For soap writers........

Poirot

Poirot

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Admittedly I had a hard time deciding on a title for this thread......because.....
This thread is not for complaints. We do enough of that elsewhere here. One thing I have loved here are the ideas and suggestions offered at times for characters, for story, so I thought perhaps we might think a bit about what might be a good story for a character, a couple, a family, a company, a corporation. YOU become head writer. You can use anyone you like...and just remember, we will probably be getting a lot of Salemites no longer in Salem coming in at some point. Feel free to use anyone. Put on the thinking caps.

Sheesh, I have a dozen scenarios already in mind.
Rafe is contacted by Shane, who is still with ISA. Deep undercover operation, need completely trustworthy people. Rafe is on board, can get John, Roman if needed. Also Tim from his FBI days. And Nicole, if need be.
This works well, as Xander has info Shane needs. Nicole is drafted, and gets the info needed. Rafe assembles his team, they join up with Shane, managing to infiltrate one of Stefano's secret properties. They storm the gates, render the minions immobile, and get inside, shocked at what they find. One by one, the team finds Steve Johnson, Bo Brady, a very alive Jack Deveraux, and the biggest shocker of all, Don Craig, all courtesy of the ever jovial Stefano DiMera.
 
Theresa tells Eve about the new specialist at Salem hospital. Eve goes to see him agrees to undergo surgery and with her nodes removed successfully, is able to resume her singing career. She is torn, feeling she needs to make sure Paige & JJ stay apart. Summer means state fairs, county fairs, touring for musical groups, stage shows, etc. JJ gets the chance of a lifetime, touring with the Beach boys. Paige realizes eventually, that despite how they feel, there will be no future for them now. She decides to transfer to Stamford as previously planned.
JJ returns to a very different life. his DAD is alive, is home, is there. JJ is overjoyed. After the fiasco involving the Spectator at the benefit last Spring, Victor purchased the newspaper, making Jennifer editor in chief. With Jack back, he has been hired as head of the news dept.
Will was fired by Sonix after the debacle, resumed his college classes. But Sonny left him, he is divorced, and at loose ends. The Spectator decides to let him prove his worth, he is hired to write obits, along side Rory, who gets to write the ads, and proves quite adept at it, in these modern times.
 
Eric is also hired by The Spectator as Head of Photography and Nicole is brought on as a Consultant for key stories. Eric decides to get much needed therapy to understand his anger issues and after some time he and Nicole work their way back to one another. As do Jack and Jennifer. Jack also becomes a mentor to his nephew Will while his own kids are overjoyed to have their dad back.

Poirot, I think you mean Xander instead of Paul Telfer? :) It's revealed that Xander is also on the ISA and has been trying to catch Serena and her employer, Stefano. Turns Xander is also Justin's son Alex and Xander is his professional name. Only Justin, Victor and Shane know this and it turns out "ELSA" was the operation to find Jack, Steve, Bo and Don. All have been involved for some time now.
 
I have advice for a Hope-Aiden storyline (so they don't become too boring). Why not have Aiden become a defense attorney to someone that Hope put in jail (off-screen) a few years ago, that had a rivalry with her. The two become torn because they love each other, and yet Aiden thinks this woman should be let out on bail, while Hope is adamant that she stay in prison. It'd cause much better drama than a 3rd party interfering in the relationship.
 
I've said some of these before, but in an interest to pass some time before I start Easter Dinner, I'll post them again:

1: Provide structure to the show.
  • The Salem Spectator: Owned by Kate & WRCW. Jack is CEO. Jenn is lead editor. Abby & Nicole are field reporters. Eric is photographer.
  • City Hall: Abe is Mayor. Hope is Police Commissioner. John is Chief of Police. Rafe and Steve are informants who know the rules of the streets.
  • University Hospital: Kayla is Chief of Staff. Marlena is head of Psych. Maxine is Head Nurse. Daniel is Chief surgeon. Maggie is in charge of volunteers. Lucas is on board as the head of the Horton Foundation who helps oversee how money from the board will be spent on whatever the hospital might need - a new nurses station -vs- equipment for patients, etc.
  • The Board of Univ. Hospital (financial contributors/sponsors): John, Victor, Kate, Chad, Philip & perhaps a few other nameless but wealthy Salemites (similar to the DiMera board - we know their names, but that's really about it).
New characters can be brought on as field reporters, photographers, police rookies, candy-stripers/volunteers, etc. Bring them on & let them work with other characters on canvas, rather than put them in a bubble with one or two characters they'll be interacting with (Serena & Eve being glaring examples of that fiasco).

If the Spectator is working on a big scoop, they will need to interact with the cop-shop for some information - Nicole/Eric team work with John/Rafe for example to cover what's going on and report on it.

If anyone is injured, they go to the hospital & work with whomever on that set. The board of the hospital is some big-names who all have skeletons in their closets known about by folks at the Spectator, City Hall, etc - so there's a bit of a "Fair trade" (as Sami2 would put it) there.

John & Marlena could clash (slightly) over what the hospital needs. Same with Jack & Jenn at the Spectator. Kate could - naturally - play John against Victor but they both know her game & Lucas scoops them all with his scheming ways. There's a lot of room to play around if there is a structure to write the characters in.

2. Do a Marlena-develops-and-beats-breast-cancer storyline. Something for her & John to deal with that isn't DiMera related is LONG overdue. To see John supporting her, Stefano being there for her to to read books to her as she goes through chemo, etc, her and Kate re-connecting & rebuilding their friendship.

Salemites set aside their differences in order to help her through it all. They could also do PSA's, and have Marlena join a support group to get her though the ordeal - it could resonate with audience members who have gone through the situation themselves, or know someone who has. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so if they time it right they could get lots of good press for it and get the word out there that this storyline is on. Marlena makes a couple of new friends in the group, and one or two of them lose their battle, she's shaken by it and scared. One of the survivors could be brought on permanently as a love interest for Roman, as well.

3. Bring back Belle and Shawn D plus Claire and Philip. Shawn D is a young detective who IS NOT having any part of Aiden near his mother or kid sister. Belle is going through a high-risk pregnancy. Claire is a SORAS'ed teen who has glasses, braces, zits, a weight problem or a combination of those & make her a bit more relatable to some of the younger viewers who aren't as glamorous as some girls in magazines.

Claire and Ciara DO NOT get along, but they find a way to bond through their connection with Shawn D who gets shot on duty (he lives, he lives). Philip has re-evaluated his life; he thought Belle was his and had to let go. He thought Parker was his and had to let go. He thought Titan was his, ahh, that one he can get back! He returns heck-bent on gaining control of Titan from Brady (snicker) and Victor who are blindsided when 53% of the stocks are bought up one day when they weren't looking.

Philip returns to town with a HUGE chip on his shoulder and doesn't seem to care about anything but money. As a member of the board of University Hospital, he interacts with a new nurse who doesn't give him the time of day; they can do some screen testing & see who he has chemistry with and bring her on as a member of the staff.

OK, now I gotta go start dinner - but you get the idea - there are a lot of things they can do that won't necessarily require new sets & a lot of money for wardrobe, just some cleverness rather than laziness on the part of the writers to set things up & show a monthly board meeting for the aforementioned structural groups.
 
Daysdegrassi said:
Why not have Aiden become a defense attorney to someone that Hope put in jail (off-screen) a few years ago, that had a rivalry with her....
Click to expand...
Aiden could become a regular Perry Mason in Salem -- he'd never lose a case. The Salem P.D. is so incompetent that Melinda Trask's cases against defendants would, to borrow an old cliche, have more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese. In addition, because the Salem P.D. usually violates defendants' rights (ain't that so, Fake Rafe?) and gathers evidence from homes and offices without search warrants (right Bo?) that small armies of the guilty would be waltzing out of a courtroom with big grins on their faces. Speaking of the incompetence of the Salem P.D., this relates to my reluctance about seeing Rafe with the ISA. In recent storylines, this organization was as hopeless as the Salem P.D. Recall the failed effort to get Stefano on arms trafficking charges, the blowing up of its unsafe "safe house," and its role in attempting to railroad EJ for the "murder" of Stefano. If Rafe is going back to law enforcement, get him back in the FBI.
 
I thought Aiden was already a defense attorney since he represented Ben.

Lucy: Love all your ideas except I don't think they need to SORAS Claire just yet. Keep her the same age as her Aunt Ciara, especially since Allie is no longer in Salem.

I would also like to see a couple of members of the 20/30 something crowd join the medical profession. Bring back Nathan Horton if needed. Or perhaps Belle could have become a doctor offscreen like Kayla did. Though I'd rather see her working at Basic Black.

Speaking of which, let's get back to some corporate storytelling too between Basic Black, Titan and Dimera Enterprises. These are the companies that should be sponsoring charity events in town, not Club TBD.
 
I asked this before, but as far as I know, didn't get a response. What is SORAS?

edited - JS
 
Heather4CU said:
Lucy: Love all your ideas except I don't think they need to SORAS Claire just yet. Keep her the same age as her Aunt Ciara, especially since Allie is no longer in Salem.
Click to expand...

I agree they should be the same age, and I'm sure I'll get tomatoes thrown at me for it, but they need to SORAS Ciara too - make her a teenager (deleted spoiler info in non-spoiler forum - JS) Nothing against Lauren Boles - she's great as Ciara (although I will admit she scares the heck out of me sometimes), but the teen set they have now just isn't cutting it. Paige, Cole, what's his face & the other gal, their storylines are falling flat due in large part (in my opinion) to the fact that they're unrelatable to the audience because we don't have any backstories on them. Why invest? I'd rather see Joey, Ciara, Claire, Chase, Theo - and a few others - as teenagers giving their parents all kinds of grief.
 
Daysdegrassi said:
I have advice for a Hope-Aiden storyline (so they don't become too boring). Why not have Aiden become a defense attorney to someone that Hope put in jail (off-screen) a few years ago, that had a rivalry with her. The two become torn because they love each other, and yet Aiden thinks this woman should be let out on bail, while Hope is adamant that she stay in prison. It'd cause much better drama than a 3rd party interfering in the relationship.
Click to expand...

Yes! And Jailbird was injured, and had cosmetic surgery, while in prison; she now looks exactly like Hope. Aiden has trouble telling the two apart, and doesn't try very hard to do so. Bo returns, and has the same identification problem. Ciara alternates living with the two women, staying with whichever one will most let her run. Hope and Jailbird are sometimes depicted as Good and Bad Angels that sit on her shoulders. Go for it, DaysDG! :)
 
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