ALL: Which vet or vets are you willing to sacrifice to save your show?

[SteveFrame]

Okay this has been something on my mind lately. This is not to start an argument but just a serious thing that has been on my mind.

Personally I don't feel that firing any veteran who has given a show 25 years or more should ever be fired. If they have been loyal that long, the show should repay that loyalty. But that is my opinion and not everyone shares that opinion.

Recently on this board Latham was blasted for firing Eileen Davidson - blasted big time. There were many rumors about her firing - some indicated budget as a possibility or just not having anything for her right now.

Also ABC has been blasted big time for the firings of Julia Barr, Cady McClain and Stuart Damon (esp. the Barr & Damon ones). All were said to be in part due needing to trim the cast or in other words the budget, and needing to trim the casts. I think Damon's probably had less to do with that than the other.

IN the midst of all this there was a rumor that Days was broke and couldn't afford to pay their actors, and would possibly have to fire some biggies or the show would go off the air. This sparked many thoughts on this board and on other boards. Many fans were happy to give up Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn and even Suzanne Rogers, Peggy Mckay, Frank Parker, and even some mentioned Peter Reckell & Kristian Alfonso - if it meant Days could stay on the air.

So that got me to thinking - we've all been mad about these firings of 30 year performers like Damon & Barr, but when it comes down to a show being cancelled because of these vets and their salary - many fans are willing to sacrifice their long time vets for the sake of the show.

So who in your mind is worth sacrificing to keep your show on the air. And we are not talking about the newcomers. I am talking about people who have at least 20 years on a show. People like Susan Lucci, Susan Flannery, John McCook, Deidre Hall, Frances Reid (and yes there are some that have said in the past they would fire her to save Days), Helen Wagner, Michael Knight, Robert Newman, etc.

So who to you is worth sacrificing? Or is there anyone that you feel is worth sacrificing?

[GEORGIA_BOI]

I'm sure that I will get slammed for being a newbie with such bold opinions. I think DAYS has alot of VETS, I can name a few that I would sacrifice.

Bo, John and Roman - I know this basically knocks off the Brady men, but we still have Sean and Eric or Rex could always replace Roman.

A strong powerful geniune businessman (possibly Kate Roberts brother or something) could come to town and fall in love with Hope or Marlena and share a past with either of the two during one of their missing years.

[Cheap21]

how does sacrificing a vet save a show? Better writing and less f-ed up decisions will do that. Sacrificing a vet does nothing but push the show more towards cancelation

[bellcurve]

Only one I could think off off-hand is Kim Zimmer's Reva on GL. Girlfriend should have been killed off during the Breast Cancer storyline...could have been so beautiful...

Like "Stepmom" without the kids or something.

Although Nicole Forester(Cassie) can't carry a show by herself, she and Robert Newman have amamzing chemistry with each other and she gets better and better with each episode. If anything, she, or perhaps a mid-level name actress(like Cynthia Preston, who I hear auditioned for Cassie) should be carrying the show. Even if Zimmer's refusal to take the cut didn't result in her co-stars being fired, her defiance and overall lack of subtelty in some of her scenes are a liability as far as I'm concerned.

I am so over Reva Shayne-Lewis.

[JamesF]

While I don't necessarily agree with firing vets I'll play devil's advocate. DOOL in particular has many that have been on the backburner for years and simply wouldn't be missed if they were fired or bumped to recurring. Shawn Brady should be fired and killed off -- he really serves no purpose for the show. Ideally I would use this to give Caroline an affair story with Victor but if that wasn't able to happen then put Caroline on recurring.

Roman should be recast, again ideally, but if not then fire him. Maggie can go to recurring. Other people have mentioned John/Marlena and Bo/Hope but I don't think there's enough stability to the adult core of the show to cut any of those characters regardless of whether I dislike them.

B&B would be revitalised and save a whole lot of dough if they fired Ronn Moss. GH could stand to lose Mac now that he's just become a cardboard cut out cop. While GL can't really stand to lose any vets, I'd be quite happy to see Frank go to provide a contract for someone like Blake.

[SteveFrame]

I totally agree with you. But sadly the producers think and have put it out there to the extent that many fans believe that it is the high salary of the vets that are killing the shows.

But like you I know when the vets are all gone fans are going to tune in for the newbies. And if the newbies are really good like Tom Pelphrey they aren't going to be loyal. They will leave.

Fans want the familiar. But you can't convince the powers that be of that in this day and age of soap operas.

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

Anyone who can't write for a veteran is a talentless hack, and should be gone as opposed to the firing of someone with 3 times the talent.

Unfortunately, too many are "writing" for the nonacting models because they WANT to believe the audience has changed that much. If this is true, one has to ask, "has the audience changed for the worse" because the numbers are consistently declining. The target audience is a bunch of penniless teens, but at the same time, you watch a commercial during a soap and see a Depends commercial or pampers. Those are not commercials targeted for teens. The target audience IS teens is just an exuse to be lazy.

Eventually kids grow up, but don't they still interact with their parents? Soaps are trying to get away from that, and it's sad. Then if a parent is found onscreen, the person looks like a sister or brother. That's not reality (with the exception of the Judds), and it is hurting daytime.

Write for everyone to increase the audience. Besides, with the exception of a few, the vets are the people to watch for me anyway. The nominees for awards are getting younger and younger and not as talented. The bar has severely been lowered. I want the standards returned to what they use to be. Back when good acting was not determined by how pretty one was or how flat their tummies are. That's just bullshit, which is killing daytime!

Andrea

[Ponz]

I seriously doubt firing Parker and placing McCay and Rogers on recurring will make much of a dent in the budget.

[P.J.]

I don't see how firing any older vet on ATWT is going to save the budget, they probably only get 30 appearances a year. From the next tier of "vets" I'd axe Martha Byrne and KMH. Lily is frightfully boring, and Emily gets more cartoonish by the year.

On GL, it'd be Reva. And I'd be in heaven if they could use the money to get Maeve Kincaid back.

B&B, John McCook. Puh-leeze...does Eric do anything anyway?

Y&R, Eric Braeden.

[winterguy125]

I agree with PJ about ATWT vets, there is no need to cut any of them they are never seen, and they can't be costing that much. What I would do is get rid of the rubbish on the show, Dusty Donavon, Craig Montgomery, Katie Peretti, Brad Snyder them four right there probably would save lots of money and I don't think any of them would really be missed. They don't have real storylines anyway just filler crap. Without Baby what's his name Dusty and Craig are useless, IMO they were before also, but now so even more. Katie and Brad are nothing but boring filler sex appeal characters that bring nothing to the show, if they need comedy I would rather see Lucinda and some new man for that, Lucinda can do comedy alot better than Katie and at least Lucinda is funny. And Brad well, he can't act and he is boring as hell, so what's the point, and exactly what's his storyline?. And if they needed to save even more money Meg and Paul can go as well, as they both have become useless and pointless.

And if the show really wanted to start making some more money by way of Ad revenue, they would give the Vets storylines because atleast they are interesting, get rid of the non-stop Will and Gwen against the rest of the world crap, replace that with a storyline for the vets. Emily's storyline is fine because it is new and fresh, and so is Lily/Faith. Bring Back James and have him interact with Babs and Lucinda, that would be a great story. Also bring back the popular character of Luke and give him a storyline, or atleast go back to the storyline that was dropped so we could see Mike and Katie have sex, and Craig and Dusty and Paul trying to kill each other for months.

[KMan101]

I agree with that, and if that WERE the case, Corday would of dumped them by now, IMO, instead of firing Evans, Jones, etc. JMO.

I do think Grandpa Shawn serves no purpose anymore and would love to see a mini story featuring Caroline shacking up with Victor.

[PhoenixRising05]

The only vet I would get rid of is Josh Taylor. I would like to see a Shawn Sr dies story so Caroline can move on with Victor.

The only other vets I would sacrifice if I had a gun to my head and had to sacrifice someone would be J&M because they seem so isolated the last few years. I love them and they are important and ratings in the long haul may get hurt (although they didn't really last summer) but they just seem like the best ones to go in my mind. I don't want them too but I think that would be the supercouple to get rid of.

I don't think that is necessary really. I don't think any show should get rid of anymore vets. We have had enough of that as is.

[Bree]

Frank Parker, only trotted out for certain scenes and if Caroline and Shawn split, I don't see this outraging many fans.

I also wouldn't cry if Josh Taylor, Drake, Dee, or Lauren were gone today.

I also think it's time for Maurice Benard to leave GH. He's sucked enough life out of that show.

[JamesF]

Well it would probably pay for an inexperienced newbie which is right up NBC's street IMO.

[DrewH]

To keep DAYS on the air, I would be okay with the show doing away with some vets. It's cut-throat right now and personal feelings have to be placed aside. Corday needs to start thinking about keeping, arguably the best soap opera on the air.

With that said, there are a few vets that could be released, in my mind. Firing Deidre Hall is not the answer. Sure, she is probably the most paid actor on the show right now, but she deserves it. She has made her name on this show and needs to be on until the day production ends for good.

If I didn't know that Mary Beth Evans and Stephen Nichols didn't have a lower paid salary than others, I would say those two. The show has survived for the past 16 years without these two and IMO they were never needed for a return. That's just my opinion though. I wouldn't cut them.

I wouldn't mind Drake Hogestyn going. I am a John and Marlena fan, but I want to see Marlena as an independent woman. I think John being killed off would give Dee the material she needs to finally land that Emmy.

Lauren Koslow can go. I don't think Kate serves much of a purpose on the show anymore. I love Kate, and I would be sad to see her go.

Peggy McCay and Frank Parker should've been put on recurring a long time ago. What purpose to they serve as contract members? The show can't be afraid to place them on recurring because of the pay. We hardly ever see them so they wouldn't paid for that many apparences. I wouldn't say can them, but place them on recurring.

I am having a hard time deciding what to do with Suzanne Rogers. She deserves that contract because she is the only actor on the show that received an Emmy. But if the show isn't going to write for her, then place her on recurring. It's just taking up space on the budget.

James Reynolds can be released. The only problem with him being released is that we won't have any diversity on the show. That is the show's fault though. They need to start hiring more minority actors and creating characters for these actors. It's sad.

Released Stars

-Drake Hogestyn

-Lauren Koslow

-James Reynolds

Recurring Stars

-Peggy McCay

-Frank Parker

-Suzanne Rogers