The world of daytime television might be about to dramatically change, with TV Line reporting that the entire cast of Days Of Our Lives has been released from their contracts, seemingly indicating that the long-running soap’s days are numbered. By the end of November, when production wraps on the show’s 55th year, it will have banked enough episodes to last through next summer, but it still remains to be seen what will happen after that. TV Line explains that Corday Productions, which handles the actors’ contracts, will have to offer new ones if NBC and Sony Pictures Television decide to keep the show around (which they’ve haven’t yet), and if that does happen, it’ll have an opportunity to save a bunch of money by offering “take-it-or-leave” contracts at a “reduced rate.”
That means, even if Days Of Our Lives does come back after next summer, it might either have a smaller cast (if only some of the actors take cheaper contracts) or a full cast that just makes less money than before. Or maybe nobody takes reduced contracts. Or maybe Corday Productions won’t reduce the contracts at all. Or maybe the show will just get quietly canceled eight months before the final episodes actually air. That would be a tragic way for an icon of the soap opera genre to go out, but just silently stopping would kind of fit the whole “sands of an hourglass” theme.