DOOL: When is Corday going to wake up?

[Bree]

Sofia Landon Grier and Peter Brash were great writers. DAYS should have kept them. I really feel Beth Millstein should have been promoted as the actual head writer and stayed in that position. Her stuff during her interim time was marvelous. DAYS was must-see-TV while she was in charge. People were excited about the show and what was going to happen. Now look what's going on. Many viewers are getting unhappy and ratings are about as low during the last months of JER's reign of terror.

[Pest Spray]

I disagree Jean. If the stories have characters most people don't know or have a connection to, then why should they watch? They haven't watched Patch and Kayla struggled through every up and down the past ten years like they have J&M and B&H. That's who they have a connection to as viewers. Those are the actors they're used to watching.

[DaysFanJean]

I realize that and that is why the stories are dependent on who plays in them. That is the killer. Relient on characters is a deathknoll as those actors command supreme amounts of money. Folks are gripping about not seeing these characters, but most would also choke if they realized how much money these are making. Ali makes 460, 000 a year I read and if she makes less than Hope and Marlena, you can just imagine what they are costing for us to see them. To me, there is no way an actor or actress is worth that much money. If no one can play Sami but Ali, then write another character that will grab viewers hearts. Frankly I'm sick to death of Sami. It would be great not to have her around. Same for Marlena, except I do think she adds to the show when she is by herself. There could never be another Hope but if every time I see her I think megabucks, it's not worth it. Hogan stated when he began that he would use more new faces to tell the stories so this is not anything new. It's what he said. It's just that his stories so far haven't been good ones....

[Ponz]

Hogan should swallow his pride and offer Geier and Brash their positions back before other soaps snap them up. They are talented writers who know the history of the show. It's no coincidence that the quality has taken a nose-dive since these new staff writers popped up in the credits.

[Mason]

I agree. DAYS needs them back, IMO.

[DrewH]

While I never liked the idea of Geier and Brash leaving the show, that's not the problem with what we're seeing here. The current writers we have get the characters, so it's not a matter of new writers knowing nothing about the characters. These new writers have done their homework. Every single show there's at least one nod to history. As Head Writer, Hogan is allowed to choose his team and I think he's done a brilliant job with who he's chosen.

[Poloma S]

I think Hogan's done a so-so job at constructing the new writing team. Why the heck get rid of Peter Brash and yet hire and keep Gordon Rayfield, someone with no DAYS experience and a bad reputation? Why boot Sofia Landon Geier for Bettina F. Bradbury? Why hire James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten who have no history with the show and ALSO, have extremely bad reputations? Hogan got along great with his ATWT team, and he had many talented writers to choose from to take over, but just one (Meg Kelly) is brought along. Instead we get baffling choices like Rayfield, B&E, etc.?

ETA: Oh, and Tom Casiello worked with Hogan at ATWT for a year. But then he got booted from WT, I presume, for whatever reason.

It's just that Hogan could've done better. When he took over, I know a lot of people were predicting that people like Stephen Demorest, Judith Donato, Hal Corley, Judy Tate, Susan Dansby, etc. would follow him over. Instead we get Gordon Rayfield, Tom Casiello, and B&E? WTF?

[DaysFanJean]

I think I've seen Jeanne Marie Ford's name in the credits this week. Has anyone else noticed? I'll double check on Monday.

[King]

I was confused about the contract thing as well. Someone explained it in a ratings thread in December. I think it was Gray's Bunny or SteveFrame? Something to the effect of what was already said. They need a certain number of episodes per year (I think), and if they go over they get paid extra. So they're backburnering now in order to either a ) make up for the first part of the year of actually using them or b ) planning to use them tons for summer (I HOPE I HOPE I HOPE.) I don't know if it is a calender year or going by contract cycles. Honestly, I don't know. But I believe because there's no other reason for backburnering THE main characters of this show.

[PhoenixRising05]

I agree. I do think getting rid of Brash and SLG was stupid but the characters are not the problem. The pace and balance is. That is all that is wrong. You get the feeling the show is building to something but it keeps taking longer then you think to get there. After today's episode, I feel like we are finally getting somewhere.

As for the contract issue, they get paid regardless. Days has a budget problem but that isn't why certain people aren't on. I do think vacations and time off were granted but I think they would be over by now. I think the last month or so has been just plain backburnering, which is fine if you actually move stories and balance the shows better. There is no reason why Marlena couldn't have been around more. Her reactions were necessary at times and we never got them. Caroline and Shawn Sr being around would help and Abe being on a bit would too. We are seeing Celeste so why not Abe?

I have a feeling Days is holding alot back for May-the end of the year, much like it tends to do. It always has these lulls around now (except last year with Shimi wedding, which wasn't huge) and then picks up going into summer. Days can't do stuff like that. All year around we need to see things happening. Finally, today, I felt like there was a breakthrough. Today clicked on so many levels. It didn't feel like an setup episode but more like a movement episode towards big things to come. The tone was different and, for the show's sake and the fans, I hope that is the case. If the next two weeks are as good as they sound, things may finally be back on track.

[Mason]

I'm spoiler free, but I really hope the coming weeks are as good as you make the out to be, Phoenix. DAYS needs to get out of this rut ASAP.

[SteveFrame]

Toups, I don't claim to be an authority on this but the way I have seen it explained to me in the past as far as soaps are concerned is that actors on contract have a guarantee that comes into play at the end of their contract time. Only then does the guarantee come into play. Each contract is supposed to have a per episode or per hour rate they get for each episode they are on and they get paid that.

At the end of their cycle if they have not met their guarantee then the producer has to make up for that time they were not used.

So the way I understand it Corday could be saving money right now by not using some of the contract performers. But if at the end of their cycle they have not met their minimums he is going to be wasting big money when he has to make up for the time he didn't use them or he will have to come up with some inventive way of putting them on enough to keep from wasting the money.

That could explain some of the reason why Judi Evans & Farah Faith suddenly dropped off the planet for awhile. Maybe Corday knew both had been on enough that he didn't really have to use them that much before they left. Fath probably esp. had enough episodes in to meet her minimum. So that is probably why it was rushed. Both had to be making more money than someone like Berris & Melvin and thus to me explains it.

Hall & Hogestyn if their time does not pick back up could be hurting when guarantee times come around esp. if their 8 weeks off come into play. Reckell & Alfonso with all their front burner time in the last year are probably okay.

I think the budget is the reason for a lot of what we are seeing and the other is this is the way Hogan does things. I know shut up and don't start it, but it is the truth - an ugly truth but still a truth about the way Hogan writes.

I personally would have respected Corday more if he has said there were budget issues they were working with. Wheeler never has hid that fact from GL viewers. I personally don't buy the vacation excuse, the time off excuse, or it was just time for them to take a break. There is something going on. Corday for once should have been honest with the fans.

[SteveFrame]

DFJ, I usually agree with most everything you say, but I disagree here to a big degree.

For me what has always made soaps special or unique from other TV shows is that the characters have become like family members for their fans. You grow to love and care about them. You care about what happens to them. That is what makes it special.

Right now that connection is not there for many fans with the characters that are onscreen everyday. To care about what happens to Steve you have got to first care about him and many people still don't know Steve that well because he is new to them. Steve & Kayla are a new couple and if you don't have attachment to them then you don't care about what threatens them as a couple.

Right now even though the writers understand the characters they still have not made many viewers care about them. YOu have got to care about the character first before you get invested in their love story or their story at all.

Writing and a good story is a big part of it, but with soaps there has got to be something there to make the fans care about the character.

Right now I have the feeling that several of the prominant characters on Days could be killed and it wouldn't cause that much of a blip in many fans hearts. They just haven't gotten that involved in them yet. That's something that is missing big time and needs to be rectified.

As someone else said people can tolerate slow stories or even bad stories when they care about the characters. If they love them and care what happens they will keep tuning in or at least be more likely too.

[DaysFanJean]

It may be which came first, the chicken or the egg on one hand or six of one and half-a-dozen of he other. I agree that the core family holds the show together. To keep the idenity of Days, University Hospital, Salem PD and the Horton family are necessary. Days has drifted so far from the Horton family, but the Brady and Kiriakis families are secondary. To me John and Marlena are just hung in there due to their longevity and that John was presumed to be Roman for a time. They aren't crutial to Days except to the rabid fans of J&M. I've said before that they need their own show. Telling good stories will bring in new fans. The only ones who hang on during bad stories are die-hard fans and they have been dropping off like flies around here lately. Some of it due to the confusion of all the changes, but mostly, it's just the poorly written stories. For instance, now we have Bo and Hope with a new baby, but what happens storywise? Bo and Hope are seldom in a scene together and not but one time with the new baby. Shawn D. has had no time with his new sister, Chelsea only once. That is poorly served on Days when a new baby is a huge family event. Poor storywriting. Victor decides to take Claire away legally from Belle, but the court scene is not tied to divorce proceedings and Shawn is given consideration even though he has no documented proof in the court that he even belongs there. It was horrifically written. These are two huge mistakes that would have made a lot of difference if written well and a little research done to get the believablity factor in even a little bit. We had Marlena on most of the time during the Dr. North story but she didn't salvage the story for the fans. They hated it. (I loved it LOL.) Bo and Hope were on a lot last year and Days didn't gain new fans but maybe held a little of the existing ones who love Bo and Hope. Steve and Kayla have been a huge disappointment and haven't gained many new fans and lost some of the old ones. All due to pitiful storylines. If you had a month of poor stories with Hope drinking tea with Marlena and John playing with the puppy at their feet and Bo a raving maniac, I totally doubt that the rating would soar, but drop like lead.

[Gray Bunny]

Indeed. Which is why ratings haven't budged. The only "supercouple" of DAYS' heyday being featured are Steve & Kayla. And they just aren't as big as the hoopla they once were.