laurisa

By now, you've all heard the news that Mark Hapka is leaving DAYS. If not, the news article is posted here.

He basically said (and I'm paraphrasing and reading between the lines a bit here), "Dena Higley made my character suck. Make him awesome or find someone else to play your crappy character. Please."

Okay, PR answer first- It's never good policy to talk ill about a former employer, no matter how good your intentions are. Also, if he wants to have a career in soaps, it's probably best to realize that all characters cycle and there will be times when characters are cruddy. The system hasn't changed in decades. If it didn't change for Deidre Hall, Erika Slezak, or Tony Geary, it's not going to change for anyone. They've all played less than stellar storylines. It happens.

But moving on, there are two interesting points. Mark is dead right. Playing Stephanie's oblivious boyfriend while she desperately tries to hold onto a relationship that wasn't well-developed to begin with was maddening for this soap fan to watch. His storyline was a stinker and his character was sinking fast.

Furthermore, I see that DAYS has made no comment as to whether or not they'll recast the part. If they do not recast, it will just be confirmation that Mark was absolutely right.

If something as little as an actor leaving the show is enough for the writers to scrap the character all together, then it wasn't a character they cared much about nor had much direction for. They obviously we're going anywhere important with Nathan if he can just be tossed aside. And, isn't that Mark's whole argument? I think it is.

I wish Mark the best and look forward to seeing what he will do next. Something tells me that he won't be without work for long.