Days Spoilers - June 20-24

I actually expected a little more emotion out of Julie today. I’m also getting really annoyed with Abe’s constant giggle. It’s really becoming too much.

Other than that, today’s episode was pretty interesting and well paced. The interaction between Gwen and Ava was very interesting. It really makes it seem that Ava didn’t have anything to do with Abigail’s death.

Also, Lani is finally getting an interesting story as well. It’s really solidifying her relationship with Eli. I wonder how it will play out?

Eric and Nicole are becoming as boring as Rafe and Nicole. For me, Nicole just isn’t an interesting character anymore. I really don’t see what direction they will take her in. She was actually more interesting with EJ.

Xander and Sarah are great. I really enjoy watching them as a couple. Especially since she’s not doing her squeaky little kid talk.

As always, I look forward to Sami’s return. But how short will it be this time?

At least I’m looking forward to seeing JJ again. I really miss him on the show. He was a very good actor and character on the show. As for Theo, I really don’t like the guy that plays him now. I’m just glad that he’s not a regular on the show. He’s nothing like Kyle Pettis version of Theo. At least Kyle still came across as an individual who had autism. You’d think he was cured of it now.

Your theory about Abigail being murdered by Sarah is very interesting and I totally believe that Xander would cover up for her. There’s an entire article out there I read today on Google that theorizes that Abigail isn’t dead and that she’s on the DiMera island. I could totally see that as Kristen’s revenge. I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned.

Unfortunately, Days didn’t air here today due to the Insurrection Hearings. I guess I will have to catch it on Peacock.

So. according to Miss Know-It-All Lysie on DR, Eli isn’t leaving but Sal Stowers is. She said that Lani is going to be recast. I just don’t know how she gets her inside information? I just love how Lysie is being challenged and calling her out about her nastiness by posters on that site. I think Glozone even took a little shot at her. That site isn’t getting a lot of activity either lately. I believe there’s more posting on Soaps.com.

I think there are some very strong opinionated people posting on DR, and, a lot of them want to come across as official insiders of the show. It’s not for me. I enjoy speculating about what’s going to happen on the show and look for casting and other spoilers. But, I sure wouldn’t want to argue my points and make myself seem like I’m that important.

From what I understand, Sal wanted to pursue other avenues and left when pilot season started. It’s usually in February or March. I’m not the biggest Lani fan but I do like her interactions with JR and JH. This whole TR Coates storyline actually was good for Lani’s character.

I mean, how permanent are any exits from Days these days? Hasn't Lamon left for the short term and come back once or twice in the last few years? Ditto Sal. Even if she wants to stay gone, it seems like it would be in keeping with the show's trend to write them off together for a while, before bringing the characters back, with or without a recast. They might even be giving Sal enough time off to see if she gets any better offers, before trying to lure her back. Meanwhile for Lamon, hard to say anymore how much "leaving the show" means "ending his contract" and how we might factor in the number of episodes the show is obligated to have him in and whether they'd be inclined to back burner him in order to spread out his episode counts. But even then, they're just so casual now about ending contracts one day and picking up a new contract with the same actor a few weeks later

That’s the problem with Days Of Our Lives especially. It seems like the cast is rotating in and out and it’s very hard to get invested into these characters anymore.

Lamon has left the show because he is on contract with All American on The CW network and so his availability is very limited. Sal decided to pursue other options and has also become a licensed personal trainer.

Then, it extends to legacy characters like Sami and Jennifer. This in and out crap is ridiculous. They really aren’t around enough for a decent storyline to be built around them. In that sense, it was smarter to kill off Abigail when Marci didn’t want to be available full time and I guess that Kate Mansi burned her bridges the last time she left.

Now, you have Chandler Massey, who is committed to his career in Georgia, doing the occasional drop by but Zach is now on contract. That doesn’t make sense and disservices the fans. However, Sonny is going to have his storyline center around the return of his brother, Alex Kiriakis (being portrayed by current DOOL actor Robert Scott Wilson aka Ben). That creates another headache since Ciara and Ben are leaving the show together. But, what if she decides to return? Will RSW play both characters and wouldn’t it be strange that her husband looks identical to her cousin Alex? Hmmmm….

Of course, gone are the days when a soap opera actor or actress can earn $500K per year. Deidre Hall used to make that kind of money. From what I have heard, a young newcomer on contract makes around $60K per year now. So, that’s why a lot of them walk away from soaps and get into something else.

And that’s why the younger set really don’t want to stay. It’s not worth the long hours for that type of salary. But, if a character really takes off and does well with the show, they will get their six figures pretty quickly.

Yes, Deidre used to make $500K per year and Peter and Kristian made over $300K. Then, as the show faced cancellations as they needed to tighten the budget big time, Peter and Kristian took a $50,000 a year pay cut and Deidre and Drake were released from their contracts along with others.