Exclusive: Investigation Discovery Soaps Up With New Daytime Block, Days of Our Knives
You gotta love a network that brings Guiding Light's Josh and Reva back together! Investigation Discovery has been kicking butt in the ratings with its true crime and love-gone-bad programs — the cable network currently ranks fourth in daytime with women 25-54 — and now it's setting a trap for afternoon soap viewers. On Aug. 20, ID will launch Days of Our Knives, a daily three-hour block (1:00 to 4:00pm, ET/PT) of themed programming hosted by some of the greatest stars of daytime drama, including Kim Zimmer, Robert Newman, Drake Hogestyn, Kristian Alfonso and the queen herself, Susan Lucci.
"After the cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live we saw an opening in the marketplace for some of our most popular series," says ID president and general manager Henry Schleiff. "Our tagline at ID is 'Your Guilty Pleasure' and that's a perfect fit for soap viewers, too. Our show titles even sound like they come from soaps — Happily Never After, Dates From Hell, Deadly Women, Wicked Attraction, Who the Bleep Did I Marry?"
ID will repackage replays of those shows and some of its other series (Scorned, Stalked, Blood Relatives) into theme weeks, each hosted by soapsters from the past and present. Here's the rundown:
Tainted Love Week (Aug. 20-24) Hosted by Robert Newman (Josh Lewis, Guiding Light) and Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne, Guiding Light)
Wicked Women Week (Aug. 27-31) Hosted by Lynn Herring (Lucy Coe, General Hospital), Jacklyn Zeman (Bobbie Spencer, General Hospital), and Judi Evans (Adrienne Kiriakis, Days of our Lives)
Revenge Week (Sept. 3-7) Hosted by Drake Hogestyn (John Black, Days of Our Lives) and Kristian Alfonso (Hope Brady, Days of Our Lives)
Bad Boys Week (Sept. 10-14) Hosted by Matt Ashford (Jack Deveraux, Days of Our Lives) and Kin Shriner (Scotty Baldwin, General Hospital)
Double Lives (Sept. 17-21) Hosted by Laurence Lau (Greg Nelson, All My Children) and Alicia Minshew (Kendall Hart, All My Children)
Family Secrets (Sept. 24-27) Hosted by Austin Peck and Terri Conn (Brad and Katie Snyder, As the World Turns), who are married in real life.
ID will also use this daytime block to promote its campy new primetime series Deadly Affairs, hosted by the Emmy-winning Lucci, that premieres Sept. 8 (10/9c). Lucci is set to appear on Days of Our Knives Sept. 3 to present a first look at the show.
"We can't replace the great soaps like All My Children but we are trying to say with a wink that we understand the addictive pleasure they have provided to a large and loyal audience," says Schleiff, who will add even more soap-star hosts as the block continues this fall. Notes the exec: "There are a lot of popular people over the years who have passed through those halls...and bedrooms! We can't wait to welcome them to ID."
For more information, go to investigationdiscovery.com. And check out this exclusive Days of Our Knives promo:
