Good news for soap opera fans.
Unbelievably, NBC has renewed “Days of our Lives” for its 56th season. The show is fourth among the four soaps and is always teetering on the brink of cancellation. But headwriter Ron Carlivati has injected life into the show in the last couple of years. They have a clever overall story going on right now after time jumping one year into the future.
“Days of our Lives” was created by Ted and Betty Corday in 1965. They came to NBC after a long run with CBS and Procter & Gamble. Ted Corday died 10 months after the show went on the air, and for a long time it was run by Betty until their son Ken came into the business.
Susan Seaforth Hayes arrived in 1968, and has been with the show on and off ever since then. Bill Hayes, who became her husband, joined the show three years later. He will be 95 years young on June 5th, and was just featured in a big story with lots of on air time. Good for him!
The other senior cast members include Deidre Hall, who’s been there on and off since 1976, Suzanne Rogers (1973), James Reynolds (1981), 86 year old John Aniston (1985), Drake Hogestyn (1986), and Kristian Alfonso (1983). They may not even be real anymore, just astral projections or holograms.