flyboyla
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Post by flyboyla on Nov 12, 2019 23:27:07 GMT
According to TV Line:
The sand appears to be leaking out of the hourglass.
TVLine has learned exclusively that the producers of Days of Our Lives have released the entire cast from their contracts, with the venerable soap set to go on an indefinite hiatus at month’s end. While the NBC sudser has not been cancelled, the unprecedented — and decidedly ominous — move comes at a precarious time for ratings-challenged Days and the vanishing soap genre as a whole. It also comes as Sony Pictures Television and NBC are in negotiations to renew series.
Reps for NBC and Sony declined to comment for this story. A Sony source, meanwhile, tells TVLine that the studio is not involved in the contract negotiations with the cast. “The actor deals are through Corday Productions,” explains the insider, referring to Days‘ production company. A spokesperson for Corday Productions, meanwhile, did not reply to TVLine’s request for a comment.
An insider cautions that because Days shoots eight months in advance, the show will have enough episodes in the can when it stops production at the end of November to last through Summer 2020. If NBC does renew Days, production is expected to resume in March. But by releasing the contracted cast members from from their commitment to the show, producers have no guarantee who — if anyone — will return.
“It’s actually a shrewd — if cynical — business move,” sniffs one insider. “If Days gets picked up, [Corday] can offer the actors new contacts at a reduced rate and with a ‘take-it-or-leave’ it attitude. Worst case scenario, they lose half their cast. Best case scenario [for Corday], everyone agrees to return at a lower salary.”
Despite the gloomy turn of events, a source tells TVLine, “All indications are that NBC would like to keep the show going.”
The news comes as Days is shaking things up on-screen. This week, the soap is fast-forwarding the narrative by one year. “This is a great way to reset things in Salem,” executive producer Ken Corday told TVInsider.com of the time jump. “It will be a catalyst for many more [changes] to follow.”
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Post by leafs27 on Nov 12, 2019 23:51:24 GMT
OMG! I knew they were taking a hiatus to catch up on all the filming ahead they have done but I didn't think they would release everyone!
This is HUGE!!! I don't even know what to think.
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flyboyla
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@flyboyla
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Post by flyboyla on Nov 13, 2019 0:40:43 GMT
I’m hoping that they’re able to work everything out. It just seems that NBC was becoming more invested in the show again with bringing back several vets and creating new sets.
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Post by stargazer1682 on Nov 13, 2019 0:56:43 GMT
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glozone
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Post by glozone on Nov 13, 2019 15:27:34 GMT
Yeah, apparently this sounds worse than it is. The cast has known this was coming for months, it's just part of the deal with the huge hiatus.
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Post by leafs27 on Nov 13, 2019 22:13:50 GMT
Hopefully mostly everyone will be back but from what I understand this allows the actors to get other work if they want it.
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Post by stargazer1682 on Nov 13, 2019 23:53:43 GMT
Hopefully mostly everyone will be back but from what I understand this allows the actors to get other work if they want it. According to Jason47, the any previous time this has happened, everyone that was on contract before a shutdown came back and signed new contracts. Lots of people involved with the show had taken to social media to downplay the news; and this morning I even saw an article about the hysteria the TVline article caused online and walking back the idea it was as dire as lot of people thought. It'd be interesting to be a fly on the wall at NBC during any discussions about Days in the aftermath of this though; and what they make of news of the news about something that should be nothing more than an innocuous formality, to explode online the way it did. Whether people watch it or not, it's a cultural touchstone; and whenever it does end, it's going to be huge news. If only the bar for the writing was set just a little higher... Hopefully the way this won't be NBC saying, "We're renewing Days for another season - but it's going to be it's last". It's a thought that literally only just crossed my mind, and in the last few seconds a sinking feeling has set in that, that could actually be a distinct possibility. They get to be the heroes who say, "No, Days isn't going to be cancelled today," and them promptly milk the recent media attention by saying, "it's going to end next year; so tune in and see how it plays out..." Plus next year would be Days' 55th, which isn't strictly significant in its own right, but it's sort of like a benchmark year. I think the only saving grace to dissuade that sort of thinking would be if they considered the short term benefits of kind of creating that sort of buzz, ending the show in late 2020 and weighed that against any long term benefits of continuing to have a reliable daytime program. From the sound of what luck they've had developing other daytime programs, or rather lack of luck, it could be a toss up which would be more beneficial for them.
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glozone
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@glozone
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Post by glozone on Nov 14, 2019 2:49:19 GMT
Hopefully mostly everyone will be back but from what I understand this allows the actors to get other work if they want it. There may be a few of the younger cast who maybe start picking up some other gigs and decide not to come back -- I could see, say, Victoria Konefal or even Camila Banus doing so. But they'd be exceptions.
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glozone
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@glozone
Posts: 447
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Post by glozone on Nov 14, 2019 2:52:13 GMT
Hopefully mostly everyone will be back but from what I understand this allows the actors to get other work if they want it. According to Jason47, the any previous time this has happened, everyone that was on contract before a shutdown came back and signed new contracts. Lots of people involved with the show had taken to social media to downplay the news; and this morning I even saw an article about the hysteria the TVline article caused online and walking back the idea it was as dire as lot of people thought. It'd be interesting to be a fly on the wall at NBC during any discussions about Days in the aftermath of this though; and what they make of news of the news about something that should be nothing more than an innocuous formality, to explode online the way it did. Whether people watch it or not, it's a cultural touchstone; and whenever it does end, it's going to be huge news. If only the bar for the writing was set just a little higher... Hopefully the way this won't be NBC saying, "We're renewing Days for another season - but it's going to be it's last". It's a thought that literally only just crossed my mind, and in the last few seconds a sinking feeling has set in that, that could actually be a distinct possibility. They get to be the heroes who say, "No, Days isn't going to be cancelled today," and them promptly milk the recent media attention by saying, "it's going to end next year; so tune in and see how it plays out..." Plus next year would be Days' 55th, which isn't strictly significant in its own right, but it's sort of like a benchmark year. I think the only saving grace to dissuade that sort of thinking would be if they considered the short term benefits of kind of creating that sort of buzz, ending the show in late 2020 and weighed that against any long term benefits of continuing to have a reliable daytime program. From the sound of what luck they've had developing other daytime programs, or rather lack of luck, it could be a toss up which would be more beneficial for them. For whatever it's worth, I feel very confident that if and when NBC does pull the plug, there's no way Corday doesn't make a go at making this an online series. That seems to be where his head's at with the digital series and all the app content. It didn't work for AMC and OLTL in 2012, but the TV landscape has changed a lot since then. Everyone streams their content now.
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Post by stargazer1682 on Nov 14, 2019 3:44:47 GMT
For whatever it's worth, I feel very confident that if and when NBC does pull the plug, there's no way Corday doesn't make a go at making this an online series. That seems to be where his head's at with the digital series and all the app content. It didn't work for AMC and OLTL in 2012, but the TV landscape has changed a lot since then. Everyone streams their content now. I'm sure he would, I hadn't thought about that, but I do wonder what a purely streaming form of Days would look like, logistically and from a financially feasible standpoint; and what sort of compromises would need to be made. Would they still put out the same volume as episodes as they do now? Would they have the 5 most recent episodes available and each weekday a new one gets released, bumping the oldest episode? Would they have to possibly be shorter installments; not for airtime restrictions, of course, but because of the cost? With streaming still kind of a niche market, depending on what service it's offered through, would they need to up their production standards? Because I wouldn't pay extra for a streaming service just to watch Days at it's current level of writing quality or production value. It is an interesting prospect in it's own right, because there has only those two attempts to move online, and it was a time when that sort of content was still in its infancy; and there's all sorts of things a soap could do as a streaming series that they couldn't do on TV. So it'd also be intriguing how much they would explore that freedom and how much they would adhere to tv standards, to not offend viewers who would expect them to. You know, would they use stronger language if it were allowed? How far would they push the racier material? From what I've read about Corday, i'm going to take a stab in the dark and say, probably not, in either case. But the possibility is still there. And come to think of it, it's kind of the perfect marriage, under the right circumstances; because the streaming services are all about serialized content and a format like a soap is that on steroids. Stranger Things has nothing on Days of Our Lives. To have not only the ongoing storyline, but to have multiple ongoing stories; and some of them intertwine. But there again is the issue of quality and the thing I've taken issue with for years; that they're squandering the potential the inherent format offers. It's basically at least five separate series with a shared universe, with characters who doctors and lawyers and police officers and spies; and any writer should want to play in that proverbial sandbox - and how do they actually use that? The characters just sit around in their living room or in an outdoor cafe in the middle of December, talking about their relationships...
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