I think the "heavy recurring" model is the future of soap casts. It kind of reflects the original model of the soap cast, where so many supporting players were on recurring. These older shows have inflated casts. Part of the fault is the writers who do not write with what they have, instead focusing on newer blood. I think DAYS suffers from this syndrome greatly because of their "supercouple" trademark. It is hard to break up supercouples and still have fan support. DAYS characters are all paired off, limiting the potential "love story" drama, which is staple in Daytime.

My worry with DAYS is that so many of the people they would put on recurring we hardly see, and it basically can be tptb's excuse to not show these characters at all. Why didn't just let Mickey die so Maggie could have a story and new life is beyond me. They need to set Maggie up to be the new matriarch of the show, Frances Reid is not getting any younger or any more capable to work. I can see Peggie McKay, Jim Reynolds, Renee Jones, Josh Taylor, MBE, SN, and Thaoo all being dropped to recurring. Who knows of this bunch who would stick around.

The Dimeras have been getting more screentime. I really like their family dynamics. I think the actors work off each other better than the current crop of Bradys. Maybe because there have been less recasts with the Dimeras, and I am used to seeing this group of actors together. As long as Josh has been in the role of Roman, I still cannot see him as Roman. This became especially true when Wayne came back for his stint as Alex. The actors do not mesh well as a family. And what is the deal with Max? He grew up around Kayla, Bo... he is such a stranger among his siblings.

Back to the heavy recurring model, it does seems to work with other soaps. Y&R had a heavy recurring cast through the late 90's early 00's, allowing for more sub-storylines to go on. I actually really liked it when Traci came back for extended trips, or Esther kind of had her own thing going, as did Gina, etc... AMC has had relative success as of late with Jill Larson and Daniel Kennedy of clear standouts, actors who should be on contract for how much they are on. I swear, if they do not sign Daniel soon I can see him jumping ship. OLTL has a great recurring cast with RJ, Lindsay, Lee Halpert and Cain. GL seems to be the one who has failed. The characters on recurring are the ones we actually want to see. When the recurring players are brought on, they are nothing like how we remember them. Vanessa and Matt breaking up and getting together in a blink of an eye? Vanessa being such a pushover? Blake's desperate housewive turn? I ask myself what the hell Mel is smoking whenever she is on too. It is not the actors fault, they make up a majority of the talent at GL, it is the writers inability to write a proper sl. They use these characters as spoilers or tokens.

I think you're right. The "Regular Recurring" model is the way to go if these shows want to save money and keep the cast size they need. A lot of soaps in the 60s and 70s were made up of heavily recurring characters. On AMC, Marian Colby Chandler (played by the fabulous Jennifer Bassey Davis) debuted as recurring in 1983 till 1987, returned and left as recurring in 1989 and then returned as recurring in 1995 until 1999 when she finally got a contract that wasn't renewed in 2003 and she's been recurring ever since. Granted ABC recurring is not the same as CBS but for all those years Jennifer was recurring I bet nobody would have known the difference.

Y&R really had a great sub-group of characters filling in Genoa City on recurring. Most of those characters should return, they added detail to the scenes (I'm talking Chantal, Gina, Mamie, Mitchell Sherman, John Silva etc)

We'll see what happens with DAYS. I think the September 2010 is VERY important. Why then? Why not August or November or April? September, in the industry, is very important and I don't think it's any happy accident that it's the date NBC agreed to. That said, the guarantee of another year renewal for September 2011 shows that, if DAYS can keep it's numbers, NBC knows that they'll not be able to bring anything out that can top it. DAYS is in the fight for it's life and I hope they tackle it calmly and keep doing what they're doing because, currently, it's working.

My plan to save Days... (LOL) based on this news...

Write off Steve, Kayla, Tony, Anna, Abe, Lexie, Stefano, Max, Stephanie, Nick and (especially) Melanie. (I hate the idea of writing off the entire Carver clan, but they just don't work anymore, and all the logic-defying job hopping has destroyed their credibility.) Steve, Kayla and the baby and Abe/Lexie/Theo get their happy ending and leave town to start a new business together. Stefano goes to JAIL. Max and Steph go off and try to make their incest work in a new town. Tony and Anna go on a world tour or something suitably theatrical. Nick goes to the nut hut and Melanie just disappears.

Have a fire at the Brady house making Bo and Hope move their brood back to the Brady pub. Build a new "house" set above the Brady pub and concentrate all Brady stories to the house or the pub. Utilize Caroline in a more matriarchal role (ex. Maeve Ryan/Nancy Hughes/Maureen Bauer.) Show her often in the Brady kitchen dispensing advice, offering comfort or a nice cold dose of reality to the younger cast.

Restore old John and have him and Marlena move back to the penthouse. Immediately cease any overtly sexual scenes between them because, frankly, it's gross to watch these two hams go at it like teenagers. Give them a solid, mature relationship and have them work together to restore John's business via his Dimera funds.

Have Kate and Victor join forces as both a romantic and business force to be reckoned with and do a classic corporate battle against John and Marlena.

Create a solid Chloe/Brady/Lucas/Phillip story, with the characters possibly working on opposing sides of the aforementioned corporate battle.

Create a solid Sami/EJ/Rafe story that doesn't involve kidnapping or Sami acting like she's 10. Let her grow up and have a mature romance. Maybe have one of the twins get sick and die to give her a true dramatic story to work with that shows her chops.

Give Chelsea a Brady-centric story that ties her back to a much-needed familial connection and introduce a new love interest for her in the form of Rafe's younger brother. Then, after the two are established and dating, bring back a SORAS'd Will and reveal that he and the guy have a romantic past from Will's time in Europe, giving daytime a true bisexual character torn between two loves.

Let Daniel develop as the new medical go-to guy (and possible foil for a Kate/Victor romance) and slowly introduce his family members to establish a new core family for the next generation of stories. Intersperse them with the existing stories.

In order to help the budget, I'd build five permanent sets (Brady pub, Brady house, John/Marlena penthouse, Kiriakis mansion and Sami's old apartment set.) Extend the days ala James Reilly, but no longer than 10 days at a time (anything else stretches credibility and then you have people going to bed then getting up and going out to eat dinner, while other people are still at work, etc...) Anyone not involved in the 13-week storyarcs is immediately put on recurring, no matter WHAT their star status, but used as often as possible.

That's just off the top of my head. Some of it would likely work, some of it probably wouldn't, but there's plenty of room for tweaking.

Edited November 13, 200817 yr by Aaron

I like the long days as well. I remember when watching "Days" in the '90s it was always such a big deal when the characters showed up wearing a fresh change of clothes. It was like an event, really. Special.

I long for the DAYS, when DAYS had a vision. You know JER (RIP) during his first run had a complete idea about what he wanted DAYS to be about. Can you think of any headwriter on soaps right now that has any clue what his show is about? Guza (hate him as I do) does, I think Charles Pratt is starting to, and even Ron C. But JER, more than anyone, made Salem a place you wanted to visit, and gave the feeling that anything could happen at anytime. I miss that. And even with all of of his crazy stories, he respected the families of the show. He brought back the DiMeras, he brought back Mike and Laura Horton, created Lucas to be tied to the Hortons.... We need someone like that again