'Days of Our Lives' (DOOL) News: EP Says Show was 'Painful' To Watch Before Changes? [VIDEO]
It appears fans who were frustrated by the direction things took on Days of Our Lives weren't the only ones who regretted how stories played out over the last year, as Executive Producer Ken Corday has come out and admitted he can see why fans had been tuning out from the show for so long.
In a new interview, Corday has said that he knows the show needs more work, and that hopefully, the path they are taking now after the most recent downward slope will reenergize the 50-year-old soap once again and bring it back to another state of glory.
"It's time to save the show again, and I think we will. I am very confident that we will," he said.
The show has seen some major changes since unveiling it's special 50th anniversary episodes last fall, which saw Ben Weston (Robert Scott Wilson) go on a killing spree which led to the deaths of Serena Mason, Paige Larsen and Will Horton. However, following those powerful storylines, the show began to slide, and several cast members including vet Joseph Mascolo (Stefano DiMera), Shawn Christian (Daniel Jonas) and Kate Mansi (Abigail DiMera) all have left the soap since, while Jen Lilley (Theresa Donovan) is preparing for her own departure. In addition, other actors, including Greg Vaughan (Eric Brady) and Kassie DePaiva (Eve Donovan) were fired from the show.
In addition, fans have also been disappointed with certain storylines, and that led to Corday deciding to make a change when it came to the writing staff (Dena Higley and Ryan Quan became co head writers and their material begins airing Sept. 6) on the show, in the hopes that new material would usher in another golden period for the show.
"After Christmas and into January, it had really started to take a left turn. I was very concerned about the lack of romance on the show, I was very concerned about the lack of focus on the show, and I made my concerns known. And both the network and I were in agreement that something had to be done," he said of the decision to promote Higley and Quan and remove Josh Griffith.
He also admitted that the fact that the show lost its momentum was something that disappointed him as well.
"I felt let down. I felt like I was letting the fans down after promising so much and delivering so many great shows from last summer through the anniversary, and then we were not able to sustain the momentum," he said. "we had picked up great viewership and momentum, but then we just started to do True Detective instead of Days of Our Lives. I'm the owner. I'm not the writer, and the writers are the most dear, important and noble people who work for me. The cast and the crew and staff work so hard, but it all starts with the blank page. And as we know, if it's not there, it isn't going to be on the air. So when you have 3 million people watching you in November and 2 million people watching you in May and June, it's an indication that you're not getting the job done as the owner."
He also revealed that he too found the show to be hard to watch at times, and he completely understood why viewers turned away, though he hopes the new changes will bring them back and keep them this time.
"I understand when viewers say they were turning it off," he said. "I felt the same, but I had to watch every day. It was painful at times."
Days of Our Lives airs Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. on NBC.
