Can a New Head Writer Be the Life Saver DAYS Needs?

When news broke Monday night that Ron Carlivati would be replacing Dena Higley as Days of Our Lives headwriter, the social media world was abuzz–with many fans rejoicing and other congratulating Carlivati.

DAYS’ ratings have been sinking for the past year to the point where rumors abound that the show may not make it past 2017. While NBC execs say they’re optimistic the show will be renewed soon, there’s no guarantee. Of course, with the soap making this type of backstage move, things may be looking up.

Higley’s work began airing in September of 2015 and debuted with the Necktie Killer story.

While it added excitement to the show at first, things soon took way too dark a turn–especially when legacy character Will Horton was killed in a gruesome strangling scene that left fans outraged. After that, it seemed a dark cloud appeared over Salem and characters were seemingly at an outdoor funeral every other week.

Ratings have been plummeting since spring, and when Higley got a new co-headwriter, we thought we’d see some brighter DAYS ahead, but things just got more tiresome for many viewers as escaped convicts reigned supreme, and Theresa was written out in a contrived story that never made much sense.

Now, Higley is out and that co-headwriter, Ryan Quan, is becoming a story consultant along with Sheri Anderson Thomas, a woman who knowsSalem stories better than most as she began her stint on the writing team in the 1970s and eventually became a headwriter.

The Young and the Restless recently brought on…continue reading on the next page —>

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The Young and the Restless recently brought on Sally Sussman as headwriter, another scribe who wrote the show years back and knows its core through and through. It looks like Sony, who owns both Days of Our Lives and Y&R, might be trying the same strategy.

Carlivati was let go from GH in August of 2015 with some fan backlash and then went on to win a Writer’s Guild Award for his Port Charles stories last year. He tweeted this message when the news broke Monday.

It looks like he’s definitely looking forward to the new gig, but fans are going to have to wait about six months to see his work with so many Higley-penned DAYS episodes already in the can. Even so, it does look like a new writer with brand-new consultants are just the shot in the arm this soap needs.