Cast and crew reportedly warned DAYS' days are numbered

Cast and crew reportedly warned DAYS' days are numbered

Brace yourselves, Days of our Lives fans: 2017 could be the last year sand falls through the hourglass.

2016 was a year filled with heartbreaking deaths, but 2017 looks like it might be the year daytime fans suffer yet another gut-wrenching soap opera cancellation

Since news broke that Fox news star Megyn Kelly will be moving to NBC, rumors have been circulating that the network plans to give her a daytime talk show in the Days of our Lives time slot. While nothing has been officially confirmed, People reports that this year is indeed the year the sands in DAYS' hourglass will stop falling.

A source connected to the 51-year-old soap told the outlet that several cast members "have been told that this upcoming year of the series will likely be its last."

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As Soap Central previously reported, DAYS has been experiencing renewals on a year-to-year basis, with the last renewal carrying the show through this year. But People reports executives at the series have given some key staffers the heads-up that their days are dwindling.

"Basically, we've heard that there won't be a DAYS in 2018," says the source associated with the show.

While People speaks of doom and gloom for Days of our Lives and its fans, another publication -- the industry-savvy Web site Broadcasting and Cable -- says that DAYS isn't in danger. "Megyn Kelly's new daytime show on NBC is expected to replace Today's 9 a.m. hour," B&C reported, citing its own sources.

The last daytime dramas to see cancellation were ABC's All My Children and One Life to Live, both famously dropped in 2011 and replaced with the less expensive talk shows The Chew and the blink-and-you-missed-it The Revolution. CBS Daytime series Guiding Light and As the World Turns were also replaced by cheaper programming in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

UPDATE (January 7, 2017): Since initially posting its article on Days of our Lives' rumored fate, People's headline has gone from a seemingly definitive end for the NBC soap to using the word could. There are also now a sprinkling of mights throughout the article as well.

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