Image: Jill Johnson/JPI

Speculation on what’s hurting the show in the ratings.

Soaps.com’s readers have been chatting about why Days is losing viewers and why their ratings are so low in comparison to other soaps. Right off the bat, we know that the show’s budget is smaller than the CBS soaps for example and that the CBS soaps have a presence internationally, not just in Canada but in Europe and Australia. Since they have the extra budget, they’re able to promote their soaps to a degree that Days of our Lives cannot. Plus, because of the budget, Days is forced to tape six months in advance, which tends to mean spoilers and comings and goings come out too soon which can hurt viewership if there’s no surprise. Here’s the checklist of what, in addition to that, our readers think could be partially to blame. Feel free to post your own thoughts on the subject either in the comments below or on the thread in the message board.

20.

Lack of budget.

19.

Lack of show promotion or not the right kind of promotion.

18.

Taping six months in advance means that if a character or storyline that isn’t working, some stop watching.

17.

Giving away too much of the storyline including casting changes in advance means there’s no element of surprise and fans can decide when to tune out.

16.

Writing the beginning of storylines, skipping the middle (the good stuff) and writing a quick ending.

15.

Not enough romance or well-written romance.

14.

Characters who have no chemistry or aren’t suited for one another are still together.

13.

The campy element such as too many reanimated corpses and evil twins annoy a large part of the audience.

12.

Recycled plots happen way too often, are repeats from other soap operas, and produce boredom, lessen the impact on dramatic scenes.

11.

The sole focus on one supercouple instead of rotating the cast and blending the storylines alienate those who aren’t fans of the said couple.

10.

There are virtually zero consequences for characters committing criminal acts.

9.

Turning decent characters into psychos or obnoxious without a thought to their future on the show.

8.

The families don’t interact much with each other. They instead exist in a bubble.

7.

The drop in. Having characters drop in from time to time makes it difficult for some viewers to become invested in them or their story.

6.

Painting the men as dumb and the women as harpies.

5.

Redeeming criminals by throwing other, generally ‘good’ characters under the bus.

4.

Inconsistent writing. It’s exciting for a while which makes the lulls that much more boring.

3.

Creating one-off episodes based on movies from the 1960s that the majority hasn’t seen or don’t care about.

2.

Too much focus on witty lines and shout outs to old episodes from the 1980s or 1990s and not enough time spent on what fans want in 2019.

1.

Not learning the history of each character and their backstories and using it in the current writing.