History YMMV / DaysOfOurLives

* BrokenBase: This happens with any soap opera regarding couples, story arcs, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still controversial. Supporters fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the effects of the 1988 writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (e.g. Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still present and popular in the modern day. Detractors claim his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the story and alienated longtime fans and that he relied too much on [[ShockingSwerve shock]] value, [[NegativeContinuity ignored continuity]], dragged-out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's (including the retconning of "Roman Brady's" origins to reveal that John had just assumed Roman's identity) and Tony [=DiMera=]'s parentage, and reduced characters and their motivations to [[{{Flanderization}} two dimensions, at most]].

* SeasonalRot: There have also been issues with the frequent writer switchups in recent years. Storylines and couples have flip-flopped so often it became irritating to try and keep up with. Each turnover seems to warrant [[OutOfFocus changing the B-cast]] at much-rates than usual: In a span of two years, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show twice (each), and are now returning for the third. Xander has been PutOnABus only to be brought back for another storyline...three times. Eve was let go only to be returned as a recurring character two times and then being forgotten about. (Her actress, Kassie [=DePaiva=] was diagnosed with cancer and was allowed to take time off, but there was no on-screen reason for her departure until she returned again.) And so on and so forth.

* BrokenBase:
** This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the effects of the 1988 writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins (including the retconning of Roman Brady's character history to reveal that he was assuming Roman's identity) and Tony [=DiMera=]'s parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure. But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like Chelsea Brady and/or the fantastically bizarre and gloriously nonsensical [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).
** There is also been some considerable issues with the more frequent writer switchups in recent years. As with each of these turns, several storylines and pairs have flipflopped so often it becomes more irritating to keep up with. Each switch-up also seems to keep changing who they want the under-cast to be at rates much faster than usual, creating new divides each time. In a matter of two years, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show twice each, and are now returning for the third. Xander has been shipped off only to be brought back for another storyline three times. Eve was let go only to be returned to recurring two times before being forgotten about[[note]] In the last case, her actress, Kassie [=DePaiva=] was diagnosed with cancer and was allowed to leave her existing recurring status but there was no on-screen reason for her departure until she returned yet again[[/note]], etc.

* DorkAge: Some people are very against when the show delves into weird or supernatural storylines, especially true of James E. Reilly's tenures as head writer.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Jack Deveraux, Steve Johnson, E.J. [=DiMera=]

** This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the effects of the 1988 writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins (including the retconning of Roman Brady's character history to reveal that he was assuming Roman's identity) and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure. But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like Chelsea Brady and/or the fantastically bizarre and gloriously nonsensical [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).

* DracoInLeatherPants: Jack Deveraux, Steve Johnson, E.J. DiMera

* RealityIsUnrealistic: One particular aspect of the 2019 storyline in which Julie Williams suffers a massive heart attack (which Gabi thought Julie was faking to make her feel guilty about her behavior towards Julie, nearly leaving Julie for dead) was seen as pretty outlandish among some fans. After forcing Lani Price to do some groveling to allow the transplant to happen, a grieving and vengeful Gabi Hernandez allows Julie to receive the fatally wounded Stefan [=DiMera=]'s heart. As payback for Lani accidentally killing Gabi's husband, Stefan DiMera[[note]](Lani was attempting to shoot his mother, the once-thought-deceased Vivian Alamain, who was about to kill Lani, only for Stefan to dive in front of the bullet and get mortally wounded in the neck)[[/note]], Gabi blackmails Lani into jilting Eli Grant on their wedding day under threat of using an app that controls the speed of a [=DiMera=] Enterprises-manufactured pacemaker implanted into Julie (Eli's aunt) heart to kill her. Head writer Ron Carlivati revealed on his Twitter account in October 2019 that the plot device was inspired by a 2013 CNN story about former Vice President Dick Cheney, who had an internal defribrillator he received in 2007 modified to disable wireless features that could be hacked to induce a coronary event.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation- Marlena and her daughter Belle as selfish jerks who play their romantic suitors against each other so she can have TWO men loving her at the same time is a popular fan interpretation of the character.
** Jennifer Horton, once the NiceCharacterMeanActor reveal happened in the mid-90s when Melissa Reeves was revealed to be having an adulterous affair with a co-star. Jennifer went from the plucky girl next door who's pure heart was such that she was able to redeem a rapist who argued IN COURT that a man can rape his wife and it not being rape, to a self-absorb hypocrite who mocked her husband's post-traumatic stress disorder from having his life destroyed by the Dimeras and who was bed hopping with strangers whenever she thought he was dead.
** Sami Brady: Cold blooded sociopath or fucked up teenager who went though the trauma of losing her mother as a child, being raised by a father who turns out to be an imposture (after being told originally he had plastic surgery) and then being reunited with your real dad only to watch your mom cuck your dad with Fake-dad and try and pass off their bastard as your real dad's and then get raped by the older college age guy who you think is your friend and have him call you a liar when he gets arrested, plus out that he only was your friend because he wanted to rape your half-sister!
** Kate Roberts: only sane woman in a town of fucked up families who wants protect her son from the lunacy of the city and Sami Brady (who the whole town knows is crazy and evil), or a cold and ruthless matriarch who seeks absolute and total control over her son Lucas to make up for how she abandoned and forsaked her other children.
** Daniel Jonas: Is Daniel a good hearted laid back doctor who sometimes make a bad decision in his personal life or a serial homewrecker who will do whatever he needs to if he has the hots for a woman?
* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure. But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like Chelsea Brady and/or the fantastically bizarre and gloriously nonsensical [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).
** There is also been some considerable issues with the more frequent writer switchups in recent years. As with each of these turns several storylines and pairs have flipflopped so often it becomes more irritating to keep up with. As also each switch up also seems to switch out who they want the under-cast to be at rates much faster than usual creating new divides each time. In a matter of two years, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show twice each, and are now returning for the third. Xander has been shipped off only to be brought back for another storyline three times. Eve was let go only to be returned to recurring two times before being forgotten about[[note]] In the last case the actress was diagnosed with cancer and was allowed to leave her recurring status but there was no on-screen reason for her departure until she returned yet again[[/note]], etc.
* CreatorsPet - Belle, Shawn Douglas, Daniel, Melanie and the whole Hernandez clan are characters this has been thrown at over the years.
* DorkAge: Some people are very against when the show delves into weird or supernatural storylines.
* DracoInLeatherPants - Jack Deveraux, Steve Johnson, E.J. DiMera
* DieForOurShip - Days couples tend to have very passionate fanbases. The Broe vs. Phloe, Shimi vs. Shelle, Lumi vs. Ejami battles come to mind. And God help you if you think Jennifer Horton should be with anyone other than Jack Deveraux.
* EnsembleDarkhorse - Jack Deveraux was originally envisioned as a typical rich jerk to be a RomanticFalseLead for Steve and Kayla as many other couples have had before and after and the character was so destined-for-nothing that they went through three actors in less than a year. Eventually, however, the character found the right actor who provided him with so much depth and humor, that while the couple he was interfering with was gone within the next couple years, Jack Deveraux wound up spending more time on the show than either of them combined.
** The same can be said of Lucas and Sami. Originally the meddling little siblings of big couple Austin and Carrie (respectively) they wound up lasting longer and becoming much bigger than both of them. Sami's currently the main heroine.
* HesJustHiding: Despite WordOfGod that any characters killed off from now on will ''stay'' dead, most fans are using to believe this about Stefano, given the myriad of times he's returned from the dead. Such a rule didn't really stick again and they even ran a story where Rafe and Shane made it look like Stefano was alive when they thought he wasn't. At least until they saw a picture that wasn't a part of their plan of what appeared to be Stefano alive. This is probably the last official plot for Stefano now that his actor Joseph Mascolo passed away before hand.
* PortmanteauCoupleName - Shelle, Ejami, and Bope just to name a few.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Chelsea used to be an extremely hated character. She was an arrogant [[JerkAss jerkass]], rude to everyone around her (even her best friend Abby), responsible for killing her little brother, and tried to break up Bo and Hope's marriage. When she started dating HollywoodNerd Nick, she became a much better person. She went from being the most hated character to one of the more popular characters.
** Arguably to a lesser extent the same happened with Melanie Layton (now Jonas). She started out an unlikable and shallow con-artist (although deliberately so), but was given a sympathetic backstory and became so popular she was even given a connection to the Horton family.
* TheScrappy - Belle. While Carrie and Sami and Jennifer Horton all worked well in their role as the young blonde female heroine of the show, Belle was widely reviled by fans.
** Taylor, particularly for coming off as such a RelationshipSue for EJ. After two extremely likeable actress failed to sway fans into liking her, she was mercifully PutOnABus
** Willow Stark (so much that she was KilledOffForReal due to the large volume of hate-mail the network received about her character).
** Alex North who was a new character made to bring an old actor back to the show (his old role having been recast) launched into a storyline that a good chunk of fans would prefer to forget.
** While a lot of people liked Will Horton, the Guy Wilson incarnation was reviled as having made one of the most likable characters on the show turn into one of the most annoying. To the point while some were sad to see the character go, the murder of Will was in some cases applauded for finally getting rid of the actor. Needless to say upon Will's resurrection they brought back the previous actor Chandler Massey and had him reshoot scenes that they needed for flashbacks from when Guy Wilson played Will.
* SuperCouple - Bo and Hope, John and Marlena, Jack and Jennifer, Steve and Kayla and more.

* InternetBackdraft - Mention EJ/Sami, December 29, and/or The Event on any Days message board.
** Jack's death is one particularly nasty sore spot for older fans, as they brought the actor back simply so they could humiliate and kill him off once and for all, all in the name of finally freeing Jennifer Horton up to fuck other men without social stigma.
*** Hope and John fucking on a submarine, resulting in Hope becoming pregnant with John's love child. It created such a nuclear backlash online, and within fandom, that not only did the writers have to bend over backwards once the baby was born, to retcon the child being Bo's (resulting in the meme that was "Mimesex"), but they ultimately killed the child off first chance they could years later.

** Jennifer Horton, once the NiceCharacterMeanActor reveal happened in the mid-90s when Melissa Reeves was revealed to be having an adulterous affair with a co-star. Jennifer went from the plucky girl next door who's pure heart was such that she was able to redeem a rapist who argued IN COURT that a man can rape his wife and it not being rape, to a self-absorb hypocrite who mocked her husband's post-traumatic stress disorder from having his life destroyed by the DiMeras and who was bed hopping with strangers whenever she thought he was dead.

** There is also been some considerable issues with the more frequent writer switchups in recent years. As with each of these turns several storylines and pairs have flipflopped so often it becomes more irritating to keep up with. As also each switch up also seems to switch out who they want the under-cast to be at rates much faster than usual creating new divides each time. In a matter of two years, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show twice each, and are now returning for the third. Xander has been shipped off only to be brought back for another storyline three times. Eve was let go only to be returned to recurring two times before being forgotten about, etc.

** While a lot of people liked Will Horton, the Guy Wilson incarnation was reviled as having made one of the most likable characters on the show turn into one of the most annoying. To the point while some were sad to see the character go, the murder of Will was in some cases applauded for finally getting rid of the actor.

* CreatorsPet - Belle, Shawn Douglas, Daniel and Melanie Jonas

* HesJustHiding: Despite WordOfGod that any characters killed off from now on will ''stay'' dead, most fans are using to believe this about Stefano, given the myriad of times he's returned from the dead.
** Unfortunately in this case [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Stefano was killed this time because Joe Mascolo, Stefano's iconic actor, suffered a debilitating stroke.]] Still, it's nice to think he really just retired to a nice Mediterranean island somewhere...

* Kate Roberts: only sane woman in a town of fucked up families who wants protect her son from the lunacy of the city and Sami Brady (who the whole town knows is crazy and evil), or a cold and ruthless matriarch who seeks absolute and total control over her son Lucas to make up for how she abandoned and forsaked her other children.

* StraightGay: Sonny Kiriakas comes to town to be with his parents, popular 80s couple Justin and Adrienne, and quickly reveals himself to be gay. While his parents and cousin Abigail knew prior to his arrival, most people, including his eventual love interest Will Horton, are surprised because the athletic, adventurous Sonny doesn't seem gay.

* TearJerker

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation- Marlena and her daughter Belle as selfish jerks who play their romantic suitors against each other so she can have TWO men loving her at the same time is a popular fan interpretation of the character.

* TheScrappy - Carrie Brady

** Unfortunately in this case [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Stefano was killed this time because Joe Mascolo, Stefano's iconic actor, suffered a debilitating stroke.]] Still, it's nice to think he's really just retired to a nice Mediterranean island somewhere...

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation- Marlena and her daughter Belle as selfish cunts who play their romantic suitors against each other so she can have TWO men loving her at the same time is a popular fan interpretation of the character.

** Or if you happen to despise a pairing because one half happens to be a rapist. Jack and Sami are both rapists, as well as EJ, Tony, and several other characters. But apparently being 'cool', 'good-looking', 'damaged', and/or 'badass' makes the fact that committed, sometimes more than once, such a barbaric, traumatising act is a-okay.

* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure. But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like Chelsea Brady and/or the fantastically bizarre and gloriously nonsensical[[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).

* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure. But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like Chelsea Brady and/or the fantastically bizarre [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).

* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial by soap fan standards. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure. But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like Chelsea Brady and/or the fantastically bizarre [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).

* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial by soap fan standards. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure (just see JumpingTheShark below). But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like Chelsea Brady and/or the fantastically bizarre [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).

* JumpingTheShark - when James E Reilly began writing it.

* ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch - If one was to visit any Days forum, he would notice a number of people claiming they do not watch the show anymore but constantly complain about its current condition.

* FanDumb

* CompleteMonster: Kate Roberts attempted to kill her son's wife, who donated bone marrow to her despite it being a huge risk due to her being a cancer survivor, and tried to frame the doctor that performed the operation, all because of a suspicion.

* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial by soap fan standards. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure (just see JumpingTheShark below). But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like the fantastically bizarre [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).

* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial by soap fan standards. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony {=DiMera's=} parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure (just see JumpingTheShark below). But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like the fantastically bizarre [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).

* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial by soap fan standards. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure (just see JumpingTheShark below). But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run from 2003 to 2006 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like the fantastically bizarre [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).

* BrokenBase - This happens with any soap opera over couples, characters, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still very controversial by soap fan standards. Some fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the late '80s/early '90s writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (like Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still very popular to this day. Others will say his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the show and alienated longtime fans, and that he was just generally a bad writer who relied on shock value, ignored continuity, dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's origins and Tony DiMera's parentage, and [[BlackandWhiteMorality reduced characters and their motivations to two dimensions, at most.]] Years and several writing regimes later, there are those who will still assert that the show ''never'' recovered from his first tenure (just see JumpingTheShark below). But even fans who liked his original run will usually agree his second run starting in 2003 was in the end a disaster (even if they did at least like the fantastically bizarre [[GuiltyPleasures Salem Stalker storyline]]).