How did fans react to...?

[DisneyBoy]

In watching old clips with a new perspective of what ended up happening to the characters, I can't help but wonder how fans reacted to certain developments at the time they played out. I thought it would be useful to have a thread where veteran fans could clue us in to how viewers responded to twists in days gone by...

 

Did people enjoy the twist of Sami having grief sex with EJ? I know that today there are still EJ/Sami fans who prefer to overlook his evil ways and the fact that he raped her as just bad writing and focus instead on the chemistry between the actors, and perhaps just as many fans who hate EJ and all of the things that he ended up getting Sami to do, like sacrificing her dignity over and over, so I can't help but wonder where things stood back in 2012 when he was married to Nicole and she was with Rafe.

 

Insights appreciated!

[Gladrags]

I remember being amused by Sami's grief sex with EJ because what she did, and Will's subsequent reaction to it, parroted almost to the letter Sami's reaction to Marlena's affair with John that produced Belle. Some of the dialogue was word for word, especially when Will told Sami he hated her, and accused her of breaking up the family. 

Here's a clip of Sami and Marlena:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJnvUiqmqjs

[LeftPhalange]

The "grief sex" was some absolute bullshit. I can't imagine two parents finding out their child is dead and immediately deciding to have sex, or even being able to function enough to have sex.

As someone who has hated EJ since he raped Sami, I was glad when Nicole took him off of Sami's hands, and was a fan of Safe (this was back before Rafe became a complete piece of shit). 

[nilyank]

Quote

I remember being amused by Sami's grief sex with EJ because what she did, and Will's subsequent reaction to it, parroted almost to the letter Sami's reaction to Marlena's affair with John that produced Belle. Some of the dialogue was word for word, especially when Will told Sami he hated her, and accused her of breaking up the family. 

It was done intentionally but it made no damned sense. It was just another reason for Will to act like a little asshole to his mother.

And it made no sense that he was that upset about Sami breaking up his so-called family with Rafe. In the three years that Sami knew Rafe, she spent months away from her kids in Witness Protection, kept breaking up/getting back together with Rafe, spent the good part of a year reconnecting/almost marrying EJ before she married Rafe to protect herself for shooting EJ.

Hell, Will did not like Rafe for the first year that he knew him. Sami and Rafe were married about a year when grief sex happened and that it included months where her marriage was on the rocks because Rafe was different (Stefano switched Rafe with a double).

Edited February 19, 2017 by nilyank

[JBC344]

On ‎2‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 3:35 PM, nilyank said:

It was done intentionally but it made no damned sense. It was just another reason for Will to act like a little asshole to his mother.

And it made no sense that he was that upset about Sami breaking up his so-called family with Rafe. In the three years that Sami knew Rafe, she spent months away from her kids in Witness Protection, kept breaking up/getting back together with Rafe, spent the good part of a year reconnecting/almost marrying EJ before she married Rafe to protect herself for shooting EJ.

Hell, Will did not like Rafe for the first year that he knew him. Sami and Rafe were married about a year when grief sex happened and that it included months where her marriage was on the rocks because Rafe was different (Stefano switched Rafe with a double).

Thank you.  The parallels were never there for Will like they were for Sami when she was young.  The John/Marlena/Roman triangle was incredibly nuanced and had lasting consequences for Sami.  Sami had a solid connection to everyone involved, her biological father, her biological mother and her the man who raised her as her father. 

Will liked Rafe just fine I guess and he tolerated EJ but his mother's cheating wouldn't of elicited the same internal conflict that John and Marlena's did to Sami.  Now what would have come close is if Sami and Lucas were happily married and she had grief sex with Austin, that at least would of been comparable to Sami's experience.  Also Will was a lot older and an actual adult, be a young one, when he witnessed the "grief sex". 

It was just a lazy way to create conflict between Will and Sami and also piggyback on Will's sexuality being an issue with Sami. 

[LeftPhalange]

4 minutes ago, JBC344 said:

It was just a lazy way to create conflict between Will and Sami and also piggyback on Will's sexuality being an issue with Sami. 

Sami only had trouble dealing with Will's sexuality for like three episodes so I don't even know what the point was. Also, it rang false to me that someone like Sami would have even five minutes of hesitation over accepting Will's sexuality. 

[JBC344]

3 minutes ago, LeftPhalange said:

Sami only had trouble dealing with Will's sexuality for like three episodes so I don't even know what the point was. Also, it rang false to me that someone like Sami would have even five minutes of hesitation over accepting Will's sexuality. 

I agree.  Even then to me it came across as Sami wrapping her head around it with everything that she was going through; her marriage falling apart, her now tumultuous relationship with her close, loving son.  I also think that television a lot of times gets it wrong when they presume that anytime a parent doesn't "jump up and down" at the news that their child is gay that they are rejecting them. 

I think a lot of times parents aren't upset that they have a gay child they are upset that their child will have to navigate the world that they live in, which is honestly what I thought they tried to do with Lucas's reaction but again Days doesn't exactly know how to do nuance anymore.

[nilyank]

Once again, it was so that Will could go off on Sami for being a bad mother.

It made no sense to me that Sami would have a problem with Will be being gay. Once Will got to forgive Sami for not jumping for joy immediately when he came out, she always super supportive of his choices and his relationship with Sonny.

[Silver Raven]

56 minutes ago, nilyank said:

Once again, it was so that Will could go off on Sami for being a bad mother.

It made no sense to me that Sami would have a problem with Will be being gay. Once Will got to forgive Sami for not jumping for joy immediately when he came out, she always super supportive of his choices and his relationship with Sonny.

Unlike Lucas.

[Apprentice79]

I am not the biggest Sami fan on here, but Sami was not a cheater. It was not in her to do something like that. I hated grief sex because it was a cheap way to create conflict between Sami and Will.  They already had conflict that goes  back to when Kate was actively trying to break up Sami and Lucas.  Kate made it look like Sami had cheated on Lucas with Brandon that resulted in Sami scheming against the town by posing as Stan.  Once Sami's scheme was revealed by Kate destroying Lucas and Sami once again, shattering Will's dream of a happy family with his parents. He held Sami responsible for that.  The same thing happened again when Sami was going to marry Austin and Sami was forced to break up with Austin in front of the whole town. That humiliating experience for Will once again created tension between him and his mother. So, grief sex was totally unnecessary to write stories for Will and Sami.

I always found it unbelievable that Sami had problems with Will's sexuality.  The show should have explored Lucas not being so accepting of Will's sexuality.  I think that the show was too scared of Lucas being labeled as a homophobe, so they never really explored it as they should.  The show should have involved Carrie and Austin in Will's coming out story. Austin accepting Will while Lucas not being totally on board could have explored the complicated relationship between Austin and Lucas. Austin raised Will for the first 2 years of his life and he had a strong bond with him, even after Will's paternity was revealed. Lucas was always jealous of Austin because of Carrie, Kate and Will. 

[JBC344]

See I don't think that cheating is something that Sami is necessarily above.  I agree that John and Marlena's affair was a life changing event that changed Sami but I also think her mindset of "I will never do something like that" is sort of the thing a child/teenager would say, without the benefit and life experience to really understand the nuance there.  Not implying that cheating is ever ok, but considering the life that Sami has lead I don't think cheating is something I would say that Sami would never do.

To me the one area that was never really examined was Carrie's "cheating" and her issues with relationships.  I am a card carrying Carrie fan, but I think the writers missed the boat with her characterization.  I think Carrie's issues with relationships is a direct result of spending her childhood watching John, Marlena, Roman, Tony, and Anna go through all of their mess.  I think the character also had a state of arrested development when she became second mother to Sami and Eric and co-parent with John.  Ever since then her role has always been to be the "good girl".

As much as we talk about Sami's childhood events defining her Carrie never gets the same consideration.  Truth be told outside of Allan raping Sami, Carrie actually has the more traumatic childhood than Sami ever did.  Carrie's childhood always sort of gets glossed over and never mentioned in relation to Sami's.

[Apprentice79]

11 hours ago, JBC344 said:

See I don't think that cheating is something that Sami is necessarily above.  I agree that John and Marlena's affair was a life changing event that changed Sami but I also think her mindset of "I will never do something like that" is sort of the thing a child/teenager would say, without the benefit and life experience to really understand the nuance there.  Not implying that cheating is ever ok, but considering the life that Sami has lead I don't think cheating is something I would say that Sami would never do.

To me the one area that was never really examined was Carrie's "cheating" and her issues with relationships.  I am a card carrying Carrie fan, but I think the writers missed the boat with her characterization.  I think Carrie's issues with relationships is a direct result of spending her childhood watching John, Marlena, Roman, Tony, and Anna go through all of their mess.  I think the character also had a state of arrested development when she became second mother to Sami and Eric and co-parent with John.  Ever since then her role has always been to be the "good girl".

As much as we talk about Sami's childhood events defining her Carrie never gets the same consideration.  Truth be told outside of Allan raping Sami, Carrie actually has the more traumatic childhood than Sami ever did.  Carrie's childhood always sort of gets glossed over and never mentioned in relation to Sami's.

I do feel that Carrie got shafted for Sami, once JER got full control of the show after Sheri Anderson left the show.  Sheri was good at showing how a bad situation can have lasting impact on the characters. I remember a scene with Carrie having dinner with John and Isabella and she called John "dad" and her heartbreak was so apparent, because she lost John as a dad. Not to mention that she had a hard time reconnecting with Roman. Plus, he opposed her romance with Austin.  The show neglected to show how losing John affected Sami, Eric and Carrie.  I do think that it was part of what motivated Sami to have such a negative relationship with John. Putting the affair aside, John was Sami's constant and stable parent, while Roman and Marlena were gone for years.  Losing him so abruptly had to have had some type of negative effect on her psyche. I remember little Sami having a bad reaction to John giving her and Eric back to Roman.  I just wished that the show had telegraphed that explicitly when they aged Sami via Allison Sweeney.

[JBC344]

3 minutes ago, Apprentice79 said:

I do feel that Carrie got shafted for Sami, once JER got full control of the show after Sheri Anderson left the show.  Sheri was good at showing how a bad situation can have lasting impact on the characters. I remember a scene with Carrie having dinner with John and Isabella and she called John "dad" and her heartbreak was so apparent, because she lost John as a dad. Not to mention that she had a hard time reconnecting with Roman. Plus, he opposed her romance with Austin.  The show neglected to show how losing John affected Sami, Eric and Carrie.  I do think that it was part of what motivated Sami to have such a negative relationship with John. Putting the affair aside, John was Sami's constant and stable parent, while Roman and Marlena were gone for years.  Losing him so abruptly had to have had some type of negative effect on her psyche. I remember little Sami having a bad reaction to John giving her and Eric back to Roman.  I just wished that the show had telegraphed that explicitly when they aged Sami via Allison Sweeney.

I so agree.  As much as Sami witnessing John and Marlena was such a turning point for her that set up her start down a bad path, it also could have been explored a lot more in depth.  It's funny in a way because they sort of picked and chose which sister would deal with each aspect.  Sami was able to "live out" the betrayal aspect of the affair and turn all her hurt into rage against John and Marlena, John specifically.  While Carrie was given the more layered response of still having a connection to John while forging a relationship with Roman. 

Neither scenario is bad or wrong, but it would of been nice to see both Carrie and Sami explore both sides of the situation. 

[Apprentice79]

38 minutes ago, JBC344 said:

I so agree.  As much as Sami witnessing John and Marlena was such a turning point for her that set up her start down a bad path, it also could have been explored a lot more in depth.  It's funny in a way because they sort of picked and chose which sister would deal with each aspect.  Sami was able to "live out" the betrayal aspect of the affair and turn all her hurt into rage against John and Marlena, John specifically.  While Carrie was given the more layered response of still having a connection to John while forging a relationship with Roman. 

Neither scenario is bad or wrong, but it would of been nice to see both Carrie and Sami explore both sides of the situation. 

Exactly, every time Sami would scream at Marlena that she ruined her family. I always felt that it meant that Marlena coming back from the dead ruined the family that she had with John as her dad, Carrie, Eric and Isabella. Even Diana was a mother to Sami and Eric.  The twins had a hard time connecting to Marlena as a mom. How could they not, she "died" when they were two years old.  

[bobcat1946]

On 2/19/2017 at 5:33 PM, LeftPhalange said:

The "grief sex" was some absolute bullshit. I can't imagine two parents finding out their child is dead and immediately deciding to have sex, or even being able to function enough to have sex.

As someone who has hated EJ since he raped Sami, I was glad when Nicole took him off of Sami's hands, and was a fan of Safe (this was back before Rafe became a complete piece of shit). 

Rafe was a piece of sh*t from day one his first day.  He did not have to be with Hope to be that.

Edited August 8, 2017 by bobcat1946

[tribeca]

How did fans react to Marlena as Satan?

[JBC344]

5 hours ago, tribeca said:

How did fans react to Marlena as Satan?

My understanding is that it was ratings gold.  People recognized it as "crazy/outlandish" but it was also something kind of interesting in a "never been done before" way.  Because of the success of that storyline NBC gave James Riley the green light to develop Passions, which the Supernatural was a part of the make up of the Soap.

[methodwriter85]

I remember the most popular story I remember following was the Salem Class of 2002 storyline with Shawn, Belle, Chloe, Mimi, Phillip, Jan Spears, etc etc. It unfolded over 3 years (sophomore year to senior year) and the first two years were about the effects of bullying. It was really well-done, the characters were high school bitchy without it getting overdone, and it even included cyber-bullying before it was even a thing. I remember most of the people in the forums were into the stories and everyone had couples they were into- Belle/Shawn, Chole/Phil or Chloe/Brady, Mimi and this one nerdy yet cute guy, etc etc.

It's just a shame when you look at the two most current teen scenes (the Soras!Ciara one and the JJ one) and how fucking terrible they both were. The last good teen scene was the Will/Gabby/OldChad one.

[JBC344]

15 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I remember the most popular story I remember following was the Salem Class of 2002 storyline with Shawn, Belle, Chloe, Mimi, Phillip, Jan Spears, etc etc. It unfolded over 3 years (sophomore year to senior year) and the first two years were about the effects of bullying. It was really well-done, the characters were high school bitchy without it getting overdone, and it even included cyber-bullying before it was even a thing. I remember most of the people in the forums were into the stories and everyone had couples they were into- Belle/Shawn, Chole/Phil or Chloe/Brady, Mimi and this one nerdy yet cute guy, etc etc.

It's just a shame when you look at the two most current teen scenes (the Soras!Ciara one and the JJ one) and how fucking terrible they both were. The last good teen scene was the Will/Gabby/OldChad one.

Loved that teen scene.  The nerdy guy was Kevin, who was insanely hot with a great body who they put in Clark Kent glasses.  I remember his "unveiling" with taking off his shirt and all the girls were shocked.  A book end to Chloe's reveal. 

[tribeca]

Robert Kelker-Kelly firing?

[Apprentice79]

2 hours ago, tribeca said:

Robert Kelker-Kelly firing?

Since Peter came back to the role. Most fans were happy because Kristian had more chemistry with Peter. Plus, we were hearing grumblings about Robert. He used to sexually harassed Crystal Chapel who played Carly. During love scenes, he would touch her inappropriately. She eventually left the show. Her husband Michael, who played Lawrence confronted him resulting in a fight. Both asked to be release from their contracts. Crystal said she never would have left, had Peter remained on the show. I think that Robert did the same thing to Lisa who played Billie and Kristian as well. Both ladies complained and Kristian asked Ken Corday to bring Peter back and the rest is history. Crystal kept quiet, about her harassment, fearing, that she would not be believe. 

[swtrgrl]

Wasn't this why Ali Sweeny spoke up, too? She was super young but she had good parental supervision, etc..

[FnkyChkn34]

40 minutes ago, swtrgrl said:

Wasn't this why Ali Sweeny spoke up, too? She was super young but she had good parental supervision, etc..

Can you please elaborate on this comment?  I'm not following.

[Apprentice79]

8 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Can you please elaborate on this comment?  I'm not following.

Her mother took her off the show because the pervert Robert was dating a co-star that was very young.. They got married as soon as she turned 18. The actress played Sami's best friend who had a crush on Lucas. I forget the character's name..

49 minutes ago, swtrgrl said:

Wasn't this why Ali Sweeny spoke up, too? She was super young but she had good parental supervision, etc..

She did not speak up, her mother was appalled by Robert and took her daughter off of the show..

Edited December 5, 2017 by Apprentice79

[NiqueAlexis]

Her name was Jamie Cadwell the character, the actress name was Miriam Parrish

[JBC344]

Yes, they were married for a really long time. They have been divorced for a few years now. Miriam is remarried. 

I've always been a big advocate for Jamie coming back. Her and Lucas could be good together, and she already has a bond with Kate and Billie.