♥ Never Ending Story 2000 ♥ Note on soap magazine publication dates and content of articles/interviews regarding multiple soap stars: Many of the monthly or every other month (and sometimes quarterly) magazines back in the 1980's would be on the newsstands a long time before the date on the actual magazine. We've noticed, for instance, that DAYTIME TV magazine did an interview with Drake in late 1986 about his upcoming wedding, which was scheduled for December 1986, yet the interview didn't appear until the July 1987 issue several months later. Therefore, it might be a bit confusing to read about his "upcoming" wedding in an interview dated July 1987 when you happen to know he was married in December 1986. We've tried to date the articles to match the date on the magazine, regardless of when the events talked about took place. Hopefully it will make sense as you go along! We've also edited some of the articles/interviews to just include John's storyline, since this is a Drake/John website. We've left out comments and sections about other actors or storylines unless they're involved with John's storyline. This too should be very apparent and clear when we've done that so it makes sense and you don't have to skim through a long article to find the "John parts." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ The News DAYS: Father's Day For Stefano - Or John? Things threaten to get even more complicated on DAYS OF OUR LIVES when Stefano finally deduces the true paternity of Hope's baby August 14. As Rolf is getting back the DNA test results on Isaac, "John, at the same time, has taken a DNA sample of his own from baby John," Will Utay (Rolf) says. The only hitch is that John, unaware of the baby switch, couldn't possibly be baby John's father. Stefano, meanwhile, reels when he takes a peek at Isaac's results. Determined to keep John under his thumb, Stefano decides to use this information to his advantage; he orders Rolf to go the clinic where John had the DNA testing done. (OOPS! This is wrong. Typo alert! In our opinion it should be "he orders Rolf to go to the clinic where John had the DNA testing done" not "he orders Rolf to go the clinic where John had the DNA testing done.") "Things get remarkably complicated; so complicated that, we, the actors, don't know what's going on," Utay says with a laugh. After making yet another test-result switch, Rolf returns to the DiMera mansion. Later, John arrives and goes into mercenary mode after being overcome by yet another memory. He begins choking Rolf, and only pulls back when Stefano screams, "At ease!" John composes himself and goes back to the DNA lab, grabs the sealed results, then returns to the DiMera mansion. He opens the envelope and prepares to read the results out loud... By week's end, John tells Marlena he's more determined than ever to get to the root of his increasingly unnerving mercenary memories. Marlena thinks this is a bad idea that could have disastrous effects on their family, and feels it proves that John really is hiding something from her. John admits that she is right - but will he also admit that he could be the real father of Hope's child? Tony Calega, SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 8/22/00 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Fall Preview! What Will Happen... DAYS: John's The Daddy! Late-Breaking News - John's The Father On DAYS! DAYS OF OUR LIVES fans who voted in the Internet poll to determine the father of Hope's baby learn the truth this week - John is the father of Hope's baby. "John didn't want to believe it was true," sighs his portrayer, Drake Hogestyn. "But every flashback he had (about making love to Hope on the submarine) was real." Unfortunately for John, Stefano is also privy to his secret. But DiMera offers to help keep Hope in the dark by instructing John how to remove the chip from Hope's brain that contains her memories of life as Gina. Against his better judgment, John accepts DiMera's proposition. "John must not be in his right mind if he would ask Stefano to get involved in the life of someone he is close to," notes Hogestyn. But John has no choice. He hasn't yet confided in his wife, Marlena, even though the deed was done over a year ago. "He's digging himself into a deeper hole, and he knows that," says Hogestyn. "He's going more into himself. Some of the things he's doing are scaring him a little bit." And he hasn't told Bo and Hope, either. "John knows the information would cause a huge problem for Hope and Bo," says the actor. "I think John thinks that they would have more of a problem than he and Marlena would have if he told her. Marlena's been through this kind of stuff before and knows there are many skeletons in the closet to be rattled. She's been his one anchor, and I'd think he'd be confident enough to tell her." So, the only person John can turn to is...Stefano. "As much as John hates him and wants to end his life, there's still a fascination with the power of the man," explains Hogestyn. "John wants to know everything - and Stefano is the only one who knows everything." SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 8/22/00 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ DAYS OF OUR LIVES The Truth Comes Out! "Hope's Baby Is Mine!" Truth And Consequences - John Finally Tells Marlena That Hope's Baby Is His On DAYS OF OUR LIVES: Father's Day: "His conscience is getting to him," sighs DAYS OF OUR LIVES Executive Producer Ken Corday of John's paternity predicament. "The hero he is, he needs to tell Marlena that the baby is his." Well, it's about time. John and Hope slept together in July 1999 when he was in mercenary mode and she was under the spell of her alter, Princess Gina. It was only last month that DNA tests proved that John, not Stefano, fathered Hope's bundle of joy. This week, after a blowout with Brady, a fed-up John prepares to tell his wife the truth. "He starts to have flashbacks of being with Gina and then Marlena says to him, 'You can trust me. Whatever it is, you can tell me. We can handle it,'" previews Drake Hogestyn (John). "John says, 'Are you sure you can handle the fact that I made love to Hope? Can Bo handle it? What about the fact that Hope and Bo are raising my son in their home?'" Needless to say, Marlena does not react well to the news. "She's horrified," says Deidre Hall (Marlena). "She slaps him, she rages at him. She's not as understanding as you think she's going to be. She's not understanding at all." And why should she be? John has known for nearly a year that the baby might be his, but chose to keep mum as he waited for proof. "He says that he's only telling her now because he's sure," says Hogestyn. "It's an interesting argument because they both feel they have a point. I think it's refreshing that they have the character of Marlena not pulling a psychiatrist act when she hears the news." Hall agrees. "She reacts like a wife," says the actress. "She says over and over, 'It's not the affair, it's the lie. It's the betrayal.' She has said to him often, 'We can get through anything as long as we stick together.' And he promised her Stefano wouldn't have any control over them once they were married. So here are two people who are realizing they didn't have quite the capacity they thought they had - her to forgive the lie and him to come out from Stefano's control." John implores Marlena to keep the news from the Bradys. "They don't want to say anything for fear of rocking the boat because Bo and Hope are having such a hard time with the child because he's sick," explains Corday. But that doesn't mean John won't be spending time with baby John. "John will become more bonded toward the child Hope and Bo have, which isn't his child (it's Marlo's) - but that will come out another time." So can the Blacks weather the storm? "That's the question," chuckles Corday. "It's not just this storm; it's the storm of his son being in the house, it's the storm of when Bo finds out, what happens? When Hope finds out, what happens? It's just the beginning, building to Bo and Hope's wedding sometime in the fall. A lot of stuff will hit the fan." Stephanie Sloane, SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 9/26/00 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ What's Ahead On Every Show! DAYS: Will John Ruin Bo And Hope's Wedding? What's Ahead...The Best Previews From All Your Shows! On DAYS: Hope Turns To John In Crisis... DAYS Couples Collide In The Face Of Tragedy! Love On The Rocks: Imagine...John and Hope; Roman and Marlena; Bo and Jennifer. Circumstances now start to bring together what could become some dangerous liaisons that might threaten long-standing love. Bonding Moments: While Bo is pursuing leads against Stefano in Ireland, Hope faces another crisis for her baby John. Spending so much time together at the hospital, both so worried about the baby, Hope turns to John for emotional support and a shoulder to lean on. John feels needed at the hospital, while things at home remain tense: Marlena continues to struggle with the knowledge of her husband's past relationship with Hope - and the possibility of a life-long bond between them through their son, little John. As John grows closer to Hope, he comes even closer to telling her the truth as he knows it - that he's the father of baby John. Neither one realizes that healthy Isaac in Lexie's arms is really their son. Change Of Heart? Little John hovers between life and death, but survives the immediate danger. Hope decides to go ahead with his baptism rather than wait for Bo's return. The rite is more important than ever for the little one. Both little John and Isaac are baptized together, with John at Hope's side, standing in for Isaac's absentee godfather Bo. Feeling hurt and abandoned by Bo, she's annoyed enough to feel distant from him when he finally calls. She's cold towards Bo and does not bother to tell him details of little John's health crisis. Seeing Hope's reaction to Bo, John tries to encourage her to remember Bo's good qualities and why he's in Ireland - to protect his family from further Stefano trouble. In her current emotional turmoil and exhausted from little John's constant demands, how might Hope react if she learned that she and John conceived a child when they made love on the submarine? Jennifer And Bo Reunite: Meanwhile, in Ireland, Jennifer agrees to work closely with Bo against Stefano. As they start to disagree about each other's individual life and romantic choices, they decide that they must keep discussions of relationships in their personal lives out of their working arrangement. But can they really do that? What secrets will they uncover about the Brady family while trying to protect them from Stefano? Return To Love? And Marlena, feeling alone while John spends more time with Hope, turns to her ex-husband Roman for some comfort and support. How will this affect his budding relationship with Fay? There's change and trouble in the air! SOAP OPERA UPDATE, 11/7/00