GayleDownunder

Contrary to a lot of people here, I’m definitely a fan of the actress playing Melanie. I think she has that spark. When you see a bad actress/actor you sure know it. Remember a few years ago the person they got to play Belle for about two weeks? She was wooden, her voice was thick, she wandered around the set like she was lost, and well, she just made me laugh like a drain while simultaneously cringing. Melanie on the other hand is like a breath of fresh air. In fact, I think she’s way better than the plodding scripts and many of her plodding co-stars, who let’s face it, if they had set the world on fire in their careers wouldn’t be on a soap. There are people who come into soaps sometimes and you think–"wow, these people have something." The screen just lights up when they’re on. The fact that this actress polarizes people is testament to the fact that she stirs emotions. The very thing you want to do as an actor! There have been quite a few people who stood out over the years that were good enough to get into prime time and movies. Meg Ryan, Eva Longoria and Mark Valley are the ones that come to mind for me immediately. It was quite obvious when you watched them that they weren’t going to stay in soaps, because they had "star power". For me, the actress playing Melanie has star written all over her. I predict she’ll leave DOOL behind for a very solid career. (and I’m sure all you people who don’t like her will like that prospect just fine!)

 In the old days of Days, storylines could last for years! I remember a woman called Kitty had the goods on Bill Horton — that his brother Mickey was sterile and therefore Mike Horton could not be Mickey’s son. That whole "Mike is really Bill’s son" storyline went on for years. From the time Laura found out she was pregnant, through Tom Horton knowing the secret and not divulging it, through Kitty having a tape of Bill talking to Laura about Mike, through Mickey’s secretary Linda finding out about his sterility when eventually I think the truth came out. It was years! These storylines are super short by comparison.

I also remember in the old days that half the show was taken up in establishing who was talking. So they’d say, Tom? Are you saying that our son Mickey’s son Mike is not really his son after all? That he is in fact our other son Bill’s son with Laura? Used to crack me up the constant references to who everyone was. They don’t seem to do that as much any more (thank goodness)

Gayle

 When Vivian first came into the show she was quite twisted. I think in her first scene she actually shot someone in the Alamein living room and seemed to have no remorse at all, embracing Lawrence and just ignoring the poor sod at her feet. And then over the years they brought a more comedic twist to her character, then paired her with Ivan and by the end (although they were adorable) they were sort of buffoons. (Remember Susan’s wedding and the teeth flying through the air and Viv and Ivan in cowboy/cowgirl clothes?). My guess is that they are trying to go back to the origins of the character when Viv wasn’t so funny at all. In fact she was a cold, vindictive woman and she was always against Carly in Lawrence’s life. Will be interesting to see where her character goes.