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Megyn Kelly may be headed to NBC's 9 a.m. weekday timeslot instead of
afternoons, where a new show might be considered as a replacement for
Days of our Lives. |
FOX News host Megyn Kelly officially signed on with NBC last week, wrapping her popular 9 p.m. ET program on Friday. Kelly will be hosting daily daytime show and a Sunday newsmagazine program at NBC, and the announcement kicked off much speculation that the weekday show she will be leading at her new network might replace iconic soap opera
Days of our Lives.
Days is officially renewed through this September, but is likely to be picked up for another season, until September 2018. Unless, of course, NBC finds a surefire replacement series, but those are very hard to come by, including Kelly's, especially with an audience as loyal as soap viewers.
People Magazine reported last week that a source connected to
Days revealed that several cast members were told that this upcoming year of the series will likely be its last. The source said executives at the show have given some key staffers indication that their days are numbered.
“Basically, we’ve heard that there won’t be a
Days in 2018,” said the source associated with the show, which recently celebrated its 51st anniversary.
Despite that worrison report, sources inside and outside NBC are now telling
The Hollywood Reporter that Kelly may be headed for mornings instead of afternoons, with the network possibly giving Kelly the troubled 9 a.m. hour of
Today. The move could solve the network's ratings woes without the hassle of launching a daytime talk show that would likely have an uphill climb when making its sales pitch to affiliates.
With Kelly, NBC News execs have the opportunity to rebrand the 9 a.m. hour of
Today to fit her strengths as a reporter and interviewer and also achieve some flow between the more news-focused flagship block.
"It's another high-end talent in your most profitable block," says one industry observer. "If you keep her in her lane, can she do her kind of show at 9 a.m. versus 9 p.m.? I'd buy that."
Regardless of what happens with Kelly,
Days fans are still worried about the show's future after the next renewal. Ratings will likely need to pick up significantly to justify production beyond September 2018, at least on NBC. It's hard to imagine the show's production company, Sony Pictures Television, would not pursue alternative outlets before letting the beloved daytime drama sign off forever.
"Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives."
NBC will be airing new episodes of Days of our Lives throughout the Winter Olympics this month. However, due to Winter Olympic programming airing live each day across all time zones from 3-5 p.m. ET (2-4 p.m. CT, 1-3 p.m. MT, 12-2 p.m. PT) so viewers in the Mountain and Pacific time zones will need to check with their local affiliates to find out when Days will air in their local markets.
Longtime NBC executive Bruce Evans has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Current Programming. He will report to NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke.
One of my favorite couples on classic NBC soap opera Another World was Catlin Ewing and Sally Frame, portrayed by Thomas Ian Griffith and Mary Page Keller in the mid-1980s. Griffith and Keller became a real-life couple as well, and are still together more than three decades later. Keller continued to act, mostly recently in Chasing Life, Pretty Little Liars and Bosch. Griffith has turned his attention became the camera, writing and producing episodes of Grimm. Griffith is now reuniting with Grimm executive producers Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner for another hourlong project at NBC. The network has put in development The Dunnings, a family dance-school drama Griffth and Keller, Universal Television and Hayes and Milliner's studio-based Hazy Mills.
Former All My Children star Alicia Minshew guest stars on this week's episode of The Blacklist, airing Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
Former daytime and primetime soap opera star Alec Baldwin, a two-time Emmy winner and Tony Award and Oscar nominee who has been on top of the cultural zeitgeist with his performance as President Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live," has been cast as Col. Nathan Jessep in NBC's upcoming live "A Few Good Men," from esteemed playwright and Oscar and Emmy winner Aaron Sorkin, who will executive produce and adapt his own play for the broadcast.
NBC has announced premiere dates for its 2017-18 fall schedule, which includes last season's #1 new series, "This Is Us"; the return of one of the most honored and beloved comedies of all time, "Will & Grace"; the Edie Falco-starrer "Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders"; and new Monday night drama "The Brave."
“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”
Check out the day-to-day spoilers and a sneak peek video below to find out what's happening on NBC soap opera Days of our Lives during the week of November 28-December 2, 2016. 
