So if Nicole was adopting a baby, why did she bother stealing Sami's? Did she just want to hurt Sami? Or was she dead-set on raising EJ's child?
As for Melanie and Stephanie, why do shows insist on bombarding us with characters and actors the fans clearly don't like? Don't they realize it's self-defeating? One look at those girls and my attention checked out. And why must they look like the same bland, vacuous runway model? I wouldn't have been able to tell those two apart had their names not been repeated during their scenes. Soaps have had so much success casting unconventional actors -- Bradford Anderson on GH, Kathy Brier on OLTL, Blake Berris on DAYS -- but casting directors still think all we care about are perky bimbos and beefcake. Of course, DAYS is hardly the only offender, but those two actresses were so obviously cast to fit the same beauty queen mold that it's kind of ridiculous even to pretend that they're playing characters.
Did Stephanie really seem that bad? When Shelley Hennig first joined the show as Stephanie, I couldn't stand her, and her acting was horrible. She was just a beauty queen. But she's really developed over the last couple of years, and I think she's pretty good now. I had no problem with her in yesterday's episode. I loved some of her performances when Owen had kidnapped her. She's not my favorite character, and at times she does tend to take over as far as screen time, but I actually like her part of the Kiriakis/DiMera story.
Melanie, on the other hand, doesn't fit in with anyone anywhere really and is probably never going to be a popular character. I'd just as soon get rid of her, but now that she show is really only playing her like once a week, mostly as a minor player in the Kiriakis story, she doesn't bother me much.
I agree James Scott has been hit or miss, and the scenes with Stefano about Sami were a miss. I imagine it must be hard to deliver lines about how great Nicole is while Sami is so evil, because the whole speech just mad EJ sound like a fool. Scott was much better in the scenes at the funeral home and also when EJ told Nicole that he was Grace's father. That was good stuff.
Originally posted by daytimeemmyfan: sweeny has been good, but i feel zuker has the better shot at a nod, she has a more sharper point in her acting that sweeny doesnt, the most memorable line from that whole plot has been "don't punish grace for what i'v done! punish me!" and sweeny is no different than kkl at b&b who has never been nominated and been crying much longer for a emmy. and when this whole baby saga blows up, ari is going to really deliver it and its gonna top what sweeny is doing now. ari seems to be in the designated eileen davidson spot on the show, and sweeny is deidre hall. ari/davidson wins.
I'm sure Ari will be great when the baby switch is finally revealed, and she has been consistently really good since she came back to the show last year. But I wouldn't underestimate the work Ali Sweeney's done for the last few weeks, which has been most excellent. I can see your comparison of Nicole/Sami to Kristen/Marlena, but I don't think it holds up. For starters, Ari Zucker is only playing one character, and much as I loved Eileen Davidson as Kristen, the acclaim really started pouring in when she took on Susan and co. as well. Also, Sami is way, way more edgy than Marlena as a character. She's got most of the acting advantages that come with playing a bad girl, while still getting to be the relative heroine of the storyline. That actually works in her favor, I think.
I wouldn't compare Alison Sweeney to KKL at all, though. Saying Sweeney has never been nominated for an Emmy feels a little disingenuous to me because a) DAYS has had a really hard time getting nominees into categories other than the younger acting categories and b) Sweeney has grown considerably as an actress since her teen years. It's only been maybe once or twice that I've thought maybe she should have gotten nominated but didn't.
So if Nicole was adopting a baby, why did she bother stealing Sami's? Did she just want to hurt Sami? Or was she dead-set on raising EJ's child?
As for Melanie and Stephanie, why do shows insist on bombarding us with characters and actors the fans clearly don't like? Don't they realize it's self-defeating? One look at those girls and my attention checked out. And why must they look like the same bland, vacuous runway model? I wouldn't have been able to tell those two apart had their names not been repeated during their scenes. Soaps have had so much success casting unconventional actors -- Bradford Anderson on GH, Kathy Brier on OLTL, Blake Berris on DAYS -- but casting directors still think all we care about are perky bimbos and beefcake. Of course, DAYS is hardly the only offender, but those two actresses were so obviously cast to fit the same beauty queen mold that it's kind of ridiculous even to pretend that they're playing characters.
Did Stephanie really seem that bad? When Shelley Hennig first joined the show as Stephanie, I couldn't stand her, and her acting was horrible. She was just a beauty queen. But she's really developed over the last couple of years, and I think she's pretty good now. I had no problem with her in yesterday's episode. I loved some of her performances when Owen had kidnapped her. She's not my favorite character, and at times she does tend to take over as far as screen time, but I actually like her part of the Kiriakis/DiMera story.
Melanie, on the other hand, doesn't fit in with anyone anywhere really and is probably never going to be a popular character. I'd just as soon get rid of her, but now that she show is really only playing her like once a week, mostly as a minor player in the Kiriakis story, she doesn't bother me much.
I agree James Scott has been hit or miss, and the scenes with Stefano about Sami were a miss. I imagine it must be hard to deliver lines about how great Nicole is while Sami is so evil, because the whole speech just mad EJ sound like a fool. Scott was much better in the scenes at the funeral home and also when EJ told Nicole that he was Grace's father. That was good stuff.
Stephanie wasn't flat-out awful like Melanie, who just from looking at her made me know I'd never want to see her again. (Poor Aloma Wright from "Scrubs," forced to lend undeserved acting support to that girl.) She seemed sorta decent in her scene with Max, not really good at all in her later scene with Philip, but what struck me overall was blandness. To me her performance didn't seem emotionally all that present. As I said, it was a snap judgment; I'll give her a chance and see if there is more to her than met the eye.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
It actually surprised me that I jumped to her defense that way. I don't know if it's just that the actress has grown on me or what. The blandness of which you speak is probably accurate. But I guess just because all of the other women on the show with storylines are morally iffy at best, she kind of fills the niche of long-suffering good girl.
So if Nicole was adopting a baby, why did she bother stealing Sami's? Did she just want to hurt Sami? Or was she dead-set on raising EJ's child?
As for Melanie and Stephanie, why do shows insist on bombarding us with characters and actors the fans clearly don't like? Don't they realize it's self-defeating? One look at those girls and my attention checked out. And why must they look like the same bland, vacuous runway model? I wouldn't have been able to tell those two apart had their names not been repeated during their scenes. Soaps have had so much success casting unconventional actors -- Bradford Anderson on GH, Kathy Brier on OLTL, Blake Berris on DAYS -- but casting directors still think all we care about are perky bimbos and beefcake. Of course, DAYS is hardly the only offender, but those two actresses were so obviously cast to fit the same beauty queen mold that it's kind of ridiculous even to pretend that they're playing characters.
Nicole was going to pass off the "adopted" baby as hers and EJs. She found out about Samis pregnancy later on then decided EJ should raise his own child, also if any question should arise the DNA would match EJ. I dont think she was out to hurt Sami, at least it didnt come across that way for me. The way they played it was more like a chance opportunity rather than a malicious baby swap.
Shelley Hennig has improved but I still dont like Stephanie, I just dont hate her anymore. Molly Burnett however is still as awful as the day she came on and now with Max gone she has even less purpose than before (which wasnt much). I am however enjoying Taylor Spreitler (Mia) very much. They should dump the other 2 and give her a raise. I see her more in that unconventional actor mold you mentioned. She could turn out to be a real find.
Yes, I agree about Taylor Spreitler. She's got personality and an unconventionality that works well for her.
With the baby switch, Nicole's main motivation was to be raising EJ's baby with him, and also having the insurance that EJ actually is the baby's father. But I think she also very strongly believed that Sami didn't deserve to be raising EJ's baby, especially not if it came down to a choice between the two of them.
I take it back! Looks like Melanie's on the frontburner again. Ugh!
Whoever's writing the Chloe/Daniel/Kate/Lucas story kind of needs to get a grip. For one thing, I don't need to see Chloe and Daniel fantasize about making out/having sex/licking each other's faces every day. Also, I think having Chloe spend a whole episode thinking and talking about how morally conflicted she is is uninteresting, because, among other reasons, Lucas and Chloe have no connection or rooting value as a couple. Finally, is Kate's plan really to kill Chloe? I had been holding out hope that there was some other twist to this, but there doesn't seem to be. Kate's wicked and crazy, but trying to kill Chloe over this would just be ridiculous. At this point, I think the story should mainly be about Lucas finding out the truth and/or Kate doing something more reasonable as a form of revenge. Things would be more interesting if Lucas learned the truth and then struggled with how to handle his future with Chloe, and the fact that his mother and aunt kept the truth from him.
Also, Stephanie's reaction to finding out that EJ was Grace's father was hilarious. She seemed like she was going to fall over. And Eric Marltsof seemed completely confused afterwards.
el i heard chloe will be in the hospital soon so it looks like kate really is gonna try to kill her. the only thing i can say here is that this could mean lk's days are almost numbered if she did this. kate isnt sonny corinthos and can not get off of this unless chloe drops charges and if she does, i could see nb heading out the door for sure. i hope the writers arent going to use the excuse that attempted murder is okay because no one cares about chloe. that would be crazy.
one thing i have noticed is that when the show is about nicole and sami, there's more of the chloe story but less of it when its about the kiriakis/dimera story.
I guess we'll have to see how the Chloe/Kate thing works out. I'm trying not to be cynical about it.
Yesterday's episode had some very good moments and scenes. Taking opportunity to not only have some Bo and Hope scenes where they aren't being cops but also having them reflect on Zack before Grace's funeral was very nice. And Arianne Zucker was, as usual, fantastic.
I have been watching post Grace's death and I am kinda sorta a viewer of the show again. When I first got to this site I was all about Days, even the crazy JER mess, so when it went through it rough period for the major part of last yr. I stopped watching, but now I am back. I have to say the transformation of the character of Sami Brady is one that has me hooked. I know ppl say that she never need to grow up and still be that same character who went after men who did not want her and battled against Kate, but this viewer says that is crap. This growth in character was long needed and now that she has gone through this ordeal and has a man who loves her for her, there's no need to regress her. She is now the heart and soul of the show. And now to the younger set of characters. The new guys the brought on to play the Horton kid and Mia's baby daddy have potential so it is wait and see. I have to agree w/the ppl who are saying Molly Burnnett is becoming tolorable. I think if the writers continue to play her as a corky side character instead of the Lead actress of the show she can b/c a good character. Stephanie and Phillip are OK together, but the age difference kind of bugs me a bit, but it is whatever. And I hae to say Shelley has become quite the little actress. Will and Mia are hot and cold for me. The actors that are playing them esp., Mia, can be good one scene and come off as wooden the next. I agree w/blogger Sara Bibel they need to get the two some coaches to fix that b/c case and pt. the scene on today's episode where Mia and her bay daddy met up was painful to watch. Now to the Chole, Daniel, Kate, and Lucas part of the show. Why is it taking this long for Kate to get her revenge on those two? And I have to say as much as I like Nadia, she needs to be fired if she is not going to step up in this storyline b/c ppl talk about Crystal Hunt being asleep in her scenes, Nadia is damn near snoring and it is painfully distracting. And now to the writing team of the show. If Dena is the one who is writing this stuff I have to hand it to her and her team for making me b/c a fan again b/c these past two wks have been like old times for me.
Sorry about the rambling, but I had to get this out.
Posts: 5415 | Location: New York/California | Registered: September 30, 2006
Good post! I agree with a lot of this, most especially the actors playing Will and Mia. I really like the two of them, and I like them together, but they can be so very uneven. I'm expecting that a little more time on the show and more experience will help to smooth that out, though an acting coach would be a huge help.
I'm glad people are starting to warm up to Melanie, though it kind of offends me that they've imported a Horton for seemingly no other purpose than being her love interest.
I like the actor playing Nathan, by the way. I've just watched a couple of youtube clips of him in the web series Private High Musical, a spoof of High School Musical, and he's pretty good in them. Also, I find him very attractive.
he drives me nuts. lol i can't stand him, if they're gonna bring anyone into the spotlight more...lets have pete the bartender at the brady pub, or will's friend Tad. lol
Posts: 456 | Location: Saskatoon | Registered: March 01, 2007
After watching for another week or so, I admit to being wrong about Shelley Hennig. She's actually quite good as Stephanie, and in fact is a good deal better than Jay Kenneth Johnson, whose acting style is like Jacob Young -- when he wants to express an emotion, he just squints and gets all gravelly-voiced.
Molly Burnett, on the other hand, gets lousier by the day.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
Jay Johnson was better when he was working with Martha Madison, but I guess that's to be expected. I don't know about Molly Burnett, but I have to admit that Melanie is kind of growing on me more and more. The character used to be such a thoughtless troublemaker, but now at least she's mostly trying to do good deeds.
The scenes with Stephanie talking to Father Matt were much better than the ones where Chloe does it. I feel pretty sorry for Stephanie!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: EmmyLoser,
I LOVED the look on Kate's face yesterday when Lexie told her and Lucas that Chloe seemed like she was going to be fine. Very subtle, but pretty priceless. I really wish Lexie had more of a storyline.
On another note, I'm finding Nathan pretty hunkalicious.
