We are a website immersed in the Save Our Soaps movement, so we love anything related to advocacy for the genre. So we wanted to alert you to a chance to help save Days of Our Lives from low ratings or worse.
A Six-Month Disconnect
Most Days fans know that soap’s TPTB–show runners, NBC, Sony, Universal–worked out a cost-cutting measure a while back. They decided to tape the show six months before it airs. By taping eight episodes per week, Days only uses the studio eight months a year. It’s dark four months per year, saving money on studio and production costs.
Related: Days icon Bill Hayes talks about the new movie about his life.
We applaud Days‘ TPTB for not simply canceling a beloved soap and thinking outside the box to salvage a cultural icon, respect fans, and help keep a valuable genre alive. But sometimes you have to go back to the drawing board when something isn’t working. When the measure was put it
“The money that we’re getting to produce the show is not what it was two years ago, four years ago, six years ago,” Soap Hub reported Executive Producer Ken Corday saying earlier this year via Soap Opera Digest, the ONLY magazine to cover ALL FOUR soaps. “So, we have to contract the production of the show, and we’re doing eight shows a week as opposed to five shows a week. So we get way far ahead and we’re not using the studio, we don’t have to pay studio overhead, and etc, etc for 13 out of 52 weeks. That’s the only way we can make our nut.”
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“We have to kind of lead fans to hopefully a new story and do it carefully,” Corday said in 2014 according to Daytime Confidential.
The Big Drawbacks
“Unlike on other soaps that tape about three-four weeks in advance, if a story just isn’t working, Days can’t scrap it. The story has to play out in all its horror no matter what fans think. Plus, every time a new head writer is hired, we have to wait six months to see the new writer’s work,” wrote Hope Campbell of Soap Hub. We have to agree!
“We’re way ahead of fan reaction, so we have to kind of expect fan reaction to be what it is. We have to kind of lead fans to hopefully a new story and do it carefully,” Carlivati said via Daytime Confidential.
Soap Hub also pointed out that the suspense of debuts, exits, and comebacks barely exists when we find out about them so far ahead of time.
Can’t Miss: See what your fellow Days fans think about whom Chad should be with!
So, Days fans, let’s sign this petition and start mending what’s broken at Days. Let’s give incoming head writer Ron Carlivati a fighting chance, too!
And thank you to our friends at Soap Hub.
Give us your input in the comment section below. Check back with Soap Cities for more Days spoilers, recaps, news, and fun! Follow us on Twitter at @soapcities, on Instagram at @soapcities, and come chat with us in our Facebook group. Catch Days of Our Lives weekdays on NBC.
Discussion9 Comments
The rating. Are wrong . In my eyes days and General hospital. Are the two best soaps . On TV. CBS soaps steals. The story lines . From spoilers. . CBS soaps are old and useless . Bold and boring . How much CBS pay Nelsen box to lie . Most of us do not have Nelsen rating box ..
Pleeez bring Chas and Abby together and send Dario to Mexico. I’ve been watchibg Days since i was 11. Keep it on. Just change the story line.you kept Julie and her husbabd together and Abbys mon and dad the Hortons. Keep Chad and Abby together with a romantic get together. Pleeeze
I would love to see Chad and Abby together. Thanks for bringing Eric back to Salem. Please keep Days of Our Lives on. Out of all soaps that are on Days is my favorite. Don’t know what I will do if it goes off. I record every episode. Haven’t missed a show..
Days viewers, sign the petition and lets all band together to keep our show on the air. I’ve been a Days viewer since the age of 3. I watched it with both my grandparents and aunt. I am now 55 and still watch it everyday but now with my husband and children. Not only do I watch it live, I record it and watch it again. Am I a huge fan, Yes! So those of you out there that are fan crazed like me, cast your vote! We can make this happen.
Hi, Maureen!
Please stop the 6 month advance taping. Not a good idea for many reasons. I have watch since the very first show and LOVE Days. Will continue to watch but glad for new writing. Hate waiting so long to see the results.
Please, please do not cancel DOOL! Oh my gosh I’ve been watching practically since the beginning with my mom. I’m now 58, my mom’s been gone 32 years and honestly I don’t know what I would do without my daily dose of Days! It’s the one great memory that is still alive. I love how you’ve been bringing back all the characters, sad to see some really great ones leave. But overall, the show must continue, please!!!! Keep DOOL alive!!
We totally agree, Barbara Humphrey. We don’t know anything about whether NBC really was threatening to cancel and that’s why they brought Carlivati on. But in the SOD article, he said that ABC was looking to cancel GH when he came on–and he saved it!
Sign me up on the petition for saving Days