I have put up with alot of things in what use to be my favorite, not even a guilty pleasure soap opera.
I lived through rain, hail and satanic possession. I live through decent plots with interesting characters becoming dumb repeated storylines (and GOD need I emphasis the repeated part) full of airheads with hot bodies.
I put up with the recent Marlena storyline, even with the murder of classic characters like Maggie and Doug (don’t get my started on bringing back Doug just to knock him off)
But then… they go ahead and ruin it all.
They killed Alice Horton, those Bastards!
You just do not kill off Alice!
I am normally a sane rational person, and I don’t get annoyed at television shows, but I am livid at them turning Days from a good show (as far as Soap Operas are) to this piece of shit Passions wannabe it is today.
Who next? Bo and Hope (again?) Bring back Kayla or Carly?
Why for the love of God doesn’t she kill of Sami or Nicole?
Well last I say is Sami breaking Marlena’s fall. If there is a god, hopefull they are both have been splattered to a bloody mess to kingdom come.
But still. Even with the idea of a dead Sami, Days is dead to me.
By the way, have they given an explanation for why Marlena is killing all these people? Is it mind control? Demonic possession (again)? Her long-lost evil twin sister?
That wasn’t a triple … that was an f-ing QUAD! Bah, I confess that I haven’t watched DOOL since the “Marlena possessed by the Devil” storyline, but this latest binge is one of the worst rampages I’ve ever seen on tv. Alice Horton … death by donut! Honest to Pete, if that’s not the death knell for this show, I don’t know what else would qualify.
I can’t think of -any- reason to watch it, and hope that others feel the same. IMO, the reason that they may be getting the ratings they are (which admittedly are higher than what they had been) is due to viewers tuning in to … well, to gape and gawk like folks do at the scene of car accidents. The characters who have been killed off have been, for the most part, long-term ones; the murders have been bizarre and in some cases very bloody. Guess we can thank god that Alice Horton was at least spared that indignity.
It’s been probably ten years (more, actually) since I watched DOOL (or any soap), but I have an addictive soap gene in me (that’s why I had to quit) so I can sympathize.
My memory fails me, but isn’t Alice Horton that nice old lady? The matriarch of the show? Are you sure she just didn’t want to retire?
(But if she wanted to retire, couldn’t they have her move to Florida instead of kill her off?)
While I’m here, is that eyepatch guy (Steve), still around? I saw the actor once at the special screening of Blade Runner (this was over 10 years ago) and I almost didn’t recognize him because he was so attractive (and tall) in real life. I’m used to seeing actors looking skankier and more worn out in person than they do on screen, but with this guy it was just the opposite.
Sorry for the tangent. Oh wait—I have to ask—how are Bo and Hope doing? It seems like they’ve been around forever and they still look the same as they did 10 years ago.
Steve Johnson, a/k/a the Eyepatch Guy, was killed off years ago. Bo and Hope are still around–Bo is played by Bo #1, and Hope is played by the worst actor in existance.
A guilty recent pasttime of mine is figuring out who has lost which relatives due to the killer–Shawn has lost his cousin-in-law (Jack), two grandfathers (Doug), uncle (Roman), cousin (Cassie), and now great-grandmother (Alice). He also lost his second grandfather Victor, but it wasn’t the serial killer.
I’m hoping all this death stuff is one big long stupid dream or something–the dead people keep poping up as visions.
In college, I got sucked into watching DOOL fairly religiously, mostly as a result of it just being on in the commons every day. (Though by my last semester I was scheduling classes around it!) :o
Can’t imagine the place without Alice Horton, though. She made even the most lovable of our grandmothers look like Cruella DeVille.
And from your lips to God’s ears with Carly. Aye, carrrrramba. Crystal…what was her real name? Crystal something. Ach, those lips and that sultry gaze.
but I’m pretty sure I read (strictly by accident) that the actress that plays Alice Horton specifically asked that she be one of Marlena’s (whoever that is) victims–to go out with a bang, I suppose.
Regarding Marlena, it’s either:
Her evil twin sister, Dottie (who I know nothing about),
Or the standard Days cop-out: Mind Control by Stefano DiMera (I have no clue what I’m talking about; Who? What?)
(AHEM!) Not that I watch DOOL or anything…
(At least not since I moved someplace where it comes on at 1:00 instead of noon.)
Pantella: why, you’re just completely oblivious to anything related to DOOL, aren’t you?
So, Steve got killed off? Well, that’s too bad. I did like him and Kayla (I think that’s her name). What’s Kayla up to these days?
I looked up the lady who plays Alice, Frances Reid, and she was born in 1913 so that makes her 90. I guess she finally decided to retire! Damn! That’s a long career she’s had! Look at her screen credits. First credit was in 1938. Damn!
I have been watching DOOL for 23 years (and I’m only 31) hehe
Little nitpick…Samantha was Marlena’s twin sister, played by Deidre Hall in the 80’s. Hattie (not Dottie) was a woman obsessed with Roman who moved to Salem and terrorized Marlena, who was played by Deidre Hall’s real life twin, Andrea Hall.
From what I have read from Frances Reid is that she wanted to retire (she had a life long contact) and she said she would like to do it in a fun way. She asked to be one of Marlena’s victims. After a little hesitation from the writers, they obliged, and even let her choose how she was murdered.
Another nitpick: Marlena is played by DEIDRE Hall, her twin sister Samatha was played by ANDREA Hall (and killed by the Jake Kostieck, another Days serial killer).
Kayle married Shane Donovan, her sister Kimberly’s ex. Kimberly came back to town for a while when Roman was married and killed.
Shane was played by Charles Shannessy, who later played on The Nanny. Steve Nicholas, who played Patch, had a great guest spot on the show.
Oh good lord, I can’t believe I’m actually posting this here. I was also a victim of the college campus commons during lunch. Now I watch the first half of the show everyday during my lunch break … the second half is reserved for the Bold and the Beautiful (which, I will say, is no better than DOOL).
So, now that I’ve tried to make excuses for myself, I have to say that what really pisses me off about this whole “Marlena as Salem Stalker” storyline is that I just know it’s going to be a cop-out. Marlena’s not going to jail any more than any other character who commits murder on a soap is going to. What really irks me about this is that I have the feeling that once this is over and Marlena’s excuses are revealed (though I highly doubt demonic possession would stand up in a real court of law), everything’s just going to go “back to normal” with Marlena as this wonderful do-no-wrong character. I don’t understand how that can happen. I won’t be able to look at her the same again, how could the people of Salem? Especially people like Bo, Hope, Lexi, and Jennifer who have suffered greatly and lost more than one loved one out of this deal.
On a positive note, I am actually looking forward to seeing how this affects the relationship between Shawn and Belle. I really don’t care for Belle that much, so I’m hoping Shawn really lays into her when he finds out that he was right all along.
“Jumping the shark” is TV slang for a show which is, to put it mildly, past its prime. The creators are out of ideas and so resort to outlandish stunts. It derives from the episode of “Happy Days” in which Fonzie on water skis jumps a penned shark. It has devolved somewhat to apply to any show which has run out of steam. The OP’s title was a riff on the phrase.
Even in my soap-watching days, I could never stand DOOL. He’s Roman! He’s not Roman! He is Roman! He’s fake Roman! No, he’s real Roman! She’s Hope! She’s fake Hope! No, she’s real Hope but thinks she’s fake Hope!
I’m about two weeks behind but just when I think Days can’t get any worse, it does.
There’s got to be something going on with all this and everyone will be alive in the end. Granted, most of the people they’ve killed off haven’t been the ones who get a lot of airtime (except Jack and I’ve heard that the head writer just doesn’t like this guy) but can they really expect people to keep watching this show after half or more of the long-time characters are gone? I’m pretty sure that when it’s down to Shawn & Belle (ick), Mimi & Rex (a cute but boring couple), Hope & Bo, Roman & Marlena, Jennifer (always boring without Jack)…what’s left to watch? At least they haven’t done away with Julie yet.
I will say that stuffing Cassie’s body into a turkey pinata on Thanksgiving was pretty funny though.
Crystal Chappell. She’s married to the guy who played Lawrence Alamain at the time.
I can’t remember if Shane & Kayla ever did get married; Kayla did have a fling with Shane, who was her ex-brother-in-law (he’d been married to Kimberly). Kayla and her daughter (by Patch) are living somewhere out west, probably in CA. They are referred to from time to time and I think Kimberly may have come to Mrs. Brady’s funeral a while back (Mrs. Brady was one of the first murder victims of Marlena/whoever). Shane shows up from time to time, in connection with the secret agency that he works for (forget the initials of it!).
As to the actors, Stephen Nichols played on Santa Barbara just before it was cancelled, then was on General Hospital from 95 until 2000 or so, then returned to GH for about 6 months about a year or so ago. Mary Beth Evans is currently playing Sierra on As The World Turns, but just on a an occasional basis. I think she’s due to turn up some time soon, btw.
