Could NBC legally cancel DAYS before March 2009?

[PhoenixRising05]

Sheri Anderson is a great writer. Don't get me wrong. However, I can see a return stint for her to the HW's chair ending up much like JER's return. Most people who want her want to recreate the 80's and therein lies the issue. I see so many want things the way they were but that can never be the case. A show has to grow and change. That is why I think Sheri would only be suited for a co-HW role because her in full control may be all nostalgia and no originality. Yes, it would please the fanbases but I don't necessarily think that means ratings increases.

B&C would be just fine because we know they can do it and we know they can do it with most of the characters currently on the canvas. They were original but kept Days to it's core. The cast balance was never better in the last 15 years or so as it was during their tenure. They would be my top choice but, honestly, this show can not handle another writer's transition and I don't think Hogan should be fired just because budgets cuts reigned supreme and Corday couldn't keep his damn ass away from the writer's office.

[aMLCproduction]

VERY TRUE> We agree for once

[Cheap21]

even if NBC didnt outright cancel Days, it could cancel it in effect by changing its timeslot to something horrible like 2AM. The show wouldnt last much longer after that

[Y&RWorldTurner]

My biggest fear at the moment is NBC canceling Days with VERY short notice, which gives Corday/Sony almost no time to get a new home, before the new season starts. NBC is good enough to try pulling some sly crap like that.

[ChiTownBoi03]

The prospect of DAYS being cancelled really does suck. I know the ratings are pretty much in the toilet, but aren't there like four other soaps .1 to .3 points away from where DAYS is? It wouldn't take much to be 4th place. I mean, ATWT was fourth place with a 2.3! So, I am willing to stay positive that DAYS can get back into the pack, at least the middle of the pack. However, this is contingent on who is writing the show in the future. I don't see how Hogan still has a job myself, as I really don't see him being the person to get DAYS out of the ditch, since he contributed to it going there...and staying there. Right now, the show is only getting so good IMO because of Ed Scott's presence. Imagine what he and B&C could do together!!

[Graciecat]

So here's a question- Frons has always had a great love of DOOL, and in the past, some had speculated that if DOOL were canceled, ABC would buy it and OLTL and AMC would be combined into one show, with DOOL taking one of their times slots. I can't see this happening now that its ratings are worse than One Life's or AMC's, but do you think Frons might scale down DOOL and bring it to soapnet?

[DaytimeFan]

My instincts tell me that NBC won't cancel DAYS on short notice, nor will DAYS be canceled before 2009. Although I really resent the influence SONY has on its shows I will give it one thing: it will not let DAYS die without a fight and I dare say they'd sue NBC before they let it be canceled prior to 2009.

DAYS is still a very profitable show for SONY, it simply isn't that profitable for NBC. DAYS airs all over the world and makes buckets of cash. On NBC the shoe does make money and pays its own way, but it doesn't pull in revenue like it used to (especially with ratings as they are now). SONY could go on producing DAYS and air it internationally and it would still make money, the problem is that without a US base SONY would have to spend a lot more money to do it which I don't think it is really prepared to do.

So no, I don't think NBC could really get away with it. The truth is that DAYS does perform wonderfully in some markets (Seattle comes to mind, Cindi Rinehart of KOMO has said that DAYS is the most popular soap in Washington State).

[shipperx]

Legally? Yes. I believe they could legally cancel Days at the end of any 13 week cycle. However, it's doubtful that they would because, though it would be legal, it makes little financial sense for them to do so. They're contracturally obligated to pay Sony/Corday for the show for the entire length of the contract. They aren't required to air the shows they pay for, but they are required to pay for them. So they'd be paying for the show even if the show didn't see the light of day. For that reason, it's financially ridiculous to not air the product they're required to pay for no matter what (at least it's financially ludicrous until such time as Days ratings become so bad that re-airing L&O re-runs would be more profitable for NBC. If Days doesn't halt it downward descent in the ratings, this become less and less of a joke - Re: L&O reruns).

As to paying to produce, the last I had read/heard Days is already squeezed to the point of squealing like a pig. During the last two re-negotiations with NBC, NBC cut how much they were paying for the show based on Days crappy ratings. During the last time, Corday said that there wasn't enough money to produce Days. He had to seek alternative financing. This is why Days currently airs on both NBC and SoapNet. It takes the licensing fees of both the network and the cable licensing fee to pay Days production costs... and that was based on Days scoring higher ratings than it currently scores. Should Days lose either NBC or SoapNet, from the way I've read it, there wouldn't be enough money to produce Days in anything resembling its current state.

As to ABC or SoapNet paying for it. Don't count on it. Back when Reilly let it be known that Days was seriously considering cancelling Days at the end of its contract, there were a couple of interviews that asked Frons about SoapNet taking it over or ABC buying. Frons point blank said that wouldn't happen. ABC isn't interested in the acquiring Days (and, in fact, has turned Corday down the last time Corday was wrangling NBC) and SoapNet couldn't afford Days production costs. (Heck, at this point, SoapNet has already shifted Days into the graveyard shift).

[JackPeyton]

so i know im gonna be hated for this but...

if days needs t cut budgett than its time to cut people. get rid of all the teens except chelsea and maybe one other. get rid of patch and kayla, who have done nothing to help days, get rid of the people they never use like abe and lexie, the vets, etc...

focus the show on bo & hope, marlena, sami, etc. get a cheeper head writer.

but even if days did all this NBC needs to back it and promo the hell outa it.

[Im-n-a-whirl]

Wow! I guess that explains the previous haggling between NBC and Corday over the licensing fees.

[bellcurve]

I don't see Sony, with declining ad-revenue for the show, wanting to stay on NBC if the show get's less than 70% clearance across the country. And NBC's syndication arm is doing okay for itself...not well, but okay. I don't even see NBC sticking with the show if it can't get station clearance from its affiliates. It may be better to write DAYS off as a loss for them.

I just have a sneaky feeling NBC is gonna give DAYS and its fans the big F-U before the Olympics in one way or another.

I think SOAPnet or another cabler would want DAYS, but not the way its produced now. There would have to be major, MAJOR budget cuts.

I hope SONY considers syndication as an option as well.

[Toups]

What if SONY pressures CBS to pick up DAYS?

SONY could *threat* to take Y&R to another network, couldn't they? Sony could say to CBS, "We're going to take Y&R and DAYS to FOX if you don't take DAYS."

[DaytimeFan]

EXACTLY Toups. SONY has a lot to lose if DAYS goes off the air so the execs at SONY are going to do whatever it takes to keep it on American screens.

[Graciecat]

That's true, but I hope it doesn't happen. Adopting Days would probably mean canceling GL, and though at this point, that's probably inevitable, I think GL has better long term prospects on CBS. CBS soaps take themselves the most seriously of all of the networks. I don't think most CBS viewers would take well to the campy style of days, so it wouldn't gain viewers, and it would lose so many in the process.

This is all just so depressing. I mean, Days is pretty legendary. After GH, and maybe Y&R, it is probably the soap best known to the general population.

[bellcurve]

Then SONY would clearly be on a suicide mission. FOX, although it is building itself up as a network and has since it acquired Football, and its affiliates would not welcome soaps right now.

And then there's the risk of losing its audience in the switch, which usually happens EVERY TIME a soap moves to another network.

I don't think CBS has to be threatened to take DAYS in. Financially, if Corday slashed alot of the cast, DAYS would look great to CBS, who may want to get rid of all NY Productions.

I think DAYS could find another home, but there's no way SONY would endanger its relationship with CBS like that.