I Know J/M and Bope cannot dominate the scene forever, but I think the problem is the lack of new characters that are actually complex and dynamic.

For example, I don’t think Nick and Chelsea are awful, but I can really take or leave their storylines.

While I like Sami, and Shawn and Belle are much, much better than they used to be, the overall characterization and storytelling leaves a lot to be desired.

My other gripe is the characters and families seem so disjointed at times; which is weird, cause character interactions seem much more cohesive last winter.

Shawn and Belle are actually growing on me. Well, Belle more so than Shawn because I am not fond of BB as Shawn, but do appreciate he is giving it his all and saying the lines which are good, especially today (hated the kiss but don't count off for it).

What I'm saying is that these newbies who will be the future of Days need exposure in order to gain fans. They will not, nor can they become stars of the show without a fanbase. It seems to me that the big four would love to have more freedom and able to do things they planned in their own personal lives such as looking forward to retirement. Will Dee and Drake become lifetime contract characters? Will Bo and Hope???? Can any soap afford this. I think that Days is doing what has to be done. I'm for the younger characters. They are the present.

Shawn and Belle are actually growing on me. Well, Belle more so than Shawn because I am not fond of BB as Shawn, but do appreciate he is giving it his all and saying the lines which are good, especially today (hated the kiss but don't count off for it).

What I'm saying is that these newbies who will be the future of Days need exposure in order to gain fans. They will not, nor can they become stars of the show without a fanbase. It seems to me that the big four would love to have more freedom and able to do things they planned in their own personal lives such as looking forward to retirement. Will Dee and Drake become lifetime contract characters? Will Bo and Hope???? Can any soap afford this. I think that Days is doing what has to be done. I'm for the younger characters. They are the present.

I agree that Belle/Shawn, Chelsea/Nick and Abby/Max are DAYS' future, but that shouldn't be at the expense of the Bo/Hope, John/Marlena. This also does not mean that I do not like these younger characters because I really do, they are a MILLION TIMES better than the younger crowd we had at the end of the 90's early 00's!

Steve/Kayla are on ALL the time, so therefore IMO, there is NO excuse that can be made for the backburning of characters/couples that are IMO on equal ground (like Bope, Jarlena).

Also, these actors are NOT DEAD no where near and still have MANY MANY MANY good years left in them and DAYS IS CERTAINLY not going to be around in 5 year IMHO, so I would like to see my favorite couples now before it is too late.

If these actors wanted time off for their personal lives than they wouldn't have re-signed their contract with this show....thus I do not buy the whole "well it is better because they will have more time for their personal lives" excuse. If you were to ask all 4 of them, I bet they would CERTAINLY tell you something different. No actor wants to be not working, especially these 4...all of their interviews in the past will tell you that. They all LOVE this show, LOVE working on this show...i just don't agree at all with what you said here.

There is a better way to integrate all of these characters in a way that is more pleasing...what we are getting now certainly is not the way to go and ratings are an extreme indication of that!

Shawn and Belle are actually growing on me. Well, Belle more so than Shawn because I am not fond of BB as Shawn, but do appreciate he is giving it his all and saying the lines which are good, especially today (hated the kiss but don't count off for it).

What I'm saying is that these newbies who will be the future of Days need exposure in order to gain fans. They will not, nor can they become stars of the show without a fanbase. It seems to me that the big four would love to have more freedom and able to do things they planned in their own personal lives such as looking forward to retirement. Will Dee and Drake become lifetime contract characters? Will Bo and Hope???? Can any soap afford this. I think that Days is doing what has to be done. I'm for the younger characters. They are the present.

?? They are not the present if the ratings continue the way they are. The whole retirmenet statement was kind of out place no? Asa, is a retired veteran, the lead of a family on OLTL and he still has ALOT of story to tell. This is all dumb and all of it has been said already but young characters may be the future but they are NOT THE SHOW and that is what they are trying to do now, make them the show.

?? They are not the present if the ratings continue the way they are. The whole retirmenet statement was kind of out place no? Asa, is a retired veteran, the lead of a family on OLTL and he still has ALOT of story to tell. This is all dumb and all of it has been said already but young characters may be the future but they are NOT THE SHOW and that is what they are trying to do now, make them the show.

Well, overlooking the snide remark about my "dumb" remark, that is not exactly what I was saying. Dig deeper. Anyway, I do agree that we need to see our vets more but that is not my fault or anyone of the viewers' faults. Those in charge run the show and have reasons for what they are doing which is, to the best of my belief, not to run the show in the ground. I saw the fans are the ones who need to pull out of their ruts and show enough belief in them to build the show rather than tear it down. My rant.

The TOP 10 in every month IMO should be the following (in no order)

-Peter Reckell

-Kristian Alfonso

-Drake Hogestyn

-Deidre Hall

-Stephen Nichols

-Mary Beth Evans

-Alison Sweeney

-Bryan Datillo

-Lauren Koslow

-John Aniston

Toss Blake Berris, Rachel Melvin and James Scott in the mix and I agree 1000%.

Also, if history teaches DAYS anything it is that if Alfonso/Reckell/Hogestyn & Hall are backburned for too long, major ratings erosion happens.

Yeah. Salem High, anyone?

Although, there seem to be fans on other boards that seem to have loved that stuff. Of course, they were new viewers them. I just want to shake them and say, "You poor soul... you don't know what you MISSED!"

It is times like these that I am really missing last year when we had Hope & Bo front and center and still had Jack & Jennifer (sniff, tear).

Oh, I'm coming to miss Jack and Jennifer alot, too. They were the "younger" supercouple to me. Now they're all old fogies -- except for my Bope, who are ageless, LoL

I don't dislike any of the characters that are on the frontburner right now. They're not annoying me like the "Salem High" set did back in 2001. However, I'm missing my veterans something fierce. I'm starting to have withdrawals. I'll even take them in boring, throwaway scenes! Sitting in front of a fireplace (that is, if Days can afford real fire nowadays), doing nothing but talking about the dust on the mantle.

Balance MUST be restored. For a month, I was okay with it... I figured, "Hey, it's natural rotation." No biggie. Then February came, and it remained the same. Now we're through March and there seems to be no real light at the end of the tunnel for the imbalance of the show, and I'm getting upset.

Edited March 30, 200718 yr by Kenny

Well, overlooking the snide remark about my "dumb" remark, that is not exactly what I was saying. Dig deeper. Anyway, I do agree that we need to see our vets more but that is not my fault or anyone of the viewers' faults. Those in charge run the show and have reasons for what they are doing which is, to the best of my belief, not to run the show in the ground. I saw the fans are the ones who need to pull out of their ruts and show enough belief in them to build the show rather than tear it down. My rant.

I didn't say your statement was dumb, I said this whole argument that keeps happening over and over again is dumb (hence the beating of the dead horse and saying it has all been said already). DAYS is is no position to say "viewers trust us that we are doing the best for what is the future of our show", they didn't 5 years ago why would they think that way now when an 85% cancellation notice has been delivered? Like I said before, it's all be said that's why it is silly to keep saying it over and over again but the show is seeing the results of its failed efforts: failure.

I know Bope, Jolena, and Payla are the old fogies, but showing the "old fogies" in front burner stories works. B&B hasn't changed their formula in 20 years. Moss, McCook & Flannery are all over 50 and Wagner, Tylo, and Lang are all in their mid to late 40's

I wish Marlena was on more.15 shows out of 65 shows should be criminal for Deidre Hall.Ken Corday needs to put her on more if he wants his show's ratings to go up and stay up.Doesn't Mr Corday understand that Marlena=high or higher ratings.Duh.

16. Darin Brooks (Max Brady) 21

Darin should have 23 based on that he was in 12 in January, 4 in February and 7 in March which adds up to 23.

Darin should have 23 based on that he was in 12 in January, 4 in February and 7 in March which adds up to 23.

Thanks for catching the typo. All the numbers are checked and rechecked in December when I verify everything, so I would have caught it then, but thanks for catching it now. I've changed it to 23. Jason

^^No Problem. A lot easier to catch it now then at the end of the year, right! Thanks for always posting these counts for us all!