What soap fan doesn't sit at home and play fantasy exec/writer? Lord knows I do, it's what gets me through plots about unaborted children, jerky camera movement and the lack of diamonds or cleavage in Genoa City. Tonight I feel like playing fantasy casting director and letting you know just exactly who, in my humble opinion, should play which roles on what soaps.

Ted King to Days as Lawrence Alamain

With all the talk about the notorious Alamain clan of Days of Our Lives coming up both on the show and here at Daytime Confidential, a thought popped into my mind about how awesome it would be for former GH baddie Ted King (ex-Alcazar) to reunite with his former leading lady Tamara Braun (ex-Carly, GH/Ava, Days) in Salem!

  King would be perfect as dastardly Alamain patriarch Lawrence. I loved Michael Sabatino, who originated the role, but he's been away from the soap for so many years and as the returns in recent years of Christie Clark, Austin Peck, Billy Warlock and many others have proven, having fan faves reprise their roles doesn't always lead to rating success for Days.

King and Braun were a hit with GH fans as Lorenzo and Carly. Those fans could decide to tune in to Days to see them reunited and raising hell. And while we're at it, why not throw in Ignacio Serrichio (ex-Diego, GH) as a recast for Lawrence's son Nicholas? READ MORE

 Ava kidnaps Hope!

An interesting internet rumor making the rounds has Ava’s father being a one-time business associate of the dastardly 90’s Days villain Lawrence Alamain. Bo and Steve were investigating Lawrence’s corrupt Jencon Oil company when Steve was critically injured in an explosion meant for Bo.

 

Wow, what a week it’s been for offscreen drama on Days of Our Lives.  The news about Tamara Braun joining Days, then the breaking news of Martha Madison (Belle) and Brandon Beemer (Shawn) being fired.  Is anyone safe in Salem?  Rumblings around the net are that no, noone is and watch out for more firings… seems it’s going to get worse before it gets better.  Plus, I’ve heard we should expect some sort of announcement on the future of Days, sometime in Feb/March.

So is it worth continuing to watch the show? Decide for yourself – this is what you can expect to see this week (apologies, yet again I have missed Monday’s show so I will comment from Tuesday on):

EJ/Sami – go into hiding with the twins; Lucas aint too happy hear about this, but there isn’t too much he can do about it from behind bars… or so you would think! Maybe having Stefano as a cellmate wont be so bad after all? Especially a Stefano who may have his own reasons for finding EJ and Sami… and little Giovanni. Is Lucas about to make a deal with the devil?

Marlena/John – after John got free on Monday’s episode, Marlena still refuses to give up on him (frankly I’d be disappointed if she had so soon).  She and Dr Carrington give John truth serum to find out exactly what Stefano and Dr Rolf did to him in the DiMansion Dungeons – unlike for everyone else, the serum doesn’t work (what modifications did Dr Rolf make to John so that truth serum doesn't work??); the mention of Stefano’s name apparently has John going mental.  Instead, they give him a psychiatric test, learning what seems obvious to me, that John is without emotions (a real DiMera soldier if you like). I’m just hoping what I’m reading as a spoiler is true for this next part… Marlena goes to confront Stefano, armed with more truth serum! Brooke pleads… please please please let scary Marlena stay!

Shawn/Chloe, Philip/Belle – are going to team up to investigate Claire’s kidnapping.  They research Rob’s tattoo and end up finding him in Crystal’s store.  Shawn the rookie cop demands his daughter back… Belle's still recovering in hospital, with Philip there to comfort her.  She wants to join the hunt for Claire of course, but is not allowed.

Sorority (and Billie) – More disagreement over whether to tell the truth about Ford’s death; Stephanie confesses her rape to the sisters in an effort to convince them to stay quiet, Chelsea has a normal teenage emotion/experience when she can’t convince the gals to talk and wonders if Nick will dump her because of her continued secret keeping.  Billie’s job is threatened by the Dean if he finds out she had any knowledge of the girls’ involvement in Ford’s disappearance, prompting Billie to continue to work on Nick to spill his guts, appealing to his goody goody nature and his love for Chelsea.  Meanwhile, Chelsea ends up cracking under the pressure and tells Crawford Decker his son is dead.  Oops.  Bo gets in on the action, meeting with a Dectective to discuss the case and Stephanie finally admits the truth about the rape to Steve.

Aaaand speaking of Steve, he and Kayla are still pursuing this baby making business – I’m sorry, but the only thing making me watch this s/l is how amusing I find Patch.

Next Week:

Holy moly! Next week looks freakin' awesome…

•    Return of the lost DiMera’s – Lexie (Renee Jones), Tony (Thaao Penghlis) and Anna (Leann Hunley)!

•    Adrienne (Judi Evans) says her goodbyes

•    John and Marlena start off the Ireland adventure

•    Colleen (Shirley Jones) reveals she faked her death

•    Max comes forward with Ford’s body (ewwwwwwwww)

In Other News:

First date onscreen: Tamara Braun – her character ‘Ava’ (another soap character named Ava? Is there no originality left in soapland?), will be seen from February 8th

NBC Text Message Spoiler: Hope to rejoin the Salem PD? She’s certainly been getting into everybody’s business lately