It's been awhile since soap news has been presented here, and really the last big move was in 2011 when ABC announced the ends of One Life to Live and All My Children those soaps then ended up in some development hell , streamed for a while then ended after that. There's only 4 network soaps left. NBC has been down to one soap since the cancelation of Passions in 2007 for a 4th hour of "The Today Show".
Wednesday, Vulture reported that Days of Our Lives will be moving from NBC to the NBC Universals owned streaming service, Peacock, from September 12th. After 57 years on NBC and network TV, this means the show will be moving to an on demand pay platform and that NBC, the network, is out of the soap business themselves. (The chance of them making a new soap is probably higher than winning the lottery, but lower than being struck by lightning) As of this writing, NBC hasn't said what's happening to the hour long slot. NBC is replacing it with a new show called "NBC News Daily"
Days has had some streaming life, episodes run on Peacock, and it even had a spinoff "Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem" which has had 2 seasons and 10 episodes. Vulture also notes of the 4 daytime soaps it's the lowest rated. NBC and Sony, who make the show, have come close in the past few years with nearby cancelations, though it was recently renewed in 2021 for two more seasons.
The unknown question is if this will help the soap or will this cause it wither and eventually just go away? In other words, can the daytime show model work in streaming? That also seems to be test try as Amazon has been trying with another daytime mainstay, the court show and Judge Judy with her new series "Judy Justice". The idea of a soap was a daytime serial , new episode each day, but at a set time and watched during the day. When Soap Net existed, it did offer a chance to see it again, and with on-demand options as well, but there is something about having a linear slot and space that might not be in the advantage of moving this show. That's hard too tell. I'd hope that there would be something that keeps it going for a long time.
Will it drive people to the streaming service? Uhhhhh, again unknown. The other thing will this encourage CBS or ABC or both to decide to move their soaps to their corporate streaming sisters? That opens the possibility of an idea that could happen, but it's hard to know for the best. On the bright side, there won't be any news preemptions.
It's not like NBC, or any other network is going to replace a soap with anything that might be fun to watch or even a new soap, they'll find some cheaper, maybe news or talk based because it's easy and less risk. ABC has a third hour of GMA as a daytime show, CBS has The Talk as a replacement to a soap slot.
I hope the best for Days and hope it can continue to do well enough to continue, in this "Streaming is the Future ™" world or something. Anyway, these truly are the Days of our Lives.
Press release after the jump
