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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Days: Story Arcs and Minor Climaxes

One of the things I've been noticing on Days recently is the addition of minor climaxes within story arcs. With all the cast changes, some due to purging of older players along with the departures of some younger ones, the show is undergoing a major change. Instead of trying to fix things with stunts, they are doing it with the "tune in tomorrow" aspect that is so lacking in daytime. Having minor climaxes and cliffhangers on nearly a daily basis is a great improvement.

While I have to watch Days differently than I did in the past, I actually am enjoying the way the plots are being told even if I am not all that emotionally invested. The mechanics of the storytelling have improved. Like Phillip and Stephanie are making love and a person lurks around them and Brady is injured at the pier. All of these things made the show interesting to me as I wasn't sure what would happen the next day. Obviously, Phillip wasn't going to die, but would he get shot and when? Would Stephanie get hurt in the process? What kind of revenge would this be? Would it be the only revenge EJ and Stefano would take against the Kiriakis clan for Philip's part in Tony's accident? Was Brady's injury due to the feud between the families or due to Brady's feelings for EJ's bride Nicole?

Tied into the feud is the Sami/Nicole story regarding the kids. Granted I hated both women being pregnant at the same time by EJ. Once the babies were born and swapped, at least something was finally happening. Bringing Mia back and having her bond with her little girl as she and Will have become fast friends, along with Tony finding out the truth before he died made it at least more interesting. When things hit the fan with the baby switch, it should touch the entire canvas as the children are related to just about everyone in town.

If you watch a soap and then wonder what will happen next, isn't the program doing their job? I'm not saying Days is perfect (far from it), and I'm not saying that I am glad that anyone lost their jobs or I don't miss those characters, but at least now I can get something from the show. Tying together the stories and the relationships is the way to go to keep people and get new ones to tune into a program.

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