Salem International: Casting Notes: Arrivals & Departures

[Pearson80]

4 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

But that "new start" was predicated on making Bo deadbeat trash, so I sort of like the karma there.

I liked Aiden but not more than Bo.  Team Bo over here, always and forever.. 

[DisneyBoy]

5 hours ago, Swartz said:

I don't understand how she was treated badly.   I like KA and I miss Hope but KA always had s story and airtime the last few years. She always promoted her pairing with GG too.  They just weren't popular. Not her fault since GG has managed to ruin all his pairings.  But KA got story. She may have been unhappy with the writing but I'd bet most of the actors hate the current writing.   Well, maybe DH loves it since Ron is her fanboy and she seems to have loved the devil SL

Fair enough...but I can understand how a leading lady like KA found it unfair to have her character sidelined while her partner was offscreen, and then undermined when she's finally flying solo. It's pretty messed up that the show had little use for Hope without Bo. Aiden was a great new scene partner until they threw him under the bus for Bo. I think KA liked working with him too. But then she gets the murder coverup story with bozo Rafe...and what fun was that?

The only stories we got about Hope were her as Rafe's girlfriend or her as a disgraced cop (barely), or her worrying about Ciara. Nothing deeper than that. For what...three years?

I think it was her intention to prove her worth independent of Peter (who, let's not forget, she hated for a long while) but the show never gave her material good enough, or sabotaged what good there was (Aiden, Ciara).

She had screentime sure, but she wasn't happy. I get that.

...of course, Kate and Nicole and Kayla have also had garbage to deal with so...

[MsTree]

I also think part of the problem between KA and GG is that GG just isn't a romantic lead. He could go through the entire female cast, and I doubt we'd see anything different.

[FnkyChkn34]

I thought I read somewhere that KA didn't like working with the Aiden actor. Did I make that up? If true, I wouldn't have thought she was mad about getting away from him. 

[CanaryFan98]

9 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I thought I read somewhere that KA didn't like working with the Aiden actor. Did I make that up? If true, I wouldn't have thought she was mad about getting away from him. 

That's news to me they seemed to get along and she endorsed that pairing too. I liked Aiden he didn't need to be paired with Hope either for that to happen. He could've been paired with a variety of women on this show (Kayla, Nicole, Kate, Eve) however only Rafe is the non Bo love interest of Hope's that's allowed to stick around and be with other women long term. Even though Aiden and Patrick were better characters who could've been paired with other women on this show.  

Edited April 7, 2022 by CanaryFan98

[Swartz]

14 minutes ago, CanaryFan98 said:

That's news to me they seemed to get along and she endorsed that pairing too. I liked Aiden he didn't need to be paired with Hope either for that to happen. He could've been paired with a variety of women on this show (Kayla, Nicole, Kate, Eve) however only Rafe is the non Bo love interest of Hope's that's allowed to stick around and be with other women long term. Even though Aiden and Patrick were better characters who could've been paired with other women on this show.  

I never read anything about KA not getting along with the Aiden actor either.   He was a better actor than GG too.  Sad that we're still stuck with Rafe.  I wish we knew why KC keeps him around.  I read the rumours about his wife loving GG but that seems ridiculous but who knows with this show.  KC is probably friends with GG and keeps him around. That seems to be why JT is still around but he at least has a long history with the show. 

From what I understand KA left because she wasn't willing to take months off which is what producers wanted to her do. So it seems more like a contract dispute bts but I'm sure she wasn't happy with the writing either.  I thought I read her comment on how she didn't like that Rafe cheated on Hope with Carrie.  I agree. Ridiculous!    But Ron clearly favors Deidra over KA and if I were KA that would annoy me too

[Pearson80]

14 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I thought I read somewhere that KA didn't like working with the Aiden actor. Did I make that up? If true, I wouldn't have thought she was mad about getting away from him. 

She loved working with him and was happy to have a love story outside of Bo/Hope.  She was always tweeting about the Aiden/Hope pairing. Plus, Kristian is a professional, even if she did not like the Aiden actor she would have never tanked the pairing.  Back when the Bo/Hope pairing took off she and Peter did not get along at all.  Yet, they sold the Bo/Hope pairing and we never a saw a hint of the contempt that they had for each other  onscreen. 

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Pearson80

[FnkyChkn34]

Thanks for the clarification, everyone.  I guess I made that up, or confused them with other actors.  My bad!  

Though, FWIW, I disliked Aiden, even before they did a 180 on his personality and made him a psycho killer.  Chase was always a bully, even as a younger kid and before he raped Ciara, right?  Why was Hope's reaction, "oh, I'm going to date the father of my daughter's bully"?  Again, maybe I'm misremembering, but I didn't like either Aiden or Chase.  I'm a fan of Bo, and no one could replace him.

[DisneyBoy]

It's impossible not to like Bo. Aiden just had interesting possibilities from the get-go. He wasn't Bo, looked nothing like him and operated on a different level as a lawyer. He and Hope had story potential for years really. Then poof....in 4 months it was all gone.

[Pearson80]

13 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

It's impossible not to like Bo. Aiden just had interesting possibilities from the get-go. He wasn't Bo, looked nothing like him and operated on a different level as a lawyer. He and Hope had story potential for years really. Then poof....in 4 months it was all gone.

  I was indifferent to Aiden so I never had a problem with him turning out to be evil .  Aiden came alive and his dynamic with Clyde was very interesting. Aiden was always shady regarding the death of his wife and the previous writers wrote him that way just in case they wanted to change directions with him.  

Aiden would have been better served  with Kayla. I think Aiden and Kayla had more in common than Aiden and Hope.  They had an interesting vibe and the show could have given them a meaty story. 

[CanaryFan98]

20 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Thanks for the clarification, everyone.  I guess I made that up, or confused them with other actors.  My bad!  

Though, FWIW, I disliked Aiden, even before they did a 180 on his personality and made him a psycho killer.  Chase was always a bully, even as a younger kid and before he raped Ciara, right?  Why was Hope's reaction, "oh, I'm going to date the father of my daughter's bully"?  Again, maybe I'm misremembering, but I didn't like either Aiden or Chase.  I'm a fan of Bo, and no one could replace him.

You are mistaken Ciara was the one who bullied Chase. I preferred Chase as a child he was a decent it was when he became a teen it went downhill(same with Ciara tbh)

[Pearson80]

3 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

You are mistaken Ciara was the one who bullied Chase. I preferred Chase as a child he was a decent it was when he became a teen it went downhill(same with Ciara tbh)

Ciara and Chase should have grown up in real time.  I thought that the Chase/Ciara friendship was the best thing that came out of the Aiden/Hope relationship..

[CanaryFan98]

14 hours ago, Pearson80 said:

Ciara and Chase should have grown up in real time.  I thought that the Chase/Ciara friendship was the best thing that came out of the Aiden/Hope relationship..

Yes I liked it was very genuine if they wanted to pair Chase with someone it should've been Claire rather than have him fixated on his stepsister. 

[Pearson80]

1 hour ago, CanaryFan98 said:

Yes I liked it was very genuine if they wanted to pair Chase with someone it should've been Claire rather than have him fixated on his stepsister. 

 Chase should have had a crush on Allie, setting up the Ciara/Allie rivalry when they became young adults that was hinted when they were still kids.  Allie would have been the good girl taking after her aunt Carrie, a contrast to her mother Sami.  While Ciara would have been the bad girl a contrast to her mother Hope. 

We could have had great character-driven stories between mothers and daughters.  Bo seeing Ciara embrace her Kiriakis roots would have been another story to tell given Bo's aversion to his biological father Victor. Lucas and Sami's  thorny history with Austin and Carrie could have also come into play as they try and protect Allie from Ciara's ruthlessness.  This could have motivated Sami to reach out try to make amends for her  past awful behavior and have a real loving relationship with her big sister Carrie. 

The Theo/Ciara bond would have been essential in keeping Ciara from going too far in her schemes.  So much history could have been mined but we no longer have any writers to do that sort of thing.

Edited April 9, 2022 by Pearson80

[FnkyChkn34]

19 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

You are mistaken Ciara was the one who bullied Chase. I preferred Chase as a child he was a decent it was when he became a teen it went downhill(same with Ciara tbh)

I don't know, this is from https://daysofourlives.fandom.com/wiki/Chase_Jennings

"Chase is the son of Aiden Jennings and a classmate of Ciara Brady's, who he constantly picks on." 

Then he grows up to rape her.  He seems like the bad guy to me?

[boes]

1 hour ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I don't know, this is from https://daysofourlives.fandom.com/wiki/Chase_Jennings

"Chase is the son of Aiden Jennings and a classmate of Ciara Brady's, who he constantly picks on." 

Then he grows up to rape her.  He seems like the bad guy to me?

I remember Ciara being a little brat and making fun of Chase, though. maybe because he had the dead mom.  

[CanaryFan98]

20 hours ago, boes said:

I remember Ciara being a little brat and making fun of Chase, though. maybe because he had the dead mom.  

Ciara was the one who bullied him and an incident happened at school which is how Hope/Aiden met in the first place.  That wiki is wrong because that's what we saw happen. 

21 hours ago, Pearson80 said:

 Chase should have had a crush on Allie, setting up the Ciara/Allie rivalry when they became young adults that was hinted when they were still kids.  Allie would have been the good girl taking after her aunt Carrie, a contrast to her mother Sami.  While Ciara would have been the bad girl a contrast to her mother Hope. 

We could have had great character-driven stories between mothers and daughters.  Bo seeing Ciara embrace her Kiriakis roots would have been another story to tell given Bo's aversion to his biological father Victor. Lucas and Sami's  thorny history with Austin and Carrie could have also come into play as they try and protect Allie from Ciara's ruthlessness.  This could have motivated Sami to reach out try to make amends for her  past awful behavior and have a real loving relationship with her big sister Carrie. 

The Theo/Ciara bond would have been essential in keeping Ciara from going too far in her schemes.  So much history could have been mined but we no longer have any writers to do that sort of thing.

That could've worked as well.

[tribeca]

I hate that Theo and Ciara friendship is erased and he is considered a bad guy now.  

[CanaryFan98]

That was inevitable when he was going to be an obstacle for Cin. This is why I'm glad JJ is ignored he hates Ben and is allowed to do so off screen.

[Pearson80]

4 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

That was inevitable when he was going to be an obstacle for Cin. This is why I'm glad JJ is ignored he hates Ben and is allowed to do so off screen.

Same here, it would hurt me to my soul to see JJ singing the praises of the man who stalked tortured and murdered his girlfriend. 

[DisneyBoy]

And nearly his sister and BIL too.

We love you JJ. You've got it figured out!

[tribeca]

15 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

And nearly his sister and BIL too.

 

Not Thomas.   He took him with him but made sure the baby said bye to mommy 

[CanaryFan98]

 

[DisneyBoy]

On 4/11/2022 at 7:16 PM, tribeca said:

Not Thomas.   He took him with him but made sure the baby said bye to mommy 

...as Mommy and Daddy burned to death on a bed.

 

Our hero.

 

(PS - fuck this show for making Claire a pyromaniac. That was bullshit. I STILL SEE YOU BEN!)

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by DisneyBoy

[boes]

7 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

 

I hope they match him up with Ava.

Take THAT, Fadda Eric!

Or Nancy, that'd do the trick, too.

Wait....wait wait wait, even better, a triangle with Nicole and Rafe, with Eric angling to land.....Rafe!

Let's see now if two negatives equal a positive.

Edited April 13, 2022 by boes

[Peanut6711]

9 hours ago, boes said:

I hope they match him up with Ava.

Take THAT, Fadda Eric!

Or Nancy, that'd do the trick, too.

Wait....wait wait wait, even better, a triangle with Nicole and Rafe, with Eric angling to land.....Rafe!

Let's see now if two negatives equal a positive.

I certainly wasn’t excited about Eric’s return in the least till I read these possibilities. This is genius @Boes!

From the latest Soap rag:

Newly out of the priesthood and looking for “love,” Eric tries the town’s new dating app where he has a night on the town with Nancy.  While doing the walk of shame the next morning out of her Salem Inn room, he stops by Sweet Bits where he meets Chanel, licking her wounds from being doubly dumped by the twins with different fathers. Eric decides he must get to know this woman who captivated both his niece and nephew. “No, it wouldn’t be creepy at all,” Eric tells himself. *Insert quote from the actor explaining the character’s thoughts because the writing and acting is often not clear*. But before he can ask Chanel out, Nicole walks by. She feels that old connection. “No, I want Rafe,” she reminds herself. “Wait, why do I want Rafe?” she has a brief moment of clarity and considers. “I think I want Eric again. No, Rafe. Eric? Rafe? Eric? Rafe? EJ? Lucas? Brandon? No, wait, he’s my own brother.” Meanwhile, Eric feels stirrings (below his belt) for Nicole again. He decides to pray about it, and his prayers are answered when Nicole pulls him into an embrace. But they don’t find their way back to each other for long because there’s some very angry people in Salem who do not want to see another wedding between them take place, and it’s not just Roman who doesn’t want to clean cake off his pub floor again. Besides he has Clyde for that now.  No, Rafe is quietly stewing….his own dinner since he gave Ava the boot. “Why did I give up these homecooked meals?” he ponders. “Nicole owes me.” Ignoring Salem crime as usual, Rafe sets out to win Nicole back. He’s not alone. Because Five-Year-Old-Sarah isn’t going to let the love of her kindergarten life go. She gets up on a stool and grabs Nicole by the dark roots of her overly bleached hair.  “You can’t have my boyfriend! He's going to marry ME and give me babies,” Sarah whines in her baby voice as Eric watches in horror. 5 Year Old Sarah regresses to 2  Year old Sarah. "He's mine if I say he's mine. He's mine if he's yours and I want him. MINE, MINE, MINE!"  Once again, Eric considers going back to the monastery because when the going gets tough, Eric takes his vows. Again. But in the end, he finds a new love with Ava….and that really bugs the shit out of Nicole.

[methodwriter85]

On 4/10/2022 at 7:03 PM, CanaryFan98 said:

That was inevitable when he was going to be an obstacle for Cin. This is why I'm glad JJ is ignored he hates Ben and is allowed to do so off screen.

The Chase rape happened way before Cin. I honestly think they were thinking about pairing Ciara up with Chad, which is why they went from being sophomores to suddenly graduating from high school.

Vivian may not have been the world's best actress, but they did her absolutely no favors by thrusting Ciara into an intense, dramatic storyline about being raped instead of letting her find her way around first like they did with Sammy before she got raped.

And they repeated that very same mistake with Allie! Like, why? Ugh. I think they just wanted a next generation male Horton, to be honest.

The leaked audition tape with Vivian showed that they were initially going for Ciara being an Erica Kane type of teen girl, which would have been awesome and it would have been consistent with the Lauren Boles version of Ciara. I have no clue why they didn't go that way. Vivian did not have the sweet ingenue vibe they wrote Ciara as having. She was miscast because they had a totally different vibe in mind at first!

Edited April 13, 2022 by methodwriter85

[CanaryFan98]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

The Chase rape happened way before Cin. I honestly think they were thinking about pairing Ciara up with Chad, which is why they went from being sophomores to suddenly graduating from high school.

Vivian may not have been the world's best actress, but they did her absolutely no favors by thrusting Ciara into an intense, dramatic storyline about being raped instead of letting her find her way around first like they did with Sammy before she got raped.

And they repeated that very same mistake with Allie! Like, why? Ugh. I think they just wanted a next generation male Horton, to be honest.

The leaked audition tape with Vivian showed that they were initially going for Ciara being an Erica Kane type of teen girl, which would have been awesome and it would have been consistent with the Lauren Boles version of Ciara. I have no clue why they didn't go that way. Vivian did not have the sweet ingenue vibe they wrote Ciara as having. She was miscast because they had a totally different vibe in mind at first!

I actually would've gone for Chad/Ciara I thought her best scenes were with him. 

I think they didn't want to do that because she's a Horton and Hortons aren't allowed to be morally grey(although Julie has managed to be the exception for many decades).  Even Ciara fits in a morally grey/shady archetype that Erica Kane was.

Soaps have tamed a lot of their characters way to soon with kids and babies or give characters babies they don't need. 

 

[Pearson80]

On 4/13/2022 at 4:55 PM, CanaryFan98 said:

I actually would've gone for Chad/Ciara I thought her best scenes were with him. 

I think they didn't want to do that because she's a Horton and Hortons aren't allowed to be morally grey(although Julie has managed to be the exception for many decades).  Even Ciara fits in a morally grey/shady archetype that Erica Kane was.

Soaps have tamed a lot of their characters way to soon with kids and babies or give characters babies they don't need. 

 

Chad/Ciara just creeped me out due to their age differences. Not to mention that it was not that long ago that Ciara was a 12 year old girl.  I would have had no problem if she had had a crush on him like her mom Hope had a crush on Roman as a young lady.  A simple crush that went nowhere would have sufficed.

 Ciara should have been the female Victor challenging the Kiriakis men for power. Ciara's main motivation should have been about power and not getting a man. I remember laughing my ass off when Lauren Boles Ciara blackmailed Sami for diamond earrings, even Sami looked appalled..

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by Pearson80

[CanaryFan98]

29 minutes ago, Pearson80 said:

Chad/Ciara just creeped me out due to their age differences. Not to mention that it was not that long ago that Ciara was a 12 year old girl.  I would have had no problem if she had had a crush on him like her mom Hope had a crush on Roman as a young lady.  A simple crush that went nowhere would have sufficed.

 Ciara should have been the female Victor challenging the Kiriakis men for power. Ciara's main motivation should have been about power and not getting a man. I remember laughing my ass off when Lauren Boles Ciara blackmailed Sami for diamond earrings, even Sami looked appalled..

 

I would be fine with just a crush could still have a similar dramatic effect as I can't imagine Chad hurting Theo that way either tbh. 

I agree Ciara should've been the apple of Victor's eye (I mean she got him a toy of a mob boss because it reminded her of him he seemed touched lol).

[Pearson80]

2 minutes ago, CanaryFan98 said:

I would be fine with just a crush could still have a similar dramatic effect as I can't imagine Chad hurting Theo that way either tbh. 

I agree Ciara should've been the apple of Victor's eye (I mean she got him a toy of a mob boss because it reminded her of him he seemed touched lol).

I could also see Victor enlisting Ciara's help to get Bo to see him as a father.  Victor has always wanted Bo to love him like he loved Papa Shawn. Bo has always kept Victor at arms length.  So many stories could have been written but we just got rubbish.. 

[methodwriter85]

I really like Zac Tinker as Sonny. He doesn't creep me out like Freddie does. Freddie always sported this cult-like empty-eyed smile that creeped the hell out of me. Like I've always thought his Sonny would eventually become a cult leader. LOL

[DisneyBoy]

Tinker just needs to calm down a bit. Sonny was never the type to be wired and jumpy 24/7. He was calm. If he could work that back into his portrayal, it'd be perfect.

[peachmangosteen]

I love ZT's energy so I hope he keeps that up. I don't want him to turn into what FS' Sonny did. 

[methodwriter85]

I just remember early shaggy-haired Sonny smiling a lot and telling everyone how proud he was to be gay.

[DisneyBoy]

7 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I love ZT's energy so I hope he keeps that up. I don't want him to turn into what FS' Sonny did. 

Oh agreed - later Sonny was off, but early Sonny was confident and composed...now it feels like Will is the older one of the two.

...was Sonny supposed to be older than Will? Or did he just seem to be because he was out and comfortable with himself?

[methodwriter85]

10 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

...was Sonny supposed to be older than Will? Or did he just seem to be because he was out and comfortable with himself?

I looked it up and apparently Sonny's birthdate is August 1991, so he's a year older than Will's adjusted November 1992 birthdate. Sonny never got SORASed because he spent most of his life offscreen. 

I'm impressed at how confident Sonny was in himself considering that he spent like a few years in Dubai which isn't exactly known for being a mecca of gay rights. LOL

Edited May 8, 2022 by methodwriter85

[DisneyBoy]

I'm assuming that even back then, the writers just threw a dart at a board to choose which "cool and exotic" place to reference.

"Sonny's spent time in....Atlantis! Yes, awesome. That'll sound impressive!"

[methodwriter85]

Dubai was at the time seen as a really cool and hot up and coming tourist destination city with all these new resort beaches they had planned, although a lot of them did not pan out.

Sonny's brothers are apparently still there, I guess? It doesn't sound like we ever actually saw the adult versions of them. Which I don't get, because Ron could have totally recreated the Ford brothers on One Life to Live with them- just cast a bunch of hot, dark-haired, abbed up twunks. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by methodwriter85

[Irlandesa]

I still think Dubai is somewhat touristy.  At least a playground for the rich and famous.  From what I understand, even though there are a lot of things that are illegal in the UAE, including homosexuality, having wealth and privilege in a cosmopolitan city like Dubai affords some people more freedom than in other parts of the country.

[nilyank]

29 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

Dubai was at the time seen as a really cool and hot up and coming tourist destination city with all these new resort beaches they had planned, although a lot of them did not pan out.

Sonny's brothers are apparently still there, I guess? It doesn't sound like we ever actually saw the adult versions of them. Which I don't get, because Ron could have totally recreated the Ford brothers on One Life to Live with them- just cast a bunch of hot, dark-haired, abbed up twunks. 

I think Sonny and his brothers were in Dubai because Justin and Adrienne were there.

However where Sonny and Will moved to Arizona, it was because Sonny's brothers had a created a company (inspired by their mom and being a cancer survivor) and wanted him to run the company. We were told that Arianna would be thrilled that she would get to live and spend time with all her cousins which would have been the children of Sonny's brother(s) who were already living in Arizona.

[Pearson80]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

Dubai was at the time seen as a really cool and hot up and coming tourist destination city with all these new resort beaches they had planned, although a lot of them did not pan out.

Sonny's brothers are apparently still there, I guess? It doesn't sound like we ever actually saw the adult versions of them. Which I don't get, because Ron could have totally recreated the Ford brothers on One Life to Live with them- just cast a bunch of hot, dark-haired, abbed up twunks. 

Dena was planning on bringing back an adult Alexander back along with Anjelica but Ron took over and scrapped Alex coming back.  He did bring back Anjelica back only to kill her off..  Ron is a hack..

[RedElf]

21 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Sonny's brothers are apparently still there, I guess?

Aren't they in Phoenix?  Which is the reason Will and Sonny moved there, because they went to work for the company they run?

 

[DisneyBoy]

That was my impression as well.

[CanaryFan98]

Apparently Kyle Lowry was on the set when Ari found out about her Emmy nom. I think this means we're going to see Rex this fall.

[DisneyBoy]

Did Ari submit her Nicole breaks up with Eric scenes from last year? Those were excellent.

 

Rex returning...to whisk Sarah away (again) for real? I didn't like them together...but I sense LG isn't staying on full-time...? Not sure what her status is now.

[peachmangosteen]

6 hours ago, CanaryFan98 said:

Apparently Kyle Lowry was on the set when Ari found out about her Emmy nom. I think this means we're going to see Rex this fall.

Yay! I always welcome a Rex visit.

[CanaryFan98]

3 hours ago, DisneyBoy said:

Did Ari submit her Nicole breaks up with Eric scenes from last year? Those were excellent.

 

Rex returning...to whisk Sarah away (again) for real? I didn't like them together...but I sense LG isn't staying on full-time...? Not sure what her status is now.

I don't know I just saw this on Twitter.

[boes]

8 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Yay! I always welcome a Rex visit.

Me too!  He's such a breath of fresh air with his matter of fact good humored self.

[CanaryFan98]

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