Best actor thru the year--Casey Moss (JJ). While his relationship with Paige failed to bring in fan interest, the actor did a great job struggling with redeeming himself and proving himself to everyone. Plus, his scenes displaying his guilt over romping in the sack with her mother are fantastic.
Best Actress thru the year--Alison Sweeney (Sami). While her relationship with Elvis was disgusting, she really did a great job acting. From that daydream episode to her entire secret schemes against EJ & Abby, from her forgiveness of EJ (which I hated, mind you) to her grief and departure, it was well-done throughout.
Best storyline--EJ and Abigail's affair. Some might think of this as cheap sex romps. But what I really think made it the best storyline was how it SURPRISED us! How often does the show do that? But it also gave the majority of fans (who loathed EJ & Sami as a pairing) a much-needed reprieve from the rapemance couple, and it helped that the two had chemistry. The fallout of the affair also provided a great deal of drama that involved a large amount of the cast, and the Kate-Sami team up that few saw coming.
Worst storyline--Since last year I awarded this to Sami & EJ, I'm gonna give the worst storyline "award"--or should I say, designation--to the nasty, repulsive sex storyline of Eve & JJ. Daniel & Kristen came pretty close, but luckily, they didn't actually "do it". Eve and JJ, on the other hand, "did it" TWICE!! They claim to be disgusted with themselves (not as disgusted as the viewers are), but keep going back for more. It's so wrong on so many levels. JJ sleeping with a woman old enough to be his mother, and the mother of his girlfriend at that, is wrong already. But add to the fact that Jennifer (JJ's mom), who's had a really hard year, is this woman's nemesis!! The show was clearly trying to replace the EJ & Sami dynamic of "hot angry sex" and garner a reaction from the audience--which they no doubt believed would be positive. Instead, social media related to Days has seen a universally negative reaction to these nasty romps, with a great number of viewers who simply stopped watching the show because it went to a whole 'other level of gross and trashy. Not to mention that Eve never should've been involved with the kiddie pool to begin with, in any way other than being a mother to Paige.
Best recast--Billy Flynn (Chad). Don't get me wrong, the replacement for Will is also good. But Billy Flynn has done an OUTSTANDING job as this new, scheming Chad. He's the perfect DiMera, and his chemistry with Sonny, Will, Melanie, and Abigail has been great. You'd never know this wasn't the original Chad. Furthermore, he succeeded in making Jordan more interesting--that's a tough feat to tackle.
Best wedding--Will & Sonny. By far. The speeches were beautiful. Some were hesitant to watch it because Chandler Massey (ex-Will), who'd had years of storyline with Sonny, was just replaced with Guy Wilson (current Will). But Guy fit right in and has performed extremely well, and the scenes were tearjerkers. Besides, when compared to the lousy Vegas wedding that Brady & Theresa had, or that nasty and contrived (and connived) wedding of the rapemance couple, this is an easy win.
best supporting actor--Galen Gering (Rafe). Let's face it--while he's technically a main character, he really hasn't had much screen time this year (at least not that viewers enjoyed or cared about), and has practically no storyline. Nevertheless, the scenes he did have, he shined in, because he's a good actor.
Best supporting actress--Kate Mansi (Abigail). She's always been gold, and has chemistry with just about everyone on the soap. But her performance earlier in the year with the EJ affair saga was fantastic, whether trying to fight her attraction to the resident thug or giving in; whether suffering when the truth got out, or standing up to Sami; and her snark towards Anne and Theresa and the beginnings of her relationship with Ben were good as well.
Most boring character--Tie. Paige Larson and Jordan "Tammy Sue" Ridgeway. Plain cheerios are less bland than these two newbies, folks. Paige was a dull good-girl, just like Bev and Rory told us, but then she morphed into a shrewish hag, much like her beloved Jennifer. Then there's Jordan, who's past we STILL know almost nothing about, and she's been on the show for over a year. Her bland relationship with Rafe made viewers yawn, and her relationship with Chad is barely a step up. She seems nice enough, but like Paige, she makes the same facial expressions--and so do the viewers when they watch these two characters. That facial expression would be eyes closed and mouths open while snoring.
Best new character--Aiden Jennings. Paul is good too, but Aiden's been on the soap for longer, and has been very well-integrated (which Paul hasn't, besides a select few people). Not only has he been interacting with Hope (his obvious choice for a pairing), but has also struck up friendships with Jennifer, JJ, Nicole, and Daniel. Now he's working with fellow newbie, Clyde, and also with Rafe. The chemistry with Hope, good acting, and great connections to veteran characters makes him by far the best new character of the year, especially compared to boring people like Ben and Jordan.
haha.
