Breaking News: HUGE Changes at “Days”

When I pulled my “Soap Opera Digest” out of the mailbox this morning, I saw the headline “2 Days Superstars Out”…

So, of course, as soon as I got back in the house I flipped to the story to find out who.

If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to know these things in advance, you’ll want to stop reading now.

Otherwise, you’ll want to sit down…

The two are Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn (Marlena and John).

And they won’t be the only ones leaving.

Why? It’s all about the Benjamins…

According to the “SOD” story, NBC has finally renewed “Days of Our Lives” through September 2010 with an option for another year. But in order to make that happen, the show is getting a huge reduction in its licensing fee from NBC—40 percent. That means cuts must happen.

So, [SPOILER ALERT!] John and Marlena will be reunited and then will be off-screen after January for “an unknown period of time” according to Executive Producer Ken Corday. But Corday is quick to point out “there is never an end when a couple leaves happily ever after. They’re not dead. Characters have left and come back [before].”

Who’s next? Corday didn’t say, but he did admit that the cast has to be pared down.

“It’s a matter of cooperation now on the cast’s part. We have to downsize economically first, then physically. If they don’t cooperate economically, then it will be a physical downsize or a recast. No one is above recasting. No one is the center of the wheel. They’re all spokes. If we blow a spoke, the wheel will keep turning and we replace it. The center of the wheel is that hourglass that ticks twice a day. There has to be a bilateral understanding that you have to play ball here. And if they don’t, there’s nothing I can do about it. My hands are tied. I have to do this show at cost.”

YIKES!

It sounds like maybe Hall and Hogestyn are getting the better end of the deal…

Corday admits it’s a hard time for him and the next five months for the show will be rough; but he believes that the show will come out better in the long run.

I think he might be dreaming…

I would really hate to see “Days” go off the air, but even more I would hate to see it become a shell of the show it once was, and I think that’s what’s going to happen.

I completely understand about money, especially with our current economy; but I have to wonder if there was a better way. Maybe they could have cut more of the new people. Maybe they could have cut some of the returning veterans that really aren’t necessary (i.e. Joe Mascolo, aka Stefano).

But maybe they’re going to do all of that too…

The reality is that whatever they do, “Days” will become a different show. The question is whether or not the same fans will stick with it…

Photo Credit: Jeff Katz/NBC