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| DAYS: Weekly Discussion; Week of 8/17 - 8/21 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 17 2009, 10:51 AM (6,218 Views) | |
| lysie | Aug 18 2009, 02:03 PM Post #41 |
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There are more things to life than breaking up and getting back together, though. For some reason Days writers only seem to be able to write relationship woes. |
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| Paxton | Aug 18 2009, 02:10 PM Post #42 |
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I don't agree with that. Discussions about Sami usually degenerate into fanbase wars between those who want her with their preferred guy. Why anybody would want her is beyond me, but apparently people do. And I agree with lysie, there's more to life than breaking up and making up. And now I'm sure someone will post that Days fans are rabid romance fanatics who aren't interested in stories that don't involve romance. I would agree that my preference is that Days focus on romantic stories, which once upon a time they did really well, but those don't have to be done at the exclusion of everything else. I like friendship stories too, and medical crises, and work dilemmas, and family quarrels. |
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| PhoenixRising05 | Aug 18 2009, 02:23 PM Post #43 |
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I think you and I already had a discussion about the ratings. I believe it's two factors. One, it's summer and Days is heavily reliant on younger viewers, maybe moreso now given the cast changes. Two, most of the stories have been in a holding pattern or being built up. The week things began moving again for one story (Kate/Dan/Chloe/Lucas) the show went up alot. I expect the show to struggle a little until after labor day and then pick itself back up to 2.0-2.1 consistently like it was prior to July. |
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| PhoenixRising05 | Aug 18 2009, 02:25 PM Post #44 |
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It shouldn't be but it is. The show made it that way in the 80's when it started committing to the "destined couple" crap. Then, for the better part of 20 years, with only a few exceptions, it told more couple stories then character stories causing fans to expect that in such a way that when the show does anything different, it suffers. Again, I blame the show for this primarily but I also blame many fans for not seeing the bigger picture after awhile and encouraging it. |
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| james0479 | Aug 18 2009, 02:27 PM Post #45 |
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I'm enjoying the interesting and truthful comments people are saying in this thread. I want to join in, however, I am 26 minutes into today's show and I am riveted. I guess I'm just in the mood for it and I think it's a fast paced (for the most part) and a good show so far. Hope the second half measures up. lol |
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| luvpumpkns | Aug 18 2009, 02:29 PM Post #46 |
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well what i meant was the only common theme amongst many posts is sami. of course, they all disagree as to which man she should end up with. and i'm definitely not saying everything has to be a romance story, but like it or not, there's a relationship element to any conflict had by a couple on the show. i really can't speak to the effectiveness of any kind of mystery or adventure storylines for couples, because i only started watching about a decade ago. also, a lot of my complaining about bo/hope is colored by the fact that i've seen a lot of them over the past few years. to be honest with you, even as a bope fan, i would have rather seen steve and kayla stay just because I wasn't familiar with them and hadn't been through the same repetitive storylines with them over the years like i had bo and hope. |
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| PhoenixRising05 | Aug 18 2009, 02:34 PM Post #47 |
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Sure, there is more but relationships have and will always be at the core of what makes a soap...a soap. You can't change that. The genre is built on relationships. Plus, soaps are a business. You have to bring in the audience. Some types of stories just won't do that. I'm with you that those stories are nice but I recognize that the audience wants to be entertained. They want to be drawn in. Family quarrels can be good but you usually need to add a major dramatic element to them to make them enthralling and that itself always comes back to relationships between a couple if you think about the history of soaps. Same goes for friendship stories. Is that really going to draw an audience in? It may be nice for those who are regular viewers but it won't bring in new or casual fans. Nor will work dilemmas. Days has tried corporate stories over the years and fans have not embraced it. That is more Y&R's thing. Every soap has an identity. Some argue that the identity of a show comes from the characters and familiarity. That is one element but the biggest element is the feel of the show and the types of stories it features. The way Days is right now is the Days many are used to. It's the Days that will more then likely draw new or casual fans in because it's simple and not complex so it's easy to get into. Plus, it's more unpredictable. You don't know who will end up with who beyond Bo and Hope and that is what adds suspense. That is why I always wished Days kept John dead. Why? Because that would have put it out there that the show is willing to kill off a big name for real. That would've made it known that not every supercouple will get a happy ending. It also would've given Marlena loads to do. They missed the boat on that. |
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| lysie | Aug 18 2009, 02:49 PM Post #48 |
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I've never seen Days commit to a bigger picture. It's hard to see something that never comes to fruition. |
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| Tripp | Aug 18 2009, 02:51 PM Post #49 |
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Geekette
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See I disagree. To me, supercouples aren't supercouples because they always wind back up together. To me they are supercouples because their chemistry, story and acting allows them to earn this status. And they have proven the estrangements of the past were no match for the bond that brings them back together (God, I'm sorry, I might have thrown up at the cheesyness last line but it's the best way I can put it). That's why throwing them in endless triangles, especially when they are at this stage in their lives, is repetitive and unnecessary. Who believes that Bo/Hope, John/Marlena, Steve/Kayla, would really break up for a third party? All it does now, is make them seem unworthy of the supercouple status. After everything they have been through, all these years together, they would suddenly be willing to risk everything? Then the extremists vow to hate the third party person forever because that character was written in (usually in an awkward way) specifically to split up their favorite couple. I know if Steve/Kayla were on, even in supporting roles, I'd still be watching. Now with Tim stating nobody likes to watch them prop up other characters, I can say the same for non-veterans. Propping is a lazy ass form of writing and soap writers have relied on them for far too long. Dena is not the only writer guilty of his, Hogan was horrible at this and so was JER. If a character is well written, propping shouldn't be needed, audiences can see for themselves what makes the character good/great/awesome without having to be told by another character. |
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| lysie | Aug 18 2009, 03:02 PM Post #50 |
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All of that stuff (business drama, family drama, friend drama) can happen around romance. But if I'm supposed to believe that Days is keeping its romance identity with the current regime...well... When they killed of John he was hardly being used. Almost the equivalent of killing of Lucas now. He and Marlena hadn't even been shown in their home. That move took no guts. It was purely to get some attention. |
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| james0479 | Aug 18 2009, 03:02 PM Post #51 |
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Well hot damn, I thought today's show was fantastic! Especially for a Tuesday. I hope it's ok to go ahead and discuss the show....so for those who haven't watched yet....don't read this. lol Ok....After yesterday, I was a bit concerned about the kidnapping storyline. Today, I was on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the connection between the dirty cop ( what a creep) and those who are watching poor Ciarra at the house. I want to know what all of this is about and I hope the writers have an end result in mind and don't just make this up as they go. Victor, Justin, Bo and Hope rocked today, IMO. I loved when Victor said...'just pay the damn ransom, Bo"......I was like YES...Just pay the ransom Bo. But Bo, ever the supercop, wants to play by the books and I see both sides. While Bo is screaming at Victor, Hope has a breakdown ( which she couldn't control) in front of Justin. He conceals her, which, surprisingly, I enjoyed. I have been very impressed with Justin and hope to see more of him in the future. I love Bo and Hope but Justin is interesting and the writing does appear to be on the wall of where this story could lead us romantically. But anyway......When Hope had another breakdown with Bo ....he held her and simply said.."I love you." Man...THAT gave me chills....I had totally reversed back to how this is BO AND HOPE.........poor Bo is doing the best he can and his family is first and foremost to him. The story today had me back and forth with my emotions towards Bo. That's some good shit! Victor calling out Stephanie had me rolling on the floor laughing. I like Stephanie.....and also thought it was a bit of a stretch that Vic would take time out of the day (with his grand daughter up for ransom) to play teenie bopper with a young girl. But I love it when he says whatever is on his mind and doesn't give a shit. That's the Vic I love. Arianna showed her SMOOTH side today. Man, is she sneaky or what? I kinda got into her scenes today.....and all the while I'm picturing Lindsay in the role. That will be delicious.....just wish the story wasn't this far in. Melanie confuses the shit out of me. The Phelany sex wasn't that interesting to me and I'm not really buying it. But, I'll keep watching and see what happens. I like Steph with Phil and I have found myself enjoying her scenes with Nathan.....but I'm not too invested in that clique.....it'll have to grow on me. NOW....As for THAT ending. That dialogue was so cruel. Bringing up Zach gave me chills and I couldn't believe they went there. You even had a hint of the wail from Hope and those eyes from Bo as he held her up. I hate that bitch who is helping with the kidnapping of Ciarra. Excuse my language but it really got to me. How do they know about Zach? Who are the people? How long have they been paying attention to or studying Bo and Hope? This story has me totally on the edge of my seat. I don't care for a child in danger story.....but since it's what I'm getting, I'm watching it and I'm invested. Previews for tomorrow look good. The look on Kate's snide face as Daniel says his say to her is priceless. Can't wait....and I usually don't say that. lol :) |
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| Paxton | Aug 18 2009, 03:04 PM Post #52 |
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We did, I just didn't recall coming to a consensus about it, and we probably won't. I think I don't understand the argument about younger viewers. Where are the older viewers going during the summer? Do you see what I'm saying? If, from September-May, you have a core audience of people who are out of school, then from June-August you also have viewers home who normally are in school, why are the ratings worse, not better? What is the point of tailoring stories to younger viewers when they're so flighty anyway? I assume the reason Fridays have been so abysmal is that people aren't watching live or same day due to long vacation weekends, but that doesn't really explain the rest of the week. And I have to say, when I was a teenager, I was more interested in Steve and Kayla's age group than Jennifer and Frankie, so this whole "cater to teens" thing never really worked for me. I'm not totally sure I agree with you either that the stories right now are in a holding pattern. Danloe/Kate isn't in a holding pattern--it's finally moving (which you acknowledged). The Sami/Rafe/Emily "mystery" has already had quite a bit of movement. The baby switch is moving again and certainly in June it saw a lot of action with Sami's reveal. I would agree that the Philip quad has been only building slowly and the Bo/Hope kidnapping story just started, so I'll be curious to see the ratings out for this week to see if they had any effect. As for the ratings going up after Labor Day, how much of that do you expect to be able to attribute to the returns of CC, LS and MS? I know you don't have a crystal ball, just curious to hear what you think. They, along with WK, are hardly new characters or young actors. Before you say it, yes, I know they were off canvas a long while, but so were Steve and Kayla. I guess I just still don't quite see that the new, younger generation is now totally in charge when significant older characters/actors are returning. |
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| px780 | Aug 18 2009, 03:18 PM Post #53 |
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Streetcorner Philosopher
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Love this question, love this thread. I don't know if it's about types of stories; I think it's about the people in them. I really think Days screwed up by not building a compelling new couple over the past, I dunno, 20 years to replace Bo/Hope, John/Marlena, Steve/Kayla. When the actress playing Carrie left so did Carrie, so no Carrie/Mike OR Carrie/Austin. When the "actress" playing Chloe left so did Chloe, so no Chloe/Phillip or Chloe/Brady. Then they dumped Shawn/Belle. Kind of the same with Chelsea- instead of bringing on a new actress and keeping the character for continuity within the younger set, Chelsea goes off to wherever. It's like anytime they have potential they don't keep going with it. Sami/Sweeney is the exception, and at least on this board it seems she's almost played out. So to get back to the question- I don't know that there's anything they can do to keep supercouple fanbases happy at this point since they're essentially riding the same characters they introduced way back in the day. And they're relying on them again with this Ciara kidnapping storyline. They need to focus on not screwing up Will and Mia (as separate characters not just as Willa Or Wia or Mill or whatever the hell their joint name is) and hope to hell that Bope can carry them through...again. |
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| PhoenixRising05 | Aug 18 2009, 03:22 PM Post #54 |
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The older viewers are going nowhere. It's just that Days has more younger fans then older fans, especially now given how the show is constituted. I mean, if you look at the numbers this summer, it's not like Days is crashing. It just look as if some fans are tuning in and out. The week the Lucas/Chloe/Dan/Kate stuff blew up, the audience came back for a week. Just to be clear...I don't think young fans are just tuning out because of vacations. Yes, that is part of it (as is evident by Wimbledon week, Fridays, etc) but I think that with so much to do in summer and all that they only tend to watch when things are interesting. Or, maybe they wait awhile to watch (DVR, Tivo, etc) because of what they are doing. I think the fans are there but they aren't rushing to their TV's right now because there isn't much happening. In the Fall and winter, that doesn't matter because there isn't as much choices of things to do. Now, it matters. That is why I think the big week in July where the Lucas/Chloe/Dan/Kate story exploded drew the number it did. Fans rushed to their TV's that week. They couldn't wait a week or so to watch it. They watched it right away. I thing they cater to young fans in summer because they hope to get new viewers. I think they figure those that do stick around (maybe they are really young and can't go off to places on their own) may get hooked seeing someone like Mia or Will onscreen. I mean, so many of us became hooked due to parents and grandparents. They are probably hoping that having young characters will help that. I was always one to be more interested in the older characters too but I think times have changed and TPTB think this is the better solution. That is rather strange though considering we barely see the young characters. Will, Mia, and Chad appear in 3-4 straight and then go away for a week. Your right that the stories are moving...NOW. The first 3 weeks of July had things in a holding pattern. Days had a good June ratings-wise because of Grace's death and then after that things slowed down. It happens and I think they expected subpar numbers. Now, I think they expect a slow and steady increase now that things are picking up. They will probably expect a little better in the Fall. I don't think the big returns in the Fall will do anything for the numbers on their own. It will be about the story and whether Days can keep the numbers during the week consistent. They did that most of this year and that is why the show remained steady while others fell. That is the key. CC and Hartley may bring some fans over like Martsolf and Gering did but I think that will merely stabilize things. To get the show beyond the 2.1-2.2 benchmark it was getting, they need to really amp up the drama and bring it with the stories. The baby switch reveal, if handled right, is one trump card they have. Now they just have to do right by the big returns and the other stories and things could go really well. |
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| lysie | Aug 18 2009, 03:31 PM Post #55 |
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Yes! All these supercouples have kids. Kids who keep getting sent to Europe instead of becoming a foundation for the show. |
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| james0479 | Aug 18 2009, 03:42 PM Post #56 |
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I agree that if you are going to have any type of younger characters attempt to drive the show, it needs to be characters we are invested in. Personally, I think it was a mistake to get rid of Shawn and Belle....even tho I wasn't heartbroken when it happened. But, now, looking, back, they could have been very useful in the past couple of years....and with their presence, maybe we wouldn't have been introduced to some of the other forgotten younger characters that have come and gone. I preferred Jason Cook as Shawn, but the characters were at least related to very central characters, thus making them central characters themselves. I don't have a huge prob with the younger scene right now. I don't mind Will and Mia or Steph and I think the show is generally getting better at telling story and not showcasing only certain actors everyday. And THANK GOD that story appears to be actually moving lately. There was a month there was I swear I saw the same episode everyday. As much as I love John, Marlena, Tony, Anna and Patch and Kayla....I've found myself becoming open to the fact of trying out some other people and seeing how that goes. I'm talking Justin, Carly, Lawrence and Viv. Apparently the show can't afford them all at this point. It's weird not seeing my fave vets but, if it saves the show, then I'm open to it....only IF the younger set doesn't take over like they were known to do in the past. I'm actually excited about the next couple of months and we will just wait and see how it goes! |
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| esp13 | Aug 18 2009, 04:14 PM Post #57 |
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I not only would have supported the idea, I advocated for it when it came to Steve and Kayla. From the time I started watching again in 2006, it was apparent that the show had utterly failed to build a strong mid-generation group (i.e. the mid-20's to mid-30's crowd). They were still relying on John and Marlena and Bo and Hope and Jack and Jennifer (and then Steve and Kayla) to drive the show. I had no problem with Steve and Kayla being supporting players (although I think they deserved at least one decent storyline surrounding Steve's return). What I would have liked to have seen for Steve and Kayla was a solid story surrounding Steve's return, then let them rotate back into the supporting role while we see them deal with the realities of trying to pick up a marriage after 16 years apart. I'm talking one day a week, occassionally two, of them dealing with some of those natural issues. Meanwhile, Kayla would be playing doctor and mom, and Steve would have found a job (the PI thing was fine) and being dad. I would have liked for the show to let them out to play about once a year. Not even necessarily in a story that they were driving, but just something that gave them a slightly more prominent role than usual and gave them some good stuff to play. Also, it would be nice to throw the fans a bone once every couple of months with some cute romantic scene -- nothing big, just something for the fans to enjoy. I would have envisioned them being one a couple of times a week generally, with airtime increasing during that one storyline a year where they got a bigger role. Maybe the best way to say this is that some of my favorite scenes from Steve and Kayla's latest stint was during the fall of '07 when they were basically supporting players in the most of the storylines, but got some nice family scenes with Pocket and with Stephanie. They were used pretty frequently, so they didn't have big gaps offscreen and there was a nice mix of just Steve and Kayla stuff within the broader canvas. I see no reason that kind of thing couldn't have continued as long as the actors were interested. |
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| heidi | Aug 18 2009, 05:27 PM Post #58 |
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Melanie after kissing and slapping Phillip, "I've go to stop going around kissing BOYS." Thirty year old boys? Maybe what she needs is to stop kissing men and try kissing some boys instead. |
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| Kirk | Aug 18 2009, 05:35 PM Post #59 |
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Captain Kirk
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I didn't think I was watching DAYS yesterday while watching the Victor/Phillip scenes because they were so well written. I SO wish we could get more family oriented scenes like we did on Monday's episode. I almost wanted to see Phillip take a swing at Old Man Vic. JKJ and JA were fantastic in those scenes. July sucked, but I have been really enjoying the show the last week or so except for anything having to do with Rafe. |
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| heidi | Aug 18 2009, 05:38 PM Post #60 |
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OK. It is seriously time for Kristian Alfonso to eat something. Eat, Kristian, eat! |
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