A few weeks ago, amidst a flurry of shocking entertainment news stories, NBC quietly tried to promote its new afternoon news hour, seemingly unconnected to the four-hour juggernaut that is The Today Show. Buried in the item was the fact NBC would be making room for the new show by moving its long-running daytime serial, Days of Our Lives, over to its streaming service, Peacock. Apparently, NBC hadn't told the cast and crew of this fact until the news broke. Now, the show was readying its new season, so this would be a very important thing to know before too many episodes were recorded. [Unlike most other serials, Days is known for recording an entire season in one complete block of dates. The more common practice is to record for a few weeks, take some weeks off, and repeat. Supposedly, Days can save time and money doing it this way, but it also can cause problems it there are scheduling changes well down the line.] This part of the item made major headlines throughout the entertainment industry as Days was the last serial NBC was still airing. Over the past thirty years, the six or seven others were cancelled. Two, or three, of them, I watched. I only watched one, Passions, from its debut until the time it was cancelled. [Technically, it did continue for awhile, but on a service I didn't have, and I don't think I even have now.]. I started watching Days one summer in high school. Maybe the year after I graduated. It's been over thirty years, so the exact time is lost to me. Anyway, I was bored that summer, in the middle of the afternoon, so I decided to watch another serial on the same channel as another one I started watching a few years earlier to fight boredom, Santa Barbara. I think one of the first scenes on that first day involved someone stopping a wedding because the bride was a gold digger who was only going through with the marriage to somehow make money. I can't be sure, but I think in involved Victor Kiriakis, Justin Kiriakis, and John Black (back when he still thought he was Roman Brady) in some fashion. Since that first day, I've tried to catch every episode, recording it on one of my trusty VCRs (see last week's post for more on that). I've missed a few episodes of the years, due to preemptions, power failures, and relocation for a month-and-a-half due to a flood, but I tried to get recaps whenever I couldn't watch. First from magazines, more lately online synopses. I should have seen this coming when Peacock aired its second Beyond Salem series with very little lead in, and as a premium show instead of the basic tier like last year. This is what angers me. See, Peacock has multiple subscription levels. Basic allows a subscriber to watch a wide variety of older programming, with ads. That is the level I subscribed to when I signed up to watch the first Beyond Salem series. However, it looks like Days will be on the Premium level. No ads, but you have to pay, about five or six dollars per month, possibly less if you encounter a special promotion. I don't really have the extra money per month right now to be able to do that, especially since I would have to use a credit card as the basis. Such deals are usually set up to renew automatically. I am not the one to try and remember to keep checking such services to make sure the money is available. Now, there might be some benefits for Days by moving to streaming (saucier language, more skin, no preemptions), but the money issue is the big downside for me. In a few weeks time, I will be forced to survive on recaps and synopses, of rat least another year. [Days was renewed for two years, but with the move, the contract might be changed. So, only one year should be guaranteed, not the second one.]. I hate this, especially with the major murder mystery plot going on. Hopefully, it will be resolved in the next three weeks. If not, I will say goodbye, incomplete. "Like sands through the hourglass,..."
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