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Kylebraxtonisthebest

^ I'm behind (shocker i know ) but last i heard Chad's still trying to win Abby back.

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MaybeSomeday

It's weird, like the writing did a total 180 once Chad got off the island!

It's like they broke them up, made them both look like idiots and then decide to put them back together. What a terrible hack writing job.

That being said MM and BF work really well with this angsty stuff. For the first time in forever I look forward to their scenes.

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LaBelleVie

I do not get this writing. Maybe Dena Higley knew her time was up so switched up the story hoping she wouldn't get fired?

Chabby seems to be back on track. I loved them this week. Though, I hope Abby makes Chad grovel before taking him back!

Jaime Bee

Ron & Sheri the last part of June rewrote stuff.

Like how John/Marlena just showed up all the sudden to rescue everybody is inserted.

The love scene between Chabi was cut.

The murder mystery is a mix of them & Dena.

Basically all we have seen the last 2 weeks has been Ron & Sheri edits & fixing things they wanted to wrapping Dena's writing up.

That's why the writing for Chabby & Chabi is so diff.

Billy/Marci wrote the vows too.

The island SL was supposed to last longer.

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Jaime Bee

Billy's interview trying to make sense of all of that has happened is the best interpretation you can come up with for some of this going back to Chabby like the new interview made more than clear.

That's why Chabi shippers got angry. Billy really is also explaining what the new writing is going to be but Ron isn't getting heat.

Camilla is all for Chabby as well in an interview with Marci but didn't get any heat.

Billy hasn't made it any secret about being for Chabby. He has never said anything bad about working with Camilla.

My fave part of course is how much he praised Kate.

It's a long interview.

Billy said the interview actually was done 5 months ago when all the hate was being thrown at him.

He had said what was happening with Chabi when asked about whether Chad loves Gabi that it was growing into love.

Then later when asked if Chad was using Gabi said Maybe.

This interview destroyed any hope for Chabi.


I will say this Billy is brutally honest about what he thinks about everything. The fact is he hated it all SL wise.

I honestly the first time around got mostly happy b/c the credit he gave Kate.

The second time around reading the interview. I saw some things that Billy might shouldn't have been so honest about.


DAYS Billy Flynn Talks Chad’s Behavior, The State Of Chabby & His Final Scenes With Joe Mascolo! | Michael Fairman


Highlights that I think go in this thread. The interviewer was biased about loving Chabby as well.


Fans first had to accept Marci Miller in the role of Abigail which was one big hurdle, then you as Chad with her on-screen, because the audience was used to you being with your former on-screen partner, Kate Mansi. Looking back now, do you and Marci feel that you got through that adjustment period pretty much unscathed?


BILLY: I think when you have someone as talented as Marci it makes it easier. Also, I think the Chad and Abigail relationship, and fandom, and the people who support that couple were such fans based on what Kate Mansi and I had done which was really great. We kind of fell into this thing … it was never supposed to be this thing called “Chabby”. Kate worked hard, and I worked hard, and we had chemistry and that couple was created. I think fans really latched on to them, and for some time it was still one of the only rootable couples on the show that was growing into a potential supercouple.

Chabby is always going to have their struggles, but they have their foundation, and it’s in stone and cement already. I think as fans watched Billy Flynn grow as an actor and grow as a person, I started to put more of myself into Chad, and so the audience saw Chad grow. It became something where I think fans were able to be a part of a transition and a change, and they felt they were included in my personal journey, and with Kate. As a result what we were able to execute with what the writers had given us grew into this quite amazing thing. Then Kate decides to leave, and this is very much like the theatre in a sense that different people are going to be in the play. I just happen to be playing Chad now, as Casey Deidrick did before me, and he did a wonderful job. Marci Miller came in and I don’t think there was anybody that could have filled the shoes of Kate Mani better than Marci. I believe that 100%. The actress has changed, but I don’t think the heart between Chad and Abigail has changed.

When Abigail returned to Salem in the form of Marci Miller, it was very hard for the audience to watch her hiding in the attic, instead of going straight to her husband and telling him that she is alive after all that he grieved. What did you think of that story set-up?


BILLY: We are actors, and we get material. It’s our job to make it work and to play it, otherwise they can get someone else who can. That being said, it’s our job to try and create the most natural justification for what that character is doing and try to hold true to what that character is. Abigail was stuck in an attic one way, or the other. I know it may have seemed kind of ridiculous, but whatever justification there was for it, Marci hit the ground running. There is no easy way to come in to what was happening after Kate Mansi left. I think Marci did it as well as she could. I got lucky. I had it much easier when I entered the canvas. My character has been off the canvas for a year sipping mai tai’s with papa in Boston, if you will. But what I chose to do was almost make people hate Chad in a sense, because then they could take the small journey to grow to like him, and that was what I did. That was my intention. Good television and good acting is about that there is something that the audience latches on to and resonated with. The fact that I came on to the canvas as this young jerk with a bone to pick, and then slowly grew into a man, and falling in love, and changing the way he viewed his family and life, was such a great metamorphosis to play. The one thing that I have always tried to do is keep Chad’s integrity intact. When the Ciara (formerly Vivian Jovanni) storyline came around … I fought it. I could see it coming and I played against it.

What was your reaction at first when they’re-introduced Gabi as a romantic interest for Chad, and setting up of a potential triangle between Gabi/Chad/Abigail?

BILLY: When Kate left there was this huge void. That’s the nature of what we do here. Things are going to be rushed and things are going to drag out. They have to let my storyline drag for a bit in order to catch up another one, or we are going to move quicker to another one. I will say this, we as actors often times get frustrated with story as the fans do, I can only speak for me personally, and you know the way I work. I put my heart into everything I do. I care deeply about his relationships. I think Chad and Abigail are an important duo. They focus on each other and it’s love, and it’s simple in that way – it’s everything that is broken down to the human characteristics that it should be; to live as well as you can, and to love as much as you can.

As far as compelling young couples on daytime, Chad and Abigail have the components to make them star-crossed lovers with longevity on the soaps, in the true sense of the genre. And then there is Gabi!

BILLY: What I will say with Gabi (Camila Banus) is that there was the time where Chad offers her a job. It was never about needing a stylist. He didn’t need her styling. He just wanted someone around who he could talk to. My justification as a man who lost somebody he loved, it was about having some company, and to see someone in the same age range of his wife, and someone who had the same lease on life. They had a history that was different, yes. But when you lose somebody the minimal stuff from the past is non-existent – that’s how I justified it. It wasn’t about falling in love with Gabi, or any of that stuff.

Does Chad love Gabi?


BILLY: I think it grows into a love, but I think they have a history. The way I play Chad he leads with his heart and he doesn’t want to hurt anybody. Now that being said, Chad and Gabi had this thing before Abigail comes back, and he didn’t know what to do. It was hard for Chad fighting with Ben (Rob Scott Wilson) all of the time and with all of that. If you look at it from a real life example, and as much as losing his soul mate was the end of him, I think it was his own little breakdown he was having. I think that may have gone over people’s head.

So, Chad was having his own breakdown through the “loss” of Abigail?


BILLY: Yes, it was part of his grieving process. I think he was lonely. It was just nice for him to have Gabi around, and then he realizes life doesn’t have to be so hard. Then we get to Abigail coming back and she is in the attic! For Chad, I remember the moment she said, “I didn’t come back for you.” If any real couple has been through everything those two had been through, what is the chance of them making it? I think we tried to play that as honestly as we could.

Many times on soaps writers come up with contrived situations to keep popular soap couples apart. Have you felt that at all over the last several months with the story on-air?

BILLY: I think that it’s important that we are talking about it, because when you move as fast as we do, we can’t always tweak a piece of the material the way we should. We do 8 episodes a week. You can do a take over, let me be clear. The type of actor I am there is the written scene, and then as the type of actor I am in a scene the emotion takes over. Sometimes when that happens it’s hard to go with how the dialog is written, because you are trying to get everything right in such a small amount of time. Maybe I am not experienced enough, but sometimes it’s hard for me to stop what I am feeling and go with just the dialog. So for me, it’s about making sense of everything and connecting the dots honestly. That’s what we do in story overall; connect the dots. So for me as an actor, when I have to go from: Abigail passing away, to then Gabi, to Abigail coming back, to all of a sudden I still have feelings for Gabi, which doesn’t make sense, because why wouldn’t I just be back with Abigail? That can be tricky!


That’s what was also hard to understand. I am sure some viewers felt the same way as well.

BILLY: Then let me explain that little piece, because I think that is important, too. There were some very childish-like feelings displayed by Chad. He wants to be with Abigail, but the last time he saw her she was in the hospital, she lit the place on fire, and she wasn’t fine. Chad does not know who he is getting back as his wife. He is thinking, “You say you are OK, and you look the same, but who knows?” I think a lot of people thought that Chad was trying to double-team her, or he was not willing to give his wife a chance. What I was playing was that he was unsure of who he was getting back. He had his son to worry about at the same time. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody. Chad knew Gabi had feelings for him. I think he found himself in this really odd position, and instead of dealing with everything as he should have, or have had an honest conversation, or a huge fight, or had some sex with Abigail, it was just too much. This terrible thing happened to Abigail with this mental illness, and how do you deal with that as a man? Maybe, it was his fault. I think Chad is starting to begin to want to run away, because he feels like maybe he is the problem and he is scared, and he is not showing it, because he is a DiMera. So him being one foot in and one foot out with Abby isn’t crazy … he is terrified. He loves her so much that he is so afraid if he says the wrong thing, or does the wrong thing, she is going to break. A part of him has been running away, because if he can do that he can begin to heal without her and he can move on. Chad doesn’t have to worry about causing these problems again, and that leads him to Gabi. Chad cares about Gabi. With Gabi, it’s not about running to another woman, its more about running away from his situation and realistically he is being a child. He has lost his dad, he has lost everybody, he is scared to death, and all he wants to do is not feel it. What is left? Part of him died when Abby left, and whatever part came back, he can’t find it, or doesn’t know what it is, or how to deal with that.

Is Gabi then, in a way, being used by Chad?

BILLY: In the long run I will say, maybe. I think that is going to become apparent down the line in how this all plays out. He is just simply running away and he is not just doing it with Gabi, he is doing it with his business, and this is where it gets a bit crazy. Abby wanted him not to go after Deimos (Vincent Irizarry), so instead he is going to do it, because he says to himself, “You left me! That gives you the right to tell me what to do?” Chad thinks if he can cause as much chaos as possible then he thinks, “I don’t have to sit here in what I actually feel, and that is … I love you, and you hurt me, and I don’t know how to move forward with you.” I think that is beautiful at its core. What you have been seeing on-air tells a different story than what I was playing which is unfortunate. It looks like I am leaving Abby, because I would be better with Gabi. It plays like he is trying to get laid by two women and that is unfortunate, because that is not the way it’s played. There are going to be moments in the future where I have to apologize to the audience. I have done my best to make it all work and sometimes you get stuff and you don’t know how to do it honestly. I’m sorry for judging it. That’s not my job to judge it, necessarily. It was such a character shift in everything I worked for to build Chad that it seemed like it was a complete 180 degree turn.


You have obviously been working with more recent scripts from new DAYS head writer Ron Carlivati. What are your thoughts on him taking over the lives of the characters of Salem, and in particular writing for Chad?


BILLY: His track record speaks for itself. I have had conversations with him and from what I can tell he knows how important Chad’s character is, and how important he is to the show. Chad is the moral center of the DiMera family, and I think Ron gets that. I think Ron likes dark families and dark emotions, and Chad has been both good and bad. I know I have always wanted to see Chad’s dark side and what that is. But not at the expense of losing who he is, and not at the expense of losing his heart, which I think is crucial.


In soaps after a “bad boy: comes on to the canvas there is usually a shift to humanize them and to show their more sensitive or emotional side. This seems to be a key formula in the soaps. You have sort of followed in that pattern, but in your own unique way of doing it.


BILLY: For me, that was two years in the making not two weeks. You will see some things coming up that will change things around. I am excited about Ron’s material, because he knows what Chad and Abigail are. I think for me in that storyline that’s great. I think Chabby will be a huge focus for the 18-49 demo, as well they should be moving forward. You will see some things out of character for Chad. Normally, I would never talk about this process, but we have been asking fans to hang in there for six months. Thanks to them, and NBC, we got renewed. Chad is going to be provoking people and chasing Gabi, and causing conflict for business. But when you look at what he does it’s a distraction from everything that is important to him which is Abby, and his son.


Recently, Chad has been stranded on an island with Gabi and some of his friends. What have you thought of that storyline?


BILLY: I have always been so good at maintaining and protecting my character. Chad and Abby have a fan base that I cannot sell short. Chad and Abby did not need a triangle to make their story interesting; they had a lot going on. You are fan of This Is Us. Why can’t we tell the simple stories that happen in relationships, and what happens? I am not writing the show, nor am I am the producer. I would be terrible at those jobs. We are doing everything we can to stay on the air for the fans. There have been be some weird transitions on-screen over the last several months, and pivoting back and forth, but from my part it is always about wanting to tell the fans good story. I will apologize for moments you can see on camera, or maybe you can’t, where it might have looked like I checked out a bit, and that’s on me. But as fast as we move, you are in here every day shooting sometimes scenes from 3 different episodes a day that sometimes you are going to have that look on your face of “WTF?” (Laughs)


There is more that has nothing to do with the coming SL.


Chabby all the way is where this is going obviously.

Yeah this is actually longer than I thought.

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Jaime Bee

I should add the ending. Not just b/c more praise for Kate.

It's got to do with Billy thanking fans.

It's funny the more I've read this. I realize & see what others disliked.

I still don't think Billy should get hate on Twitter for it though.

Especially when Camilla has said she is for Chabby & doesn't get hate.

That doesn't make any sense. I need to find the part in an interview with Marci that you would think Chabi shippers would be giving Camilla heat for it.


I will add what I think Billy really shouldn't have said later. This is one huge thing.

There are actually many gen. fans that think most of the interview was very bad for promotion of the show. That Ron probably wasn't happy at all with how some of it turned out. DR Forum is where I have read a lot of this.

The rest was mostly about acting with Joe & last scenes with him.


I do know that admitting that he checked out & wasn't even there any part of the time even though he hated the SL was not something to say & not something to laugh about.

I hated the SL too but that is certainly a comment that wasn't smart to admit. I'm sure writers reading that & I don't even mean Dena. All writers in gen. would agree that is not professional at all. I'm sure other soap writers or anyone in writing/acting who read that part wouldn't think very highly of Billy.



One of the most compelling attributes about you is that you have such an analytic mind and approach to your acting. How do you feel that has served you, or how might it hinder you as you go through your career in front of the camera?

BILLY: Sometimes that gets in my way a lot. I constantly want to know things. I like to learn and I am very curious by nature. So if something happens in story, I want to know why Chad is doing it, and if I see that it doesn’t make sense, I want to know why they (producers) think I should be doing it, because it is important to their storytelling. During DOA Blood River I was going, “Why don’t you let me try this … and look over there … and that and that” I realize sometimes I just need to shut my mouth, and just do what my job is. (Laughs) All that to say, I think being an analytic thinker is what will be the most difficult thing for me, and for people to work with. I have to apologize on a daily basis, because the work is really important to me and I get so invested in it. If I could get rid of the analytic part of my brain, I think I could be a much better actor, because I wouldn’t judge things so harshly. I still get terrified when I go into an audition. The reason is why I am there I am over-thinking things. Now if I had the job, I could do my work and know that is what I need to be doing, but in an audition I am still constantly in “trying to figure it out mode.” It’s hard to try and be perfect in your acting. That is why one of the best lessons I have learned are from Marci Miller and Kate Mansi and that is: “Keep it simple.” What the audience has seen me do over the last several months, if I am not sure what to do with the story; I tried to do as little as possible. I approached the material trying to be as fluid as possible, and that’s my job. You will see me making choices. I am going to play things close to the vest, and you are not going to understand, why or how, but sometimes you will see why I am doing what I am doing, but other times I am keeping it simple, which is something I think we should do more of, and let the audience decide what is going on. My motto is: “If you want to know what happens, watch the show!” I want to thank the fans for watching and continuously putting up with us, and I mean that in the greatest sense, because the fans are the only reason we are still on the air, so thank you!

MaybeSomeday

Most of the general audience don't even know the actors names, let alone what they say in interviews. So, imo, what Billy says has no effect on ratings.

It was clear from the start that not only was Chad/Gabi rushed, it was done so by also creating a false backstory to make them seem closer than they were. The audience is not stupid. They have spent years watching Chad and Abby do the couples dance. It rang false that he could be torn that quickly.

I think Billy realized at some point that Dena Higley wasn't writing Chabby, but instead writing Chabi, and just like the audience he knew that was contradictory to everything we've seen previous. It made Chad look fickle and unloyal. Yes Abby screwed up, but she was mentally ill and he CHOSE to forgive her, from then on it was all on him. We had scenes of him telling Kate that he knew Gabi was more suited for him not a month or so after Abby returned, which was a big WTF. They had to show Chad saying that because the whole relationship of Chabi was tell, and not show unless it was a faked flashback.

I can't imagine why any Chabi fan that's online would not hate him If I were them I would just move on, but some are still berating him on twitter................yet he doesn't seem to care and keeps up with his Chabby cheerleading. I'll give him one thing, right or wrong, at least he's not afraid to have an opinion!

LaBelleVie

I'm excited to see what's next for Chad and Abby now we're close to the end of Chabi's made up "love." Especially if as Billy said Ron really gets Chabby.

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