Hiya Scoopers! It's me and I'm baaaaack! It's only temporary though - I'm filling in for the lovely, but very busy Sari - I am very excited to be back and sharing my opinions with you once again. So..."Hi" to all of you who remember me from a year or so ago and "Hi and welcome" to any new readers. Let's get down to it shall we?
Last time we spoke - I was getting fed up with Days and had decided to stop watching. Of course, some of that decision was based on the fact that I was about to have a baby and I knew that I would be too busy to watch a show that held no interest for me. By the way, for anyone who's interested - I had a son and he's now 15 months old and tearing around the house like a monkey on too many bananas. Now that I'm back at work, the siren song of my once-much-loved Days has called me back to the tube. Imagine my surprise when I tuned in again (approx 6 months ago) and realized that nothing much had happened in my absence. Literally. The good thing about my little hiatus is that it gave me the recharge needed to watch the show again. I would recommend the same to all of you who are completely fed up. But I have to tell you Scoopers - I'm a different Days fan now. I fast forward through storylines that do not interest me, I have no expectations of the soap anymore and I can easily go a day or two without watching. I had even stopped taping the show, preferring to catch it when I had the time. But... I will start taping it again now that I will be contributing to this column whenever Sari cannot.
One of my favorite characters on Days used to be Sami Brady. This was based mostly on the fact that Alison Sweeney rocks as an actress but also because TPTB used to do a great job at balancing her character. She did a lot of mean, nasty, evil things - but it always came back to her in spades. And, slowly but surely she was starting to learn from her mistakes and grow up a little bit. In some ways, she was easy to relate to. Of course, that all changed when Reilly came in to the picture and it bothers me tremendously that Sami has been turned into a one-dimensional caricature of her previous self. She is really getting tiresome with her "Poor me...the world owes me" crapola. It is so darn repetitive! This just proves to me that Reilly doesn't give a flying frig for the roots of the show and what made it number one (or two) in the ratings race for so many years. In my opinion, the only thing that makes this character watch-able is Ali Sweeney. If the part was recast, I can guarantee that I would not be able to sit through this story.
That being said, the only time I really enjoy her screen time is when she's interacting with Will & Lucas. I wish we could see more development on this side. I loved it when Will said that Sami has no friends! How is it that an 11 year-old can see what nobody else in Salem can? Sami needs a friend! I see a lot of potential material with this story. Or maybe they could just have her being a better sister to Belle. Anything would be better than her visiting priests, psychics and throwing tantrums 24/7.
Kate is another story. I have come to dislike her with a passion approaching my dislike for brussel sprouts. They make my stomach turn and I destroy them with my fork whenever they land on my plate. (Which isn't often if my husband knows what's good for him!) She is so incredibly insufferable when it comes to her meddling in her children's live. And the hypocrisy makes me gnash my teeth in frustration. She gave Mimi a dressing down when she found out that Meems was helping Shawn to see Belle - because of the sanctity of marriage...blah blah blah. But it's perfectly all right for her to encourage Billie to steal Bo away from Hope. Even though they have a long history between them and a love that everyone in Salem refers to with awe. Not to mention their two children. I just want someone to slap her in the face and tell her to get a flippin life! (And I promise you that I am not prone to violence). That is why I dislike Kate's character - she never gets caught in her little schemes and she never has to face any repercussions. I can't relate to her at all.
I realize that abortion is a controversial subject and I will try to be as sensitive as possible but I feel I need to comment on Mimi's abortion. I really feel that this story is totally irresponsible on the part of the writers. Especially since I don't believe that it's right to portray a person justifying an abortion because she's afraid that she'll lose her boyfriend. I realize that this is a soap opera and therefore not the real world, but not everyone makes that distinction. Mimi is in her 20's, by that age, a person is responsible for their body and the choices they make. Ending a pregnancy because you don't want to lose your man is selfish, irresponsible, immature and just plain wrong. Shame on you Reilly!
Okay so; let's go back to the notion that this is not real life. How long are we going to be subjected to Jan blackmailing Mimi? I know Mimi is a smart girl, why can't the writers ever show a woman saying to her man "this is the choice I made, if you leave me over it - so be it." Can't we have one female character that is strong and independent? Especially since we can no longer count on Hope for that? I have no sympathy for Mimi at all. If the relationship was so weak that she couldn't talk to Rex in the first place about being pregnant - her feet should have hit the pavement at that point.
The situation with Shawn/Belle/Philip/Jan is so contradictory and inane. I'm sorry, I hate to be like this but I have struggled and struggled to come up with pleasant things to say, but it's impossible with the teen scene. There are so many things that bother me - like the fact that Philip has washed his hands of Shawn, the way he is treating Belle now that they're married, the way Shawn has and is acting, Jan - enough said about her. On Friday's show we were treated to a passionate kiss between Shawn & Belle and their declarations of "I love you." Give me a break! Days is dragging this story out so long that I'm not sure if anyone actually cares whether Shawn and Nu-Belle actually end up together. If you feel differently, please email and let me know.
What can I say about the "dead" people that are actually still alive and being held in yet another DiMera Castle? I think that most of you, like myself, find this storyline to be one of the more brainless and boring ones going. It's not interesting, doesn't offer any drama and least of all does not advance the storyline in any meaningful way (seems my comments are getting repetitive about each SL). I usually fast forward through the scenes - even when Roman kissed Marlena, I didn't stop long enough to find out what was going on. The only shining light at the end of the tunnel is that Jack is alive. I admit that I squealed with delight when I saw Matt Ashford again. I just love him to bits! I am waiting with baited breath for his reunion with Jennifer (yet again). I am crossing my fingers and hoping that Jack's trek back to Salem doesn't get drawn out too long. Reilly owes us some mushy love scenes as payback for the months/years of "pretend" dead storyline.
I'm all for the "Georgia is alive" storyline, at least it gives Bo and Hope something to do. This might turn out to be interesting, as long as it doesn't mess with Bo and Hope permanently. I like the new Billy - though I might change my mind after this week. She has been so annoying and screechy, even going so far as to accuse Bo of not caring about Georgia. Yes, that's right Billy - Bo has left his family and flown halfway around the world with you because he doesn't care. Anyhow, I think Billy has great chemistry with Patrick and I will keep my fingers crossed that they hook up. I will be happy to sit through all the forced contrivances that are keeping Bo and Hope at odds, as long as it isn't permanent. Every couple needs a shake-up once in a while.
For those of you who haven't been watching very long, let me just assure you that the show you are now watching is not the same show that we long-timers came to love. Only the names have stayed the same. I remember a time when I was so eager to watch Days that I would race home for school/work and plop my butt on the couch to watch my tapes. I literally couldn't wait. I would spend hours on the phone with my girlfriends eagerly discussing the show in obsessive detail (this used to drive my husband bonkers - who at the time was my boyfriend :) Now we simply talk about how bad it is. Days of our Lives used to be a show that made us wish for a fraction of the love and glamour that we saw on a daily basis. We connected with the characters and came to see them as extended members of our family. It was exciting to watch them deal with real-life issues, sometimes in very unique ways - ways that we in the real world could never get away with. It was interesting to see how each character dealt with the situations in their life and the repercussions that played out. Like when Sami first fell in love with Austin and decided that she would get herself pregnant to trap him - despite the fact that he was her sister's boyfriend at the time. We could commiserate, even if we would never stoop to that level. And her plan backfired on her! That was the best part! Days is so different now, the flavor of the show has changed dramatically. The storylines are far-fetched, the characters behave un-characteristically, and the dialogue is boring and repetitive. I suppose I can't blame everything on James Reilly but I can certainly blame today's sad state of affairs on him. Ken Corday has to accept some of the blame as he is the Einstein who rehired a head writer that was fired for wrecking the show; and whose other soap (Passions) is the bottom-rated show on daytime. I stopped watching Passions for a whole year folks and the only thing that changed in that year was that Whitney found out her boyfriend was really her brother. How ICKY is that? Good god Reilly! Get yourself together man! Please let me know what you think about the show and I will be happy to post your thoughts in my next column or pass them along to Sari to include in her next column.
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See you soon Scoopers!
Pamela
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