Easy. Steve and Kayla loved each other. It was there. It was tangible. Therefore, if I hung in there, things would eventually be okay. I just had to be patient.

Looking back, I remember I hated the rape storyline. So much about it scared me. How would Steve and Kayla fix things after THAT?

But they did. They did, and I watched every day…I was so into that storyline. Some great stuff there in spite of all the pain.

Marina? Oh, I hated Marina. Hated. Her. HATED. HER.

Marina had to DIE, LOL!

Once she was good and DEAD, (and yes, in her case, dead was good) then I could relax and enjoy the story of how Steve and Kayla put things back together again. And while I didn’t enjoy Marina at ALL, I sure did enjoy the conversations Steve and Kayla had as they sought to make things okay again. There was meaning in those conversations. There was depth there…and there was some great romance, too.

How I loved those dances! And the times when their hands would touch…like at Thanksgiving 1989…or their first kiss after they’d been estranged (Christmas, 1989). Christmas fantasy aside, it was a great kiss, LOL!

I didn’t much like the Daniel Lucas story either…They were apart a lot, and I didn’t like for so many days to go by when they weren’t together. But I ate up the fence kiss, LOL!

So back then, I wasn’t too worried. Things would come out alright…and while I didn’t love everything, I was certainly emotionally invested.

Now?

Now it’s a completely different story. I won’t say I don’t care about Days, because I do. There’s some small part of me that wishes it could be “fixed” and become again that very special show that it once was. So I do care.

But do I have faith that it WILL be fixed? That it will be that special show?

No.

The hope is there, but the belief is not.

As for which came first…That’s a good question. I’d like to think that if Days produced a wonderful day to day show, that scads of people would still watch, regardless of the number of programming choices available to them now. But who knows?

I don’t like the way Days changed so much under the guidance of certain headwriters, becoming a show that people poked fun at rather than one that people respected. It can’t be denied that people watched, but Days changed so much that eventually it lost ground amongst its viewers. People only want silly and gimmicky or strange so much before they look for something with more emotional resonance.

So many people on a soap today how can you devote time
to the actors to get to know them. It just doesn’t happen.
There are still some great writers but i don’t see the
time given to couples anymore. I will keep an eye on
Stephen and Mary Beth but I don’t know if I will ever be
into a soap again like i was in the 80′s. thanks for the
blog. Great one!

No, Steve and Kayla would never have been half as great if they debuted today. They wouldn’t have even come close. This certainly would not have been because of the actors’ ability to play the roles, but because they never would have been given the screen time, nor the story to play out. Just like with all the couples that are currently on most shows now, their ‘story’ would have been rushed through in less than three months… if that long.

When ratings go up, TPTB pat themselves on the back for a job well done. When the ratings go down, TPTB curse the viewers for being so fickled. Thank goodness Steve and Kayla came along when those holding the pen knew how to write because they knew what the viewer wanted to see. I guess today’s writers can’t see because of all that egg that is on their faces. Therefore, I say the egg came first, even though today’s writers are too chicken to give the viewers what they want. Greed can make you that way.

I see soaps the same way I see all other areas of entertainment these days. Look at all T.V. Is there any imaginative writing anymore? Hardly. The channels are filled with ‘reality’ programming that is anything but. It’s all about scandal and shock! The raunchier the better. Make them eat garbage! Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Look at our choices of movies! How many times are we expected to go to the movies to see a remake of a remake. I swear, in a boardroom somewhere in Hollywood right now, someone is talking about remaking “Avatar.”

But, as the numbers go down farther and farther, the execs and idiots that run these studios keep doing more of the same. I’m not sure who makes these decisions, but they seem to be blaming the viewing audience instead of realizing they are just producing crap!

Would Steve and Kayla made it if they were written today? No. The main reason is we would have absolutely no emotional connection to them. The reason we love Steve is because although he has had an AWFUL life, he has a beautiful soul and has persevered despite his hardships. The reason we love Kayla is because she is able to see through the facade most people can’t get past and is determined to bring it out. She sees the goodness in all things, including the man who became her soul mate. We were given time to explore these things. We rooted for each of them, separately and as a couple. We cheered when they got together. We cried when they were torn apart. We celebrated their marriage (and cringed when it was invalidated). We mourned when Steve ‘died’ (and that’s all I have to say about that).

The key to any good story, in my opinion, is the emotional connection. We hate the bad guy, we love the hero. These days, there are no emotional connections to anyone because we don’t know anyone. We don’t know what motivates them. We don’t know what they’ve been through. I’m not sure the writers even know because they seem to change characters in a heartbeat with absolutely no justification (E.J. anyone? – and who the heck names a character Elvis, anyway? – sorry, I digress).

What’s changed? Good question. It seems the production companies spend too much time telling us what we should want to see instead of asking us what we want to see. If they listened to their viewers (Ken Corday…take note) perhaps their numbers wouldn’t be pummeling and more moms would still be at their T.V.s at lunch time with their daughters faithfully watching daytime shows…