The current cast of DAYS OF OUR LIVES
With such long-running soaps as 73-year old Guiding Light and 54-year old As The World Turn being cancelled, the future of the remaining daytime soaps may not look too promising but one serial is bucking the trend. NBC’s 45-year old Days Of Our Lives, which was just renewed through the 2010-2011 season, is the sole serial last year to actually show gains in audiences, which bodes well for it’s continuing in daytime for at least a little bit longer.
Having premiered in 1965, the serial, set in the fictional town of Salem, is also currently pulling in the highest ratings it has seen in over four years. In this age of Twitter and Facebook, Days Of Our Lives is making every effort to make bring in more viewers and what better way to do that than to showcase the overabundance of hunks the occupy front-burner roles and rely on what Days has always done best – tell a great story.
The beloved Frances Reid played Alice Horton from episode #1.
Being a fan of the show since I was a kid (whenever Marlena’s evil twin sister tried to steal Marlena’s husband – Don Craig – by throwing Marlena into the loony bin; I think late 70’s), it was a surreal feeling to visit the Days set on the NBC studio lot in Burbank recently and was able to talk to several of the cast members to get a take on whether they think the genre can continue to weather the tough economic times hitting daytime right now, why gay characters and storylines are still considered taboo and the loss of beloved original cast member Frances Reid. In fact, even though Reid passed away in February, the show hasn’t dealt with the death of Reid’s Alice Horton until this week. A slew of former cast members will be descending on Salem in the next few weeks to pay their respects so for long-time fans of the show, it will be a melancholy trip down memory lane.