DAYS: March 2008 - The moment of truth

[JackPeyton]

IF fox were to take it they should air it at 7pm or 10pm. wont happen tho.

the reason i dont think its gonna hop to another network is that in the past that hgas failed. soaps lose a lot of the audiance when they do that, and if they ax another soap tgo bring days oin those fans will protest the show and not watch cutting the daytime audiance down even more (hello AW to Pass!)

[PhoenixRising05]

That may be true but Days is very popular with a large, vocal fanbase. It was and still is a big part of pop culture. You walk around and ask people if they watch any soaps and usually they say one of, if not a combination of Y&R, Days, or GH. Obviously, other soaps are watched but those 3 tend to be the most widespread.

I think Days could really pull it off, especially since they survived the time slot switch in many areas back in September. Their numbers have since done better so it proves people will follow it if the show is consistently dishing out quality. I also doubt there would be much backlash if Days took a show like GL or AMC's place. I don't want that to happen but, hypothetically, if they did, their would be some backlash but I doubt it would affect the numbers. As long as Days brought it's audience with it, or at least a majority of it, I think they will be ok, especially if you factor in the fact that some will watch Days just by default since some tend to watch one network all day no matter what, especially the elderly. The network that picks them up will likely lose some fans but I think there may be more positives then negatives.

Again, I don't want any soap going at all. I just think in the times we are in and given what Days is and where it is right nowas far as the state it's in, I think it has a much better chance then a year ago.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It's all about affiliate clearance if Days switches networks, as it stands, the affiliates are very stubborn when it comes to airing network programming in the daytime. If DAYS went to CBS or ABC, it would be hard to persuade every affiliate to air the show, simply because DAYS would be a new addition to that network, this would hurt DAYS in the long run.

Both CBS and ABC are very committed to their soaps, I don't see them dropping any one of them for DAYS still, plus DAYS costs a lot more to produce than GL or AMC again.

[Soapsuds]

I agree. Let's leave the P&G soaps out of it. As much as I hate GL right now I dont want to see it cancelled. ATWT ratings are doing just as good as Days. Or even better in HH and Total Viewers. I can see this thread getting very ugly. GL is at the bottom of the ratings. But it is not last in 18-49. Let's just wait and see what happens to Days before we say what now.

[JackPeyton]

how big of pop culture it is doesnt matter. it doesnt have a large fanbase anymore either. its not if you can ask people what days is and they know... those people are not sitting down watching the show. if a network axed a soap to bring days on you dont think it would affect the numbers? really. because if amx got the ax i doubt those fans would tune into days. same for gl/atwt or any other soap.

truth be told days isnt in a much btter state than amc gl or atwt... so why ax one of them for it? its pretty well knowen that days cost's the most, or at least oen of the most, and its ratings are not great. yes they had a upswing recently, but how long will that last? im not saying i dont want days to go on - but i dont have a blind faith either. because if you look at it from a network exec standpoint its not a good idea.

Days has two hopes - 1 is NBC just keeps it, the other is a soapnet version of the show.

[Loretta3938]

With Frons in charge of SoapNet, I wouldn't count much on SoapNet helping Days. I think he'd prefer to air reality TV and older movies than soaps, anyway. My question is: Why is Days more expensive to produce than say...AMC? There should be hefty salaries shelled out for both shows.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It's not so much the salaries, but DAYS costs 1.3 million dollars to produce each week, according to TV Guide. That's the most expensive weekly production of any soap opera, not even Y&R and GH cost that much to produce. The budget was slashed in 2006 and it was higher than 1.3 million before that though.

[brimike]

The reason Days costs more than other soaps is because it was so poorly managed financially for so many years, money's basically thrown out the window.

[Loretta3938]

Anyone have any ideas as to why their budget is that high? It can't be just the high salaries paid to veteran actors...there has to be something that's bringing it up over the other soaps.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

As brimike pointed out, DAYS has had a long history of mismanaging its budget. They've terminated many contracts before expiration dates and ended up having to pay them off in the long run. For example, JER is still on the DAYS payroll because his contract was terminated early. Also, the show just plain wasted money for years...

[brimike]

Exactly. JER is *still* getting paid off, not to mention putting actors on contract immediately, only to play them as "recurring". They'd save a lot of money by just telling them upfront that they'll be recurring, but instead, they put them on contract, guarantee them a certain number of episodes, and then have to pay them through the end of their cycle when their story runs out.

If Days had been managed right, then it's true - they wouldn't be any more expensive than any other soap opera. But sadly, somebody wasn't thinking ahead behind the scenes for years, and a whole handful of people who no longer work there are reaping the benefits long after they've left Salem.

[DaytimeFan]

The interview Victoria Wyndham gave a few weeks ago sheds light on NBC's corporate behavior. NBC doesn't want a soap lineup, they killed AW and Sunset Beach and Passions and I think they are going to kill DAYS as well.

I don't think ditching one of the P&G soaps on CBS is the answer, not only would you have viewer backlash and the major affiliate problem that GL currently has but it's important to realize that the P&G soaps are cheap to produce, the budgets between GL and ATWT don't compare to DAYS' bloated $1.3 million by a longshot. Additionally, DAYS has debt, nobody cares to acknowledge that but DAYS is paying off several contracts (including JER's mega deal) and I wonder if it isn't in the red, financially. Furthermore, there ain't no way in hell that the Bells would allow their Y&R/B&B power block to be interrupted.

ABC is a hard call, the network owns its shows and wants to keep that trend going. Corday could agree to sell his share of the show to ABC but there ain't no way in hell that Sony is going to. DAYS is a major overseas moneymaker, Sony wants DAYS to survive. I don't want to see DAYS on ABC, the thought of that son of a bitch Brian Frons getting his ageist fingers on DAYS makes me ill.

Finally, every soap that has jumped networks has always lost audience share. The way ratings are now that would just cripple DAYS completely. Essentially the only way DAYS is going to survive is if NBC keeps it around which is highly debatable. I've been a fan of the show for a loooooong time but you know, there comes a point where sometimes it's best to end things with some dignity. Although I was crushed when AW ended, in retrospect I'm sort of glad that it finished its run after 35 pretty glorious years and didn't end up becoming a teen filled mess.

[brimike]

True... except for one small fact - Days is slowly but surely recovering from a TIME CHANGE. And that's almost unheard of.

I'm not saying that's a reason to put it on a another network... I'm just saying that the Days audience, according to history, always seems much easier to recover than other audiences. If they can survive a new time slot, they could probably recover from a network change. Days fans tend to come and go (no offense Days fans) depending on who is front burner, whereas when other soaps lose viewers, they don't always come back. I've seen Days see-saw for years, depending on their storylines. I love shows like AMC/OLTL, but they don't really rise and fall (Except for a tenth of a point). Just because Lucci or Canary are front-burner, it doesn't necessarily guarantee ratings. Shows like AMC or OLTL were on top for a while, and then steadily dropped (except for the baby-switch story, which made things fluctuate more for a few months). They CAN regain viewers... it just takes them a little while longer. People need to see steady improvement before they tune back in. Days fans, however, will drop it for a year, then suddenly tune in again IN DROVES (Sami gets screwed at any of her weddings, Jack and Jen come back, SSK for the first two months, John's return).

Ducking for cover now because I'm SURE someone took this post the wrong way, even though I didn't mean it in a derogatory way. :-)

[DaytimeFan]

No you're absolutely right. DAYS fans do tend to be a lot more flexible than the average viewer. DAYS can get a spike in ratings quickly. It's a plot driven show so if the audience likes the plot trajectory then they jump back on. That being said I think the timeslot shift versus the network shift would be hard on DAYS because I firmly believe that for many viewers soaps are a habit and when that habit is interrupted they just drop it and move on. Again though your point about DAYS fans is right on the money, it's a different sort of soap fan, they go where the show goes. Fair Enough.

[brimike]

Agreed. I didn't think Days would ever recover from the time change. And it is a habit. It would definitely lose viewers if it changed networks off the bat. That horrible drop the week Passions went to Direct TV was terrifying. And almost impossible to overcome.