With DAYS’s ratings at an all-time low, and the stories from a new head-writing team set to hit the airwaves on September 6, “It’s time to save the show again, and I think we will,” declares Executive Producer Ken Corday. “I am very confident that we will.” Here, the show owner talks about the future of Salem, and why he had to make another behind-the-scenes change.
Soap Opera Digest: Why did you make another regime change?
Ken Corday: I have been waiting to do this interview for about six months because we wrote the shows coming up and taped them six months ago, and I knew then I’d be very excited about the show because it is reset. [Co-Head Writers] Dena [Higley] and Ryan [Quan] have done a wonderful job of resetting it and getting it out of the real dark place it was in. I know that Josh [Griffith, former co-head writer] did his level best, but it just wasn’t there and a change had to be made. So, on we went.
Digest: At what point did you feel you needed to make a change?
Corday: Seven months ago.
Digest: Was it something you were seeing on-screen or in future story?
Corday: It was future story and what I had seen on-screen. 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. And Dena was ready for her leave of absence to end, and here we are.
Digest: How did you feel about having to do this after doing such a big reset a year earlier?
Corday: 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 that momentum. 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 writers are the most dear, important and noble people who work for me. The cast and 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.
Digest: Did you feel justified in your decision after seeing the ratings fall to the point they have, and are you concerned about where the numbers are?
Corday: Yes and yes. Very justified because I knew what we had coming down the pike after the Olympics through the end of the year was going to be great, and very, very upset that the numbers had collapsed at such a rapid pace, yet not surprised.
Digest: What will be different as you move on?
Corday: We’re telling romantic story again. Over time, we will see more and more familiar characters come back onto the screen who will be very refreshing
for the audience. Great names from the past.
Digest: What would you say you’ve learned from past mistakes?
Corday: My mother’s three greatest lessons and quote me again: You’re only as good as your last show, you have to love the medium you’re in, and the people you work with have to love doing the show. So, we were failing on all three fronts: We weren’t good, judging from our last few shows, and the people at work were not loving doing what they were doing. Though they loved working with each other and still do, because it’s the most dedicated cast and crew and staff. But be that as it may, you still have to look at the recent ratings, not the past ratings.
Digest: Did you hear from the cast during this time?
Corday: Daily, to the point of having to finally close my door and say, “I’ll come over [to the studio] when there’s something to talk about,” because I was waiting this out. It was very tough. It was an endurance test for all of us. I knew the numbers from March through where we are now would be indicative of what I was reading nine months ago and we were producing six months ago. Not your mommy’s DAYS OF OUR LIVES.
Digest: Are you happy with what you’ve seen with the reset?
Corday: It’s been a lot of fun the last six months. It truly has. I’m loving what I’m seeing. I’m loving coming to work. I’m loving seeing people in the studio who I haven’t seen for 10 or 20 years. And the audience will be thrilled with it.
Digest: How would you describe this new writing team?
Corday: Ryan is just a sweetheart and he and Dena really play off of each other so well. There’s a synergy there and a symbiosis. Dena is very clever and knows the show from way, way back. And Ryan is an infusion of youth who has an encyclopedic knowledge of the show. They’re very loyal to the characters and characters doing things they should be doing, not doing things they shouldn’t be doing. I pray to God that this current regime reigns long and hard. I know we have a great cast and a great staff and great producers, and not a bad composer, either.
Digest: Will we see a lot of cast changes?
Corday: Yes, but not major loss of cast. The wonderful thing is the return of some faces from the past that have been sorely missed. Lapsed viewers will come back if you give them people they want to watch. We kind of strayed there after the anniversary shows; where did everyone go? And what they were doing on-screen was silly. It was no longer romance and passion.
Digest: An NBC promo showed Orpheus, Clyde, and Xander escaping from prison and heading back to Salem. What was the thinking behind their returns?
Corday: Dena’s first stroke was to bring in the “Legion of Doom” and jeopardize everyone in Salem for a period of time. It’s exciting to have these three guys do a jailbreak and come back to Salem to wreak havoc.
Digest: We have gotten letters from people who say they can’t watch anymore because the show is too dark. What do you say to them?
Corday: “Start watching in September and then at Christmas, tell me if you still feel the same way.” I understand when viewers say they were turning it off. I felt the same, but I had to watch every day. It was painful at times.
Digest: How are you feeling about the future of the show?
Corday: Very, very positive. We had a wonderful 13,000th episode celebration. Sony has a new head of production, Zack Van Amburg, who is young and vital. Bruce Evans [SVP Current Programming at NBC Universal] is more committed than ever to making the show successful. I feel the future is as rosy as I felt it was going into the anniversary year. We didn’t fail the viewers then, and I apologize for failing the viewers for the last six months. Don’t give up. Hopefully, when I am standing on Hollywood Boulevard receiving my star [on the Walk of Fame in 2017], we will be celebrating another year or two of DAYS.
