Thursday, April 5, 2012

Gary Tomlin & Chrstopher Whitesell Named New DAYS OF OUR LIVES Head Writers; Lorraine Broderick Joins Team; Marlene McPherson & Darrell Ray Thomas, Jr. Out

DAYS OF OUR LIVES head writers Marlene McPherson and Darrell Ray Thomas Jr., who were hired last May to lead a reboot of the show, have been replaced by former DAYS Co-Executive Producer and one-time Co-Head Writer Gary Tomlin and former DAYS Co-Head writer Christopher Whitesell. Soap Opera Digest reported the news in their latest issue.

McPherson just tweeted the following: "Thank you DOOL fans. U r the best and we love you! NBC never let us tell our stories. They kept stopping us and changing our direction. Sad."

Gary Tomlin acted on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and ANOTHER WORLD before moving into writing, directing and producing daytime soaps. Whitesell has written for at least eight daytime soaps in the past.

Lorraine Broderick, most recently the final writer for ALL MY CHILDREN, has also joined the DAYS writing staff as a breakdown writer.

What do you think of this move? Share your thoughts in our Comments sections.

7 comments:

  1. It would make more sense if they stopped taping months ahead.

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  2. It would be interesting to know which stories NBC didn't let them tell and which stories they forced a change of direction.

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  3. Saddened because Marlene and Darrell are such wonderful people, with only the best intentions.

    That being said, I feel Gary and Chris have understood the feeling of DAYS and the essence of Salem more than any other team in the past 10 years. They understand pacing, plotting, character evolution, and revelations in a way that made DAYS so much fun in 2009-2011.

    I am very excited about this change.

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  4. I agree with the first comment in that it's hard to make changes when you are so far ahead with your taping. I know it's a way to save money, but we aren't going to see any changes for quite a while. I would find it hard to promote the show if I were them unless the new "thing" is promote big changes down the road. on a day to day basis, I'm most interested in Will's coming out and his wonderful relationship with Marlena and hope that does not get lost in the shuffle. It would have been nice to have the new head writers' perspective at Outfest last week.

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  5. My only hope is the new writers don't go crazy and forget what most of DAYS fans want and the direction we want the show to evolve in. For the first time in years, I was finally getting into the show once again and so were many of my friends and family. I hate to think it will go back to revolving around so many young characters that nobody cares much about and that they will strive for the continuity of family and love stories that are worth watching.

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  6. Hi!,I just wanted to say with the new headwriting team coming to days of our lives.what does mean for all of us who love peter reckell and kristian and there character of bo and hope.

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  7. It is my hope that with this new team coming in there are no significant cast changes.

    I feel one thing that hurt the reset was losing Nadia, Crystal and Louise. You essentially traded tit for tat as far as ratings were concerned; all the returns may have bumped up the numbers a bit, but the exits cost the show a lot of viewers in my opinion.

    And Jane, I respectfully disagree. This young set is the most talented we've had since the days of Salem High. I didn't really care for the focus on the school at all times, but you can't deny Farah Fath, Jay Johnson, Kirsten Storms, Jason Cook, Nadia Bjorlin... all of them made a great team.

    Chandler Massey is getting some wonderful material to play. The "Will is gay" story will continue, and I just wonder if Sonny will see more time in it. Some characters have been shoved to the back burner and need to be back out front.

    I shouldn't be surprised that NBC is interfering; clearly the network that canceled Another World, Sunset Beach, Santa Barbara, Generations, etc., hasn't learned a damn thing.

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