DAYS: Did Corday Hit the Lotto?

[R!ck]

Okay, so back in Sept-Nov all these actors were fired because the budget was slashed? 6 months later DAYS brings back/hires 11 characters?

Returning:

Joe Mascolo (Stefano)

Thaao Penghlis (Tony)

LeAnn Hunley (Anna)

William Utay (Dr. Rolf)

Steve Blackwood (Bart)

Renee Jones (Lexie)

Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie)

Bill Hayes (Doug)

Judi Evans (Adreienne)

New Hires:

TBA (Jeremy)

TBA (Jett)

Did the budget suddenly get bigger because I know Mascolo, Penghlis, & Hunley don't come cheap. Or was this the plan all along? Get rid of 13 characters, write a boring show for a few months, bring back DiMera's & Co. and other past characters and write a HUGE storyline involving the whole cast to make the ratings skyrocket.

[KevC1980]

Well Doug, Julie, Bart, Rolf, and Adrienne are most likely all on recurring..So thats not too much money...And Jett and Jeremy equal the wages of Willow, and Gabby/Duck (who i think will leave)..

Lexie--they saved money not having to pay her for 5 months..and she'll probably get a paycheck...its just Tony, Anna, and Stefano that would be extra money right? I don't care where they got the money, i'm just excited to have most of these returns take place...

[Ponz]

It's my view that Corday was never "broke" in the sense that couldn't afford to pay veteran actors. DAYS budget was the same in February as it was in October-December last year. Moreover, the big 4 (and other contract actors not used) have continued to receive their guaranteed salaries. I think the pattern since January has been an experiment to see if DAYS could survive on a reduced budget (thus making it more attractive to another network). Since the experiment has clearly failed, Corday has opted for a different strategy: throw money at the problem in a desperate attempt to arrest the ratings decline.

Also, I suspect most of those returning actors won't be used that much. I'd be surprised if the Hayes's, Blackwood, Utay, Hunely and Evans get more than 5 eps a month. It sounds like only Joe, Thaao & RJ will be on contract and these are likely short-term deals that will be extended if and only if the ratings rise.

[DaysFanJean]

I hope the ratings rise and we should know if interest is caught soon as the general public sees SOD and SOW. I came back from the publicity of the murdered characters actually being alive and back on the show at Melaswen Island, otherwise, I'd have continued to just check on it from time to time. Crossing fingers for Days.

[CSW]

Aren't these spoilers? Can someone please move this topic. Until DOOLfan4life ruined it for me in a similar thread I was unaware that Anna was coming back.

[winterguy125]

I just wish ATWT would bring back some of it's past cast to increase ratings, but unfortunality I don't think Barbara Bloom gives a rats azz about CBS daytime

[Drew]

I don't think the budget thing was as bad as was being made out to be. They obviously do have one, but I don't believe the reason John's been in a coma for all these months is because the show can't afford to pay for him.

I do subscribe to the theory that for what was planned for the latter half of the year with the DiMeras, they were saving their vets who cost more from appearing in more than their contract minimum because they're going to factor in so hugely to this arc and be on almost daily, which is going to get expensive.

[Ryan]

I agree 100% with Ponz. As I've said before on my show and on SON, I think it was a test to see how if the show could survive w/o the "big 4", that way if they were picked up by another network and the budget had to be reduced, they could get rid of the expensive price tags and feel comfortable knowing the show wouldn't die.

Fortunately it bombed.

[Queen_Nubia]

Between May 2006 to May 2007, Days lost 9 contract characters (from Alex to Tek), plus recasting the role of Shawn to a newer and less expensive actor. Also, Renee Jones likely took a pay cut to return; Willow and Abby will be gone soon, and I think Gabby and Duck are next.

And as Kev said, I am betting Doug, Julie, Bart, Rolf and Adrienne are on a recurring basis.

[billyjill]

Yes a lot of these names won't be heavily featured. Those that might be -- Joe, Thaao, Leeann -- I think they're going to wait and see how strong the audience reaction is, and based on that decide if they're going to keep them past the year.

And clearly there had to be some money left, just money they didn't want to spend.

As for the theory about Corday saving it all up for a big story arc, and this is not to bash the one who put the theory forward, but Corday has to be some dumbass to think that letting the ratings drop to 1.9 just to have to hike it all back up later is a smart move. How hard is it going to be just to get back to the 2.7 we used to be at?

[Ponz]

The "saving up" theory doesn't hold water. Peter & Kristian's contracts expired this month so any episodes they weren't used in were permanently wasted. They can't be deferred to later in the year. Plus, Corday's SOD interview made it pretty clear that the big Dimera story wasn't the original plan ("Hogan is quickly shifting back").

[DrewH]

I refuse to believe that Hogan, Corday or any other writers at DAYS chose to make the show boring. Who does that? That makes no sense. Why risk your reputation, even if it's just a short period. No one would do that.

Lets take a look at who left:

Melissa Reeves - chose to leave

Matthew Ashford - fired

Kyle Brandt - chose to leave

Jason Cook - chose to leave

Christie Clark - fired

Austin Peck - fired

Billy Warlock - chose to leave

Renee Jones - fired

Rhasaan Orange - fired

Brody Hutzler - fired

Farah Fath - chose to leave, but then wanted to stay and was fired

Judi Evans - fired from contract, brought back as recurring

Am I missing anyone? I only counted 12, and I thought I remember hearing 13 left all together. Oh well. Just look at that list. Several of those actors (Reeves, Ashford, Clark, Peck, Warlock, Jones, Cook, etc.) had to be getting huge paychecks. 8 of the 12 were actually fired. The other four chose to leave on their own. It was just lucky for DAYS that the four that chose to leave were probably receiving big pay.

So yes, I do believe there was a budget problem, and I still believe that. There is no other reason for Corday to want to backburn the four actors that made this show what it is today. Corday's cruel, but he's not stupid. He knows when it's time to haul in the big guns, sometimes it's a little too late, but he wants to keep his parents' show alive and will do whatever it takes to do that.

I think for a while, Corday thought the only way to keep his show on the air was to keep it on NBC. By doing so, NBC told Corday that they want DAYS to get the young demographic that PSNS got since the show would be leaving soon. I think that is when Corday told Hogan that he has to start writing for the younger set in order to get PSNS viewers. It makes sense. The trouble is, the majority of DAYS fans are not PSNS fans, so using that logic on PSNS would not work on DAYS. We see that happening now.

In recent interviews, Corday has revealed that he plans to shop the show around. He has finally wisen up and given NBC the big FU. I think that's the reason for the 2 week hiatus that was given to the writers to shape this show around. What we are seeing now was already written I believe and that's why we are still in that old phase. It's obvious that things don't start to change until the end of May because that is when John comes out of his coma, Tony returns, Stefano returns in June, etc. Things are starting to change, but it takes time. I don't think people realize how far in advance the writers write the show. They can't change sh*t overnight.

I'm excited for this show. For the first time in years, I feel that DAYS has the ability to become what it once was. Lets just hope that is survives passed 2009, finds a new home (preferably CBS) and continues on.

[sungrey]

And by extension, NBC's wonderful leap of faith that "Hey, PSNS is drawing in these viewers because of Reilly... let's bring him back to Days and see what happens there!"

We saw how that turned out. It's great to see Corday stand up to a network that clearly has no clue.

[Jack24]

I hope this all true but I still want Bo&Hope to have a good sl also...

[PhoenixRising05]

Ok. There was a budget problem or, obviously, we wouldn't have had mass exodus last year. Now, I firmly beleive right now Corday doesn't give a car anymore. I agree with Ryan in that they experimented in an attempt to be cheaper by using the newbies/young cast and the cheaper vets like Steve/Kayla and Sami/Lucas because they wanted to be more attractive in hopes NBC would keep them or some other network would see it and like it so they would pick them up. It failed and the ratings stink so Corday is desperate. His back is against the wall. He has no choice but to pull out all the stops. Let's also remember Hogan indicated a love for the Dimera's and there was a rumor that he wanted to bring back Tony in return him to glory so it would not surprise me if Tony and Anna came from him. I'm not sure if he wanted Stefano but I also think alot of Hogan initial thinking in passing the torch to the young set was because of Corday saying they had to because with the budget they can't use the vets as prominently. I think Corday realizes that he has no choice. The vets need to be featured and this arc is the thing that could save the show if done right.

Let'a also look at who they got rid of:

Wayne Northrup-probably mutual since he did only have a one year deal. Alot of money though.

Melissa Reeves - quit

Matthew Ashford - fired

Kyle Brandt - quit

Jason Cook - quit

Christie Clark - fired

Austin Peck - fired

Billy Warlock - quit

Renee Jones - fired

Rhasaan Orange - fired

Brody Hutzler - fired

Farah Fath - quit and then was told she couldn't stay

Judi Evans-fired and then brought back. Probably recurring but heard rumors she is contract.

Clark, Peck, Northrup, Evans. Jones, Reeves, Ashford, and Warlock were big contracts. Jones probably is returning with a pay cut and so is Judi, whether she is contract or not. LeAnn may have agreed to a cut. Joe and Thaoo are probably the most expensive. The others will be recurring although I read that Judi, Joe, Thaoo, Steve, Renee, and LeAnn all got contracts but that isn't confirmed. MBE and SN returned last year by taking massive pay cuts and we know some of the actors took pay cuts last year to remain on the show (Deidre was one I beleive) and it's likely others will take cuts to remain this year too during contract negotiations. They probably did save some money and that is the money they probably will use on Joe and Thaoo and the rest will go towards the rest. Bottom line is Corday seemed fed up with NBC in that TVGuide interview and I think he is just going for the jugular to get his show back on track.