Weepy Fangirl Alert: Jack and Jennifer Leave Salem
So, I make it a point to try not to be a weepy fangirl, and when I am it's usually reserved for, like, Patch and Kayla or Luke and Laura (or a really good Pacey-loves-Joey episode of Dawson's Creek, if I'm tres PMS-y), but I couldn't let the day end without paying a bit of tribute to a great daytime couple that road off into Generic Europe together this week. Days' Jack and Jennifer, as played by Melissa Reeves (or for old-schoolers, Missy Brennan) and Matthew Ashford, used to be so much fun, and so well-written. If you've only been watching for the last few years, I realize this doesn't sound possible, but really, they were such a fun couple. Their ridiculously long and circuitous courtship was alternately super-romantic and wrenching, with among other things Jack coming to terms with having raped Kayla. Their first wedding was one of the last on daytime that I remember really not wanting to miss, and though my Days watching has been spotty over the last decade or so, I understand there was lots of good stuff in there as well.
The idiotic "No, Seriously! Jack Is Really, Truly Dead This Time!" storylines of the last few years would drive anyone away, but it sounds like at least in Melissa's case she wanted to leave the show for other reasons. She survived Billy Hufsey and his mullet, along with some of the worst wardrobing in the history of television, so one would think she could have soldiered through even the worst of James E. Reilly's writing, but whatev. Twenty years is a long time to do the same job and it's understandable to want to move on, though it stinks that Jack has to leave now just as there were great possibilities for Matt Ashford and Stephen Nichols to play Jack and Steve re-bonding as brothers. That was great to watch the first time around. (It also really, really stinks that they got Billy Warlock back just to give him probably the very storyline he didn't want, and now will likely sideline him or write him off, but that's a rant for a different entry.)
I was going to link to a bunch more clips, but I started watching some and realized that at this rate I was going to be watching and reminiscing well into the weekend, which would officially make me a Soap Crazy and would also really cut into the time I had set aside for napping and catching up on the new fall TV season, so I decided to just link to my YouTube search and be done with it. (By the way, much as I like looking back at old clips, why must there always be crappy editing and cheesy background music involved?)
Anyway, bon voyage, Jack and Jennifer! Enjoy heading up the no doubt tremendously busy and relevant London bureau of The Spectator! We'll expect a postcard or two when you send a 17-year-old Jack, Jr. back to Salem in 2008 or so.
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