What Do You Think So Far - Two Month Mark (Read 1,595 times)

[wendylou]

So it's been just about two months since the new writing team's stuff started airing and there have been some very obvious changes in the direction of the show. What do you think so far? What do you like and what don't you like? Overall, thumbs up or down?

Love to see your opinions.

[heroicmuse]

I still have very VERY mixed feelings.

Good/Improved
We no longer have stories that go around in circles. Dialogue is a lot better and we've gotten rid of having the same storyline 5 times with one character.
I'm really enjoying Steve being back (though I wish we'd have some more Steve/Kayla and less Steve being obsessed with Bo unless Steve and Bo are going to discover they have more than friendship feelings for each other soon.)
I'm glad we didn't have another round of JJ being self-destructive, for the most part, after Paige's death.
There's more use of history, more use of characters like Julie, Maggie, etc and they are written properly.

Things I'm very unhappy about
There is WAY too much violence. Violence is a part of soaps but right now it seems to be all of what we have. I thought we'd have some romance mixed in with that, but instead we have this serial killer storyline, Clyde threatening JJ, a brutal fight between Ben and Chad that's played over and over... this is not what I watch a soap for. Where is the romance?
Too many people being killed off. Every character that leaves does not have to die, and I feel oversaturated with grief. I would have much rather seen Paige go off to Stanford/go off to find her father and Will go to Paris to try to reconcile with Sonny than approximately six weeks straight of grief.
Characters are still way too siloed. Seriously, did the writers forget that Abby and JJ are related? She never reached out to him or seemed concerned after Paige's death, and it struck me as really weird that Gabi hung out with JJ half an hour before finding Will's body then turned to Abby for comfort and there was not even a mention of whether JJ knew his cousin died.
In general there's not enough of JJ for my liking and I'm unhappy they seem to have written out JJ's relationship with Daniel. Back burnering Daniel is one thing, but having him go to Paige's funeral and not say a word of support to JJ is another.
And of course I am extremely unhappy with the 180 they did on Aiden's character. It doesn't even make sense and destroyed one of my favorite relationships.

So I'd give the new writers a C. The old ones were at a D- so a C is major improvement but there are still some really big problems that need to be solved.

[sevenna92]

Okay, here's my analysis:

The good stuff:

The dialogue seems to be a lot better and there's definitely a lot more character depth and clear motivation for many characters. We no longer have anyone that's one dimensional and annoying.

I also like that J.J. hasn't self-destructed at all since Paige died.

I also like that we get characters mixed in more and we have some surprises once in a while.

I really like that Theresa hasn't slid back into her old ways, yet... (I'll give her six more months), and this is the most she's gone without reverting back into a coldhearted, mean you know what. Under the old writers she would have been up to her old antics already. It's refreshing that she's still determined to change for the better, even if she's a bit misguided.

Brady's become more tolerable and not much of a blockhead.

I like that we have families interacting with each other and also friends having meaningful conversations.

Stories seem to be advancing a lot better and not going around in circles as much. 

The bad stuff:

I hate that the continuity is off and we can't tell if it's night or day.

The pacing is kind of off at times and there's no immediate follow-up.

Also I hate how they've trashed some characters, (like Aiden), and made some characters look dumb and unrootable, (Abby & Hope)

Why is it that some scenes are so dark that you can't tell what's going on? And the red light outside Ben & Abby's apartment is getting increasingly annoying.

The Will story is awful so far and Sami finding E.J.'s letter is obvious Ejami propping to me.

And why hasn't Steve met up with Adrienne yet?

Where's Roman? He's gone AWOL.

And yeah there's way too much violence too. This ain't prime time you know.

There's definitely some improvement but I'd like to see more stuff happening. And more beats need to be played and the pacing needs to be better.

Forgot to give my grade - I'll give them a C-/B+ at the most.

[rockfordfosgate]

I love the focus on relationships, on having characters actually talk and interact in a way that seems real, seems about the characters rather than just forcing a plot point forward. I am actually looking forward to watching, to seeing what comes next, and I haven't felt like that in a long time. I actually liked the Chad/Ben fight scene. Yes, it was a bit brutal and I could have done without the head bashing onto the bedframe, but it felt less cheesy than most soap fights and felt like a battle these two guys would realistically have.

There's more use of history, references to characters of long ago, of past relationships and it's all relevant to the storylines and conversations the characters are having.

I think sometimes the transitioning between scenes, the jumps in time to get people to different settings is bothersome at times. We see Steve in Mexico as they are giving Caroline the drug, then he's there while they're still standing around her bedside? That's a quick jet that Victor has!

I will say that Aiden's 180 is disappointing because I wanted to root for him and Hope, liked how they slowly led up to Hope and Aiden's relationship. But there was always something slightly off about him, something that could always go this way for me. His story about Chase accidentally killing his wife, after the reveal I just felt like it was slightly off, like that whole story was just anti-climatic and that couldn't be the true story. So, I was somewhat expecting something like this, but not the Stefano connection.

And as heroicmuse said, some characters are getting backburnered in storylines that should involve them more. I think it's just a way to transition out of the old writers' stories and characters, some who will be leaving the show, some who hopefully will transition into new storylines with other characters.

[Kpatch]

Great question wendylou, and great answers heroicmuse and sevenna92 and rockfordfosgate.

I agree that the dialogue is a lot better and the stories are moving faster. In some ways they're moving too fast and we're missing the emotional beats that we tune in for. Too much has happened off camera, like how JJ disappeared from our screens for days and days after Paige was murdered. We didn't see him again until the day of her funeral I think. Jennifer got told offscreen and Abby and JJ didn't share a scene until the stupidity at the cop shop after Clyde got arrested. Seemed like Eve and JJ are the only ones who cared about Paige dying.

Characters are too silo'd, like the aforementioned Abby and JJ. Abby wasn't there for JJ at all after Paige died. She's been totally isolated with Ben and Chad and barely another soul. Steve hasn't interacted with anyone but Kayla, Aiden, and Hope. He never saw his sister Adrienne or his sisterinlaw Jennifer and her kids.

Teresa's metamorphosis has been too quick. I'd rather see an evolution than a revolution. Nicole and Kate have been horrible to her, and as women themselves who've struggled to gain a foothold in the corporate world, I'd think they'd be a little more nurturing and mentoring.

Justin and Aiden must have had a lobotomy the same day as Teresa because their personalities changed completely too.

Daniel is nonexistent, which is ironic after years when he was overexposed.

The lighting is horrible and in many scenes, you can't even see the actors' faces, and while that crime may not be attributable to the writers, it started around the same time as they did.

Way too much death and violence. I feel like I'm watching CSI instead of DAYS. Ugh, and those torture scenes with Bo. Totally unwatchable.

Zero romance, which I always thought was the bread and butter of a soap.

I didn't realize I was going to write so much. LOL.

I give the new team a grade of "D."

[fluffysmom]

I'm ready for a break from the violence. Other than that I'm actually enjoying watching the show now. It was awful watching the idiotic elephant story and seeing Eric and Daniel have what seemed to be infinite scenes trashing Nicole.

I'm happy that multiple sets have been pulled out of storage. We are no longer watching every scene take place at the Square or TBD.

I really like the historical references along with the relevant flashbacks from the past.

I like seeing people like Justin and Victor interacting with a variety of characters.

I'm hoping for more romance soon.

[MissFancyFace]

Higley and Griffith get two thumbs down overall from me as well as a big fat F. P*ss poor ratings is exactly what their cr*ppy unfair biased writing deserves.

[wendylou]

I agree with a lot of the sentiments above, especially regarding the lack of romance and "silo-ing" of characters. I also HATE the ridiculous turn Aiden's story/character have taken, because I liked Haiden and also because it seems like such a blatant effort to force Bo and Hope into the root-able couple roll. I would much rather have seen a triangle with the Aiden we knew for months. I don't think it was completely unexpected though. I do feel they set up the story about his wife's death so that they could go back and make Aiden a villain if and when Peter Reckell decided to return.

I see potential for romance in Theresa and Brady and I'm glad they are taking their time with it. I personally love the changes they have made to Theresa and I'm happy the new writers have given us some backstory and seem to recognize Jen Lilley's talent.

I'm deeply disappointed in Caroline's new storyline as a psychic instead of the much more relatable Alzheimer's story.

I have zero interest in Bo's return and I hated all the torture scenes although for me it wasn't the violence it was the absurdity of it. They were SO overdone, to the point of silliness I thought. And this was all for some cure for dementia? Please. Lame. Lame. Lame.

Something else I miss that no one else has mentioned is the sense of humor. There used to be some real zingers batted around by Victor, JJ, Nicole and a few others. They must have gotten rid of the funny writer cause the only laughing I do now is probably not at intentional humor.

I do think the pace moves quickly (mostly) and the serial killer storyline has kept me pretty riveted. I am excited to see what happens with it and it hasn't been completely predictable so far.
I'd say for me the show went from a D to a B-. There are still a lot of improvements needed but I think they are headed in a good direction for most things.

[fluffysmom]

Oct 18, 2015 14:51:32 GMT -5 wendylou said:

I do think the pace moves quickly (mostly) and the serial killer storyline has kept me pretty riveted. I am excited to see what happens with it and it hasn't been completely predictable so far.
I'd say for me the show went from a D to a B-. There are still a lot of improvements needed but I think they are headed in a good direction for most things.

I agree wendylou.

I also agree that there have been some lingering questions out there about Aiden that left the door open for a shady past to emerge.

Some characters have fewer interactions outside their core group while others like Rafe and Justin are interacting with a lot of characters since they changed jobs. Some characters are getting a rest while other stories play out.

[twinklingmoon]

Well, I am not sure I have anything new to add, as everyone has pretty much said everything I could think of

I will say, as much as they are showing some characters develop, they are equally leaving some relationships completely undeveloped and some characters behaving in a manner completely against character (lack of character continuity kills me). For instance:

• One of the things that drive me bonkers on this show is the lack of a relationship between Jennifer and Lucas. They are brother and sister, Jennifer's daughter is godmother to his granddaughter. And from what I have seen, Lucas has tried to be a good dad. I am not aware of him ever abandoning his kids, he even went so far as to go to prison for Will's crime, agreed to allow his daughter to be raised across the country alongside her DiMera siblings so she will have her mother and siblings around her as she grows up. The point I am making is Jack was an absentee dad for a long time, from what I gather. So why on earth would Jennifer and Lucas not develop a good relationship as family is important to Hortons, and instead of Daniel being the one Devereaux clan turned to for help, why not Lucas? His history of alcohol addiction may have helped JJ deal with his own issues surrounding drugs. I just feel that this whole relationship between the Devereax group and Lucas/Will is very poorly developed.
• Why isn't Paul used more? We should see him connecting not just with John, but with Brady too. He should be brought up to speed regarding Stefano and his role in John's life. Isn't John worried Paul could be a target for Stefano, as apparently everyone around John has always been a target? And I don' t recall any mention of Belle and Paul ever having a conversation. She is his sister. I hope Paul is integrated into the Black clan's storylines more. I don't want his whole story arch to be about his love life.
• Where is everyone's brain regarding Chad? To my knowledge his character has not demonstrated violence, certainly not random violence towards anyone in the past. But now because he is a DiMera that means he's automatically qualified as a murderer? The guy always resisted being a DiMera. For goodness sake, he will forever be connected to Sami, and Rafe for that matter, as they raised his daughter as their own. A daughter he didn't even know he had. So why would he hurt Sami? Makes no sense to me. At least Rafe can see past his hate of Chad because of Jordan, and is considering that he may be innocent. Justin's pure hatred of Chad is very illogical to me too.
• The return of Andre makes no sense to me either. He's here, but no one can know he is here? Why? And yet, he reveals himself to Aiden. Meanwhile, Chad meets him and has no idea who the heck this guy is? How could he not at the very least say "you look like my brother Tony" as certainly there must be pics of Tony around the DiMera home, no?
• What is the point of bringing characters into the show that they are not doing anything with? I.e. Eric has no storyline whatsoever, Joey, Steve (who is more focused on Bo than any other character), why the heck aren't Adrienne and Steve reconnecting? Chloe came back for about a  minute (I don't know if that was the old writing team or new, but her limited scene with Nicole was a waste of her return). And why not bring back Kim and Shane for Paige's funeral?
• Why is Caroline all of the sudden psychic? This return of Bo Brady has been all of a sudden out of nowhere, and the way they are doing it is not holding my interest at all. I skip all of the scenes with Bo in them.
• where the heck is Roman? Will has been killed. Sami is back. Caroline is now psychic. And yet, other than dumping on Kayla for at first resisting the miracle drug, he's nowhere to be found.
• Characters randomly going to the park at all times of day, especially at night, with a killer on the loose. What is up with Gabby? She just got out of prison so she first goes to the docks in the middle of the night only to be rescued by JJ. And then takes her infant baby to the park in the middle of the night after learning her baby's father just got murdered that very night? Where is her head? To make matters even worse, her brother was in the FBI. She should know better.

That last point brings me to something I am observing in general. But many female characters on the show are not written as being particularly intelligent.

• Anne Milbauer, a character I generally enjoy has been really ridiculous. First she gives Eve attitude right after Eve buries her daughter, and then shows insensitivity to Theresa after Will's death. Plus, Anne has got to be smart enough to realize that Theresa has to change her priorities somewhat after having Tate, even if she doesn't want to. Let's face it. It doesn't matter how screwed up Brady is, he'll always get a pass. But if Theresa screws up he'll get full custody of Tate. I don't care how selfish Theresa is, she is not willingly going to give up her kid, and Anne should realize that. Yes, she has a right to be upset with Theresa for not being there for here, but Theresa has always been like that. Tate didn't change that.
• Don't even get me started on how stupid Abby is...That's a whole new thread in itself!!!! Ha! ha!
• Hope...she's a police officer. As soon as Will gets killed, she' on the "all the evidence points to Chad" bandwagon. Actually Hope, no solid evidence points to him. And zero evidence points to him being involved in Will's death. All you have is  a cheap red tie. The two other murders were female victims. Plus, those murders were spaced out. Why would Chad kill Will and then risk being caught and that very night go to kill Ben? The killer doesn't kill 2x in one night, and Chad would be stupid to go over Ben's when Abby could very well be there, an eyewitness. That's just stupid. And btw, for all your years in chasing the DiMera family, when has any DiMera been stupid enough to actually kill someone on their own and leave evidence behind? If it was that easy, Stefano would have been imprisoned a long time ago.
• Jennifer...why are you not concerned that your pregnant daughter who is already engaged, tells you she has to leave town that night and move because "Chad is here" and it makes it difficult for Ben. She said something like that. To Jennifer, who made a comment to Abby that she could see how supposedly happy Abby was with this decision, that should have been a warning sign that something was off. And to top it off, she wasn't even going to say good bye to her brother. I think any mother would have said "wait, what? You wanted a nice wedding with your family and now you're picking up and moving just like that? You will need your family around you when you have your baby. You can't give me less than 24 hours notice that you are leaving your job." Jennifer should be concerned about Abby, not thrilled she is leaving town because she's safe from Clyde. Hello? Clyde will be Abby's father-in-law, she'll never be safe from him. JJ was smarter than Jen when her told her  "that's not happening" when Jen said "Abby is marrying Clyde's son. He can't be the drug dealer."

The plus side of the new writers:

• Brady is developing a brain! Yay! and  I like that he is not insulting Theresa at every turn. She is the mother of  his child and he needs to demonstrate some respect.
• Chad is getting some good one liners. And I like that he is being his own man. He stood up to Stefano about his interest in Abby's inheritance and told her the truth. He is skeptical of Andre's help because he doesn't know him. Good for Chad for questioning things!
• A truce of sorts between Eve and Jennifer. Fighting over their children's love life was stupid.
• We finally see there is more to Theresa than manipulation. And we get some back story as to why she is the way she is.
• Potential, and I must stress Potential,  storyline involving the DiMeras...why bring Stefano back if there is no story for him? The addition of Andre gives me hope that we may get some sort of storyline.

Okay, that's it for now as this post is WAY too long and I wouldn't blame folks for not reading it at all, Ha! Ha!

[fluffysmom]

Lucas and Jennifer found out as adults that they are siblings. They've never had a close relationship regardless of who was writing the show. Will has always been closer to the Brady's and Kate than to the Hortons.

[Kpatch]

Oct 18, 2015 21:04:08 GMT -5 twinklingmoon said:

Okay, that's it for now as this post is WAY too long and I wouldn't blame folks for not reading it at all, Ha! Ha!

LOL twinklingmoon.

I agree it would be nice to see a little more caring between Lucas and Jennifer. The only time I can remember them speaking is when they were fighting about Daniel.

[heroicmuse]

Oct 18, 2015 22:23:16 GMT -5 fluffysmom said:

Lucas and Jennifer found out as adults that they are siblings. They've never had a close relationship regardless of who was writing the show. Will has always been closer to the Brady's and Kate than to the Hortons.

Lucas seems to be somewhat close with Abigail. Surprisingly, he defended her after the EJ debacle, during Sami's revenge. I see JJ not being close to Lucas as another example of how it's written that everyone has time for Abby but nobody in the entire family wants to give JJ the time of day. It's always been written that way though, so I can't fault Griffith/Higley for that. I can fault them for getting rid of JJ's relationship with Daniel and leaving him even more unsupported, though.

[twinklingmoon]

Oct 18, 2015 22:23:16 GMT -5 fluffysmom said:

Lucas and Jennifer found out as adults that they are siblings. They've never had a close relationship regardless of who was writing the show. Will has always been closer to the Brady's and Kate than to the Hortons.

Yes, they may have found out as adults, but there is time/opportunity for the show to develop a relationship. Half the characters on the show "discover" a long lost relative into adulthood, ha! ha! Just think of how many of Stefano's kids don't meet until adulthood....EJ and Lexi; Ej and Chad, now Chad and Andre. So I think there is opportunity for Jennifer and Lucas to build a relationship.

For instance, Maggie is everyone's go-to sponsor (or so it seems) but why not have Lucas be JJ's sponsor? Just an avenue that they could use as one way to integrated Lucas with the Hortons/Devereux clans

[fluffysmom]

Yes, they could develop a closer relationship. My point was that the lack of closeness isn't because of the new writers. None of the past writers have developed a close sibling relationship for them.