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Flying Monkey
Sep 15 2008, 01:28 PM
Sep 13 2008, 05:36 PM
Frankly I'm sick of the show trying to recapture the 80s.
I don't think that the show is trying to recapture the 80's. For the past eight or nine years now Days has done the complete opposite of that. They threw out the formula that worked. I want to stress the world formula here, I'm not talking about individual characters or couples but about method. And opted instead to pursue their own agendas and visions and completely ignore what the audience wanted.

Days was around for fifteen or so years before the golden hayday of the 80's. It was a popular show, Ted Corday followed a strict formula and always considered what the audience wanted or thought first and that worked well for a very long time.

The new formula was to hire the most talentless hacks available. With a penchant for those recently fired for driving down the ratings on other shows. Flood the show with newbies and teens, the prettiest and most vapid underwear models around and then shove them down the audience's throat. Rewrite history at every turn, not just changing minor facts or dates around but entire histories obliterated. And one of Higley's favorites, let's give everybody their own boring story.

That's done wonders for the ratings hasn't it? Nine years of decline and people wonder why the fans pine for the good old Days. :shrug:
Really? This show is still focusing on the same damn couples it was back then so how is that different? Everytime there is a plan to save Days it involves the same old tired devices. Supercouples, Stefano, romantic adventures, and what have you. That is not going to save Days. As I said in my last post, many fans have become selfish. It's all about what they want but not what is best for the show. Any fan can say that what they want is what will be good for the show but that isn't necessarily true. Days was an even better show before the 80's and before supercouples became the end all to be all. The show was about what soaps should be about to this-drama. Good, solid character driven drama. It didn't matter what characters had the stories. The show was an ENSEMBLE. That is what soaps are supposed to be yet, especially in Days' case, they aren't allowed to be because so many fans cry for the same old tired story ideas involving the same old characters. I love those characters but how much shit can they possibly go through? How many times can Bope go on a romantic adventure? How many times can J&M battle Stefano? For heaven's sake, Days had to "kill" John and reinvent the whole character just to give him and Marlena a story that was fresh. How sad is that?

The show has relied way too long on the same characters. Does that mean get rid of them? No. It just means that more emphasis should be on the future by now. In the 80's Days recognized that fact and pushed Bope, Steve/Kayla, etc on fans. It's long past time that happen again. Shelle could've led that or even Phelle. The young cast in the past few years is talented enough. Sure, the writing doesn't always back them up but alot of the time some fans don't even give them a chance. They just write them off because they are "newbies" or not one of their faves or couples. Some fans say that it's the show's job to make them interested in other characters and then they turn around and say they only watch their faves or what they want to watch. How can you learn to like any other characters or invest when you don't even take the time to try to invest or get used to them? It's the show's job but there have been times when the show did that job and it was lost on many fans because they only watched what they wanted.

The vets are important. They need to be featured but the issue is that many fans limit the story possibilities. Some will get upset the minute their couple has an argument or faces a threat to their relationship. They say they want angst but when they get it, they complain. Then you have the fact that these couples are beyond triangles and if a outside threat is introduced, fans complain that the story becomes more about the threat then the couple. Well, that is kind of the point since the threat to the couple is pretty much driving the story. Let's also remember that these very same fans call for the same things all the time...romance, adventures, supercouples. What many of these fans fail to realize is that not everyone wants that. Look at the ratings. Do you think they will go up if J&M are having their latest roll in the hay? Hell no. The ratings go up if there is plane crash and lives are in danger. Ratings are driven by plot movement and events. They are driven by drama. They no longer are driven by little moments that make soaps what they are. They don't fall at all in line with what many of these fans scream for. Not at all.

So, what is the show to do? Well, in no way should it abandon the little moments like family interaction, tradition, etc. It needs those but what the show needs to do is to combine all it's elements. Character-driven, plot-driven, camp, serious drama, supercouples, young cast...combine it all. Balance the cast and balance all these elements. Try to give every fan a piece of what they want. There is no pleasing anyone by focusing on just one aspect because pleasing one group will piss off another. Fans just need to understand that they won't always get what they want from ANY show because no one fan should be more important then another, just like no one character or couple should be. I think some fans, if they ever cared about this show, need to start considering and pushing for what is best for the show as a whole and not their own agenda. This show won't be around otherwise and then no one wins if it gets cancelled. The show does listen but the issue is it has to listen to so many different fans wanting different things. If fans unite and come to an understanding that the focus needs to be on what is best for the show as a whole and present ideas that go along with that notion, then I think the show can take that sort of feedback and present a better product. It does the show no good to keep dealing with what it is, which is fan feedback that is so convoluted and all over the place that it's no surprise the show changes gears as much as it does out of panic.

I also disagree hugely with the notion that some characters are just leads or supporting. Soaps are ensembles and I do think any character can lead a story. No one should lead a show but it does not hurt to give characters like Abe, Lexie, Victor, Caroline, Kate, etc a story where they can shine. Those characters always have to play second fiddle to the supercouples and its sad because most of them have close to or just as many years at Days as the supercouples do. They deserve their chance to shine. They've been loyal too and they have many fans that deserve to see them in big stories. They've been part of big story in the past and proven they can handle it. Maybe if they were given big story more often, some of fans complaining about them getting big story would feel differently but they were never given that chance due to more 80's and supercouple pandering. Yes, some characters drive a show more then others but that does not mean you just automatically shove certain characters aside with the thinking that they can't have their own frontburner story. Those characters actually have more story potential as they haven't had as much to deal with so things can be fresher in regards to what material they are given, which helps make the canvas fresher, something Days is desperately in need of.

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