Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Those Were The Days...

When I was in grad school from 95 to 97, I got caught up in Days of our Lives.

One of my cohorts in my program got me hooked on the tail end of Marlena's possession. Then I fell for the Sami/Austin/Carrie triangle.

Finally I got hooked on the story of all stories... Marlena/John Black/Kristen triangle, which eventually brought us Kristen (and the actress Eileen Davidson) having identical quadruplet siblings (Susan, Sister Mary Moira, and the brother whose name I don't remembeer) all appearing on screen.

Those stories all had one person in common. Days' head writer at the time, James E. Reilly. Reilly died over the weekend. Daytime Confidential has a really great remembrance of Reilly's stories he brought to Days.

One of the things he was credited with was Days' rise in ratings in the 1990s from #7 to #2 for many years. Often his stories were panned by critics, but LOVED by fans. I know that those of us in book writing profession are often deluged with debates and discussions on the popularity/quality continuum.

But this isn't about debates or popularity or quality. I know I enjoyed Days for the two years I was in grad school. Often, I look back on those days... and Days with a lot of fondness.
fs

3 comments:

Unknown said...

wow didn't know he died...haven't seen DOOL in such a long time...

Anonymous said...

Hi, I always like it when I run across another Days fan. I was also into the big Marlena/John storyline, but sadly am not anymore. But if John goes back to his old self, I know I'll be right back on that bandwagon LOL!

C. Baptiste-Williams said...

i was watching Days back in those years as I finished high school... I loved Eileen Davidson because she was the original Ashley on Y&R and has since returned back... but that storyline with Susan and those buck teeth was a hoot no doubt.