It’s really turned into a soap opera at “Days of our Lives.”
The show is on hiatus this week as Ken Corday, who owns the show with Sony TV, decides what to do about EP Albert Alarr. The cast want him out. According to Deadline, 25 actors have signed a petition saying just that.
Some actors are speaking out on social media, others are hiding. Both Arianne Zuker and Peter Reckell have Tweeted about the situation. Alarr has been investigated internally within the company for years of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Fans have reacted also, taking to social media to demand Alarr’s removal and the reinstatement of previous EP Greg Meng. Never have backstage politics at a soap spilled out into the public like this before.
And there’s been nary a peep from the nominal star of the show, Diedre Hall, who’s played Dr. Marlena Evans since 1976. You’d think by now she’d say something, but remaining mum is probably what’s kept her there all these years.
A lot of the trouble at Days can be attributed to Corday, who inherited the show from his parents, Ted and Betty Corday. I’m told he’s the absolute example of the second generation mismanaging the first generation’s creation. He produces the show on the cheap, and seems to be loyal to himself only. According to Deadline, Corday’s office is removed from the set, and there’s no HR rep for the show except for Alarr.
Soap actors are famous for not speaking out about anything lest they be blackballed. As the number of shows has fallen from around 13 to just 4, actors vie for spots as if the shows were rescue rowboats from the Titanic. If anyone complains about poor treatment, low pay, long hours, getting written out, etc, it’s unlikely they’ll work again in this town.
So now everyone waits to see what happens with Alarr, who cannot possibly remain with the show with so much public enmity. Or can he? Or will he be killed off only to be replaced by a lookalike, a “good” twin brother who shows up unexpectedly?
Stay tuned!
PS There’s also a subplot on “Days.” I broke the story last week that the character played by late great actor John Aniston would finally have a funeral this month. Aniston died last November. I mentioned in a second column that his character, Victor Kiriakis, would die in a plane crash. That news has traveled fast, with reports of Jennifer Aniston “objecting” to this because she doesn’t like to fly. That part of it seems preposterous. But what doesn’t at that show right now?
