Where are the supercouples?

In order to have "supercouples," you have to have super WRITING.......and that is something that DAYS hasn't had since the 80's, either.......

James Reilly shaked things up, and had probably more creativity in his pinky finger than Dena Higley, Tom Langan and the other writers---with the exception of Hogan Sheffer, who I love----combined, but this is a show that relies on gimmicky writing and shock value to pull in it's most treasured demographic---the under 25 crowd!!!! NBC daytime seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and that's why so many of their shows have been cancelled over the past twenty years!!!! "Another World" was an exception----a well-written show that never got the support it deserved!!!

When you have a show that only wants to write for a bunch of teenagers with questionable acting skills---to say the least---then you have a problem!! They are attempting to do a triangle between Hope, Carly and Bo, but it is barely off the ground yet, and they have already screwed it up!!!

The closest thing this show has to a "supercouple"---in terms of INTERESTING characters and ACTORS, is Stefano and Kate, and that is pretty damned sad if you ask me!!!!

I disagree. JER placed all the supercouples in love triangles and made the stories all about the proper couples fighting their way back to each other (John/Marlena/Kristen, Hope/Bo/Billie, Jack/Jennifer/Peter, Carrie/Austin/Sami, etc.).

Maison Blanche. The possession. Aremid. Kristen/Susan/Sister Mary Moira et al., all these stories were about true love winning out. Days no longer has any couples to feel passionate about.

I heard that NBC/Corday Productions cannot afford a 'supercouple' I guess they are hoping the generic couples will do.  You cannot switch Coke for Sam's Club Cola and expect it to taste the same.  We may drink it but I am sure we would prefer to have the Coke.

A supercouple is made with romance, great writing, and decent acting.  One of the things I used to love about DOOL in the late 80s/early 90s was that instead of sleeping around with everyone and their mother, the conflicts came from outside the couple (even if all the couples were straight according to maintext), like Stefano kidnaps half of the couple and they need to be rescued, they're stranded on a desert island, or one of them gets a virus and they have to race to find the cure.  IMO, it elevated DOOL above all the other soaps.

Now, there is little to no character continuity, no attempts to reference history when appropriate, and well, no amazing romance, and no subtexty longing looks. The show has many 'potential' supercouples, and Bo/Carly (until she falls for Jennifer and he runs to Hope) would be sooooo much more amazing with a writing improvement.

Ex. 90s writing wedding vows:

"I know not if the voice of man can reach to the sky
I know not if the gods will hear as I pray
I know not if the gifts I asked for will be granted
I know not what will come to pass in our future days
I hope that only good will come, my love, to you."

Ex. modern writing wedding vows:

"There was a time when if you said I was going to marry you, I'd say you were crazy. But now I'm the crazy one. Crazy about you. Melanie, when I'm with you, I never quite know what's coming next. But I know it's gonna be fun. But it's not just the fun. And that's what took me a while to get about you. That heart of yours is one in a million. You love people, you love life, and I am so lucky you love me. I'm the happiest guy I know."

See the difference? *sigh*

I read Corday does not believe in supercouples. There isn't any clear 'one true love'. Even the obove vows being less romantic is one problem, but you knew Bo and Carly loved one another only. Phil and Melanie are written that we don't feel that. Melanie was making goo-goo eyes ate Nathan right up to the wedding and wrote a letter to him. If he read the letter and said he had feeling for her she would have stopped the wedding. How does that make her and Philips wedding romantic? Plus Phil and Mel slept together the summer before with that whole internet incident. They sure were not planning to build them into a supercouple.

There has not been a true supercouple that the show has written for since Jack and Jennifer in the early 90's. The fact that Sami has multiple fan bases belies the supercouple status. She has people that think EJ is the one, and people that go for Rafe. Then there is the Lucas folk. Some people think Brandon was her true love.  That's what they want now. To be able to play any guy with her. 

The Nathan/Stephanie/Phil/Melanie/Chloe - it's like musical chairs or rotating the tires of your care periodically. Just switch around who love who. 

They had a potential with Phil and Chloe since they have a long history and the actors are good together but even though they showed them confiding in each other to grow closer, they blew it with a drunken hook-up! It's just emotionally unsatisfying.

They do have the potential for 'romance' but they seem to blow it in the execution. Timing is everything too. They don't have 2 years to build up a couple. Didn't it take about that much time till the Myan wedding for Bo and Carly 1.0? Wasn't the honeymoon when they finally consumated their love? This go round they met 10-27-09 and slept together 1-11-10. How did Bo put it - "It's not like we've haven't done it before."  Two 1/2 months but it did seem fast. But Days was trying to get a renewal in April 2010 so stuff has to happen.

I'm rambling.........Days has the actors and the character histories to develop satisfing emotional romances, but the writing sabotages it in the execution.

I blame the current brand of foolishness on Dena Higley.....Supercouples don't make themselves, as you said above....there has to be a decent captain steering the ship with great stories to make you CARE about these people before you just thrust them onto the frontburner and try to FORCE people to care about them!! That rarely works.

She is destroying characters overnight, and her idea of a "strong female character" seems to be one who turns homicidal overnight. A toy robot could do a better job of writing this show than she seems to be doing!!!

P.S---If the rumors about her NOT writing the show are true, then I extend my sincerest of apologies right now, but something tells me that this signature brand of crap has her handwriting all over it!!!

ITA.  I never watch OLTL when she was writing for them, but I've had some OLTL fans who were watching back then smile sympathetically when they found out Dena Higley was writing for DAYS. Supposedly she nearly ran OLTL into the ground, and I hate that she's doing the same to my favorite soap opera (even if it is the 'straightest' soap in daytime, it's still the one I grew up with).

Dena H. is letting the plot overrun the characters, and I'm constantly saying 'Carly would NEVER do that', or 'Sami would NEVER in a million years'. Sure, soaps occasionally have to forget various plots/change plots to suit their needs, but once upon a time, they used to at least attempt to give an explanation.  Like when suddenly Melanie is Carly's daughter but Carly had been sterile once upon a time...they couldn't say something like Stefano or Lawrence switched the test results?  They just pretended that it didn't happen. Like they pretend that Lawrence being totally evil and raping Jennifer, operating huge oil company, killing Patch (not permanently), killing ISA agents, and nearly killing Bo Brady himself never happened so obviously Carly is the evil one for killing him and the entire town suddenly hates her after all she did for them.

You need to care bout the characters to care that someone is turning into a homicidal maniac, and while yes, as a longtime viewer, I do care, the current writing is doing nothing for new viewers. Most of these characters I care about because they are children of my favorite supercouples, or of other characters I grew up with, but even that love only goes so far when you have characters painted with no personality and being 2 dimensional cutouts.

AlistairCrane, I have been asking myself that question for a while now. It's not just on Days though, when I watch GH, I feel that the super couples are being demolish every day, look at Sonny and Carly, the writers are systematically, making them look like assh****es and just plain unrootable. For GH though, since there are no supercouples I just imagine my supercouple in my make believe world of Jarly land (Jason and Carly).
luckily for me though I can get my super couple fix on Y&R (Nick and Sharon, Victor and Nicky).

I thought Reilly is the one who hated supercouples because they were hard to write for.

IMO, getting away from the supercouple format is one of the things that is killing DAYS. The supercouple format is what set Days apart from every other soap, along with the predictible (gimme a break, another WTD storyline???) writing and the every changing personalities of the characters.

The only couple I find remotely believable as a supercouple are EJ and Sami and it's been stated they're not happening. Thanks for letting THAT cat out of the bag, Corday.

Dena H. is letting the plot overrun the characters, and I'm constantly saying 'Carly would NEVER do that', or 'Sami would NEVER in a million years'. Sure, soaps occasionally have to forget various plots/change plots to suit their needs, but once upon a time, they used to at least attempt to give an explanation.  Like when suddenly Melanie is Carly's daughter but Carly had been sterile once upon a time...they couldn't say something like Stefano or Lawrence switched the test results?  They just pretended that it didn't happen. Like they pretend that Lawrence being totally evil and raping Jennifer, operating huge oil company, killing Patch (not permanently), killing ISA agents, and nearly killing Bo Brady himself never happened so obviously Carly is the evil one for killing him and the entire town suddenly hates her after all she did for them.

You need to care bout the characters to care that someone is turning into a homicidal maniac, and while yes, as a longtime viewer, I do care, the current writing is doing nothing for new viewers. Most of these characters I care about because they are children of my favorite supercouples, or of other characters I grew up with, but even that love only goes so far when you have characters painted with no personality and being 2 dimensional cutouts.

As a newly returne OLTL viewer I can say I left because of Higley and hate that they've rehired her at DAYS.

How can someone get fired so many times and yet get hired to write another soap into the ground??

Two dimensional cut out of a character. Could you be referring to Rafe?

Actually when I said 2 dimensional cutouts, I was referring to Chloe, but Rafe fits the bill just as well. As does Arianna, Gabi, Stephanie, etc.

What does it say about the current state of the show that I am over 2 weeks behind now and have no desire to catch up? It needs new writers.

Thank you Purple. *hugs*