Saturday, June 24, 2006

Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

I'll admit it. I can be an obsessive TV fan. I don't mean just watching every episode of my favorite TV show. I mean frequenting message boards and forums. Subscribing to Usenet groups. Writing detailed episode reviews. Taping and rewatching episodes obsessively. Ferreting out every spoiler available. (You should have seen me during the X-Files heydey).

I've tried to wean myself off of that sort of single-mindedness. I love LOST, but I limit myself to watching all the episodes and watching out for spoilers and news. And, okay, I did join a Battlestar Galactica listserv, and I do own all the DVDs, but I don't write Helo-Boomer fanfic or anything.

My Days of Our Lives obsession--or more specifically, my Steve-and-Kayla obsession, circa 1986-1990--rivaled my X-Files passion, and that's saying a lot. Keep in mind, back in 1986, when it all started for me, the Internet wasn't an issue. I didn't even own a computer then. But I taped every episode of Days of Our Lives during the Steve and Kayla era. In fact, I still haven't completely forgiven my brother for taping a stupid pre-season NFL game over my tape of Kayla convincing Steve to let her take off his eye patch to clean his wounds after Victor Kiriakis's thugs beat him up and left him bleeding on the docks. (Ah, the memories).

Eventually, those characters left the show (Steve "died"--although a switcheroo with his casket after the funeral but before it was lowered into the grave gave us Steve and Kayla fans a small nugget of hope that one day, he'd return). The writing lost its luster and I lost interest in the show, although I sort of kept up with it because my mom still watched.

But a month ago, news broke. Steve and Kayla were coming back to Days of Our Lives. What happened next? I went out and bought that DVD recorder I'd been considering for over a year. And I just spent the morning (when, frankly, I should have been writing new pages on DEADLY ILLUSION) downloading and viewing vintage Days of Our Lives video clips featuring Steve and Kayla.

I am such a geek.

Gotta say, though. Seeing them back on Days has been a lot of fun. I'd forgotten how much chemistry they had with each other. For that matter, Stephen Nichols is one of those actors who seems to have great chemistry with almost anyone he works with on-screen. Reminds me of David Duchovny in that sense--a big part of Duchovny's appeal on the X-Files was that he managed to have really good chemistry with almost every actor he worked with on that show. Nichols is the same way. He zings with just about every actor he has scenes with. It's fun to watch.

I hope the younger actors on Days are watching closely. They could use the acting lessons.

4 comments:

Southern Girl said...

I so agree with you about Steven Nichols! And yowza, doesn't he look great?! (if you google his official site, there's a couple of shirtless photos of him where he's stumping for Gold's Gym. Dang. *g*)

And could somebody please FEED Kristen Alfonso?!

Helen said...

I am like you Paula, estatic that Kayla and Steve are back on D.O.O.L. There earlier days are vague memories for me, (I was only 8), but I do remember them. Funny thing is that DH remembers watching it with his mom, and he always had a crush on Kayla. I got a new kitty around the first of June and he insisted on naming her Kayla. When I asked him why, he said that she was the second most beautiful woman that he ever seen. Aahh...

But know he sits down and watches with me, instead of making me wait until later to access it with the DVR.

And would someone please kill Chelsea off, PLEASE, I am begging you!!!

Helen

Marianne Arkins said...

They're back? Oh man... I may have to watch it again. I LOVED them.

A few months back, Rick Springfield returned to GH, so I had to watch that for a while, but the stories were so lame, I finally quit.

Still... Steve and Kayla... that's tempting. I started watching Days when the Salem Strangler was unmasked ('83 I think) and was hooked for the next decade.

Jennifer McKenzie said...

Ahhh yes. Roman and Marlena. Bo and Hope. Remember that crummy D.A. that almost married Hope? And Bo came on his motorcycle and stole her away.
Those were the days.
And bad guy Victor. Fabulous.
Huge fan from '82 to probably '93. I'm not sure what happened. A lot of the soaps went through some kind of paranormal morph and I lost interest. Ghosts, aliens and all kind of other garbage really messed with the stories.
I have to say I've not been that obsessive about any TV show. I could be about "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel.