Ron Carlivati In as 'Days of our Lives' Head Writer, Dena Higley Out, Sheri Anderson Thomas Returns as Consultant

Ron Carlivati has been named the new head writer of Days of our Lives.

Daytime Emmy and WGA Award winning former One Life to Live and General Hospital head writer Ron Carlivati has been named the new head writer of NBC daytime soap opera Days of our Lives, replacing the current team of Dena Higley and Ryan Quan.

According to Soap Opera Digest, Quan will remain at Days with a new title, Creative Consultant. Sheri Anderson Thomas, who served on the Days of our Lives writing team in various capacities, including head writer and co-head writer in the 1980s and 1990s, will also hold the Creative Consultant title.

"We look forward to the fresh and compelling stories these changes will bring to Salem," Days of our Lives said in a statement.

“Like Sands Through the Hourglass,” Carlivati tweeted tonight, a reference to Days' famous intro.

Anderson Thomas shared her excited in a message on Facebook.

"I was a huge fan of the show before I met my mentor, Pat Falken Smith, and was lucky enough to also be mentored by the phenomenal Betty Corday," she wrote. "I am am thrilled, and honored, to be returning, and especially with Ron who's a brilliant storyteller and great guy. Upwards!"

The staff changes come as Days of our Lives faces an indefinite future. As Deadline recently reported, discussions are underway for a 52nd, and possibly final, season. NBC's hire of Fox News' Megyn Kelly brought speculation of a morning talk show that could shake-up the network's daytime schedule.

At the recent Television Critics' Association press tour, NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt told Deadline about Days, "We haven't made decisions, but we like that show. I think we will know more in couple of months. As they age, these shows diminish, there is a lot of delayed viewing and very little linear viewing anymore, you have to keep looking at that."

'Days of our Lives' Writer Dena Higley: "Love Conquering All" Is The Goal of Stories

In the latest issue of Soap Opera Digest, new Days of our Lives head writing team of Dena Higley and Ryan Quan outline their vision for iconic NBC soap opera.

“I think for me, the goal this time, especially coming in after a certain period of a lot of dark stories, is that we don’t want to shy away from conflict and drama, but always with the goal of love conquering all,” Higley explains.

The scripts from the new writing duo began airing on September 6.

Adds Quan, “I just want to make the show feel like the show I grew up watching that had a mix of mystery and adventure and romance and fun.”

The Newest "New" Plan to Save 'Days of our Lives'

On September 6, the work of the latest head writing team at Days of our Lives begins airing. This go around, Dena Higley is paired with rising star Ryan Quan, which means it's time for the new new new new new (you get it) plan to says Days!

In the new issue of Soap Opera Digest, executive producer Ken Corday talks about what went wrong after the show’s well-received 50th anniversary celebration last November, how they’re fixing it (again), and the "synergy" and "symbiosis" that the new co-head writing team of Higley and Quan (Quigley?) brings to the table.

"After Christmas and January, it had really started to take a left turn,"Corday tells the magazine. "I was very concerned about the lack of romance on the show, the lack of focus on the show, and I made my concerns known."

"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," Corday says. "Dena and Ryan have done a wonderful job of resetting it and getting it out of that dark place it was in."

Find out more in the new issue of Digest, on sale now.

Josh Griffith Out as 'Days of our Lives'! Ryan Quan Is New Co-Head Writer with Dena Higley

Josh Griffith joined NBC soap opera Days of our Lives in 2015 as part of a co-head writing team with Dena Higley. As of today, Griffith is out, according to Soap Opera Digest. He will be replaced by promoted 38-year-old staff writer Ryan Quan.

Quan graduated from UCLA in 1999 and started off his soap career by winning Procter & Gamble's writing contest for college students. Quan was the writers' assistant for Passions from 1999-2005 and served as the show's website coordinator from 2005-2007.

Quan joined Days as a writers' assistant in 2007 and wrote his first trial script for the show in September 2008. He joined the writing staff full-time in late 2009.

Did Days dump the right co-head writer? Do you think Higley and Quan will make a successful team? Weigh in below in our Comments section.

'Days of our Lives' Adds Vincent Irizarry to the Cast (Updated)

Vincent Irizarry will play Deimos on Days of our Lives

With the impending exit of quite a few actors, Days of our Lives is replenishing its cast with fresh young talent and multiple Emmy Award winners. On the heels of Emmy winners A Martinez and Jordi Vilasuso joining the cast comes word that Vincent Irizarry is the latest actor to come on board. Irizarry won his Daytime Emmy six years ago today, for his compelling portrayal of Dr. David Hayward on All My Children.

Irizarry's other soap roles include Lujack/Nick on Guiding Light, Scott on Santa Barbara, and David on The Young and the Restless.

Details about his new Days character have not yet been revealed. Stay tuned!

UPDATE #1:
According to Days co-head writer Dena Higley, Irizarry will be playing "the younger brother of one of our regulars. He comes to town with only one thing on his mind... revenge."

NEWS: Dena Higley, Scott Turner Schofield, Nicki Minaj, Vanessa Ray, Britney Spears

Britney Spears to guest star on The CW's Jane the Virgin
"We are so thrilled that Rogelio's 'nemesis'—Britney Spears—has agreed to appear on Jane the Virgin in Episode 205," says Jane the Virgin showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman. "Personally, after hearing about their longstanding feud (from Rogelio's point of view), we are eager to hear Ms. Spears' side of the story, which we assume is quite different. #TeamBritney”

Vanessa Ray as PLL's CeCe Drake.

As the World Turns alum Vanessa Ray on how she found out she was Pretty Little Liars' "A"
"We normally don’t get scripts until we get on set, but they couriered this one over to me. I was like, 'That’s weird.' I figured not at a lot was revealed, which is why they sent it around. Marlene texted me right away, 'Did you get it? I’m really excited for you to read it!' So I read it casually in my apartment, and when I got to Page 4, it says, 'It’s CeCe effing Drake,' or whatever word they used. I screamed and I threw the script across the room. My soon-to-be-husband came out to see if I was OK, and I was like, 'You’re not going to believe what’s in that!' It was the Neverending Story book all of a sudden. The script had power, I thought light was going to beam out of it."

Co-head writer Dena Higley takes leave of absence from Days of our Lives
Higley, co-head writer of Days with Josh Griffith, has taken a leave of absence from the soap opera citing personal reasons. There's no word on when Higley is set to resume her duties.

Scott Turner Schofield talks to Perez Hilton about The Bold and the Beautiful's historic wedding involving a transgender character
"Everybody knows a gay or lesbian or bisexual person. Even if it's only Ellen DeGeneres. Now people know a transgender person — Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox, Maya, even maybe me. But in reality, everybody knows a person in their own small town now who is LGBT. People want to see their brother's, classmate's, colleague's lives told well. They demand it with us and for us with their voices and their remote controls and their dollars."

The Bold and the Beautiful casting bisexual character
B&B is looking for a white male between the ages of 25-28 to play the role of "Christian". The character, who works in fashion, is described as being sophisticated, professional, having a great sense of style and possibly a comic side to him.

George R.R. Martin: I'm planning a "bittersweet" ending for Game of Thrones
Martin says the ending, which he hasn’t written, will be in the vein of the Lord of the Rings ending. "I’ve said before that the tone of the ending that I’m going for is bittersweet,” he says.

Antenna TV to show full episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Starting January 1, Antenna TV will show Carson reruns from 1972 to 1992 at 11 p.m. each night. The scheduling of episodes will be carefully curated to run as themed weeks or months, as well as episodes that coincide with notable anniversaries, holidays and other milestones.

The Secret Behind Old Soap Opera Plot Twists
In the mid-20th-century glory days of radio and TV soap operas, audiences—and advertisers—expected new episodes virtually non-stop. But that created a dilemma for cast members. The solution, as TIME explained exactly 75 years ago, in the August 12, 1940, issue, led to some of the plot twists that became central to the drama-heavy genre.

Nicki Minaj originally wanted to be a soap opera actress
Last week, Minaj paid a visit to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in conjunction with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. She spoke to children about important topics like art, education, and her journey from unknown rapper to platinum-selling superstar. She told everyone that she originally aspired to be a soap opera actress so she could buy her mom a house.

Homeland Season 5 will tackle ISIS, Edward Snowden, Vladimir Putin and Charlie Hebdo
“The first episode’s going to deal with Russia — what’s Putin up to? What’s going on with this tricky relationship there?” says Showtime president David Nevins. “It deals with ISIS. Charlie Hebdo. (Edward) Snowden, cyber terrorism, surveillance. These are interesting elements to the season, which brings a lot of things together.”

Showtime renews Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex
Both shows will return with 12-episode seasons in 2016.

'Days of our Lives' Head Writer Switch: Tomlin & Whitesell Out, Higley & Griffith In

Days of our Lives has replaced the show's head writing team, according to Soap Opera Digest.

Head Writers Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell are out and Dena Higley and Josh Griffith will be replacing them, effective February 16.

Griffith's writing credits include General Hospital, As the World Turns, One Life to Live, Santa Barbara, One Life to Live and, most recently, The Young and the Restless from 2012-2013.

Higley previously served as head writer at Days in 2003, and again from 2008-2011.

Based on social media buzz of late, Days needed a shot in the arm but is bringing Dena Higley back the right move? Weigh in below in our Comments section.

Dena Higley 'Momaholic': They told me this so many times that I actually started to believe them

Former DAYS OF OUR LIVES and ONE LIFE TO LIVE scribe Dena Higley has written a new book, "Momaholic: Crazy Confessions of a Helicopter Parent." The book chronicles Higley’s meltdown in the face of workplace and family pressures, as well as her own self-imposed requirement to be a supermom to four children.

"Momaholic" is one woman's private, dramatic, and often comical invitation to peek inside a time in her life where everything fell apart and she had to take an honest look at what she was doing right and what she'd been doing terribly wrong. With this simple discovery, her whacky family's season of becoming unraveled found a new glue (other than her blood, sweat and tears) that would re-bond her family and unite them in a deeper and more functional way than ever before.

The real life characters:

Dena Higley Out as Head Writer of 'Days of our Lives'

Dena Higley

A spokeswoman for Days of our Lives has confirmed that Dena Higley has vacated her post as head writer for the NBC sudser and will be replaced by Marlene McPherson and Darrell Ray Thomas.

Ken Corday, executive producer of Days of our Lives, announced that Marlene McPherson and Darrell Ray Thomas have been named the head writing team on NBC’s longest running scripted program, effective immediately. “McPherson and Thomas will bring Days of our Lives back to its core values by telling exciting stories with a fresh and contemporary approach including beloved characters,” said Corday.

Higley's exit was first reported by Soap Opera Network.