Bo.  Now, sure, that’s the most important one, and Carly was involved with both Peter Reckell’s and Robert Kelker-Kelly’s versions of Bo, so there’s not a complete detachment there.  But what about everyone else?  There’s no best friend Jennifer, there’s no brother Frankie, there’s no Shawn-Douglas, there are no Alamains whatsoever, not even not-quite-sorta Alamain John.  

So, does Days just bring Carly back with some lame/non-existent/a la Adrienne off screen explanation for where Lawrence and Nicholas are and throw her straight into an, admittedly potentially fabulous, triangle with Bo and Hope?  Or do they take a leaf out of Y&R’s book and use her return to do some fabulous things with the people she was involved with back in the day?  Like, we could only hope, Louise Sorel’s Vivian Alamain.  Or bringing on someone as Nicky who can mix it with the younger set who, after all, he’s connected with but not at all related to.

And one assumes that Crystal Chappell’s real life hubby Michael “Lawrence Alamain” Sabatino is coming back to LA with her. Of course, it’s just a pity that Steve isn’t around anymore, given that Lawrence is the one who was actually responsible for faking his death…  But that’s the stuff of about five other posts.

So, Days, great casting coup, but now let’s really see if you can step up to the plate and create something that will make me tune back in.

On a semi-related, small soap world note, I’m also thrilled to see that Lynn “Lucy Coe” Herring has joined the As the World Turns cast.  Obviously, it’s not a show I watch, but anything getting her back on the air, not to mention in some way reunited with Jon “Kevin Collins” Lindstrom, is a great thing.  And related to this post as little Nicky Alamain was of course responsible for off-ing Lynn Herring’s Days character, Lizette Whatsherface, when Herring took a brief early 90s break from GH.  Which she thankfully rapidly went back too.  Otherwise we would never have had Sigmund the Duck, which would have been a huge shame.  Oh dear, now that’s got me remembering the days when GH had several pets as featured characters.  That were far more entertaining than many of the characters they have now. Sigh.

I offer you some Beefcake with this rant

Why yes, my first post in some time, and my first post about Days in an age, is going to be a rant.  

And what’s more a rant about an obscure largely historical point rather than anything actually on the show yet.  So, you’ve been warned.

So Days, which has lost/thrown out/is losing most of its under-25 characters – to go with having thrown out half of its over-45 characters – has cast a new Horton lad for the beginning of summer.  

We all know how that’s going to turn out.  

(By the by, isn’t it kind of amusing that the safest characters on the show seem to be the over-70s and the 30-somethings, the two demographics that for all intents and purposes didn’t even exist on this show two years ago?)

Anyway, we will now welcome Nathan Horton.  A character who, I suspect, we will be expected to enjoy due to his (a) supposed Horton-ness; and (b) abs.  Not necessarily in that order.

Well I am sorry, bringing on Hortons may be a good idea and abs may be good for many things, but neither are going to distract me (for long) from the fact that this is A MADE UP CHARACTER.

For Nathan Horton is apparently supposed to be the child of classic 80s pairing Pete and Melissa.  

I am sorry, but no.  

Nathan could certainly be Pete’s child – although he’d need to be named Charlie and there wouldn’t be any point anyway – or he could be Melissa’s child from after she left town.  In fact bringing on a child of Melissa’s, a grandchild for Mickey and Maggie, would be a sterling idea (memories of their attempt at Jeremy Horton notwithstanding).  

However, the idea of him being Pete and Melissa’s child is just stupid.  It reeks of “let’s flip through the Days history book of couples that got the patented Days supercouple treatment and bring on their child”.  Without ever looking to see if (a) they actually had a child on-screen; or (b) it was in any way likely that they had one off-screen.

Pete and Melissa certainly got the patented Days supercouple treatment.  They were the teen/young couple of the moment when I first started watching – after Hope and Bo, before Jennifer and Frankie - so 12 year-old me had quite an affinity with them.  Good rich Horton girl, boy from the wrong side of the tracks.  Sound familiar?  Runaway teens, drug-related misunderstandings, gangs!, kidnappings, major obstacles in the form of him having to marry the other girl he got pregnant, (adulterous) summer on the run, big wedding.  

Of course, their story did have a couple of unique elements.  Most importantly his secret career as a stripper at Beefcakes, and the fact that they ultimately broke up because she left him for Lars, possibly the wettest catalyst for permanently breaking up a major couple in the history of this show.  

But still, Lars and his leg warmers are important in all of this, because he’s part proof of why Pete and Melissa having a child makes no sense.  Melissa and Pete broke up over Lars and Pete left town to go be with Ivy and their kid.  Melissa stayed in town for, small break for recasting aside, the best part of 6 years afterwards and then made various other appearances for family events over the ensuing years.  She had a series of boring, bad or downright horrid relationships: Lars, in-love-with-Kayla Jack, Emilio, Brian Schofield (he was the in a band with Keanu brother, not the John McBain brother, right?).  She was ultimately responsible for knocking off Emilio and his mullet.

She morphed from a “dancer” into a “singer” and moved to Nashville where she was later reported, I believe, to have married a doctor.  Which was, I assume, an in-joke about the fact that the original and returning Melissa, Lisa Trusel, was/is in real life married to the actor who after leaving Days played Dr Tom Hardy on GH, a part also played of course by Matt “Jack Deveraux” Ashford because soaps are a small world.  But even if that was a to-be-ignored-later in-joke, it doesn’t mean that they can just say she moved to Nashville and married Pete, because if she had she would have said something!  You don’t have a character come back occasionally for funerals and christenings and not throw the audience that kind of bone.

Therefore, I say, this Nathan person should not have been defined as Pete and Melissa’s child.  Nope.  Just wrong.  Melissa’s child, fine.  Pete and Melissa’s child, not fine.

And that’s even before I get on to the fact that no matter the parental permutation, his surname shouldn’t be Horton.  Pete’s surname was Jannings.  Melissa married “Dr Unspoken Surname” but I’m willing to bet that unspoken surname wasn’t Horton.  And Melissa herself may have been Mickey and Maggie’s adopted daughter, but she was always Melissa Anderson, not Melissa Horton.   The slapping on of the Horton surname just seems to be further proof of the plucked out of a barely informed someone’s arse nature of this character.  When Nick was introduced they didn’t feel the need to give him a Horton surname to make him part of the family, so why the need now?  

Ahhhh.  I feel better now. (And perfectly content with dwelling on the past. I am a child of 80s Days, and I am proud. And fond of parentheses.)

And to make you feel better too, relive the most important part of the story, Pete the Beefcake (also featuring Calliope):

Courtesy classicdaysof80s, which you should absolutely check out not only for a lot of Melissa and Pete’s history, but lots of the rest of the show’s classic storylines.

Beware: Loathing Ahead

I’ve been trying to think of a soap story trope that I loathe more, but I really don’t think there is one.

So I will officially declare the old “partner tries to convince other partner they don’t love them for some “higher” purpose” my Most Hated Soap Storyline.

I know soaps are not about real life or common sense, but it’s the complete and utter lack of common sense and seeing the obvious that renders these stories loathsome to me.  Plus they smack of lazy “we need an obstacle, we need an obstacle, come up with an obstacle now!” writing.  But mainly it’s the frustration they inevitably generate because the answer: “just tell the other person the truth!”, is right out there for everyone to see from moment one.

Obviously this little rant is being driven by OLTL’s decision to experiment with Stacy’s Adventures in Bone Marrow Blackmail.  Which is rendering a part of the show almost unwatchable for me, something that has only happened on two other occasions in the last year – the Vanessa debacle, and the height of Tess’s ham-fest.

Stacy started out as a good idea.  Gigi’s sister.  Gigi’s sister who had a crush on Rex since childhood.  Fine.  Fine.  But she’s rapidly become such a repulsive character that she might as well have been written by Bob Guza (and I know general gossip has Brian Frons’ hands all over this one and the sudden descent into darkness in Llanview, which I’ll comment on in a separate post).

This is a woman who finds out her nephew has a potentially fatal disease, blackmails his grandmother in order to pass herself off as a donor match for a bone marrow transplant, and then informs her sister that she won’t donate unless the sister breaks up with her partner.  She does this on the basis that she believes the partner will then fall in love with her.  So she’s both evil and delusional.  Or, as more than one person has already pointed out – to her face – she’s psychotic.  There’s nothing redeeming about this character at all, not even the actress.

Leaving the character of Stacy aside for a moment, the story itself is just a bad idea.  

Gigi started out fine with telling Stacy where to get off, and calling her a psycho to her face, but quickly succumbed to stupidity.  The answer to this blackmail is not to fake sleeping with Brody, but to tell Rex, and then you can either fake it together – which will probably make it happen faster – or conk Stacy over the head with something really heavy and steal her goddamned bone marrow, which isn’t going to help anyway.

And even though the one twist is this I do like is the impact on Brody and Jessica’s budding relationship, Brody should not have been an enabler here.  He should have told Rex if Gigi wouldn’t.

The story leaves me with nothing but annoyance and yelling at the screen “just tell him!” over and over again.  

Though while it’s this story that’s currently bugging me, all blame doesn’t lie with OLTL.  I don’t think I’ve ever liked one of these stories.  Even one of the most classic versions of it, Days’ Steve breaks up with Kayla so that she’ll marry his dying brother Jack, still annoyed me.  There’s certainly no comparison between the writing and acting in that story and this one, but the fundamental problem remains the same: if Steve just told Kayla the truth a large amount of the problem would have gone away or could have been dealt with together.  Now, sure, that generated a lot of really good story, and I can see some of its value in retrospect, but I still disliked watching it.

This is not simply an "I like this couple, I don't want to see them broken up" issue either.  I could immensely dislike the couple and still think it's a stupid story, I just don't remember any particular examples of that off the top of my head because I tend to block those things out.

I know there needs to be conflict.  And I know that writers struggle for new ways to create conflict between happy couples that are working and that they don’t want to have cheating on each other, but I just don’t think this is the answer.  Frankly, I much prefer the old “bring a spouse we never knew about ‘back’ on to the scene” to this.  

The only other thing the OLTL story has going for it is that it’s moving damn quickly, so hopefully it’ll be over in a week and a half and I can go back to the zen state in which I’m usually able to watch this show.

Provided Stacy is removed to St Ann’s permanently, of course.  Because there’s no point to her.  There could have been, but there’s not.  Add to everything else that she’s only been around 5 minutes AND also has her grubby paws on Scott Clifton’s Schuyler AND is doing the unthinkable and making Roxie unamusing.  I just don’t understand how we’re supposed to care about Stacy at all.  I can’t care about her, I can’t even love to hate her, I just want her off my screen.  Now.

And the sooner this story is retired from soaps generally, the happier I’ll be.

Sigh: more firings at Days

Well, there we go.  What many expected was around the corner has come to pass and Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans have been let go from Days, joining Thaao Penghlis, Drake Hogestyn and Deidre Hall.

It can hardly be regarded as a shocking development given their distinct lack of screen time for a long time and, let's face it, an overall return for Steve and Kayla that was mishandled by multiple regimes to different degrees.

Now if only they can be snapped up - separately or together, but I'd prefer separately - by another show.

If only GH didn't suck to hard I'd be beginning the campaign for the return of Stefan Cassadine from the dead right now.

Quick thoughts.  Maybe more to follow later.

Soaped Up

Today I find myself in a unusual situation.  It’s mid-weekend and I am completely caught up on my soap watching.  

For months now, I have been continually behind.  Well, I had felt as if I were continually behind mainly because I just couldn’t summon up the energy to watch the stacks of episodes of General Hospital and Days – and even One Life to Live briefly while Tess was running rampage on a daily basis – I had sitting around.  However, late last year I came to realise that while my life – work, travel, life – did provide some hold ups, especially with OLTL pre-New Year, really it was the shows that were to blame.  

If they don’t compel me to sit up late at night to catch up then they’re not doing their job.

Things have now changed. 

I have dumped Days.  I keep in touch with what’s going on in general terms to see if there’s something I want to watch, and so far, there’s nothing (aside from catching the odd sex scene on You Tube for amusement value).

I have entered into a more casual relationship with GH, where I’m only tuning in for things that interest me, meaning I’m only tuning in very periodically and generally only for things Scorpio-Drake with a side of Scorpio-Jones.  And yes, I’ll give The Latest Stunt a look because (a) they do often do these things well just to spite us; (b) if it’s no good at least it will be good for a laugh; and (c) they’ll probably kill off a Quartermaine, so I should pay attention to that at least so I can rant accordingly.

Both of those I regard as positive-negative moves.  Positive for me, because the shows are so negative.

On the positive-positive side of things, having started out watching less than a year ago as an experiment, I now find myself coming home on a daily basis wanting to watch OLTL right away. 

And, with my time a little better balanced I now also have the opportunity to act on all the good word I’ve been hearing for the last few months and start watching The Young and the Restless again.  I am not fully settled back in yet – and a lot has changed since I last quit watching, but more on that in a dedicated post momentarily – but so far what I have seen is pretty damn good.  And with that I also want to see what happens next and as soon as possible.

So it turns out that it’s far easier than I had been making it out to keep up with the soaps; break-up with the crap and hook-up with the good stuff.

S-E-X-X-WHY?

Part One: Beware the Lobe

As you’ll know, I haven’t been watching Days for the last six months or so.  Due to extreme lack of interest.  But I’ve still been keeping in touch with everyone’s blogs, Daytime Confidential etc, so I know what’s been going on.  

That Nick has become a drug addicted murderer, that Max has swapped nieces again, that Steve and Kayla haven’t been seen, that Nicole is faking a pregnancy that will obviously result in her ending up with Sami’s baby, that Melanie had taken over the show, that a crime against humanity has been committed in the form of EJ’s haircut.

That Dr Daniel went from Chelsea to her grandmother to Chloe, his patient/girlfriend’s son’s fiancé.  And their relationship began with a possibly criminal mid-exam grope.

And that there was some major, cheesy, hilarious sex going on this week. 

So I had to watch.  

And, frankly, you all undersold it.

The way he can’t button his shirt.  The sax, the sax.  The way she went over there to say “no” and still didn’t get within 100 miles of actually saying “no”.  The bilious duet that didn’t match the scene AT ALL.  The endlessness of it.   The arching.  The face eating.  The way no couple anyone actually likes has ever got a sex scene that long.  The “acting”.  The fricking fireplace in the fracking apartment.

The way this is exactly what gives soaps a bad name.

Really, all that was missing was some licking of some kind.  And I mean that in the worst way.  

Is it wrong that I was worried throughout that he would snag one of those giant earrings she was wearing and rip her ear lobe?

And now, having been simultaneously amused and horrified, chances are I won’t watch Days again for another six months.

I also note Daniel has picked up on his girlfriend’s manner of pronouncing Lucas’s name: Lukiss.  As opposed to the usual Lusass.

Part Two: Under the Robe

Meanwhile OLTL’s Dorian gave David Vickeroshi a blow job in an effort to get her hands on the Buchanan fortune.

Which seemed like a bit much to me.  A bit un-Dorian.  

The counter-chanting was amusing, her ambition for the money seems typical.  

But that she would resort so quickly to such tactics, and that he – who most recently married her sister in an effort to get back at her – wouldn’t have questioned why she was suddenly all over him, didn’t really work for me.  

Neither did her getting on her knees.

Yet it was still 20 times more preferable than endless Chloe and Daniel sex scenes.

Caps courtesy Sheryl.

Farewell 2008

It’s been rather difficult approaching 2008’s Best and Worst post.  

Mainly because there’s a lot that I haven’t watched this past year.  It’s a bit of a challenge categorising things I haven’t actually watched.  

So, I’m not doing a Best and Worst, I’m just doing a quick fire summary of the shows, and then moving on to catching up on the last month’s worth of OLTL and starting in on Y&R.

I saw 2008 in soaps as follows:

Days: BORING and completely unwatchable in the second half of the year.

GH: Boring, but scattered with some great, funny, lovely, occasionally sexy moments.  Making it even more frustrating than Days, because you can’t completely ignore it.

OLTL: Uneven, but never boring, and at times quite brilliant.

Y&R: Apparently so on the upsurge that I must absolutely make time to watch in the new year.

AMC: 90% appalling, but still capable of delivering a lovely tribute episode to a much loved actress/character in Eileen Herlie/Myrtle, a fantastic reunion of much loved characters in Angie and Jesse and someone who looks hot even with a beard and a crappy storyline in Thorsten Kaye.

B&B: I gather there were bears.  Now a prime time show with quite reasonable ratings in my home country.

ATWT:  Still have never watched it.

GL:  On location and in the ratings basement.

Passions: Gone to soap heaven, or perhaps pergatory.

Night Shift:  Some parts were so fabulous that it made the whole show fabulous even though in reality it was a little uneven.  True soap winner of the year.

And because I can't completely ignore Bests and Worsts:

- the Annual Jane Eliot Ageing Gracefully Yet Spectacularly Award this year is a tie between Days' Renee Jones and AMC's Debbi Morgan, both of whom look gorgeous and years younger than their actual years; and

- the Worst Wardrobe Award goes to Days' Kate Roberts, this year finally nudging out Carly Corinthos-Multiple-Names.

A Soap Opera Thanksgiving 2008

It’s Turkey time again!  Well, for you.  For me it’s the beginning of Christmas party schmooze and aching feet season.

For those of you who are new(ish) to the site, although I’m not American and there is no Thanksgiving here where I live, there is Thanksgiving here on this blog.  You can go back and read my Thanksgiving lists from 2006 and 2007, and feel free to get knocked over by the irony of last year’s list in particular (both in its positivity and negativity).

So, what I am thankful for over the past soap year?

 -         Night Shift.  The whole of season two, but especially, especially, the Scorpios

-         That Days has been renewed, even with all the restrictions that come with that

-         That Y&R has improved so much that I’m trying to find room for it in my viewing schedule again

-         That I found OLTL.  Although it hasn’t been delivering as consistently as it was, and has had one particular story that could most flatteringly be described as massively problematic, it’s still more compelling to me than either GH or Days at the moment

-         That AMC killed off Babe.  Just because

-         Daytime Confidential’s podcasts, which always have me laughing while I’m trying to get some serious exercise done

-         GH having found – mainly through accident, rather than design, I suspect – a sense of humour again.  Sure, the show is still mainly dark black and frustrating, but the comedic (but not stupid) duos of Maxie & Spinelli and Alexis & Diane have provided some much needed and sustained levity

-         Kirsten Storms and Maxie Jones. Last year it was just about the transformation of Maxie, but now it’s just about how great she’s (been allowed to) become

What are you thankful for this soapy Thanksgiving?

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is not the end of the world

I know I’m late to this one, and I have been hovering around writing this post for a few days, but haven’t had the right amount of time to devote to it.  

This one being the firing of Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn.  

My reaction to this is not outrage or prophesising the end of soaps.  Rather it is somewhere between “meh” and “well, that was kind of overdue”.

Meh, because while reading Corday’s announcement of their departure – “will be offscreen from January for an unknown period of time” – I could clearly picture him walking down to the casting bank and taking out hedging insurance against ratings fluctuation.   That is the least convincing final, last ever, firing I have ever seen.  And would be even if this weren’t the same guy that fired half the cast a couple of years ago and then brought them all back AND the same guy that fired one of these same actors last year and brought him back again.  Hell, in this case he’s not even bothering to go to the “trouble” of “killing” the characters “off”.

And as for it being well overdue, I have been on record for a long time in saying that I thought Marlena and John were played out.  I thought John’s “death” last year was well done and a great send-off for the character that had been given not much to do for quite some time.  I thought that it also gave Deidre Hall the chance to actually give a decent performance for the first time in ages.  And had they sent Marlena travelling in grief afterwards, that would have been fine because they didn’t have anything else to do with her aside from being a parent to her kids, two thirds of whom are off-screen.  And while I have found Robo-John as amusing as the next person since his return, it wasn’t really a good enough reason to bring him back especially given it still didn’t lead to any truly interesting story for Marlena.

Don’t get me wrong, I have loved these characters in the past.  I was never a raving John-Marlena fan, but I enjoyed chunks of their relationship, and I’ve certainly enjoyed plenty (I might even say most) of their relationships with other people.  I just think that everything that could be done with these characters has been done.  And then some.  They’ve each been killed, lost their memories, been kidnapped, been killers, had affairs and happy marriages, multiple children, and, you know, ventured into the world of possession and exorcism.

And contrary to what I’ve been reading in some commentary, Deidre Hall is not Erika Slezak or Susan Lucci.  Her departure is not a symbolic end of the show.  Certainly during the later parts of the Reilly years, Marlena became the centre of the show.  But she was not an originating character, the show was worse for rotating around her, and Deidre Hall has – but for a few set pieces here and there – been miles from her best work for years.   And frankly, some of this show’s best, most beloved years in the mid to late 80s were the years when she was off doing prime time.

All of this is not to say that I am in favour of cutting the vets when times and money get tight.  Anyone who reads this blog on an even semi-regular basis knows that I am exceedingly pro-vet.  More importantly though, I’m pro-balance.  Not all new young characters who I can’t possibly care about, not all vet characters who are storied-out and left to do not much.  

On that basis it seems to me that John and Marlena are the obvious ones to go.  And Roman, if we’re making a list.  Days is blessed with vets.  Blessed with vets they seem to go in cycles of using, and cursed with vets who are in established unbreakable super couples.  But if you look at the big three, I maintain that John and Marlena are those to go.  

Bo and Hope have had a new vitality in the post-Reilly years, and as a Brady-Horton-Kiriakis combination, have plenty of family story to tell.  Steve and Kayla have a veritable mountain of story to mine given the amount of time they were off-screen even if writers have been spectacularly reluctant to do that anywhere close to the way it could/should have been done.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Stephen and Mary-Beth were the next heads on the block, but I would be so disappointed because it would be a huge waste.  As it has been for ages.  With Drake and Deidre I don’t feel it’s a waste.  I feel that they have done everything they possibly can with these characters.

Hell, they had to put his brain on a disk to write for him this time around.

Good story – which CAN be written within budget constraints - that’s all I want.

With or without Drake and Deidre I am not at all confident that Days can deliver that in the next 18 months of reprieve time they’ve been given.  As Tom Casiello noted, for some time now Days, onscreen and off, has appeared to be just existing day to day.  They’re not trying anything, it’s not in any way compelling, and I haven’t been moved to watch since August.  Not in an angry “I can’t watch this dreck anymore!” way, just in a “meh” way.  Days is not sufficiently interesting, or even offensive or controversial enough, to make me summon the energy to lift the remote/mouse and turn it on.

So all I can hope now is that the combination of (a) short-term renewal; (b) further budget cuts; and (c) removing some characters that no longer have much story left in them (be they vets or newbies) due to such budget cuts, will trigger something new and interesting in this show that I have in the past loved so much.

And, of course, I hope they build up to John and Marlena’s departure in a good way, rather than throwing them together at the last second and then having them sail off around the world while one of their close relatives is still dying in hospital.  Just by way of random example plucked out of the air.