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Days Of Our Lives

Jay Johnson and Shelley Hennig leaving Days of our Lives!

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

Photo Credit: JPI Studios

We heard the rumblings of this late last week, but we can now confirm, and as Soap Opera Digest printed today, Days of our Lives younger set is about to be minus two more major players.  Both Jay Kenneth Johnson (Phillip) and Shelley Hennig (Stephanie) have decided to leave the NBC soap series.  This comes on the heels of the news of the firing of Mark Hapka (Nathan).

Both Hennig and Johnson spoke with SOD and offered their thoughs on why it was time to take the leap from daytime to pursue primetime and film careers: “It just feels right,” says Hennig.  “I have been preparing for this for awhile, so I have said my mental good-byes. I will miss the faces I see here every day, but everybody has been really encouraging and has embraced my decision…. I feel like I’m going out with a bang after last week’s air shows and I feel great about it creatively and I am thankful to the writers for giving me that. I am thankful for this role that DAYS has given me and will miss playing this character. I am forever thankful for the fans and this wonderful gift that was given to me. It’s been a lot of fun to play and I wouldn’t change anything.” Hennig’s last tape date is February 2.

Johnson stated,”It feels perfect. The story ended and there’s a lot of stuff going on out there. I thought about it a lot; it just felt like the right time. I want to thank the fans for continuing to watch and following me from my first stint to the other shows I’ve done and back to here. I hope they keep an eye on me in the future.”

We at On-Air On-Soaps wish two of our dear professional friends the best of luck in their new endeavors!

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They have to be recasting Phillip right? Brent Claywell?

JKJ leaving just SUCKS! Sacrificed at the altar of Melanie. Dena Higley has scant regard for legacy families and characters. Every actor in close contact with the character of Melanie has been turned into a prop for her. Who wants to sign up for that endless monotony. JKJ has been treated like a man bag for too long!!

3 actors deciding to leave at the same time speaks volumes. These are great actors who’s characters have been badly neglected for some time and I don’t blame them one bit for moving on but I will miss them especially JKJ in the role of Phillip. People have been posting for months on all the boards how things need to change at DOOL. Since they seem to ignore their viewers hopefully this will be wake up call for them to make the needed changes in the writing dept. They need to get rid of the dead weight both in the writing dept and one actor and focus on better utilizing the amazing talents on the show. We have barely even seen Justin and Adrienne and the Bope and Chad sl have been way to spread out.

I am sick of Dena Higley’s total disregard of the history of Days of Our Lives and it’s characters. I have watched this show since 1983 and the direction this show has taken makes me sick. She takes great characters like Philp, Chloe, Stephanie etc and uses them as props for the characters she wants on screen and it shows. It’s time for Dena Higley to go.

Wow. It seems as though the show is falling apart. I’m a long-time viewer who rarely tunes in anymore because the show is not enjoyable to me. If they lose James Scott I will never watch the show again. He is the only actor I still enjoy.

I agree with you, once James leaves, I will no longer watch Days.

I am in total agreement with you. James goes, I go! I can do better with my time than watch Days go down the toilet!

Me too James goes, I go! The one reason I keep watching is James Scott!!!!

I never put my ‘eggs in one basket’ when it comes to soap operas, meaning I never watch any soap for just one actor or character. I will miss JKJ as Phillip, but I am glad to see SH’s Stephanie depart. I wonder if these roles will be recast or if the show will just focus on the other characters coming to the canvas, including Dario, Abby, and Taylor.

The show is losing a lot because three of it’s best actors are leaving. First Mark and now Jay and Shelley. Although I don’t care for Stephanie any longer (ever since she and Phillip broke up), I do think Shelley is an amazing young actress. Jay and Mark are also both very good actors and were given terrible material to work with. I wish them all the best and I pray that the show will wake up and give the other characters some real s/l besides Sami/EJ/Rafe/Nicole and Chloe/Daniel/Melanie

OH NO!!! I can’t believe JKJ is leaving!!! and right on the heels of his chracter having two babies, though I really think Chloe’s baby will end up being Daniel’s in the long run. I don’t mean to sound harsh but I didn’t care one way or the other about Mark Hapka except to hope he has succes in the future and quite honestly I haven’t been a fan of Stephanie for years, the last time I really liked her was back when she was with Max but Shelley is a great actress and I’m sure she’ll be sccessful in all her future endeavors. My brother will be sad though… when he’s sort of forced into watching Days all he can talk about is Stephanie.. and then Chloe. I’m fairlycertain JKJwill go far but I am completely bumbed about this!!!

Once James Scott is out of Days. I who have been watching DOOL for the past twenty years will STOP BIG TIME>!!

Days Of Our Lives

DAYS Alum Tanner Stine to Appear in ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ Starring Nicholas Chavez

Another face familiar to daytime fans has already boarded Ryan Murphy’s limited series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story which stars General Hospital favorite, Nicholas Chavez (Spencer Cassadine) in the role of Lyle.

Tanner Stine who played Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) and Steve’s (Stephen Nichols) son, Joey Johnson on Days of our Lives will also appear in the series.

In ‘Monsters’, look for Stine to portray the role of Perry Berman, who was Lyle and Erik’s friend and former tennis coach. In the story, Perry found himself at the epicenter of the murder mystery when he had accepted a phone call from Lyle shortly before the brutal murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez.

Photo: JPI

Other previously announced castings included: Cooper Koch (who plays Erik), Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as parents Jose and Kitty Menendez, Nathan Lane as Dominick Dunne, Ari Graynor as Leslie Abramson, and Leslie Grossman as Judalon Smyth.

Photo: IMDb

In the series, the two wealthy brothers stand trial for shooting their parents in Beverly Hills, amid claims of self-defense after years of abuse, while prosecutors alleged that greed was the motives for the killing. Lyle and Erik Menendez have been behind bars in California for more than three decades for the 1989 killing of their parents.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will debut later in 2024 on Netflix.

What do you think about Tanner Stine being part of the all-star cast for ‘Monsters’? Miss Joey on Days of our Lives? Comment below.

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Breaking News

51st Annual Daytime Emmy Nominations Set to Be Announced

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences revealed on Wednesday via X, that this year’s 51st annual Daytime Emmy Nominations are set to be announced in full on Friday, April 19th at 12 pm ET/9 am PT.

However, four of the top award category nominations will be revealed on Thursday, April 18th across four entertainment news programs to kick things off.

Those include this Thursday episodes of Access Hollywood, E! News, Entertainment Tonight and Extra. Over the past few years, NATAS has often let the syndicated entertainment news program handle the duties of revealing the top actor and actress in a daytime drama series, but we shall see which categories the shows unveil this year.

Photo/AP

As previously announced, the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be presented in ceremonies on Friday night, June 7th on CBS (8 – 10 PM, ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+*.

The awards will be back at The Bonaventure hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where (the delayed due to the actors and writers strike) 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards were held back in December of 2023.

Look for the full nominations to be posted right here at Michael Fairman TV and you can follow along on Friday on the Daytime Emmys social platforms as well.

Photo: AP

The Daytime Emmy Awards have recognized outstanding achievement in television programming and crafts since 1974, honoring work in a variety of categories, including daytime dramas, talk shows, instructional programming, hosting, culinary, and legal/courtroom programs. In 2021, NATAS and the Television Academy jointly announced plans to realign the Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards to be organized by content genre, as opposed to program airtime.

The 51st Daytime Emmy Nominations will honor the work and achievement from the calendar year of 2023.

So, who would you like to see in the running for gold when the Daytime Emmy nominations in the key acting and show categories are revealed? Share your thoughts below.

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Days Of Our Lives

Days of our Lives wins WGA Award for Daytime Drama Series

Sunday night, April 14th in concurrent ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City, the Writers Guild of America is handing out their 76th annual WGA Awards in the fields of motion picture, television, news media, and radio/audio.

In the Daytime Drama category, Peacock’s Days of our Lives was the winner, taking home its fourth WGA Award in this category in a row.

The DAYS winning writing team consisted of Head Writer Ron Carlivati Creative Consultant Ryan Quan and Writers Sonja Alar, Jazmen Darnell Brown, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Cheryl Davis, Kirk Doering, Christopher Dunn, Jamey Giddens, David Kreizman, Henry Newman, Dave Ryan, and Katherine D. Schock.

Photo: JPI

The team from Days of our Lives bested the only other team in the category from General Hospital, which consisted of former GH head writers: Dan O’Connor, Chris Van Etten Writers Ashley Cook, Emily Culliton, Suzanne Flynn, Charlotte Gibson, Lucky Gold, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Shannon Peace, Stacey Pulwer, Dave Rupel, Lisa Seidman, and Scott Sickles.

Courtesy/Peacock

As previously reported, a show spokesperson for Days of our Lives shared that the episodes submitted for the competition were #14663, #14678 & #14679, and mostly centered around the death, and the funeral of Victor Kiriakis played by the late John Aniston.

This week, DAYS head scribe, Ron Carlivati, confirmed that, and told Michael Fairman TV on the decision of the scripts the team submitted: “I like to have some humor, but it was also the funeral, and then there was Sarah (Linsey Godfrey) giving birth, and then Vivian’s (Louise Sorel) crashing the reading of the will.”

You can follow along with the live updated list of all the winners from tonight’s WGA ceremonies here.

Michael Fairman TV will have more on DAYS WGA Award win as it becomes available.

So, what do you think of Days of our Lives winning the WGA Award writing award for a Daytime Drama series for the fourth year in a row? Comment below.

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Peter Reckell returns for a second visit with Michael Fairman following the wrap-up of his recent run as Bo Brady on Days of our Lives.Leave A Comment

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