♥ Ongoing Days 2008 ♥ 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." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ DAYS Exclusive John Comes Home! The Moment You've Been Waiting For... Back In Black: Drake Hogestyn resurrects John for a front-burner tale on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. In October, Drake Hogestyn told SOAP OPERA DIGEST that John Black had "met his maker" following a hit-and-run. This being Salem, it's no surprise that John is actually alive, and this week EJ finds his father's pawn in the lab in the DiMera mansion. According to Executive Producer Ken Corday, Hogestyn's exit was never meant to be permanent. "I can't lie; it was my plan all along to bring him back," the tricky exec reveals. "We knew in the beginning of October, as the shows were being penned, that he would be back. I had to say the character was dead and I didn't want to parenthetically add, 'for now,' because there would be more emotional impact if we kept it quiet. We didn't tell anybody." So what's in store for John? "There's an entirely new spin on the character and a huge front-burner story for him and Marlena, Bo, Hope, Patch and Kayla all in one. He doesn't know who he is. He's a man without a past and without a memory, like the Pawn all over again. It's as exciting a story as I've ever seen for John and Marlena. From the moment he comes back to the end of February, he's on almost every day." SOAP OPERA DIGEST: How did your return to Salem come about? Drake Hogestyn: I got a call from Ken and he proposed a brilliant idea, for me to come back and start over as the Pawn again. It sounded pretty exciting if it was done right. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: John Black was dead. Did you think you'd get the call? Drake Hogestyn: No. He had met his maker, Drake Hogestyn had fired his agents, hired new representation and was out doing different auditions. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Were you hesitant to come back? Drake Hogestyn: Hesitant from the standpoint that if the story is not in the right hands, is not written correctly, there is no point. I am very emotionally attached to everything John Black has been through - especially the early years - and to try and go back and capture that and fail? That would be heartbreaking. I had reservations that anybody was capable of writing that kind of story. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: So are you taking a leap of faith? Drake Hogestyn: I am putting a lot of trust out there. I love the show; it's what I do. I love the relationship I've had with the audience and that has really opened my eyes here in the last couple of months. A lot of people are still very emotionally attached to this show. There's a way to turn this show around. All we have to do is get it out there on the stage. We have to get it on the page. It has to be strong story that involves the veterans of the show. That's what the audience wants to see. If they can bring that forward, we'll be just fine. If they fail in that attempt, well, we've got a year and I'd (still) like to be a part of it. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Were you hoping to play John again? Drake Hogestyn: I don't think that way. The way the death was presented to me, they didn't know what to do with him. I believe I mentioned before that when you take someone like John Black out of his element, out of the ISA, out of the police, you have him shot by a kid after you have established that he has the ability to dodge bullets, you have his liver removed from him in an incapacitated state, you have him out of a coma and all he wants to do is go home, but you've taken that away from him, too, there wasn't much left. (OOPS! Teehee, this should say "you have his kidney removed from him in an incapacitated state" not "you have his liver removed from him in an incapacitated state." LOL, we think our Hogey had liver on his mind, since a few paragraphs down, he is talking about liver conversions, HA!) The writing was on the wall. So, as an actor, you accept that, realize it for what it is and prepare yourself to move in a different direction. Bitter, no. Confused, somewhat. Consider the source, though (laughs). SOAP OPERA DIGEST: What was it like for you to be home? What did you do? Drake Hogestyn: It was spectacular. We have the empty nest at the house. The kids are all out. That means that you can wake up at 7:30, cook breakfast, go to the gym for a fabulous workout. You can come home and read your papers about liver conversions and continue on to a book I'm writing about macronutrient proportions. I had a fabulous time doing that. You can play with your wife all afternoon, get to know her all over again. 0;-) It's been absolutely fantastic. The 'honey do' list was very, very long, but I loved every part. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Did you miss acting? Drake Hogestyn: You miss being productive in a creative endeavor every day. The writing filled that somewhat. Performing has become a passion for me. I realize that. I knew I would get back to it; it was just a matter of time and finding the right project. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: What can you say about the story? Drake Hogestyn: The audience is going to want to see this. We're going back to the beginning. When I left, I said to Ken, 'It's a damn shame that we're never going to find out what John Black was all about in the first place. From Miami to Salem to the ambulance accident, to rolling into town, to having Patch take him, to ripping off the bandages, nobody knew who he was. What was the mission? What was the ultimate goal? Never got there. Had a few good stories, got sideways quite a bit and then crashed and burned this last year and a half. I don't know who this guy is anymore. Don't even like him.' But this is a story the audience is going to want to see. We're going to tell it and hopefully, tell it right. I can only do what I can do as an actor, which is come as prepared as I can every single day. And bring a lot of intensity and truth to every scene. It's up to the writing. It's all in the writing. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Has John changed? Have you changed? Drake Hogestyn: Yes. I have been studying my ass off with a coach named Steven Anderson, stripping away twenty-two years of soap opera indicators that the audience knows. John now has different mannerisms. He has different speech patterns. He doesn't have an eyebrow. He doesn't have a squint. I found an acting coach that I can click with. I was telling Steven, 'I have been selling soap opera, by God, and I think I sell it good. I know how to do that.' It's been quite an experience for me. I really embraced it. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: What was it like to be back on set that first day? Drake Hogestyn: Interesting. The cast and crew were more confident in my return than I was and I found that interesting. Nobody likes to get fired. I've never been fired before. I've been released in baseball, but I sucked. I saw that coming. The slow fade that was John Black in the last year and a half, you could see it coming. That the rest of the cast and crew couldn't, well, God bless 'em. I love 'em; they're optimists (laughs). They've seen these things turn a corner and people come back from the dead, but that was not the way I was playing it. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: What was the fan reaction in your absence? Drake Hogestyn: I was just amazed at how many people watch this show. I literally mean that everywhere I went in the last three months, people were like, 'I can't believe they killed you off. I keep thinking you're coming back.' Lately, it's been, 'We saw Rolf in bloody scrubs. Please tell me you're coming back.' I had talked to the publicity office and they told me I wasn't in any scripts in January. I had a personal appearance and I told them that. Now legally, I was still under contract through the end of December, so yeah, they could have brought me back as a ghost or whatever, but I hadn't heard anything. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Are you looking forward to the fans knowing you're back? Drake Hogestyn: I am elated to tell them that I'm back. The fans drove the bus on my return and Ken listened to them and came up with a brilliant story and we're all excited about bringing the fans back. I take my return here very, very seriously because, as I've always said, that name can slide off the dressing room door. It can, at any point. But I will not disappoint. Stephanie Sloane, SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 1/8/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Play It Again Deidre Hall (Marlena) is thrilled to be teamed again with Hogestyn. "I was pleased and excited," she says of learning he was returning. "I hadn't spoken to him since he left and I hadn't really thought about it until the Crystal character came in and then I thought, 'Oh, wait a minute.'" Hall says she's also very enthused about the story. "It's such a compelling story and it's one that I thought for years that they should play," she explains. "It's money in the bank, it's gold, a surefire winner, edge-of-your-seat kind of story. And they're finally doing it. It's two people who have been pulled apart and are finding their way back together. It will be a long-term story, no stone unturned or moment overlooked. The moment that you see Marlena realize what's happened and what her part in it is, I think you'll lock on to her hip. You'll be right there." She reports that she's been impressed with Hogestyn's performances since he's been back. "I have been watching his scenes and I went, 'Ooh, look at you!' This is fun. He is having a great time and up to the challenge of playing a John that you might have seen twenty years ago. It's dreamy and we love it and the audience has to come play with us again. It's a home run, as Drake would say." Stephanie Sloane, SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 1/8/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ DAYS' Second Chance Drake Hogestyn Opens Up About The "Reckless Misunderstanding" And A Story You'll Never Forget! DAYS OF OUR LIVES News - A Closer Look: John... DAYS fans finally have their prayers answered with Drake Hogestyn's surprise return - or are they? Even Hogestyn isn't sure if he's actually reprising the real John Black... SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: How did your return come about? Drake Hogestyn: The unilateral decision to terminate John Black by the new Headwriter (Hogan Sheffer) was vehemently denounced by the ardent longtime viewers of DAYS OF OUR LIVES, who felt that their loyalty and emotional attachment to the show was being ignored. (DAYS' Executive Producer) Ken Corday himself crafted the brilliant re-entry of the character. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: Was it hard to keep such a big secret? Drake Hogestyn: That question is presumptuous on many levels. I received a script the day before I reported to work. On reporting to work I was fed into prior shows I had no knowledge of. To assume any cloak-and-dagger (business) is not only reckless but a total misunderstanding of how the network operates. Until the Director says, "Action!" it's all on a "need to know" basis. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: Were you told what the story would be, how John would return? Drake Hogestyn: Upon my return it became apparent that we are returning to the beginning. Twenty-two years later, the "Pawn" has risen. The intriguing aspect is with all the surgical procedures - is this really John Black? SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: Has it been odd playing the John of old - Stefano's brainwashed Pawn who doesn't remember anything? Drake Hogestyn: As new and exciting as it was in 1986, it's even more electrifying now because the stakes are so much higher. I've been able to apply my recent studies to this character, which has infused both of us with renewed energy that radiates on the set. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: What's different about playing the brainwashed soldier this time around, versus when you first joined the show twenty years ago? (OOPS! This is wrong. Twenty years ago from when this article was published in 2008 would be 1988. Since Drake joined the show in 1986, this should say "twenty-two years ago," not twenty.) Drake Hogestyn: Specifically dealing from the actor's perspective, you create circumstances. By that I mean you assimilate information given to you in script form and then build layer after layer of what this individual wants to obtain. It's a process of getting from A to B, and at this point all of the information we are receiving is fresh. So both Deidre (Hall, Marlena) and I are expanding our exploration and we are embracing it. This storyline is more challenging, simply because it is one of the all-time-great storylines being retold. This time we're going to get it right. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: How have the scenes with Deidre been, where Marlena is reaching out and trying to get through to John? Is it difficult having to stifle your chemistry with her, since John doesn't remember Marlena? Drake Hogestyn: While Marlena was the conduit to free him from Stefano's lab, she is now unwilling to free him from his prisoner status in the hospital, which leads him to process information in conflicting areas. Confusion rules, and with that comes a plethora of emotions. This creates dynamic situations of cat and mouse. Where there was trust, now there is mistrust. Character shading will emerge that you haven't experienced before. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: Are you enjoying the chance to replay the John/Marlena love story? Drake Hogestyn: This second chance presented itself solely because of the audience's unwillingness to accept John Black's demise, I've always enjoyed a special relationship with my supporters, and those of you I've met through the years know what I mean. With that said, I vow to you now that if the story is treated with the respect you deserve, Deidre and I will deliver a story you will never forget. Janet Di Lauro, SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 1/22/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ DAYS OF OUR LIVES News Carolyn's Corner This week's guest is Drake Hogestyn, back as John Black on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: I'm happy you're back. That was a really silly couple of months. Drake Hogestyn: You're not half as happy as I am. Yeah, it was very disconcerting. I watched it go around here a few times and I never thought they'd spin my name. But they did. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: Then came all the rumors of the show going off the air in 2009 and that wasn't a coincidence. Drake Hogestyn: No. I know the audience felt like there was a slow dismantling of the show and that it probably was going off the air in 2009. I don't know where that stands. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: DAYS' contract with NBC goes until 2009. Drake Hogestyn: Yeah, I heard March 2009 and we all know Jeff Zucker has indicated that he doesn't see NBC carrying daytime drama past March 2009, so... SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: I wonder, if the writers' strike continues, could it actually help daytime? Soaps will be the only original dramatic programming on the air. That could bring some people back to daytime. Drake Hogestyn: Interesting. Our numbers are starting to pick up here. There's a bit of a blip going on. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: Gee, I wonder why. Maybe because the star of the show isn't dead anymore. (OOPS! This is wrong. We agree completely that Drake is the star of DAYS OF OUR LIVES as well as an icon to the soap opera industry, but we do have to correct Carolyn's choice of words, simply because John died, not Dr... we can't even SAY it! This sentence should say "Maybe because your character, John, isn't dead anymore," not "Maybe because the star of the show isn't dead anymore.") Drake Hogestyn: Oh, stop. There's a lot of new energy here. It feels different. The scripts are moving faster. They've got a lot of the veterans involved in a nice umbrella story here. And bringing Shirley Jones in (as Colleen Brady)...I'm really excited. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: How did DAYS tell you that you were being let go? Drake Hogestyn: Ken (Corday) called me. He said, 'There have been some changes here...can you come in and see me?' I said, 'Well, it depends. Is it a good meeting or a bad meeting?' And he said, 'It's not good, Hogey.' So I said, 'Well, I can't come and see you (laughs)!' :oP He said, 'Our writers are going down the road of killing the character,' and I said, 'Define going down the road,' and he said, 'Well, he's going to get hit by a car.' I said, 'You're going to have a man that you've already established as being able to dodge bullets get hit by a car? Okay...' SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: So you went in and played it like the professional you are. Drake Hogestyn: Went in and played it, and went down Memory Lane. The good scenes and bad scenes, regrets about the character and how we never really figured out what he's all about. It was shocking and confusing and all of the above. You doubt yourself a lot. It reminded me of when they release you from baseball. (Hogestyn played in the minors for the New York Yankees.) SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: If you were playing now, you could have used steroids and stayed on the team! Drake Hogestyn: Carolyn, people have asked me for years what I feel about that. I say I just feel bad for the twenty-fifth man on the roster that got bumped off and never got his five-year pension because other players of lesser talent were juicing up. They're starting to talk about that, all those marginal players that got on the big-league roster and got their pensions who normally wouldn't have been there. We had steroids back when I played baseball. A lot of players were taking Dianobol because the leagues were saying, 'Go ahead. Take these, work out, and keep your weight up.' But by God, what was happening to me with Dianobol was, it just blows you up. I'm on third base and a guy hit a ball up the line and I realized, 'I've got too much chest in the way!' The size of my chest putting my arms together just wasn't natural anymore. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: So you only did steroids for a little while? Drake Hogestyn: I didn't even know what it was. The first year, in 1976, I thought it was the (weight) machines doing it until I figured it out. I started looking this stuff up. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: How long did you take that stuff? Drake Hogestyn: Probably in early Spring Training for the first six weeks, and then I stopped altogether. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: You just stopped on your own because you noticed yourself getting too big to play effectively? Drake Hogestyn: It didn't feel comfortable. It looked good in the mirror and everything, but as far as having a nice, smooth swing at the bat? No. Your pectoral muscles get far too big. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: So unless you were jumping from the Yankees to the Jets, you had to cut it out? Drake Hogestyn: Yes. Talk about a crossover! Carolyn Hinsey, SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 2/5/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Sports Zone - Meet The Teams That Have Turned These Soap Stars Into Fans Drake Hogestyn (John) SOAP OPERA DIGEST: When did you become a fan? Drake Hogestyn: My dad was from Rochester, New York, so he was a Yankee fan. In 1961, I was eight years old and they were doing the big Mickey Mantle/Roger Maris drive - the M and M boys - and that's probably my earliest memory of really following them and thinking that my brother and I could do the same thing. I learned to switch-hit because of Mickey Mantle and I wore number 7 and thought their uniforms were cool. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Did you ever dream of playing for them? Drake Hogestyn: When I was fifteen and (wife) Victoria was twelve, her mom and dad would let me come over and sit on the couch, only when the Yankees would play. I would tell them, 'I'm going to play in Yankee Stadium someday. I'm going to be a Yankee,' and they would roll their eyes. And I would say, 'No, I'm going to pitch.' So, when we first went to play in Yankee Stadium (in a charity game), I walked up on the mound and Victoria took a picture of me pitching. That was a good moment. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: What was it like to sign with the Yankees minor-league team in Oneonta, New York? Drake Hogestyn: You put a Yankee uniform on and you run faster, throw harder, swing faster, the whole thing. It's like putting on Superman's cape. My first uniform was Bobby Murcer's jersey before it was retired - number 1 - and all the uniforms were sent down from the parent club and the New York was taken off and replaced with an O. I had Thurman Munson's pants! I played there for a couple of weeks and put up good numbers and was moved up to A ball, but I wanted so badly to steal the jersey. I thought about it, but I couldn't do it; that's not me. So, I hung it up in my locker right before I was about to go to Fort Lauderdale and I had a little Kodak Instamatic camera with one picture left on it and I snapped the photo and I was so excited. I got the roll developed a few weeks later and every picture except the jersey came out. I still think about it. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Do you have a lot of memorabilia? Drake Hogestyn: Fans have sent me things that are great. I've got so much Yankee stuff, I could start a museum. I've got a New York Yankee trash can right here in my dressing room, a New York Yankee clock. But what I have in my garage is a K55, 35-inch, 33-ounce Louisville Slugger (bat) with Mickey Mantle scrolled on the end of it. You can never find one of those. I've had that with me forever. Beside that is a 1976 bicentennial K55 bat with Drake Hogestyn on it. That's the year I signed. Those are the two bats I have in my garage: Mickey Mantle and me. SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 2/5/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ First Interview - Drake Hogestyn "Why I Came Back To DAYS" DAYS OF OUR LIVES - "The Fans Brought Me Back" (Please Note: I'm Canadian, but if you look through our website, you'll see that the spelling and grammar is VERY American. This is simply because my partner is American as are most of the soap opera magazines that we type articles from. In an effort to keep consistency throughout BASEBALL MEMORIES AND MALIBU DREAMS, even though the following article uses Australian spelling, we've changed it to American spelling throughout.) From The Editor, Vesna Petropoulos: I enjoyed the first interview Drake Hogestyn has given since returning to DAYS OF OUR LIVES - welcome back Drake! (page sixteen). (Please Note: The article the Editor is talking about was done by Paulette Cohn and follows this paragraph.) While life outside of Salem beckoned for Drake Hogestyn, he wasn't about to get away that easily. It was a shock to DAYS OF OUR LIVES fans the world over when they learned that John Black was being killed off, but the return of Drake Hogestyn to the Salem canvas is a testament to the power of the people. "The fans drove the bus. They are the reason I am back. God love them," he tells TV SOAP. "People started getting upset during John's coma. They said, 'We are not going to watch it until you get back.' I thought, 'People say that. They won't really turn it off,' but they did!" It was during a trip to Australia that Hogestyn, Deidre Hall, Thaao Penghlis and Executive Producer Ken Corday made last year that Corday first broached the idea of John's return. "The day I got to Australia was the day John Black was shot [on United States screens], but the fans didn't care about that," Hogestyn recalls. (OOPS! This is wrong. Typo alert! This should have said "the day John Black was shot [on Australian screens]" not "the day John Black was shot [on United States screens]" like this article states.) "It was also when John Black died, and (the Australian fans) all know what's going on in the United States, so that's what they wanted to talk about." But now John Black is back – or is he? Even Hogestyn isn't one hundred percent certain that his new incarnation is the same man, even though he has the same name. "We're starting all over and going back to the beginning," he explains. "I could look like John, but I could be somebody else. John Black could have met his maker. This could be someone Stefano found, like he did with Susan." Long-time fans of DAYS will recall that when Hogestyn first joined the show, he was known as The Pawn, and he didn't have his memory then either. It had been wiped out by the evil Stefano DiMera. The same thing happens this time, too; the difference is that we get to watch it happen. "It's like THE PARALLAX VIEW with the stripping of memories and subliminal input," Hogestyn describes, referring to the 1974 film. "There's a series of flashbacks of John and Marlena's finest moments being deleted (from John's mind). Then Stefano comes in and says, 'Marvelous, you're a clean slate.'" Hogestyn is hoping that his return to the show will also mark the return of John Black as an action hero, a role he had played to the hilt until recently. Still, he never went to the producers and complained when they struck the Basic Black set or when John was taken out of the ISA or when Marlena's fears kept him from working for the Salem Police. He had been with the show long enough to believe that his time for a great storyline would come again. He never suspected it would be an exit. "Do you remember the show BRANDED with Chuck Connors?" he asks. "They start the show and strip off all his badges. They take his hat and his sword and break it in half, and push him out the door. That's what I feel they did to John Black. I couldn't wrap my head around it." Hogestyn admits to having an emotional attachment to the soap. After all, he has been a member of the cast for over twenty years, so he wants to see it succeed. At the same time, he was hoping to be a part of that success. "I always said my name will slide off that dressing room door at some point," he muses. "Nothing is forever. I had a great time at DAYS, and I made a lot of great friends, but the last year was very difficult." To ease the transition from being employed for more than two decades to being unemployed, Hogestyn says he started studying acting again, with the goal of working in primetime and films. "I wanted to lose twenty-two years of soap-opera acting techniques. I said, 'I sell soap opera and I would like to think I did a pretty good job of it, but I have indicators (such as his raising his eyebrow a lot), and I want to get back to listening. I want to create stillness.'" As a result, now that he's back at DAYS, the newly recharged actor is taking a different approach to the character. And hopefully, that approach will also make the John Black fans, who tuned out during his absence, return to the show. "I didn't expect to be back on DAYS," the soap icon admits. "There were inquiries that were coming in from the East Coast." But he can thank his legion of fans for bringing him back from the dead. Paulette Cohn, Australia's TV SOAP, 2/20/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Martha My Dear (Please Note: This was a cover story titled "DAYS OF OUR LIVES Drama! The Moment Fans Have Been Waiting For." The title of the following article is "Make A Little Love - DAYS OF OUR LIVES' John And Marlena Find A New Level of Intimacy." What follows was actually found in a side-bar titled "Martha My Dear.") Both Hall and Hogestyn were shocked by the news that their on-screen daughter Martha Madison (Belle) was let go. "I'm unspeakably heartbroken," says Hall. "Nobody saw it coming. She is one of the greatest joys I've had on this show and her silliness, her humor, her dedication and her breathtaking talent have been a bright spot in the last few years for me. She knocked on my door when she was coming downstairs after hearing the news and I was just getting changed and I couldn't breathe. I kept thinking, 'This is just unthinkable.' I don't know where decisions like this come from. I'm still babbling about it. I don't get it." "I was shocked," says Hogestyn. "We all were. I still haven't processed the whole thing. She is so good. She gets very raw as an actress. I steal from her and she doesn't know it. All I can do is give her a big hug and tell her that we love her and never say never. I just went through this." SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 2/26/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Oh, Brother (Please Note: This quote below was featured in an interview with Joseph Mascolo who portrays Stefano on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. The interview was titled "Behind The Masc - DAYS OF OUR LIVES' Joseph Mascolo Is A Far Cry From His Menacing Alter Ego," but what follows was actually found in a side-bar titled "Oh, Brother.") Mascolo was thrilled to hear about the twist in the tale, that John is Stefano's brother. "I think it's wonderful," he enthuses. "If they do it right. This is something that we have talked about from Day One. I've always said it to Drake (Hogestyn, John), every time we used to do things together. We always had a love/hate relationship. Plus, you're getting into an area where you could really do some great writing. If they can come up to that standard, then it's fine. If it's not, I don't want any part of it. But I feel that we're very fortunate with (Co-Executive Producer) Ed Scott and all his crew, and I love working with the people and our crew. They're just fabulous." Stephanie Sloane, SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 2/26/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ My Set Visit DAYS OF OUR LIVES I went to Los Angeles in January to visit the DAYS set (and managed to sneak in a day at GENERAL HOSPITAL, too), and did I pick a winner week: Shirley Jones (Colleen) was taping, Renée Jones was back as Lexie, I got to say goodbye to both Judi Evans (Ex-Adrienne), who I know from her ANOTHER WORLD days, and the very cool Julie Pinson (Ex-Billie). Plus, nearly every cast member was working on one of the three days I was there. The first person I chatted with was Drake Hogestyn (John). We sat in his dressing room and had a good, long talk about the story and his time off. His enthusiasm for his current material was clear. He was also excited to have scenes with Shirley Jones. "Everybody my age had a crush on Susan Dey back then, but I certainly looked at Shirley as the number two choice!" he said, referencing THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY. "She's an Academy Award winner, simple as that. I'm sure she doesn't know it, but I'll be stealing something from watching her." I returned to the publicity office and Darin Brooks (Max) came in battling a cold, but was still up for an interview. He apologized for his stuffiness and was hilarious discussing Max's unfulfilling love life. (The piece ran in the last issue; I'm sure you saw it.) Right before lunch, I joined the cast and crew on set for Judi's goodbye cake. She was emotional, but managed to smile through her second exit in a year. The next day, she and I spoke after she returned from the hair salon, where she washed Adrienne's dark hue right out of her hair. "Right now, it's kind of like a caramel color," she told me. "In four weeks, I can Blondie it up more. It's a work in progress." After lunch, I went down to Renée's dressing room, the same one she had when she returned last year. "I had things from my garage that I brought in, so when they let me go, I packed everything back up in my trunk," she laughed. "It's a good thing I just left it all in the garage. Nails were still on the wall in here, exactly where I left them." The next day, I had lunch with Joe Mascolo (Stefano). He is such an interesting man; his interview is on page forty-four. I came back to the set and sat down with Peter Reckell (Bo) in his dressing room to discuss Bo's current story. The proud new papa showed me a baby book of new daughter Loden Sloan and let me tell you: She is adorable! As is Reckell talking about her. "Kelly and I are so lucky to have such a beautiful little girl," he smiled. "Probably once a week, I'll be holding her and feeding her or something and I just start crying because I love her so much." Awww. At the end of the day, I got to hang with Alison Sweeney (Sami), who has made me a total fan of THE BIGGEST LOSER, a show I never watched before she hosted. When Alison had to go on set, I caught up with Rachel Melvin (Chelsea) and Shelley Hennig (Stephanie), and met Kristen Renton (Morgan). Then I interviewed Shirley Jones in the makeup room while she took off the Colleen wig and makeup. I had to start by telling her how much a fan I was of THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY and OKLAHOMA. "You're too young to know that movie," she responded. Yup, I instantly liked her. The next day, I went to SOAP OPERA DIGEST'S West Coast office and did a phone interview with Pinson about her exit. In one of my more embarrassing moments (and I wish I could say this has only happened once, but I can't), the tape recorder didn't work, so she graciously redid the interview with me. She admitted that she doesn't like goodbyes, but had a special one with on-screen daughter Rachel Melvin. "We had our little teary session," Pinson told me. "She said, 'Who is going to tell me which purses I can buy and which shoes I can buy?' I was her fashion conscience. But I think I taught her well; she'll be okay." On Thursday, I made a pitstop in Port Charles and hung out with Kirsten Storms (Maxie; Ex-Belle, DAYS) and Greg Vaughan (Lucky). Friday came and it was back to DAYS. I got to be the first one to sit down with the lovely Tamara Braun (Ava), whom I met when she was on GENERAL HOSPITAL as Carly. After, she and I headed to the makeup room, where I got a chance to chat with the überbusy Kristian Alfonso (Hope), and Reckell and I discussed the fabulousness that is FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. Hogestyn spied me in there and joked, "Are you moving in?" I get the hint, Drake! See you in a few months! Stephanie Sloane, SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 2/26/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Gossip...Behind The Scenes Missing In Action: Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) learned just how much of an impact John being off canvas had on his fans. "I have been doing this for a few years, and my family and I can pretty much travel anywhere," he says. "The couple of months I was home, people I never would have expected said, 'What are they doing on that show?' My big thought bubble was like, 'You've been keeping track?' I went with the girls to do Christmas shopping and we couldn't go anywhere. They said, 'This is like when we go to visit Indiana or back in Connecticut when we go to visit your parents and we go to the mall, and you have to take your postcard (photos) and keep passing them out as you're walking. We haven't seen that since we were little.' The response was amazing. Going to the Christmas tree lot, the people who were selling trees were like, 'We demand to know what's going on.' It was an eye-opener for me. Deidre (Hall, Marlena) always talks about the audience wanting to see that warm, fuzzy place, and if someone has been on a show for a certain period of time, they generate that with the audience. Whether they follow the story anymore or don't, when you take a person like that away, they say, 'We weren't watching anyway, but where the hell is he?' So I'm that old, fuzzy, warm guy that is part of the formula." SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 3/4/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Gossip...Behind The Scenes Still Got It: In the recent scenes where Bo and John faced off in Ireland on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, stunt doubles were ready to stand in for the actors. "Everybody was worried because Drake (Hogestyn, John) had an operation a few years ago and I had the operation on my shoulder last year, but we're both fine," smiles Peter Reckell (Bo). "They brought stunt men in and I was like, 'What the heck? We can do it! We're fine.' Everybody is so worried about us. We're like, 'We're okay; we're healed.' It wasn't a big, sluggy kind of thing anyway; we were struggling over a knife." Reckell reports that the cast got a good mental workout while trying to figure out the shift in family connections, with John revealed to be half-Brady and half-DiMera. "We were like, 'So, Belle is really a Brady 'cause her dad is a Brady, but Bo's not a biological Brady...' And then everyone starts doing the math, like, 'Wait a minute...You're sleeping with your cousin? Oh, not by blood? No, you're good. You're okay.'" SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 3/11/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ SOAP OPERA WEEKLY News Buzz... Meet John Black: Drake Hogestyn's portrayal of the new brainwashed John has been a challenge for his DAYS OF OUR LIVES leading lady, Deidre Hall (Marlena). "Drake has completely changed his acting style as he has completely changed his character," explains Hall. "It has forced me to change what I do with him, to really focus for the moments on intimacy. Drake is so still. He has such a high level of intensity. Nothing moves. His brow doesn't move. His jaw doesn't clench. He is robotlike. The charming part of it is that you can see him thinking all the time, knowing what is going on around him and calculating without any telegraphing. You see it in his eyes. It's a whole different thing." Hall believes the change has been great for John, as well as Marlena. "It softens Marlena to the point where she's dealing with what she thinks of as a child," explains the actress. "John is vulnerable. He doesn't know himself at this point. Marlena is so patient and tender with him." SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 3/18/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Plus! Love Scenes Cut Fans Outraged! Late-Breaking News - DAYS: Cut Scene Controversy... The February 26 cover of SOAP OPERA DIGEST promised "The Moment Fans Have Been Waiting For" with regard to John and Marlena's (Drake Hogestyn and Deidre Hall) long-awaited love scene. In the story, Hall described it as "explosive lovemaking, but it's not what you've seen before...It's physically very different lovemaking and it's also funny. It's challenging and delicious and such a good romp. It is sexier than anything we've ever done. It's a woman who loves a man with all of her soul and her heart, and a man who is just horny." That heated encounter wound up on the cutting-room floor. When the February 20 episode of DAYS aired in the United States, the scene Hall described was mysteriously absent from the show. E-mails from miffed - and confused - fans began to flood our in-boxes, demanding to know what happened. "It has now been confirmed by Deidre Hall's fan club president that the John and Marlena love scene promoted in your magazine was 'massively' cut," wrote one. "It hasn't been made clear why, but as a John and Marlena fan who bought copies (three to be exact) of your magazine and who waited patiently for this love scene to be shown, I am angry that someone at DAYS made the decision to edit it out." Another expressed her frustration via a video posted on YouTube featuring the magazine and screen shots of the couple, set to Duran Duran's song "Notorious." Others urged the show to air the scenes as flashbacks. "The John and Marlena love scene was constructed so as to leave the best to the viewer's imagination - as we know, less is always more! Most of what we shot was aired," insists a spokesperson. SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 3/18/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ SOAP OPERA WEEKLY News Buzz... Deadpan Walking: John's transformation into the funniest character in DAYS OF OUR LIVES' Salem hasn't been too tough for Drake Hogestyn. That's because he's not ever trying to be funny. "All of the humor is coming strictly out of the situations and the way the character sees things," explains Hogestyn. "John says things and doesn't know he's insulting people. He doesn't understand any of those emotions. Anything that is socially incorrect or even politically incorrect, he has no compunction. He just (says it). All of his actions, from survival to admiration of machines to sex, are all very basic. If you play it that way, then the humor will come out of the situation." But the actor did have to make a few script changes when he started seeing the show's scribes "trying for humor by having John do humorous things or say something funny," notes Hogestyn. "John wouldn't know how to orchestrate any of that." SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 4/8/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Gossip...Behind The Scenes Me And My Girl: Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) understands why fans are lamenting the exit of Alina Foley (Ex-Claire) because of her adorable rapport with him. "Those were some really neat little scenes there," he says. "I really enjoyed working with that little girl. I'm a father. I think children immediately respond to that. There's safety there. She would cling to me and would want to chatter. It was really cute. We had some good moments. I remember driving home one night after the airplane crash scenes. I called (wife) Victoria and said, 'I just made a golden moment tonight with this little squirt. It doesn't happen often, but it's like lightning in a bottle.' I felt really good as an actor and I miss that connection. That was the one area that softened John and the audience needed to see that." SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 5/6/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ SOAP OPERA WEEKLY News Buzz... Meet John Black: DAYS OF OUR LIVES' Jay Kenneth Johnson (Philip) has been sharing a major portion of his scenes lately with Drake Hogestyn, whose "RoboJohn" has turned into the show's comic relief. "I'm having fun with that," smiles Johnson. "When I have to work with Drake, I know I'm going to have a great time. I never know how he's going to do the scene. It keeps me on my toes. He also keeps me laughing." When the cameras aren't rolling, Johnson says he likes "talking sports with Drake. He's very knowledgeable, especially about baseball. I can ask him any question and he'll have an answer for me." SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 6/3/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ SOAP OPERA WEEKLY News Buzz... Vitali Statistics: Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) is intrigued by the writers' decision to inject Ava into the John/Marlena mix. "When they met, there was a connection right away. They share the past experience of having a sick doctor who kept them drugged up," muses Hogestyn. "A lot of people came up to me afterward and said, 'There was some really interesting stuff going on in those scenes.'" Apparently, the show's writers agreed. "I was out in Orange County and (my wife) Victoria called and said, 'You just got five pages of brand-new scenes with you and Ava,'" recounts Hogestyn. "Obviously, they liked what they saw." As for working opposite Tamara Braun (Ava), Hogestyn enjoys it. "This gal twists a line in a different way, in a flippant way. Then she drops right down and underplays things. She's very talented. I'm sure I'll be able to steal things from her, as I have from all the actresses on the show," chuckles Hogestyn. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 6/17/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ DAYS' Ava Out! Late-Breaking News - Braun's Days Are Done: "I worry that she left because of me," laughs Drake Hogestyn (John) of Tamara Braun (Ava), who has taped her last episode of DAYS. In truth, Braun, who joined the show in January, was always set to do only six months on the soap. "Drake is one of the most fascinating, quirky in the most wonderful way, professional, kind, fun guys," raves Braun. "He's like a little kid who's excited about everything. And I completely enjoyed working with him." But Hogestyn wasn't the only one who was unaware that Braun was only a short-term visitor in Salem. "A lot of people didn't know that I was leaving," Braun says. "I didn't know the exact date until two days before. I was like, 'What is my finish date?' And they're like, 'Oh, it's Thursday.' I said, 'Okay, good to know (laughs).' I did two shows on my last day, and there were some tears and lots of hugs. I was so touched and shocked by the outpouring of love. It was great. I told everyone, 'I'm coming back to visit.' I really love that set; everyone was so welcoming to me." Braun admits it was a little hard to say goodbye. "It came so quick," she notes. "Now that it's over, it feels like the five-and-a-half months went by in the blink of an eye. I got a little sad when I started saying goodbye. Kristian (Alfonso, Hope) said to me, 'No, no, it's not goodbye. It's see you later.' I was like, 'All right, perfect. See you later.' Goodbye seems so final, and it didn't seem like that to me. Everyone was like, 'You're coming back, right? Tell me you're coming back. We all have ideas for story.' It's pretty phenomenal when you're leaving and people are saying, 'We don't want you to leave,' or 'Figure out a way for you to come back.' It's a nice feeling." She was also happy that the character was so well-received. "What's the alternative? To be not well-received? That would have been disappointing," she admits. "I was intrigued by what they told me they had in store for the character and where she was going to go. I looked forward to creating a multi-layered character that was different than what I played before. Where it went and where I thought it might go didn't necessarily mesh or match up completely, but there were moments in there that I got to try things, and it worked, I think. I was thankful for some of the days that really I got to dig in deep." Braun, who will be headed to Europe to take her first real vacation in eight years, is open to another quickie daytime return. "I'm an actor, and I like to work and I like to have opportunities to explore characters, different roles that are exciting and different people to work with. I don't know what the future holds, and I never say never. Soaps have been good to me." SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 7/22/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ DAYS OF OUR LIVES News Ar-Ava-Derci! Just as his storyline with Ava was heating up, Drake Hogestyn heard Tamara Braun was leaving the show. "I was blind-sided," reveals Hogestyn. "I never, ever talk contracts or situations with actors." He learned the news when someone behind the scenes mentioned that it was Braun's last day. "I was like, 'What are you talking about? No way! You're kidding me!'" Needless to say, Hogestyn is sad to be losing Braun. "As far as our characters go, right up until the last minute we were working on our interpretation of what we wanted out of the scenes. We were fighting for what we thought was right, as actors do," he says. "There was momentum building. People around us would comment on it. Was it an unusual pairing? Absolutely. John's a little off center, and Ava's very free. But the bottom line is, Ava was the only person who never compared him to the old John. He embraced that and felt more comfortable around Ava than anybody else. She brought out a side of John the audience needed to see." As for the professional side of Braun, "She's a fantastic actress and is going to be missed," he praises. "I've always had fun over the years working with a new actress. It's a chance to explore and create. I'm all about embracing story and taking chances." He acknowledges that not all DAYS fans embraced the pairing. "A lot of people are into the security of what a group of fans think. Just be the supercouple and that's it," muses Hogestyn. "But you have to have conflict. If you don't have conflict, and you don't bring something to the table every day that is interesting and provocative, the audience will turn the other way." SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 8/5/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ RoundUp SOAP OPERA DIGEST: If your role was recast, who should play you? Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS) Drake Hogestyn: Hugh Jackman probably because of the diverse roles I've seen him play. He transforms into the different characters when he plays them and I think he would lead a very strong presence. SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 8/12/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Just Asking (Please Note: This quote below was featured in an interview with Peter Reckell who portrays Bo on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. The interview was titled "Just Asking" and it is the type of interview where Peter answers a whole bunch of different questions. Drake did one of these too and his answers are extraordinary, so we'll post his interview in its entirety very soon. For Peter though, we're just typing out the question along with the answer that mentions Drake.) Peter Reckell (Bo, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) Person on my show I'd call if I needed bail money: Peter Reckell: Drake Hogestyn (John), because he's so solid and would understand. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 9/9/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ DAYS OF OUR LIVES News Bet You Didn't Know Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS) Restores his two vintage cars, a 1957 T-Bird and a 1961 Corvette, in his spare time. Restrained a thief who broke into his dressing room in 1992. Pursues a rigorous exercise regimen that combines routines from Arnold Swarzenegger, the ol' workout encyclopedia and the fibergenics program. Opened the Malibu Health and Rehabilitation Spa with two partners. Was handpicked by Shelley Long to play her husband in the sitcom KELLY KELLY, but his DAYS schedule conflicted with filming, so he was replaced by Robert Hays. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 9/16/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Late-Breaking News DAYS: Nicole Is Blackmailed! (Please Note: As you can tell by the title of this article "DAYS: Nicole Is Blackmailed!" this storyline had nothing to do with John; in fact, Drake didn't even play a small role in this storyline so we exercised our right not to type it out. What we did type out is actor John Callahan's [Dr. Baker] excerpt of this interview where he opens up regarding his feelings on hearing that Drake was let go from DAYS shortly before he was hired. It was truly refreshing to see John so candid since a "hush order" had seemingly been put on the cast of DAYS OF OUR LIVES when it came to commenting on Drake's role being terminated.) ...Soap vet Callahan (Ex-Edmund, ALL MY CHILDREN; Ex-Craig, SANTA BARBARA) admits he didn't know what to expect when he was hired. "I've worked with (Co-Executive Producer Gary Tomlin) in previous shows and it was sort of sight unseen, like, 'If you want it.' Truthfully, in this economy, you find a job, you take the job. So I am very grateful to be working in Salem," he says. "One of the perks of DAYS is that they shoot on the same lot as SANTA BARBARA used to. When I got there, I started looking at some of the faces and it's kind of like a twenty-year high school reunion where you see the people, but they look grayer. It made me feel very much at home and it's made for a comfortable, fun environment." Less comfortable was joining the show around the time that it was announced Deidre Hall (Marlena) and Drake Hogestyn (John) would be leaving. "It's ironic, because one of the reasons I looked forward to working on this show was hanging out with my good buddy Drake," Callahan reveals. "We used to play charity softball games in major league ballparks, so I felt very ambivalent about greeting him the first time I saw him. Life is strange. There's highs and lows, but this is a business and I certainly understand that." As for how long he'll be in Salem, Callahan says, "I don't think in this day and age that it does you or your accountant any good to plan too far down the road. But I know my place here. It's more of a hired gun than necessarily the sheriff, and we'll see how many bullets I got." SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 12/23/08 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Just Asking Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) My first celebrity crush: Drake Hogestyn: I just TiVo'ed HOW THE WEST WAS WON because of Debbie Reynolds. I remember watching her in it when I was in the fourth grade. Earliest childhood memory: Drake Hogestyn: Getting ready for preschool and watching I LOVE LUCY. If I weren't an actor, I'd be: Drake Hogestyn: I'm such a Libra, so there would be two different things. I love the construction of the body and I love the hands-on construction of a building. So either a doctor or a builder. Something you'd be surprised to know about me: Drake Hogestyn: I never do anything unless I can totally complete it and do it one hundred percent perfect. Question most often asked of me: Drake Hogestyn: it's not a question and I know they mean it in a good way, but fans always say, 'you look better in person.' I would like to swap lives with: Drake Hogestyn: The first President George Bush, because then I would know everything. I would have a better handle on the political climate right now. I would have a better handle on what was left to him (and President Reagan) by the Carter administration and what he left to the Clinton administration. (His vice presidency) was at a very interesting time, (following) the hostages that were held in Iran. He would have a lot of answers. Strangest fan encounter: Drake Hogestyn: That would have to be the girl who was going to jump off the First Interstate building in Hollywood. I was at the studio when I got a call that she was going to jump unless I went there. She wanted to see me. So I went there with the detectives. One thing I want to do before I die: Drake Hogestyn: Go to the moon. Most fascinating person I ever met was: Drake Hogestyn: My father. He knows everything about everything. He is the whole package. He's an athlete, a genius, an engineer. He went to aeronautical engineering school. Being around him was like going to Harvard. Famous event I would like to have witnessed: Drake Hogestyn: Either the raising of the flag on the moon or raising the flag on Iwo Jima. Person on my show I'd call if I needed bail money: Drake Hogestyn: John Aniston (Victor); we run into each other all too often at Costco, and his cart is always full. SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 12/30/08