Fire James Reilly from Days of Our Lives

To Whom it May Concern:

We, the fans of the daytime NBC soap opera "Days of Our Lives", have signed this petition to terminate the employment of James E. Reilly from his position as head writer of "Days of Our Lives".

The foundation for our complaints include Reilly's lack of commitment to loyal long-time viewers of that show as indicated by not providing more substantial and compelling story lines for characters/actors over 30 years old. In addition, we believe he intends to replace loyal, experienced well-liked character actors who were let go from the show as victims in the current Fall 2003/Spring 2004 murder mystery storyline with younger actors for the sole purpose of improving the show's ratings with the "female 18-34" category (as stated numerous times in publications and to the press by Ken Corday and James Reilly). We consider this a blatant act of ageism and a true insult to the actors who were let go this year and to their long-time fans. Many of us have been watching "Days of Our Lives" since the first episode and/or make the choice to watch television not for the age of the actors playing each part but for the quality of a show's writing and the actors' performances. Solution: The shows cast should include actors and characters of all ages.

Another basis for our complaints is James Reilly's long history of giving very predictable and overdone story lines to the same favorite characters, which diminishes our enjoyment of the show due to lack of suspense. One example of this is the current murder mystery storyline, as the show has already used the concept of a "serial killer" or similar method numerous times to trim the size of the cast. We are frustrated with James Reilly's lack of imagination and rumors on spoiler web sites for the show that indicate Reilly intends to tie up the murder mystery plot with "someone gets kidnapped and replaced by an evil look-alike who turns out to be the killer". Even though Reilly has stated to the press that no one would be brought in to take the fall as the killer, it sounds from the spoiler web sites like thats exactly what will happen. This is a worn-out solution (given the character involved), and we feel he is trying to take the easy way out by re-using an old storyline over and over again, when he could instead utilize that favorite character in a new and original way (like making them the hero instead of a victim or killer). Solution: Utilize characters in new ways instead of relying on predictable outcomes to carry the show's story.

We believe the results of James Reilly's incompetence as a writer and disregard for our views stated here will only serve to alienate a large portion of the Days male and female viewing audience of all ages, and will subsequently cause the show's ratings to drop drastically. We submit this petition as warning to Ken Corday and James E. Reilly that if significant changes to improve the show are not made immediately to remedy the above complaints, we plan to stop watching "Days of Our Lives" indefinitely.