Newbie or not, I am getting sick of the constant women falling for Shawn. I liked Jan and am ok with Willow, but I in the past three years all we have seen is women falling for Shawn. Jan, Mimi, Willow, and now possibly this new girl.

I want Shawn's trouble with women after him to end. It's getting so tiresome.

I think it's the opposite. They want the show to live on but NBC wants the vets gone for them to maintain mediocre ratings but have cheap actors to make up the difference.

The main reason shows pay premium salaries to big stars is that they attract viewers and thus boost the show's revenue. It's like sports teams giving enormous contracts to their most talented players. They do so because the costs are outweighed by the benefits of having a winning team and a full stadium.

Then again, perhaps there's an element of truth to your argument. Is a DAYS that costs $1 million a week to produce and gets ratings around 2.0 more profitable than a DAYS costing $2 million a week to produce and getting ratings closer to 3.0? Perhaps NBC will tolerate ratings in the 2's provided the show's production costs are kept to a bare minimum. It's not like a 5th hour of Today would get particularly stellar ratings.

However, this doesn't account for the fact that the "big four" are still on contract and STILL getting paid regardless of airtime. If this is all about saving money, why keep them around at all?

Edited March 13, 200718 yr by Ponz

I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts Duck and Gabby turn out to be Jed and Willow's dad, and their stepmother.

I was thinking this same thing.

Hmmm....inside the mind of a television executive....must be a very scary place.

You took the words right out of my fingers! lol. I was going to type the very same thing. I mean, it's true. They're all pretty much heartless and will do anything for ratings.

It's one thing to shunt John, Marlena, Bo & Hope to the backburner but to replace them with a character called "DUCK"?

That's just wrong.

Oh, I agree -- but that's why I brought it up. I think my conspiracy theory has truth to it. After all, NO ONE would ever expect a character named "Duck" -- my God people, DUCK! -- to have much shelf life on a soap. THIS GUY gets three years!

If that doesn't spell trouble, I don't know what does.

You have GOT to be kidding me!

Preach! That's just crazy!

And now, sadly, my dreams are dashed that Duck has a weird name but is that much hotter because of that odd "duck" name -- and the chiseled bod that is just perfect to go around for Kate, Marlena, Billie, Hope and Kayla! Heck, maybe the could kill off the "Days" male vets, free up money that way and hire one new cheap hunk that all the divas can fight over!

Maybe even PASSIONS will soon be rating better than DAYS!

It's [!@#$%^&*] hilarious, the man supposed to be the soap messiah is killing off the show!

Sorry, guys, but I've seen WAY too many conspiracies in the television industry to be rational or not paranoid about this.

If you want to take the theory that Hogan wants the show canceled, well why not? Let's be honest: the network has no control over stories, as someone mentioned, but they CAN, if they desire, pay off Hogan to "take a dive," so to speak. hint, hint...oh, God. Oh, Lord, I fear I've gotten too close to the truth!

I hope NBC doesn't hunt me down now that I've nearly exposed their DIRTY LITTLE SECRET!!!

I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts Duck and Gabby turn out to be Jed and Willow's dad, and their stepmother.

Yep! Duck and his offspring...Gabby, Willow, and Jed. *cringe*

Hogan Sheffer is a ******* Liar!

JER had plenty of faults, but Sheffer is making Big Daddy Reilly look pretty good right about now.

I was excited because I thought Tanya Boyd would be one of the contract actors, since she's in the Sami/Elvis/DiMera storyline.

Yep! Duck and his offspring...Gabby, Willow, and Jed. *cringe*

Hogan Sheffer is a ******* Liar!

JER had plenty of faults, but Sheffer is making Big Daddy Reilly look pretty good right about now.

I was excited because I thought Tanya Boyd would be one of the contract actors, since she's in the Sami/Elvis/DiMera storyline.

Big Daddy Reilly? funny Ricky. Now Sheffer is a liar? Where is the love Ricky?

I blame this more on Corday. Sure, Hogan created the characters, but he can't control who's put on contract and who isn't. That's ALL Corday's doing.

Hogan, you beat me to it! lol

Can Hogan actually put people on contract?

Hogan, you beat me to it! lol

Can Hogan actually put people on contract?

No. He could probably make suggestions to Corday concerning that, but the final decision is Corday's.

If Hogan is planning on writing a long term story for them, then of course Corday would have to give them a contract or they could leave mid story. .

Yup, I think Corday is still pulling the strings. I looked at the writing team of Days the other day. And I thought man do they have a good writing staff. Yet, the stories arent that great.