I see DOOL as a parody of a soap opera. I watch it out of long habit and because it provides me vast amusement to see how silly a show can be and still apparently aim to be taken seriously as drama.
If we want DOOL to return to being something serious, I think we should hire Stefano to take the writers and producers captive on some island someplace :-}. That way we can replace them with folks who actually have a clue.
I know what I'd do. For starters, I'd nuke the incompetent actors like Muldoon. (I guess he's leaving anyway. Yay.) I'd get those who seem to phone in their lines to actually try acting for a change (Deirdre Hall comes to mind, although she's been pretty good in the recent utterly idiotic "possession" storyline). I'd keep someone like Hogestyn whose acting talents are mediocre but whose ability to generates sparks with the right actress is outstanding. Of course we'd need to find such an actress -- say, someone like Debra Moore, who portrayed Danielle a while back. She and Hogestyn oozed chemistry together. I'd concentrate on romance rather than boinking. "Father" John seems to be out to boink any available female. He's turned into a stalker to boot. What a waste.
I'd hire back the Hayes to reprise Doug and Julie. These characters seem to me to be the obvious choice to replace Tom and Alice Horton. I'd try to get some continuity in terms of long existing characters like Mike Horton. Critchlow seems to be a competent actor, but he has no idea who Mike Horton is. Of course that's largely the fault of the writers who have no idea who Mike Horton is either. Of all the actors who have portrayed Mike Horton, I personally liked Wes Eure the best, and I'd want him back. I believe the most popular with other folks was Michael Weiss, who I found entertaining, but who didn't seem very "Horton-ish" to me.
I'd insist the (new) writers avoid idiotic and insensitive plots like Every Woman Is A Bimbo In Search Of Her Man and Every Man Is A Lech In Search Of A Bimbo, or Every Woman Must Be Raped, or Pool Tables Were Made For Boinking. (I STILL cringe when I see felt after watching that utterly tasteless episode with Bo and Carly doing it on the pool table in full view of the whole town.)
I'd insist that children be treated with some respect, and that those with children act as if those children really existed. For the older children, I'd try to find youngsters who would at least be palatable. For example, I find the actor who currently plays Sean Douglas to be unbelievably annoying.
I'd get back some real villains as opposed to caricatures like Vivian or Satan the Jawa on Steroids and even Stefano this time around.
I'd have some ambivalent characters whose mix of "goodness" and "badness" would reflect a complex interior personality. Matt Ashford's version of Jack would be a good candidate for this. So would Aniston's Victor. So would Sorrell's Vivian.
I'd avoid making EVERY male/female relationship a triangle. I'd try to show more friendships that didn't lead to boinking. I'd add some cross-generational friendships.
I'd expect the writers to be able to "fill-in" the past without violating long-established characters and storylines. I'd also expect the writers to avoid recycling storylines unless major new twists were inserted. In other words, I'd expect some creativity, which seems to be in short supply these days on DOOL.
I'd try to increase the ethnic diversity of the cast. I'd try to show respect for a variety of religious and philosophical viewpoints.
I am sure that none of this is going to happen with the current tenure of producers and writers :-}. We will continue to get a program in which we will be disappointed if we look for drama or romance or commentary on current issues. I find that if you take DOOL as a parody, and don't expect much of it, it's still entertaining. I think though that this parody suffers greatly by comparison with the more serious-minded DOOL of the past.
Back to "Days of Our Lives".
Back to my interests.
Back to my home page.
Last modified by pib on March 22, 2000.