Written by Alan Sarapa
Head writer Ron Carlivati has always been divisive among soap fans. From his days at One Life to Live to General Hospital to these past three and a half years at Days of Our Lives, you likely have an opinion of his writing. I’ve usually leaned towards feeling positive about Ron. I haven’t liked all of his stories, but up until now I’ve always reasoned that the good outweighed the bad. That has changed in the last few months. Now I think it is time for Days to show him the door. Let’s go through each reason I have.
Reason 1: All the Rape Stories
Ron has been telling terrible rape stories since his early days as a soap head writer. It started on OLTL when amnesiac Marty Saybrooke unknowingly fell in love with and had sex with the man who led her gang rape, Todd Manning. Of course, a few years later a retcon would make it that it was Todd’s twin brother Victor that had tricked Marty. This doesn’t change the fact that Ron told a story about a rapist romancing his victim because at the time of that story he was Todd. What Fake Victor Todd did was presented as bad, but the line between rape and romance would get progressively murkier each time Ron dealt with rape.
The next one was Jessica thinking she was a teenager and hunky skeevy Ford had sex with her in this state. This results in Jessica having Ford’s baby and another round of rape when Jessica’s alter ego Tess came back and Ford took full advantage. He even raped her while she was in mental institution St. Ann’s. The scene was presented like it was supposed to be cute and funny and not horrifying in every way possible.
Ron’s bizarre infinity for mentally addled women being raped continued on GH with Johnny raping Kate when she was running around Port Charles calling herself Connie and stabbing perfectly innocent cakes. By then, it was beyond clear to soap fans that he liked this type of story way too much. And it wasn’t like these stories were popular. He got read for filth each time! Yet he persisted in telling these stories that only he seemed to enjoy.
This one had Abigail taking control and being vehemently against anything going on with Stefan, but he grabs her and coaxes the Gabby alter back and then proceeds to rape her. Multiple characters called it rape. Ron recently defended this scene as not being rape in now deleted tweets.
These stories are highly problematic and troubling, but the fact that he views them as consensual is enraging. It reveals that all the characters calling it rape was just to pacify outraged fans. He basically just considers it spicy sex and not the violation of a woman unable to consent.
He’s continued his tradition of telling rape stories horribly with the Allie story. Why would he think a story of a woman mistakenly accusing a man of rape would be just the thing we need to see? He could have told a powerful, straightforward story of rape. Instead he decided to be cutesy and make it a “Who done it?” which makes the accused in this story a victim who has to be in the face of the rape victim. When a rape story is done sensitively like Elizabeth on GH’s was, it can be very compelling. This is just revolting.
And it isn’t just the women getting raped on Days. When Lucas was drunk and Bonnie was pretending to be Adrienne, she raped him. The rape was played for laughs. When Steve had the Stefano chip in his brain in the ill-advised “Stevano” story, Kate almost had sex with him. In his right mind, Steve would have never gotten into bed with her. Fans have complained about these two stories, but since they are about men, it doesn’t get the same attention as the other ones.
I think it is time we had a head writer who didn’t use rape as a spice in stories like it is freaking paprika and not a horrifying assault.
Reason 2: The Stories are Bad and Repetitive
Even if you wanted to overlook all the rape stories as some strange quirk of Ron’s, the other stories are terrible as well. Let’s start with the Gwen story. A brunette is fixed on destroying Abigail’s life and marriage because she thinks Abigail destroyed her life. Hmmm. Where have we seen this story before? Oh, right. 2018 when Gabi was gaslighting Abigail.
The only difference is we don’t know why Gwen is doing this. Given that this whole story feels like it was a retcon like it wasn’t Ron’s original intention, I doubt the answer to why it is happening will be satisfying.
All head writers repeat themselves. The great ones remix it in a way that it doesn’t feel like the exact same story. Ron hasn’t done that here. To do the same story for the same character two years later feels incredibly lazy and demonstrates a lack of creativity. Abigail is connected to two popular families, in a popular pairing, is a journalist and all Ron can think to do with her is have her look at a scheming brunette and say, “This woman is my friend. Herp derp. When she’s talking to herself nefariously, she must be reciting her grocery list!”
And don’t get me started on Jake and Kate. Even if you put aside the distaste many of us have for this pairing, it doesn’t make sense for Kate to be so hellbent on keeping her plot induced relationship secret. So what if Chad is peeved? Jake hasn’t really done anything to Chad. Kate has slept with others who Chad should have way more disdain for like Clyde, who shot EJ. Or perhaps this show could stop pretending like Kate is Chad’s mother when she has six other kids.
Reason 3: Too Plot Driven
Good soap opera is a perfect mix of plot and character. Too much of one throws the balance off. While I’m grateful this show has stories going on and isn’t just full on navel gazing like Y&R is, a lot of what characters do is because the plot requires it, not because it makes sense for the characters.
Example: Abigail hiring a woman she just met who has zero qualifications to be a nanny. Said woman also hid out at the looney bin after stealing something from Abigail’s newly found brother-in-law. Way too many red flags to be hired as a nanny. But since the plot requires a new brunette to torment Abigail, she must entrust an obviously devious woman with her kids.
If this were the only plot induced thing on the show, it would be easy to write off. Plot contrivances happen on all shows, not just soaps. But when the canvas is littered with it, you can’t write it off. And it is frustrating because I know Ron is capable of doing better.
Reason 4: Almost all of the Characters Ron Has Created Have Been Flops
A big part of the success of a head writer is the ability to create a new character. It is how they make an impact that outlasts their tenure and contributes to the history of a show. Yet Ron has struggled with this on Days. His successes have been with characters created by other regimes like Ben, Eli, Xander and Lani. It is hard to think of a character he created that has been unequivocal success.
Stefan was tainted from jump with that horrible “Gabigail” story. He was Ron’s first big attempt at a new character and fans wanted him dead immediately and eventually they got their wish. Fans warmed up to the character in his final few months, but that had nothing to do with Ron. It was because of emergency recast Brandon Barash having a lot of charisma and chemistry with Camila Banus. When the only reason people have any fond memories of your first big character is because they were horny for an actor, you failed as a writer.
And his other attempts like Ted weren’t great either. Ted was unceremoniously killed off and forgotten by fans. And Ted was played by Gilles Marini, the guy with the big… talent in the Sex and the City movie. It is just sad to flop when you have a good-looking recognizable actor in a role.
The reaction to Stefan’s twin Jake has been mixed at best. The character feels like a remix of Brandon’s GH character Johnny with a dash of crude sitcom husband. I’m sure the reception will warm up whenever they pair Jake with Gabi, but again this will be Brandon’s charisma saving the day and not Ron’s writing.
The only new character I can say with a straight face was successful was Leo, the scheming gay son of John’s ex Diana. Leo was a breath of fresh air with Greg Rikaart’s deliciously hammy performance and it was clear Ron was having a blast writing Leo trolling the boring gays and hetreosexuals of Salem. Alas, allegedly a producer on Days thought Leo was too gay and he hasn’t been seen since the 2019 April Fool’s episode.
Reason 5: He’s Been There Since 2017 and it is Time for a Change
All head writers get burnt out eventually. It is a grueling, thankless job. You have to deal with network notes and a dwindling budget. And sometimes that mean fans write a whole column about why you should be fired.
I know some fans just want to keep Ron because they fear the replacement will be worse. Dena Higley is the boogeyman Days fans invoke whenever a regime change is brought up. “If you wish for a new head writer three times in front of a mirror, Dena Higley will appear and ruin your soap! Boo!”
I’ve feared the possibility of Dena returning myself, but I’m not going to let that stop me from pushing for change. You wouldn’t stay with a boyfriend that was having sex with your dad just because you feared the next boyfriend might have sex with your mom.
Ron has overall made positive contributions to Days, but it is time to move on. There are other people who could write this show. Perhaps Ryan Quan who Ron himself credits for helping him with the history of the series. Or someone from outside of daytime, but with a respect for the show.
Change can be good. Or it can be horrible and you’ll be cursing me out in my mentions because boogeyman Dena Higley gets a fourth head writer stint. I think it is worth the risk.
Dispatches from Soap Land:
*Speaking of head writers who need to get fired, why is Josh Griffith still employed? Do the people at Y&R, Sony and CBS not watch the show? Do they think Y&R slipping in the ratings is just fine and dandy?
*Usually I would be against making characters like Cyrus and Martin on GH related to characters like Laura, but it tied into Laura’s history and made Laura the center of this mob story and not mouth breather Sonny.
*Liam on B&B is the worst soap character ever. It is a struggle to even watch him in scenes without turning off the TV in rage.
