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Like Sand Through an Hourglass: Behind the Scenes of DOOL

OnceSane

By OnceSane
in Days Of Our Lives

Door County Cherry
Message added by Door County Cherry

The Behind The Scenes thread is not a spoiler thread.  So spoilers, including casting information, do not belong in here.  The "behind the scenes" information specifically related to casting should go in either the spoiler thread or the Salem International thread which discusses. departures and arrivals thread. 

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FrankOFoley
FrankOFoley

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boes
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DaphneCat
DaphneCat

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DisneyBoy

DisneyBoy

(edited)

I love that there still *is* a Day of Days fan event. With all the changes, budget cuts and the show moving to streaming, you'd think they might opt out of doing it....but soaps are a unique brand of entertainment and the bond that's formed over the decades is really special. Glad you were able to meet some of the cast and express some affection, Brisby.

Edited by DisneyBoy
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SanDiegoInExile

SanDiegoInExile

In theory, B+S had potential.  The soap genre just begs for mockery at times.  I found some of the "insider" jokes sorta amusing, with recasts and returning from the dead and SORAS.

But turning it into an umbrella story that involved random members of the cast was the Big Mistake.  Especially since no one had ever aspired to being "actors".

I am not sure what would have worked.  Maybe if they had made it into some type of one-time-only reunion show of the past B+S iteration.  Or one of the original B+S cast could be writing a tell-all memoir.  After all, Kate Roberts DiMera Brady was in publishing. That would make more sense than what we have seen.

Heck, anything would have made more sense.

Johnny DiMera needs a new career.  Both his directing projects have gone kaput.

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CanaryFan98

CanaryFan98

7 hours ago, SanDiegoInExile said:

In theory, B+S had potential.  The soap genre just begs for mockery at times.  I found some of the "insider" jokes sorta amusing, with recasts and returning from the dead and SORAS.

But turning it into an umbrella story that involved random members of the cast was the Big Mistake.  Especially since no one had ever aspired to being "actors".

I am not sure what would have worked.  Maybe if they had made it into some type of one-time-only reunion show of the past B+S iteration.  Or one of the original B+S cast could be writing a tell-all memoir.  After all, Kate Roberts DiMera Brady was in publishing. That would make more sense than what we have seen.

Heck, anything would have made more sense.

Johnny DiMera needs a new career.  Both his directing projects have gone kaput.

This would've been so much better they could've had Jerry(played by old Theo Terrell Ransom) write a tell all about how he was on Body and Soul and then ended up on a RL soap opera pretending to be the son of an amnesiac mayor that was paid by a crazy cat lady nurse.  Kate wouldn't have turned down an opportunity to profit off of this and she would've told Jerry he could've paid his grandmother's medical bills in the process.  

Johnny could've tried to make this into a movie and Chanel would be against it given how it involves her family members. That would've been a better conflict than what they have now.

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Retired at last

Retired at last

I don't have Peacock, so I don't even like READING about B&S. If people wanted to do a little funny take on soaps, then they should have done that in a one and done Halloween episode, or April Fool's joke. They used to do elaborate filler shows for those days.  That is where I believe  Body and Soul belonged. As it is, I don't think Abe will ever get his dignity back.

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SanDiegoInExile

SanDiegoInExile

The 2024 DOOL Halloween episode was a somewhat self contained tribute to Marlena's murderous ways and Melaswen.  10 cast members were murdered in under 30 minutes. Marlena was unmasked as the murderer ("because Leo kept writing her character into the scripts after she agreed to do only one episode").

I did chuckle when Kate was revealed as the one who brought them to the island of Weivenip. 

It was all explained as a Leo Stark Dream.

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SanDiegoInExile

SanDiegoInExile

(edited)

<<<I don't have Peacock>>>

I realize that this may be a personal choice, but Peacock has annual plans often deeply discounted as low as $20 for the entire year.  They will likely have a Black Friday deal as well.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/peacock-year-of-streaming-20-deal_l_6728f336e4b0266a3458331a#:~:text=Just use promo code PEAT4VNFWRKCTAK,subscription — a 75% discount!

https://slickdeals.net/f/17861880-1-year-peacock-premium-streaming-tv-service-ad-supported-20-more-new-or-returning-customers

Also, if you already pay for Comcast Xfinity Cable, once you are a customer for 10 years, you become a "platinum" rewards member.  Peacock is free for those members.

If you have the 1G mega internet package with Comcast, Peacock is free.

Edited by SanDiegoInExile
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Retired at last

Retired at last

@SanDiegoInExile, thanks, but I didn't even watch when I had Peacock for free when it first started on Cox. For me, it's not the $20. I already pay for Netflix, Paramount + (because that's where Criminal Minds is now), and Hulu, so there is no reason I want to pay more for a show I really don't care about anymore. I can read daily summaries, and most of the time, it is hard to just read them. I, like many of you, remember watching as a kid with my mother and just kept watching.

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DisneyBoy

DisneyBoy

On 11/9/2024 at 3:57 PM, Retired at last said:

I don't have Peacock, so I don't even like READING about B&S. If people wanted to do a little funny take on soaps, then they should have done that in a one and done Halloween episode, or April Fool's joke. They used to do elaborate filler shows for those days.  That is where I believe  Body and Soul belonged. As it is, I don't think Abe will ever get his dignity back.

In fairness, he lost it the day he married Paulina.

But you're quite right. This could have been done in one amusing episode and left at that. Ron needs to know when to stop.

I wonder if DOOL permanently lost viewers over it eating half the show.

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CanaryFan98

CanaryFan98

I didn't know where to post this but I was wondering with the writing change in a few months how will this Body and Soul stuff end? Hopefully it's someone's bad dream and we can pretend all of this didn't happen. However this affected actual characters and Doug/John are still gone(which wasn't B&S related but still). 

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DisneyBoy

DisneyBoy

Could someone please remind me - Was Lamont (Eli) having a thing with Missy on Twitter back during Covid or BLM?

I seem to remember several cast members not being okay with someone's behavior, but I'm forgetting who was the culprit. Seeing Eli and Jennifer chatting today made me wonder if it was them...I think it was.

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boes

boes

3 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

Was Lamont (Eli) having a thing with Missy on Twitter back during Covid or BLM?

I thought it was about a boycott of that chicken sandwich place, Chick fil-A, that's it! - over an anti-LBTQ stance, and Missy tweeted something in support of them.  I thought it was Linsey Godfrey who tweeted some blow back Melissa's way.  But I could be misremembering this.... 

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CanaryFan98

CanaryFan98

This is wild I had a dream that I heard Wayne passed it felt so real and then a few hours later I read it online.

May he RIP

I preferred WN's Roman with Marlena on Days and this happens two months after Drake no less.

My condolences to Lynn and their kids. This probably explains why the past few years we sparingly saw Lucy it was probably because she was dealing with this in RL.

Now I'm worried about Josh Taylor because these have not been a good couple of months for the Romans of this show.

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4evaQuez

4evaQuez

11 minutes ago, CanaryFan98 said:

This is wild I had a dream that I heard Wayne passed it felt so real and then a few hours later I read it online.

May he RIP

I preferred WN's Roman with Marlena on Days and this happens two months after Drake no less.

My condolences to Lynn and their kids. This probably explains why the past few years we sparingly saw Lucy it was probably because she was dealing with this in RL.

Now I'm worried about Josh Taylor because these have not been a good couple of months for the Romans of this show.

I started watching Days during the John/Marlena affair. While I thought John/Malena had a lot more chemistry, I actually was a bigger Roman/Marlena fan. I thought those two challenged each other more. It's sad to see that both men have passed.

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CanaryFan98

CanaryFan98

1 hour ago, 4evaQuez said:

I started watching Days during the John/Marlena affair. While I thought John/Malena had a lot more chemistry, I actually was a bigger Roman/Marlena fan. I thought those two challenged each other more. It's sad to see that both men have passed.

I think that's a large part of why I preferred them there was something about their dynamic that kept me interested because they were so opposite of each other yet seemed natural. 

I felt that way about John's other non-Marlena pairings.

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DisneyBoy

DisneyBoy

I can't remember where I read it but someone had suggested Wayne coming back to DAYS in some capacity in the aftermath of the news of Drake's passing.

It seemed an intriguing idea, since he'd been away so long, but I hadn't realized what his health situation was.

Glad his family and the Motion Picture and Television Woodland Hills Home were with him in the end.

Rough seeing this happen. I feel for the veteran performers of Salem. Not an easy thing.

3 hours ago, 4evaQuez said:

I actually was a bigger Roman/Marlena fan. I thought those two challenged each other more.

From the clips I've seen, that was definitely the case. They were two individuals very much in love.

How much time did the audience get with them as that type of married couple before the writing shifted against them?

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4evaQuez

4evaQuez

(edited)
26 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

How much time did the audience get with them as that type of married couple before the writing shifted against them?

Quite a lot when I started watching. There was the affair, Sami discovering the affair, the Belle pregnancy, Sami kidnapping Belle, John returning Belle for the Christmas miracle, Stefano discovering Belle's true paternity, and finally the Belle paternity reveal and Jarlena affair reveal at Belle's christening. It was probably a year or more of storytelling. 

In the midst of this big storyline, Roman and Marlena were dealing with professional struggles. Victor offered Marlena some dream job that I don't remember exactly what it was. I just remember it causing a lot of friction between Roman and Marlena. There was friction regarding how to raise Sami, who was unruly and dealing with her eating disorder. There was friction regarding a young adult Carrie because Marlena and Roman had different ideas on how they felt a young adult Carrie should behave. There was friction with John. Not because of the affair but because Roman held a lot of resentment regarding being replaced by John. Eventually, Stefano returned, and there was tension regarding Stefano. 

The two navigated life quite differently. While I hate Day's "working class Brady" family now because the Brady family is no longer working class; back then, Roman and Marlena represented a class and education divergence that was palpable and intriguing to watch. They were constantly challenging the other to see the world from the other's point of view, and they rarely had the same point of view.

They also had very different personalities. While Marlena was more animated back then, she still had a reserved manner to her. Roman, recast Kimberly, Carrie, and Sami were some of the few that could get Marlena to step out of that reserved and professional box.

Roman, however, was a spitfire. I always felt that Sami was a lot like Roman, but Sami is more delusional, irrational, destructive, and impulsive. Outside of those qualities, Sami and WN's Roman are a lot alike. Roman was hotheaded, unforgiving - mostly - and quick to act. Unlike Sami, he was also quicker to apologize and see the error of his ways and a little more mature.

While I like Marlena and John, they felt more fairytale and magical to me. They fought the literal devil, twice. Roman and Marlena felt a lot more real-world and their obstacles felt more grounded with instances of Soap Opera Drama, i.e. the back from the deads and Stefano drama, which felt more grounded than the larger-than-life Jarlena love. 

Edited by 4evaQuez
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Irlandesa

Irlandesa

59 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

How much time did the audience get with them as that type of married couple before the writing shifted against them?

People are focusing on the "return" years but their heyday was in the early 80s and shouldn't be ignored.  They were a couple most of his time on the show from 1981 to 1984.

John came in 1986 and was revealed to be Roman.  I think Marlena and John/Roman were together for less than a year before Marlena was presumed dead.  She came back in 1991. The real Roman returned later that year, too.  Evans had requested the return of Northrup as part of her return. 

 

I have to admit that I was always befuddled by the direction of the John/Marlena/Marlena triangle.  Roman and Marlena were the couple that had the buildup and spent more time together as a couple for 3 years before Roman "died."  John and Marlena's time as a couple was built on the foundation of those three Roman & Marlena years.  Roman and Marlena were grounded and both Wayne and Deidre were good actors.  I liked John but Drake was Drake.  

But I guess that just reflected the grounded but fun escapism of the 80s compared with the campiness of the 90s. 

I should say that I was too young to be watching DOOL in the early to mid 80s but I've seen enough through flashbacks/YouTube clips to know what vibe I prefer.

 

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CanaryFan98

CanaryFan98

1 hour ago, nilyank said:

Yes Bella named after Isabella. 

And he had reason to be concerned as Sami could confirm.

I thought so which is why I didn’t understand why he was the bad guy in that scenario. I do think that WN’s Roman probably didn’t fit with Marlena at that point but I felt he still could have had a place on this show. The Brady’s needed a successor to Shawn as a patriarch and I think his Roman would have worked more than JTs. 

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Peanut6711

Peanut6711

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

People are focusing on the "return" years but their heyday was in the early 80s and shouldn't be ignored.  They were a couple most of his time on the show from 1981 to 1984.

John came in 1986 and was revealed to be Roman.  I think Marlena and John/Roman were together for less than a year before Marlena was presumed dead.  She came back in 1991. The real Roman returned later that year, too.  Evans had requested the return of Northrup as part of her return. 

 

I have to admit that I was always befuddled by the direction of the John/Marlena/Marlena triangle.  Roman and Marlena were the couple that had the buildup and spent more time together as a couple for 3 years before Roman "died."  John and Marlena's time as a couple was built on the foundation of those three Roman & Marlena years.  Roman and Marlena were grounded and both Wayne and Deidre were good actors.  I liked John but Drake was Drake.  

But I guess that just reflected the grounded but fun escapism of the 80s compared with the campiness of the 90s. 

I should say that I was too young to be watching DOOL in the early to mid 80s but I've seen enough through flashbacks/YouTube clips to know what vibe I prefer.

Roman (WN) and Marlena's original wedding (and the lead up to) was the first episodes I ever saw. I remember Stefano lying in wait/some kind of a trap when Roman went to the tux shop.  I guess you could say that's how I got hooked on the show. 😃

You are correct that Roman/John (Drake) was with Marlena less than a year roughly and most of that time Diedre was sparsely in it as she was shooting Our House.  Drake probably interacted more with Shane, Hope, Steve, Kayla and the Bradys than her.  In that '86-87 year Marlena was in a coma, kidnapped/held hostage by the ISA, and kidnapped by Orpheus/believed dead through much of that time. 

46 minutes ago, CanaryFan98 said:

I thought so which is why I didn’t understand why he was the bad guy in that scenario. I do think that WN’s Roman probably didn’t fit with Marlena at that point but I felt he still could have had a place on this show. The Brady’s needed a successor to Shawn as a patriarch and I think his Roman would have worked more than JTs. 

Agree, WN's Roman would have made a good Brady patriarch. I still think of JT's Roman as Chris Kostichek. 😆

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methodwriter85

methodwriter85

15 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

I think it was probably me who mentioned this obviously I didn’t know he was dealing with this. That being said I think Marlena is just going to be single until Days ends or Deidre passes. 

Most likely, although it could be worth it for them to contact Gregory Harrison, who did a fantastic job on GH. He wasn't really a leading romantic man on the show, per se, but he did a great job with his mature friendships with Tracey and Alexis on GH. There isn't really his type (handsome dignified mature elder man) on this show either now that Doug is gone. (Not a knock against Steve but he is still being played as the daredevil type in his 70's.) I could totally see Gregory playing a doctor. 

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CanaryFan98

CanaryFan98

7 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Most likely, although it could be worth it for them to contact Gregory Harrison, who did a fantastic job on GH. He wasn't really a leading romantic man on the show, per se, but he did a great job with his mature friendships with Tracey and Alexis on GH. There isn't really his type (handsome dignified mature elder man) on this show either now that Doug is gone. (Not a knock against Steve but he is still being played as the daredevil type in his 70's.) I could totally see Gregory playing a doctor. 

He could be a recast Mike Horton and maybe give the Hortons the male patriarch they are sorely lacking.

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Door County Cherry
Message added by Door County Cherry

The Behind The Scenes thread is not a spoiler thread.  So spoilers, including casting information, do not belong in here.  The "behind the scenes" information specifically related to casting should go in either the spoiler thread or the Salem International thread which discusses. departures and arrivals thread. 

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