Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI (4)
It will be months before we see the fruits of new Days of Our Lives headwriters Paula Cwikly and Jeanne Marie Ford’s labors on air. (In July, they replaced Ron Carlivati, who had held the position for the seven years prior.) But before they get in too deep, may we suggest one thing?
Besides end Body and Soul, and as quickly as humanly possible.
Stop giving actors new characters rather than just writing new stories for their existing ones. Currently, we have on the canvas Robert Scott Wilson as Alex (formerly Ben) and Tamara Braun as Ava (formerly Taylor). Until recently, we also had Emily O’Brien as Theresa (formerly Gwen) and Blake Berris as “Beverett” (formerly Nick). Enough already.
We get the desire to keep MVPs around by any means necessary. But why shouldn’t those “means” be simply writing a new story for the characters they already play? Wilson is a perfect case in point. When Victoria Konefal exited stage left as Ciara, the show obviously wanted to keep her leading man. So fine. Let Ciara leave. Kill her off. Let Ben find new love. (Frankly, we liked him with Claire.)
Back in the day, Days of Our Lives had the guts to do stuff like that. When Kristian Alfonso was off the canvas as Hope in the 1990s, Peter Reckell wasn’t given a new role, Bo was forced to move on — and so was the audience. And you know what? We loved it. Instead of the awkwardness of watching Reckell interact with the same castmates as a different character, we got Bo in engaging love stories with Carly and Billie — and a great set-up for Alfonso’s eventual return.
