Tristan Rogers keeps landing big names for his web series Reality Bytes. Former Days of our Lives leading man Drake Hogestyn has joined the cast as Jerry Parker and now his former General Hospital co-star Tonja Walker has signed on as Avery Meadows.
TVGuide.ca: Yeah, but you’re not just anyone. You’re Drake Hogestyn — the male lead of the show.
DH: You can’t assume that — even if people tell you that you’ll be on the show until the cows come home. When you look at the show from a fiscal standpoint … listen, we all knew there were budget problems. When NBC cancelled a show [Passions] that they owned outright, we all immediately knew that DAYS was on the chopping block next because NBC doesn’t own our show. Looking at my character, even one as popular as John Black, the cost/benefit wasn’t worth it, obviously. And I can see why they made the decision to fire Dee and me despite the fact that I offered to go back to my 1986 salary.
But were you shocked that Days dumped Deidre Hall (Marlena) and Drake Hogestyn (John)? I try to look at things from a production standpoint, and if they have created a core of younger cast members with a loyal following who does not care about John and Marlena that it sort of makes sense. Do they want to continue serving the older audience? People are passing away so you’ve got to let the show grow.
"For the ardent John and Marlena and Patch and Kayla fans, great, you can still see them at their luncheons,. That was then, this is now." READ MORE
"There's an old expression: I could have been an actor, then I got a soap opera," Hogestyn said.
"It stopped being about me. It stopped being about me going out for film. It stopped being about me pursuing anything that I wanted to do -- what my dreams were as an actor," said the father of four. "My mission was to provide for these little birds in the nest. . . . I think that's why I kept the character alive for so long."
Now, he said, "I have taken a couple steps back to breathe. It's always been the show, the show. . . . Now, I can be selfish if I want." READ MORE
Days of Our Lives fired Thaao Penghlis, Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans and the unexpected news brought Luke, Mike, Jamey and Jillian together for a second Days of Our Lives emergency episode in the past six months.
They discuss the impact the firings of these veteran actors will have on the show. They talk about what this means for the remaining actors over forty still on the show and speculate who Ken Corday might axe next. They answer a reader's question of which is worse, to watch vets like Nichols and Evans get fired and keep the Days of Our Lives sets or have the show end up with a production model like Guiding Light. Luke asks if these latest firings could all be apart of Corday's scheme to get Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn back later in the year. Mike, Jamey and Jillian weigh in on if they think it is a realist possibility.
Fans of Patch and Kayla call in with their reaction to the surprising firings and vent their frustrations at the decisions by NBC, Corday, Dena Higley and the other executives at the show.
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