James E. Reilly

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James E. Reilly (born July 15, 1948 in Bountiful, Utah) is a writer of American soap operas.

[edit] Career

Reilly created the NBC soap Passions in 1999 and is still head writer. Before that, he was the head writer of Guiding Light from 1990 to 1992, Days of Our Lives from 1993 to 1997 and Sunset Beach in 1998. He also worked as a staff writer for other soaps prior to that, including The Young and the Restless. It was his work at Days of Our Lives, however, that garnered him the most fame and acclaim.

In the summer of 2003, he returned to Days of Our Lives where he wrote until quitting in the spring of 2006. He currently writes for Passions. He is known for his outrageous and/or supernatural plotting. In late May 2006 NBC announced he was leaving Days of Our Lives again and will be replaced by former As The World Turns head writer Hogan Sheffer.

In recent times he has become quite unpopular with fans of both series for his storylines, which have finally broken past the realm of "believable," even for Days and Passions fans. He also has unoriginal and predictable storylines, Passions Vendetta being one of them, where the mystery monk ended up being Alistair Crane, or Passions Red, where the mysterious white robed lady was Rachel Barrett. Many fans guessed who the identities were the first few days of the storylines starting.

[edit] Departure From Traditional Story

When Reilly started writing for Days of Our Lives in 1993, one of his first story choices was to have one of the show's heroines, Dr. Carly Manning (played by Crystal Chappell), buried alive. The culprit was villainess Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel). Critics of the show panned Reilly for the uneven storytelling. For example, even though Vivian allowed Carly to have water, she stayed in the coffin for weeks. Also, Vivian had the forethought to program the coffin with speakers so Carly could hear Vivian taunt her. Finally, after Carly was freed from the coffin, she returned to normal, and did not have any traces of claustrophobia or schizophrenia. Carly was written out shortly after. Reilly would use this same story for his soap opera Passions involving heroine Sheridan Crane (McKenzie Westmore).

In 1995, Reilly would start what would arguably be his most infamous storyline when he wrote another heroine, Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) as being possessed by the devil. The storyline continued for a year, and involved her lover (who was a priest in his past life) exorcising the demon from Marlena's person. This story was interrupted many times due to the O.J. Simpson trial, but the show's ratings rose during this time mainly due to the possession storyline.

In 1997, Marlena's ex-lover, John Black (Drake Hogestyn) was set to marry Kristen Blake (Eileen Davidson). However, unbeknownst to him, Kristen's surrogate, look-a-like Susan Banks, married him instead, in an Elvis-themed wedding that she planned. John thought he was marrying Kristen, but Laura Horton (Jaime Lyn Bauer) accidentally hit Susan, causing her false teeth to fly out of her mouth, landing in Vivian Alamain's champagne. Since Kristen did not have false teeth and Susan did, the secret was out.

He left Days in 1997 and started writing the show Passions in 1999. Examples of storytelling on that show include a centuries-old witch named Tabitha Lenox (played by Juliet Mills), who wreaks havoc on citizens in the small hamlet of Harmony. Charity Standish (Molly Stanton), a teenage girl from the hamlet, became a zombie. Charity was also sent to Hell, the door to which was one of the character's closets. This scenario has lead some fans to coin a phrase, "Better than Hell in a closet."

[edit] Recluse

He has a mysterious, reclusive persona in the soap press -- rarely or never photographed. He has also gained a reputation as hardly, if at all, meeting the actors who play his characters. If he perceives them as ungrateful, or not liking the storylines he has written, he usually writes the actors out in a usually unconventional fashion. He parodied this reputation in an episode of Friends, when he wrote Joey Tribbiani's character, Dr. Drake Ramoray, as falling down an elevator shaft after Joey bragged that he wrote his own lines.

Preceded by Pamela K. Long	Head Writer of Guiding Light 1990-1992	Succeeded by Lorraine Broderick, Nancy Curlee Stephen Demorest
Preceded by Sheri Anderson	Head Writer of Days of Our Lives 1993-1997	Succeeded by Sally Sussman-Morina
Preceded by Meg Bennett	Head Writer of Sunset Beach 1998	Succeeded by Christopher Whitesell
Preceded by N/A	Head Writer of Passions 1999-Present	Succeeded by Current
Preceded by Dena Higley	Head Writer of Days of Our Lives 2003-2006	Succeeded by Beth Milstein Hogan Sheffer Meg Kelly

Serial	Head Writer	Associate/Breakdown/Script Writers	Producers	Directors
Passions	James E. Reilly	N. Gail Lawrence, Marlene Clark Poulter, Darrell Ray Thomas, Jr., Peggy Schibi, Clem Egan, Pete T. Rich, Maralyn Thoma, Nancy Williams Watt	Lisa de Cazotte (Executive Producer), Richard Schilling, Mary-Kelly Weir, Jeanne Haney, Denise L. Mark, James E. Reilly	Gary Tomlin, Peter Brinckerhoff, Jim Sayegh, Karen Wilkens, Phideaux Xavier