Alan’s Soap Box: Days of Our Lives Is In Rough Shape

That headline isn’t shocking to anyone currently watching Days. The show is a total chore to watch. People who can’t act leading stories, lack of good couples and a show within a show that is dominating screen time for some reason. It might be the worst soap right now and considering the state of the other three soaps, that is really saying something.

Soapdish If It Were Made For Tubi

Why did they think Abe and Kate producing a reboot of a soap with Days characters, who aren’t actors, playing the Body and Soul characters? Why did they think it should be one of the big stories on the show with entire episodes devoted to it? It is way too self-indulgent. When I turn on a soap opera, I want to see a soap opera. I don’t want to see a shoddy parody of one.

This isn’t the first time a soap has had characters producing a soap opera as a story. One Life to Live had Fraternity Row during the Paul Rauch years which Ron Carlivati revisited when the show was ending. It worked because it was a C story with one very funny special episode. It was not the main story when OLTL went off the air.

It makes me sad when a head writer takes a big swing and it is a total failure. It makes it less likely networks will approve of other risky stories so we get stuck with baby switches and paternity stories. While this story is abysmal, I will give Ron credit for telling a business story that isn’t “I shall be CEO! Muahaha!”

Maybe if they had been meta in a smaller way, it could have worked. If they had a former Body and Soul hunk move to Salem and had him romancing Stephanie, that could have been more palatable. It would have been very Joey Tribbiani without overwhelming the show. Sometimes less is more.

Rob Scott Wilson Needs To Go

I’ve liked Rob Scott Wilson since he was getting a BJ while talking about computers on All My Children. I liked him as Ben, who went from serial killer to romantic hero. Since he has switched characters to Alex, he has been one of the weaker parts of the show. Alex isn’t charming. Alex isn’t interesting. Alex hasn’t had any good pairings. He still doesn’t have chemistry with Stephanie. We begged for years to get one of Justin’s other sons on the canvas and we got this. If the show is unwilling to recast Ciara and have Rob assume the role of Ben again, it would be for the best to let him go.

A Really Good Recast

You know a recast is good when you can watch a character and not miss the previous actor at all. I don’t miss Camila Banus when I watch Cherie Jimenez as Gabi. She still feels like the same character without feeling like Cherie is mimicking Camila. Not every recast achieves that. Some recasts end up functionally being a new character with an old name like Drew on GH. I am so grateful that didn’t happen with Gabi and we got Cherie who is one of the reasons to keep watching this show.

Learn From This, Ron

The fake Abigail is even worse to watch after Billy Flynn revealed the scabs were going to do a straightforward resurrection of Abigail and then Ron came back and we got fake Abigail. Ron could have continued down the path of fixing what many consider to be his worst story during this tenure on Days and chose not to. This is one of the main reasons I’m not sad Ron was let go. Ron has done good things during his seven year tenure, but when faced with the opportunity to fix his biggest failure, he did the soap writing equivalent of flipping fans the bird.

Ron is great at cleaning up other people’s messes when he joins a show, but horrible at cleaning up his own messes. Perhaps the next time he’s head writer at a soap, he’ll learn from this. He has a habit of repeating mistakes he made and I desperately want that cycle to stop. I don’t hate Ron. He has told some of my favorite stories in my decades watching soaps. I just want him to stop choosing to step on a rake he put down.

Thank God That’s Over

Julie Dove as Connie was one of the worst casting decisions on Days since Charity Rahmer’s Belle was flirting with her own father. There’s a certain level of acting one expects for a soap villain who is leading a story. Julie didn’t achieve that. I blame the show for casting her. It is on them to find performers who are ready to play front burner stories. Connie talking to a cardboard cutout of Li still would have been terrible, but maybe with a better actress it could have been less embarrassing to watch.

Per Julie, the story was supposed to go on longer with more victims. Thank Soap Jesus that producers cut this story short. I wouldn’t have minded if another useless character died, but this story wasn’t good enough to have anyone important killed off. It would have been worse than Dixie dying from peanut butter pancakes on All My Children. At least the serial killer in that story could act.

Character Growth Out The Window

For years, Xander and Sarah were trapped in a cycle. He’d do something terrible, she’d dump him and then they’d reunite. Lather, rinse, repeat. Yet we got a respite from that and Xander was allowed to grow. Now after the hit and run that paralyzed Sarah, Xander’s character growth is out the window with him plotting to kill Brady thinking he was responsible for it.

I don’t want to watch the same story over and over again. Xander can still be morally grey, but I’m over him getting written into corners constantly. Paul Telfer is doing a great job with the material, but the show should find a middle ground for the character of Xander and stick to it.

In Defense Of Leo Howard

Y’all talk about him like he’s 50 years old playing 17. He’s 27 years old playing someone who will be in college soon. It is normal for twenty-somethings to play teens. Bianca Lawson was playing teens from when Bill Clinton was president all the way until Barack Obama was president. Leo is a good actor and could pass for 22 years old. Ashley Puzemis isn’t a teen either. Let’s stop acting brand new about a common thing.

RIP Drake Hogestyn

It is so tragic that Drake died the day before his birthday of pancreatic cancer. He was a legend and beloved by his cast members. I’ve never heard anything bad about Drake through the grapevine. He was also a good actor who should have gotten a Daytime Emmy for the work he did in 2018 after Marlena was on life support after being shot by Xander. It was truly great work. I know there are people who made fun of Drake’s acting, but they can go step in dog shit on a hot summer day.

Next Year

Starting in April, we’ll see a new day with Paula Cwikly and Jeanne Marie Ford as head writers. I want to be excited to watch Days again. We know Bo, Hope and Sami are returning for stints so that will bring some viewers back. We don’t know how many years this show has left. It is on a streaming service that is losing billions of dollars and that can’t go on forever. I want Days to continue for as long as it can as a quality show. I don’t want this show to go out sad.

Dispatches From Soap Land

*B&B needs to figure out the Thomas situation pronto. Either recast or work out whatever is going with Matthew Atkinson being off the show. Thomas is needed.

*I do love that GH is affirming that Aiden is his mother’s son and not trying to make him Mini Lucky. Elizabeth raised Aiden and he only knows Lucky from Zoom calls. Lucky hasn’t so much as bought him a meal from McDonald’s. Lucky probably doesn’t even remember his birthday.

*Whatever the twist is with Sharon killing Heather on Y&R, I hope it isn’t stupid. This is obviously Josh Griffith’s latest ploy to keep his job so it had better be good.