TEST - A 24 February post from my TV Guide Community Blog "You Really Watch That Stuff?"The new issue of Soap Opera Digest reports that when Ken Corday (executive producer of DAYS OF OUR LIVES) spoke at the farewell celebration for Farah Fath (“Mimi”) and Judi Evans (“Bonnie”), he noted that we could “soon” see Evans back in her signature DAYS role, long-suffering heroine “Adrienne Kiriakis.”
Frankly, I couldn’t be happier…straighten and darken the hair, class up the wardrobe and get Evans back where she belongs ASAP! The character of Bonnie was a lark and must have been fun for the game-as-a-girl-scout Evans, who spent her three previous iconic soap stints (as Adrienne, GUIDING LIGHT’s “Beth,” and Another World’s “Paulina”) crying her eyes out. While John Ingle (ex-“Mickey”) reportedly struggled with its absurdity, the Bonnie-Mickey pairing revitalized the character of Mickey and fanned a fire within Suzanne Rogers's “Maggie” (a 60+ year-old character who roared back from the dead to fight for her man) that I had forgotten was there!
Truth be told, though, Bonnie had run her course, and an expert actress like Evans deserves more.On a soap full of modern, independent heroines (policewoman “Hope,” former-spy “Billie,” physician “Marlena”), layered anti-heroines (scheming “Sami,” “Chelsea,” “Kate”), and whiny “poor me” damsels-in-distress (“Belle,” and, sadly these days, “Kayla”), Adrienne will be a welcome re-addition…a “classic” soap heroine, in the vein of GENERAL HOSPITAL’s “Laura Spencer,” among others, with a fragile soul, passionate belief in love, and a quiet strength born of pain.
Like GH’s Laura, Genie Francis, Evans cries those big heavy tears so integral to those great “soapy” moments, breaking the viewers hearts along the way, and then pulls it all back together with grace and determination that makes you want to cheer for the character to get everything she wants…this is a great move for Corday, writer Hogan Sheffer, and the uncertain future of NBC soaps.
Granted, the circumstances, and Corday’s follow-up comments to SOD, dictate that Adrienne will likely return in a recurring capacity in support of her brother (the recently returned “Steve ‘Patch’ Johnson”), similar to the upcoming short-term return(s) of the other Johnson sibling, fan-favorite “Jack Devereaux” (played by Matthew Ashford), but that is okay. No need to crowd the canvas with too many characters in need of full-time story, but the stage will be set nicely for a longer term return when the circumstances are right…and maybe a few guest stints by Wally Kurth (as Adrienne’s husband “Justin Kiriakis”), too. All in all, I’m very excited. Just seeing all three “Johnson” siblings on-screen together will be reward enough.
Please, DAYS…don’t make us wait too long!
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