LadyArmand
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"Fortune favors the bold..." Virgil
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Post by LadyArmand on Sept 17, 2015 9:07:44 GMT -5
Why did they kill off Hope, or Roman, or John, or Marlena, or any of the other characters they have killed off and brought back over the years? Because they can. And as fans of any soap while it's not great to see happen, it is something that shouldn't come as some huge shock either. Especially not with this particular soap opera who has a long tradition of killing off characters only to bring them back. I think what is a work here isn't so much that the show is killing off a legacy character (something this show is known for doing) but more so because they are killing off a legacy character that is gay. And if that is the case, than that is a different story and it's a different argument that needs to be made. Because given the history of this show killing off main characters, that legacy character argument comes off as weak.
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HQ75
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Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
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Post by HQ75 on Sept 17, 2015 10:54:34 GMT -5
People have very strong feelings about soap characters and it makes them angry and sad when those characters are killed off. That has always been true about soap fandom. Viewers are very invested.
I'm not sure why folks are acting like this is a GOP debate. You shouldn't have to justify feeling sad or angry that a character you care about is killed. Because soap characters frequently stay so long on a show fans get very attached. It's reasonable that people would care more about a character dying if they've watched that character grow up on a show for 20 years.
As for me, it matters a great deal that Will, Sonny and Paul were gay, fully realized characters which had lead storylines that effected the fabric of the show over the last 4 years. I didn't grow up watching days but the women in my family were big soaps watchers and I've always heard of these older characters because the women in my family spoke about them as thought they were real people, friends even. My mom and aunties grew up watching these characters.
I remember what it was like to see NO gay or lesbian characters on daytime television in the 1980s and never even being able to imagine it. So for me, it's particularly maddening, frustrating that in one year all of the gay characters on Days of Our Lives will have been dispatched with. We are a minority, us gays and lesbians, we rarely get to see ourselves as lead characters on mainstream television and certainly not as legacy characters on daytime soaps which have 50 years of history in US popular culture.
It is a VERY BIG DEAL that Days of Our Lives created Will, Sonny and now Paul and connected them to long time characters. It is a VERY BIG DEAL that these characters are now gone as if they never existed (or will be soon) and fans of the show and or these characters have a right to be upset about BOTH the fact that these characters are gay AND that they were legacy characters.
For me it says that if the son of a Brady & a Horton and the son of a Kiriakis can't survive on Days, what chance does John Black's randomly inserted long lost son have or any other possible future gay character who isn't so strategically placed in the fabric of the show.
Some characters die in such a way that it is impossible, even by soap standards for that character to return. We don't know how Will is going to die (if he actually does) so I will reserve judgement on whether or not his death leave the possibility for him to not actually be dead.
But for the time being I think it's find for folks to "grieve" the loss of Sonny, Will and possibly Paul until further notice. I don't think anyone should have to make an argument for why that grief is ok.
There can be almost endless possibilities of couplings and love stories and affairs and whatnot when you have straight men and straight women who aren't related to each other. But if there are no actual gay/bi characters, there is no possibility for those stories to be told. That for me is a very sad thing.
We lost ATWT and OLTL and GH uses its gay characters once per month even though it has 3. Days was really at the forefront of having its gay characters all up in the mix of the show (even if the storylines were not always perfect.)
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Post by jmi2000 on Sept 17, 2015 18:31:14 GMT -5
Why is everyone getting their panties in a knot about Will dying. If you have watched this show for any amount of time several legacy characters have been killed off (on screen)and come back from the dead. Hope died in an explosion in front of Bo and Steve. Roman fell off a cliff and died in Bo's arms. Stefano has died more than once, as has his son Tony. Jack had died more than one and came back more than once. Marlena has died. John has dies several times as well. Oh and let's not forget Steve (Patch) Johnson who was dead for about 20 years before they brought him back (with the same actor). And does anyone remember the whole serial killer story like back in 2003/2004 where practically everyone including Alice Horton was killed off only to come back to life because they were stuck on an island somewhere. Death on any soap doesn't mean all that much and it means even less on DOOL. And the character of Will has a great chance of coming back (after having been recast of course) because he's a legacy character. but don't forget Corday's interview. he said from that point on people would stay dead! imho, especially the gay ones...
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Post by stormymac on Sept 17, 2015 19:39:01 GMT -5
Why is everyone getting their panties in a knot about Will dying. If you have watched this show for any amount of time several legacy characters have been killed off (on screen)and come back from the dead. Hope died in an explosion in front of Bo and Steve. Roman fell off a cliff and died in Bo's arms. Stefano has died more than once, as has his son Tony. Jack had died more than one and came back more than once. Marlena has died. John has dies several times as well. Oh and let's not forget Steve (Patch) Johnson who was dead for about 20 years before they brought him back (with the same actor). And does anyone remember the whole serial killer story like back in 2003/2004 where practically everyone including Alice Horton was killed off only to come back to life because they were stuck on an island somewhere. Death on any soap doesn't mean all that much and it means even less on DOOL. And the character of Will has a great chance of coming back (after having been recast of course) because he's a legacy character. but don't forget Corday's interview. he said from that point on people would stay dead! imho, especially the gay ones... And I swore that I was going to cut down on carbs to lose weight. Well ...
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Post by justinate on Sept 18, 2015 8:46:51 GMT -5
I'm confident that Will stays dead. Corday won't waste his efforts on resurrecting a gay character he never wanted on his parents' show to begin with.
Is anyone else rolling their eyes at Will being the only male victim of the Necktie Strangler? Previous victims have been petite women and (soon) an elderly woman. But of course, Will is weak and puny - oh wait, he's not. He's a muscular young man. But then again, gay = weak.
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Post by mrfixit477 on Sept 19, 2015 7:38:35 GMT -5
The thing wrong with this is I have read Will Dies saving Marlena but it's Chad who save her not Will. So does he die or leave with Sonny when he comes back and wraps up his story.
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blake
Junior Member
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Post by blake on Sept 19, 2015 15:47:10 GMT -5
The thing wrong with this is I have read Will Dies saving Marlena but it's Chad who save her not Will. So does he die or leave with Sonny when he comes back and wraps up his story. There are so many conflicting reports about how Will will leave.Some say he will be killed off and some say he will leave with Sonny and try to repair their marriage.Me personally I believe Will will be killed off.
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LadyArmand
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"Fortune favors the bold..." Virgil
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Post by LadyArmand on Sept 19, 2015 18:53:03 GMT -5
All I will say is that Steve was supposed to be dead for good and the character was off the show for nearly twenty years before they brought character (and original actor) back. Characters stay dead as long as the actor who played them doesn't want to come back or TPTB change including the writing staff. That is true of every soap but in particular this one. The only characters that stay dead on DOOL are when they are legacy characters and the actor playing them has died in real life.
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Post by mms575 on Sept 21, 2015 1:30:19 GMT -5
Again Steve wasn't suppose to be dead for good. The audience knew that Lawrence Alamain had switched his casket there was always some ambiguity about his death.
I believe that Will is going to come back at some point that's why i don't like him being killed off. Killing him for the shock of it and then bring him back down line make me so mad because the "fake" soap death has taken the sting out of death on soaps. Send Will away with Sonny or Sami. Don't kill the character for this stupid serial killer story and then bring back two years in the future like " No After Sept 1 I meant most of the characters would stay dead not all them". Ken C. did that during the last serial killer story but he got scary at the end and told the writer to keep the characters alive so they ended up on that island.
Of course Will may stay dead I doubt it but it's possible or if there is some ambiguity about his death I will feel better.
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Post by Zathras on Sept 21, 2015 21:20:23 GMT -5
I'm just tired of characters (especially gay characters) leaving soaps in coffins. To me, the notion that a character might be resurrected in the future through some terrible story logic doesn't alleviate that at all. That pattern is one of the things I dislike the most about soaps.
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Post by anthonyl on Sept 21, 2015 21:46:43 GMT -5
I was bothered about it at first, but in terms of story, it makes sense to kill off a major character like Will to up the stakes in the murder mystery. especially as it's doubtful Will was staying on the canvas anyway. Might as well make it relevant to the story that's being told.
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Post by justinate on Sept 22, 2015 10:36:23 GMT -5
Anthony, I do agree that it's necessary to kill off a legacy character to up the stakes - the audience just don't care as much for a nobody like Serena or even Paige, a (retconned) granddaughter of Shane Donovan and half-sister to the Hernandez siblings.
But of all the legacy characters they could have chosen, Will had to be the most devastating choice. He is pretty much the only character of his generation to have grown up onscreen, a character who is the child of Lucas and Sami, grandson of Marlena, Roman, Bill and Kate, great-grandson of Shawn & Caroline Brady and Alice & Tom Horton. That's not the kind of history you can conjure up in a second. It's taken 19 years in real time to build up this character. The audience has followed him as he struggled through a difficult childhood, come to terms with his sexuality, held his baby daughter for the first time and married the man of his dreams. Yes, he does have a full sister in Allie but can anyone say she has ever been featured in the way Will has?
To fritter all that away for a thankless, ill-conceived storyline, one of the worst ways to honour a show's golden anniversary, is an absolute travesty.
And there's the very palpable fear that this choice was instigated by the character's homosexuality feeding into the desire of Ken Corday to rid the canvas of gay characters and Josh Griffith's reluctance to write for them.
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Post by meaghan on Sept 22, 2015 11:25:28 GMT -5
Anthony, I do agree that it's necessary to kill off a legacy character to up the stakes - the audience just don't care as much for a nobody like Serena or even Paige, a (retconned) granddaughter of Shane Donovan and half-sister to the Hernandez siblings. But of all the legacy characters they could have chosen, Will had to be the most devastating choice. He is pretty much the only character of his generation to have grown up onscreen, a character who is the child of Lucas and Sami, grandson of Marlena, Roman, Bill and Kate, great-grandson of Shawn & Caroline Brady and Alice & Tom Horton. That's not the kind of history you can conjure up in a second. It's taken 19 years in real time to build up this character. The audience has followed him as he struggled through a difficult childhood, come to terms with his sexuality, held his baby daughter for the first time and married the man of his dreams. Yes, he does have a full sister in Allie but can anyone say she has ever been featured in the way Will has? To fritter all that away for a thankless, ill-conceived storyline, one of the worst ways to honour a show's golden anniversary, is an absolute travesty. And there's the very palpable fear that this choice was instigated by the character's homosexuality feeding into the desire of Ken Corday to rid the canvas of gay characters and Josh Griffith's reluctance to write for them. I really dislike Will right now, and am no fan of his current portrayer, but I don't disagree with anything in this post.
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Post by anthonyl on Sept 22, 2015 11:40:44 GMT -5
I think if Guy had been a success in the role of Will or if the character had been played by an actor that had struck a chord with the fans we wouldn't be having this conversation.
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Post by meaghan on Sept 22, 2015 19:18:11 GMT -5
I think if Guy had been a success in the role of Will or if the character had been played by an actor that had struck a chord with the fans we wouldn't be having this conversation. That's not a satisfactory excuse for me, but I agree with you nonetheless.
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talula
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Post by talula on Sept 25, 2015 17:13:16 GMT -5
well, i knew it's coming but somehow was hoping they won't kill him off after all,i know in soaps you can rise from the dead but i doubt Will gonna be resurrected anytime soon. Chris been on set last week,i'm wondering what they gonna do with Paul,hope his role will be more than just calls John 'daddy' and looks sexy, give Paul new man and new job as a model and i will watch Days again,maybe and good writing
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Post by jjose712 on Sept 28, 2015 6:29:56 GMT -5
I don't agree, i think it was unnecessary but the worst part is that it was predictable. In a soap you know it's the gay character the one is going to be axed the moment a serial murder appears.
There were little interest to watch this trainwreck, now there's none at all. And frankly i hope gay sites stop the coverage of this show, It went from three gay character to a barely there one, so there's no need at all to promote it (unless something change)
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blake
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Posts: 793
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Post by blake on Sept 29, 2015 8:13:21 GMT -5
SPOILER:The Week Of October 5th
Thursday October 8-Key evidence about the Necktie Killer is discovered by Will.
Friday October 9-Another person falls victim to the Necktie Killer.
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Post by justinate on Sept 29, 2015 9:46:38 GMT -5
And the following week - Monday, October 12th - Sami returns to Salem, no doubt to bury her firstborn. They couldn't even hold off the reveal of the killer until AFTER Will's murder. Will basically dies for nothing - cannon fodder.
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blake
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Post by blake on Oct 3, 2015 19:38:11 GMT -5
Spoilers for the Week of October 12
Sami returns to Salem!
Thursday October 15:Pushed over the edge Sami tries to commit murder!
Friday October 16:Sonny and Paul have a fraught encounter.
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blake
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Post by blake on Oct 8, 2015 8:22:03 GMT -5
SPOLIER:New Alison Sweeney SOD interview (re:Will)
Read excerpts on Twitter and boy,is Ali pissed about the show killing Will.She said she was angry about it and felt it was a horrible decision.I think killing off Will is going to backfire big time on the show.
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Post by thestorm on Oct 8, 2015 10:01:37 GMT -5
Here is a recent interview with Christopher Sean saying Paul will be "jumping in a storyline here and there," and "Paul's involvement is to progress the storylines." In other words, he won't have his own. www.tvfanatic.com/videos/christopher-sean-set-interview/I am really disappointed in the direction that Days is headed. As a Gen X'er, the characters receiving all the attention now...Bo, Hope, Aiden, Steve, Kayla, Victor, Maggie, Clyde, Caroline, etc....are old enough to be my parents and great-grandparents. Lately, young Ciara and Chase are getting more screen time than Will and Paul even though they are supposed to have a dramatic growth spurt any day now. I can't relate to the age of these characters, and with the elimination of the gays, I don't see much of a point in watching any more. Yes, the show is coming up on its 50th anniversary, but I'm not sure there are going to be enough younger viewers to keep the show going to its 51st.
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blake
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Post by blake on Oct 8, 2015 18:06:10 GMT -5
Here is a recent interview with Christopher Sean saying Paul will be "jumping in a storyline here and there," and "Paul's involvement is to progress the storylines." In other words, he won't have his own. www.tvfanatic.com/videos/christopher-sean-set-interview/I am really disappointed in the direction that Days is headed. As a Gen X'er, the characters receiving all the attention now...Bo, Hope, Aiden, Steve, Kayla, Victor, Maggie, Clyde, Caroline, etc....are old enough to be my parents and great-grandparents. Lately, young Ciara and Chase are getting more screen time than Will and Paul even though they are supposed to have a dramatic growth spurt any day now. I can't relate to the age of these characters, and with the elimination of the gays, I don't see much of a point in watching any more. Yes, the show is coming up on its 50th anniversary, but I'm not sure there are going to be enough younger viewers to keep the show going to its 51st. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we don't hear in the future that Christopher is either dropped to recurring status or has been cut all together.
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Post by Zathras on Oct 8, 2015 19:12:46 GMT -5
Damn
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seanny
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Post by seanny on Oct 8, 2015 23:09:04 GMT -5
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we don't hear in the future that Christopher is either dropped to recurring status or has been cut all together. Were that to occur and there would be no more gay characters then I would be done with this show for good.
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