How is this a win? Sure, it may be the lesser of two evils, but why should we celebrate the appointing of head writers who wrote one of the worst shows in the history of television? This is like saying soap fans should have to settle for mediocrity. I saw Dena's firing as a huge opportunity to rejuvenate Days and make sure it didn't meet the same fate as GL, ATWT, OLTL, and AMC.

Will people start stating their full names every time they walk into a room?

Passions was low rated in households, but it was very popular with the younger eyebals Madison Avenue beats off over.I am not thrilled (would have rather it be Sheri Anderson and Thom Racina, but anyone, even the chimp who fell in love with Luis Lopez Fitzgerald, is a better head writer than Dena Higley.

I am a Passions super fan. Glad for them and for the cast and crew of Days. I am thrilled to see that execs are seeing the problem is in the WRITING and are doing something about it. Shame on ABC Daytime for not making that decision sooner for AMC.

Once again Ken is taking from the James Reilly brand yet still claims he ruined Days, mhmm! However, I am game to new writers because Higley destroyed my favorite soap and made it unwatchable. I'm so optimistic right now about Days!

This is very good. As I asked before I think one of these writers is African American. This would be good and marked as a possible move forward for the series. Days needs to hit on all sides at this point to stay afloat.

OMFG THIS IS AMAZING NEWS!!! This is as close to getting JER back as it gets! Holy shit!!! I am IN HEAVEN!!! Finally, Days will be good again!!!

*does a HUUUUGE happy dance*

DaytimeFan - Yea you know you are so right. They are trying to fix things not pull the rug like they did with AMC and OLTL. At least they are trying to keep going. Thats why I say if AMC and OLTL are saved I would rather it be on a different station because ABC is mean.

Passions was and still is the punch line of jokes. It was the worst of all the bad cliches (albeit intentional) that have kept viewers tuning away from soap operas since the 90s.

Jamey, I am usually 100% behind your opinions, but I can't be happy about this one. Why not bring new writing blood to daytime? Why do these shows keep hiring writers from cancelled shows? Obviously they DO NOT have what it takes to survive in daytime.

I agree.

emblazoned, STFU. Clearly you didn't "get" Passions. If you don't like this news, STOP WATCHING DAYS!!! You have to respect the fact that Passions had an extremely loyal fanbase and is the ONLY cancelled soap in the past twenty years to get a second chance on another network.

@David. He has to be a brother. I don't know anybody but brothers who have the middle name Ray! LOL Everyone in my family has the middle name Ray (except for me) after my grandfather. We have a Brian Ray an Eddie Ray, even a Shirley ray. Hell, the new writer might be some kin to me! LOL

I'm happy for both GH and Days for getting new writers Still no new blood- which isn't good. But I guess considering the state of the industry, no one is going to take a chance.

I'm ORGASMIC thinking about these two people writing Days in the style of JER. Days was at its best (and peaked) from 93-97 when JER wrote the Golden Era of Days. If we get more stories like that, with amazing characters like Marlena, John, Carrie, and Austin, I will be over the moon!

Why do ALL sopas just trade BAD writers back and forth constantly?? Why can't they just hire some new writer that knows the show's rich history? I'll never understand why there seems to be only one writing pool from soaps. You watch, Dena will end up writing for another soap within six months.

In my book anything is better than having Dena as the head writer of Days. And I kind of liked Passions so this is something i'm kind of happy about.

Hopefully, they've got what he takes to at least make DAYS watchable again...

@THE BEST: They wrote Passions, and Days was at its best when written by Passions' creator, so I have the utmost faith in them!

Exactly.

@ Jamey: You know the first thought that came into my head when I read the news was of a singing mermaid, a big old woman running around with a skeleton head, an orangutang for a nurse and a lesbian who is thin-as-hell who rips off her face is the stalky villain Alistair Crane.

Then my mind flipped to endless weeks of women getting raped and it being played out like they had just been pulling out a hang-nail. Over and over again. And it was not in just one storyline it was many at the same time with different characters as the rapist.

Side note: There is no way anyone could "get that." I'm just saying Allistaircrane, about the weekly raping mess in not one but several storylines.

Yet getting back to the topic at hand I hope they ditch whatever they might have picked up from James E. Reilly there or were just forced to write that crappy stuff. Because we don't need none of that at Days.

I would have preferred to have Sally Sussman Morina or even have had them recruit Ron Carlivati or Lorraine Broderick (She was a writer there before). Hell, even LML would be good at this point.

So we'll see.

The remaining soaps seem to be on a creative upswing this week. Now if they just fired Scott Hamner and Hogan Sheffer, Y&R might be good again!

Wow Alistair cant we have different views here without being told to STFU? You sound like a child. I think we should all see what happens before making judgements, I am very optimistic! I agree with Jamey anyone is better than ol' girl! DAYS hasn't just been bad it has been BORING!

David, Passions was a HIT. Days under JER was so successful that they allowed him to create Passions in the first place. We need more writers with JER's creativity and genius. This is an EXCELLENT move for Days. I haven't watched since JER left in 2006, but I will be watching again!!

IMPORTANT NEWS: Marlene Clark Poulter wrote for Days from 1993-97, encompassing JER's era. So she's familiar with these characters and Days' best style of storytelling. Quit whining about the Passions connection and take joy knowing someone who worked on Days' golden era is coming back!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlene_Clark_Poulter

BRANDO- All the networks use the same tired writers because they know they can handle the huge amount of work it takes to write soaps. Good or bad, they know they will have SOMETHING to film. To me, that is the MAIN reason for the end of the genre, there is no new blood. Both ATWT and OLTL were critically acclaimed when they took a chance on newbies Hogan S. and Ron C.

I'm willing to give this a chance. I was a fan of Passions, for the most part. Preferred its first four years or so to the latter ones, but anything would be better than Dena Higley at this point (knock on wood). I also have to give Passions props for being the most diverse soap on the air, and if one of these writers wrote for DOOL in the past, they should know the characters well enough.

To those demanding some new blood, I hear you. The problem with that though, is that soaps are a dying breed, and I would imagine the task of HWing a daytime soap is probably daunting. Being in charge of that many episodes a year, trying to plot out stories to last for months, the fast pace, I'm not sure it's something most television writers can do. We all talk about how we could do a better job than some of these hacks, but I'm sure it's a difficult task to take on. On top of that, there are blackout periods to save money, forcing the writers to work double time to make up for those couple of weeks when nobody is working. Writing for soaps seems to be nothing short of a nightmare presently.

These two writers also have experience working with Gary Tomlin, Days' EP, who was a director on Passions for years. Also, the last time Days brought in a male/female headwriting team with no previous headwriting experience, it was the very success Peter Brash/Paula Cwikly pairing from 2002-03 who turned Tom Langan's shit into gold. This is GOOD news!

A hit with 12-17 year olds. The prepubescent bunch. And even they jumped ship once Passions became worse than Nelly's Tip Drill video as it related to women. After year 5 Mr. Rielly felt sexual abuse and misuse of women was all the rage in every storyline.

But I will give these writers a shot at Days...

Marlene won a Writer's Guild Award for Best Writing along with the rest of Days' writing staff in 1999 and has been nominated for several Daytime Emmys for both Days AND Passions.

David, that's the audience networks and advertisers want. And JER delivered the goods! And it's sad and ignorant that you just dismissed all teenagers like that.