Lets get one thing straight! I love Judith Chapman! Having said that, I now feel compelled to talk about how Ron Carlivati is now pulling the same crap he pulled at GH that led to that show having ALL TIME RECORD LOW RATINGS!! I will start with this Diana debacle and hopefully touch on other areas.

If you never watched Days circa 1987- 1989, you wouldnt know the character of Diana. She was a spunky spitfire 25 year old journalist with a loving heart and a passion for the truth. She was a college friend of Mike Horton’s, and became love interest to John Black, who thought he was Roman at the time.

Fast forward to today…and the character is harsh, bitter, vindictive, and cruel. She is psychotically obsessed with “getting” John. The problem is in the writing, the rewriting of history, and the acting.

Chapman is a fantastic actress, but I always KNOW she is acting. She is a very campy and theatrical actress from the old school of stage and screen. Genie, on the other hand, is a very low key, heartfelt performer who brings a natural and realistic element to her role even if it something outlandish like freezing the world. As a recast, this fails on every level. Chapman is also 11 years older than Francis, and in this particular instance, the age gap is very gaping and apparent. There is absolutely no similarity whatsoever between the two actresses, which makes for a very jarring recast.

Next is the writing, or rather rewriting. This absolutely reeks of a last minute decision!!! I can actually almost hear Ron C. flustered, wondering to himself “How can I weave my sleazy new gay creation Leo more into the canvas and fabric of the show?? I have to look back into history and find a character who could be his parent! It would be great if Judith Chapman could play the part, because they played mother and son on Y and R!” So, he settled on Diana, and has gone about completely trashing and destroying the memory of what was a very enjoyable and pleasant love story. Diana was a character viewers cared about. She was not a one-note, cartoonish, plot twist villainess as she is being rewritten by Ron.

I have ALWAYS hated when soaps bring back a formerly good character as a bad or evil one. It rarely makes sense in the narrative, there is never a good enough reason to justify the drastic change, and it completely ruins the enjoyment and any memories of a good character.

You read it here….this casting decision and future storyline has ALEX NORTH written ALL over it!! Nuff said there!

Much has been said about Greg Rikaart’s character, and how funny and entertaining he is. I find him to be neither! He is a disgusting sexual predator and rapist! He is an annoying little gnat that Victor Kiriakis would have squashed like a bug about 5 seconds after he pranced into the mansion!! He is able to bring mafia don Victor and family to knees because he has pictures of Will and Sonny carrying a rug???? Please!!Greg is playing it WAY over the top. There is nothing funny about a man blackmailing straight men into unwanted sexual relations, and there is nothing funny about grabbing people and pulling them into unwanted kisses. If this was a male character doing this to a female, there would be outrage and outcry. But because its a male doing it to another male and played as comedy, it seems to be all right. Its disgusting and disturbing on many levels!!

I have a feeling they are going to make Leo into John’s son. If so…all I can ask is…is Ron THAT bereft and devoid of creativity??? John JUST found a long lost gay son 5 years ago!! Recycling plots from that recently is not a good sign!! On the other hand, I suspect they might make him Mike Horton’s son…which would unfortunately forever link this completely unnecessary character to the core family and fabric of the show!

This entire story, from creation to casting to concept has seriously ruined my ability to enjoy Days, a show I normally love. At GH, Ron completely gutted the heart and soul out of the show and replaced it with newbies and villains, leaving the show with no one to root for. He is slowly doing the same thing at Days! He brought back serial killer Ben tryong to redeem him as a leading man. Let me ask…would there be any chance of redemption if Ben didnt look like Robert Scott Wilson??

Same thing with Xander. This is a murderer and woman abuser! He takes glee in torturing, tormenting, and abusing women! (Serena, Theresa, Nicole, Sara etc). Just because he looks like Paul Telfer and is good at quippy, witty one liners, doesnt mean he should be more imbedded into the show. Ron LOVES to write for evil characters at the expense of beloved ones we know and root for and care about.

Ted and Hope? For real???? Kristian Alfonso deserves SO much better. For starters, a screen partner who can act!

And what is up with this Sheila character??? She wore out her welcome after about 2 minutes!!! Someone trying to turn her life around and get another chance would NOT have that much attitude and only spew trash talk out of her filthy mouth!! Get a haircut, get an attitude adjustment, and get a muzzle! Then we will talk!!

I was guardedly optimistic when Ron took over writing at Days. I LOATHED his work at GH beyond belief!! His rk is often eerily and disturbingly similar to James Reilly’s, which is a BIG no-no in my books!! Since he took over…there have been moments of brilliance (Theo’s shooting, Marlena’s living will story). But there have also been dreadful, awful, embarrassing stories that just give soaps a bad name (Bonnie and Hattie)!!

It is sad that Ron writes many of his women characters as obsessive, psychotic lunatics who have no other purpose than “getting” a man. Most women are self aware enough to know when a guy just isnt that into them. It does not make for good story when a woman psychotically chases a man who is CLEARLY not interested! It is the most old fashioned, lazy, uninspired, sexist type of writing imaginable! And it is a Ron C staple!!

Theres my rant. Given the completely wrong casting choice, the drastic rewriting of history, the last minute nature of the plot twist, and virtually NO redeemable qualities, this story has already qualified for Worst Recast of 2019, Worst Story, Worst Use of History and several other Worsts!!!