Days of Our Knives on ID

Two press releases on PRNewswire today announce programming on their channel that may appeal to soap viewers past and present. Days of our Knives will be a three-hour block with soap opera actors hosting the show. As part of this they will have a first look at Susan Lucci's new show on September 1 called Deadly Affairs.

The actors involved with Days of Our Knives are primarily performers who have had long associations with the genre. Each group of performers will be on for one week. It begins August 20, 2012 and Guiding Light alumni Robert Newman and Kim Zimmer (aka Josh and Reva or Jeva) are hosting shows on the topic of Tainted Love. Since this was a book on Port Charles, I was expecting to see cast members from that show, but I digress. I do appreciate that they didn't only include west coast soap performers. Week two has Lynn Herring (Lucy on General Hospital and Port Charles), Jackie Zeman (Bobbie GH) and Judi Evans (Adrienne from Days among other roles.) Of course, when did Adrienne become a bad girl, though some of Judi's other soap roles would fit the bill. Week three around the theme of revenge is hosted by Drake Hogestyn and Kristian Alffonso (John and Hope from Days). Week four is entitled bad boys and hosted by Matt Ashford (Jack on Days among other roles) and Kin Shriner (Scotty on GH and Port Charles). Considering their most famous roles this is appropriate. Double Lives is week five and hosted by Laurence Lau and Alicia Minshew (Greg and Kendall from AMC). This one I don't fully understand especially since while they were both on AMC they weren't from the same era. Week six features family secrets and hosted by Austin Peck and Terri Conn, who are married. I wonder if she will be visibly pregnant when they tape these segments. In the press release, they reference their roles on As the World Turns as Brad and Katie, but for some he's Austin the 2nd on Days or One Life to Live's porn producer Rick and she as reformed con artist Aubrey.

ID is a related station to the Discovery Channel, that I watch on occasion. They mainly air true crime stories, some of which include reenactments. What is interesting to me is how in the press release it says how it is number four in the daytime ratings for women 25-54. I wonder how many of those people used to watch soap operas.

That said I can understand why some people would be frustrated with what ID is doing. They want to support the shows still on the air, and having another channel use soap stars may hurt the remaining soaps on the air. Also the genre of the programs they are hosting falls into the reality show genre. Reality shows hurt scripted ones as they are cheaper to produce.

I'm glad that the actors involved in this are getting paid and in the case of some of them that we get to see them again. The only contract cast members on the list are Alfonso and Hogestyn from Days, the rest are either seldom seen or no longer on a soap opera whether it was cancelled or they were let go. I hope ID will air these programs during a second time slot, that doesn't interfere with the shows that still produce new episodes.