According to EW, a DAYS publicist has confirmed to them that Higley is in fact DAYS' new head writer. This is the first time in print anyone from the DAYS camp has confirmed what we already knew...

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20186226,00.html

THE POWERS THAT BE

It's official: Dena Higley is now the sole head writer on Days of Our Lives, according to a show publicist. The show wouldn't say when she came on board, but it confirms that she is now at the helm as head writer, replacing Hogan Sheffer. Higley has been a source of controversy recently. Last summer, she left One Life to Live, where she was also head writer, after fans started a petition calling for her dismissal.

I am with you Phoenix. I am just going to sit back and watch. I have watched this show for a very long long LONG time to long to give it now, and i am going to support the show as much as I can. I have survived many bad writers, Anne Howard Bailey, JER, Tom Langan, Hogan Sheffer(I am sorry to all his lovers but i never hit my ff button so much even during JER), and yes Dena Higley who I am willing to give another chance mostly because of her 20+ year history with the show. If these are the last months or years of Days I want to watch and be able to say when it is all over that I was a fan threw the good times and bad and threw it all loved the show as much as i did when i first started watching way back when, which is true.

I am not like some of the other people on the other boards like this one who say they support the genre and want it to survive but stop watching the show because they are spiteful to certain people in front of the camera and behind, i am sorry to say this but if you love the genre as much as you all say you do you will not give up a show because you feel a certain way about someone who works on it. And like many people have been saying these days 1 more cancellation could spell the end for all soaps especially the cancellation of a 42 year old soap. So if you ever loved Days keep watching because it might just help save this show!

Edited March 26, 200817 yr by cody_1990

Thanks buddy .

I agree. I know her track record but based on things so far, I do think it's unfair to crucify her based on her past. I hate her, don't get me wrong, but as long as she gives me a entertaining show that isn't JER-like, I'm good and so far she has. Like you said, she knows the history and she worked at Days for a long time. Alot of what she did on OLTL would've worked on Days since those kind of things is what many of the rabid fanbases enjoy. I think it's also important to point out that while her first Days run was awful, it was also only 6 months. Even B&C had "out there" stuff with the alien twins, which I am convinced was Corday. I think the reality show crap under Higley the first time was Corday too. He goes for those things and, let's face it, there was never any goop or out of place earthquakes or whatever during her tenure at OLTL. Her tenure was bad but how much of that was Frons telling her to force feed certain people down fans' throats and how much of Higley's first run was dictated by Corday? I heard rumors he demoted B&C because they didn't agree on direction with him either at times. I'm not by any means absolving Higley but after the crap Corday pulled on Hogan and others in the past, I wouldn't put it past him.

Also, I refuse to think Higley was primarily responsible for firing Martha and Brandon. Sorry. Corday loves his Shelle and it's widely rumored that this was a chemistry issue (which I agree with as Shelle did not have that sizzling chemistry. It was more of a nice one). I think once Belle and Shawn started having chemistry with Philip and Chloe and then they all became popular in different pairings, he panicked and cut them loose to preserve his beloved Shelle and have them follow in Bo and Hope's footsteps. I wouldn't be surprised to see one or both of them back by summer. I think he was just trying to save his beloved couple. There is no other reason for firing them. Corday pimped them for years. They were frontburner for years and had alot going for them story-wise. There is no other reason for it and Higley had been using them alot the past few months. I don't blame her for that at all.

As for the Bo story, believe it or not, not every illness is named or diagnosed. My grandmother went through an illness last year and to this day none of us, including the doctors, still know what the hell it was. All we know is her blood levels were messed up and her heart was affected. Thankfully, she is fine but a surgical procedure was needed so I can relate to the Bo story and have seen others around the boards relate to it as well. It's not like the Jack story. They threw out possible reasons for the illness (Bo's motorcycle crash, family history of pancreas problems, etc.) and they handled the medical stuff very well and took it seriously. Sure, it was too over dramatic at times but it wasn't a joke and we knew what was wrong and what was being affected. We witnessed the treatment and Days is actually showing both Bo and Chelsea recovering and word is that will continue.

As for Higley, despise what she did and I still think the WGA is going to continue to look into this. I think this is far from over and I hate this whole situation but, in the end, it all goes back to the show on my screen (just like in the days before I posted on message boards when shows were simply watched and not picked apart as much as they are now), which is still entertaining and using history and still engaging me. Until that changes, it's all good for me. Like Jen said, to each their own. I guess Shawn and I will have to keep up the optimism on our own .

I guess we will

Another reason I have high hopes that she won't bomb as bad as she has in the past can be summed up in two words: Ed. Scott.

I have a feeling he will fight hard to keep Corday OUT of her work.

When you look back, Corday and Wyman were up Dena's ass every five minutes and had high influence on the stories we saw unfold.

Quite the opposite at OLTL, where the EP doesn't have anything to do with storytelling and basically let her sink the show while his back was turned.

I feel Ed will be the happy median.

When you look back, Corday and Wyman were up Dena's ass every five minutes and had high influence on the stories we saw unfold.

In that case, it is no wonder they are full of sh1t (no pun intended)

I guess we will

Another reason I have high hopes that she won't bomb as bad as she has in the past can be summed up in two words: Ed. Scott.

I have a feeling he will fight hard to keep Corday OUT of her work.

When you look back, Corday and Wyman were up Dena's ass every five minutes and had high influence on the stories we saw unfold.

Quite the opposite at OLTL, where the EP doesn't have anything to do with storytelling and basically let her sink the show while his back was turned.

I feel Ed will be the happy median.

Great post. I also agree with Cody too.

This is Corday's SOD quotes about Dena. Notice how he subtly bashes Hogan...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/222985/mess...Days............

"She understands the history of the show and the female point of view and what the women out there want to see. That is a black and white as I can make it. She's a very facile, hard working head writer."

As for the show he claims the changes in the show were necessary, "It is becoming more about th e people who are the stars fo the show and who we care about. Its not about things happening to our charactes, its about our characters feelings for each other."

This is Corday's SOD quotes about Dena. Notice how he subtly bashes Hogan...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/222985/mess...Days............

The female point of view?!?!

I know someone else said this before (yes, Sylph, I'm plagiarizing again ), but Margaret raped Todd, Nora married a serial killing gay guy, and Jessica was molested AND shot up heroin.

WHAT WOMEN WANT?!

Edited March 27, 200817 yr by brimike

The female point of view?!?!

I know someone else said this before (yes, Sylph, I'm plagiarizing again ), but Margaret raped Todd, Nora married a serial killing gay guy, and Jessica was molested AND shot up heroin.

WHAT WOMEN WANT?!

Werd.

That's all.

The female point of view?!?!

I know someone else said this before (yes, Sylph, I'm plagiarizing again ), but Margaret raped Todd, Nora married a serial killing gay guy, and Jessica was molested AND shot up heroin.

WHAT WOMEN WANT?!

LMAO!! So true.

Also, "hard working head writer" - yeah right. She's one of the most laziest writers in daytime and there's always people cleaning up her mess as much as possible.

Corday needs a huge mug of STFU

If he wanted a female point of view that understood the shows history, he should have re-hired Beth Milstein.

I am with you Phoenix. I am just going to sit back and watch. I have watched this show for a very long long LONG time to long to give it now, and i am going to support the show as much as I can. I have survived many bad writers, Anne Howard Bailey, JER, Tom Langan, Hogan Sheffer(I am sorry to all his lovers but i never hit my ff button so much even during JER), and yes Dena Higley who I am willing to give another chance mostly because of her 20+ year history with the show. If these are the last months or years of Days I want to watch and be able to say when it is all over that I was a fan threw the good times and bad and threw it all loved the show as much as i did when i first started watching way back when, which is true.

I am not like some of the other people on the other boards like this one who say they support the genre and want it to survive but stop watching the show because they are spiteful to certain people in front of the camera and behind, i am sorry to say this but if you love the genre as much as you all say you do you will not give up a show because you feel a certain way about someone who works on it. And like many people have been saying these days 1 more cancellation could spell the end for all soaps especially the cancellation of a 42 year old soap. So if you ever loved Days keep watching because it might just help save this show!

Good post, Cody. Now let me add my two cents... lol

The only way I'll stop watching Days is if NBC is nuts enough to put Reilly behind the wheel for a third time. Granted, I don't think they're dumb enough to do that given how the last run he had turned out.

I am not crazy how Dena took over as HW; being a writer myself (and not just the SON blog, I am a writer off this board as well) I do not like the way things got circumvented so that she could write this show. Going Fi-Core is one thing, out and out breaking the ranks and coming back to write without making Guild arrangements is another.

Having said that, so far she is doing a decent job. I'm concerned for the show's long-term future, mainly because people like Ken Corday can't keep his hand out of the cookie jar. My main worry is he'll drive Ed Scott away with his mismanagement and his desire to meddle in pretty much everything.