Days of our Lives celebrates its 56th anniversary today. The NBC serial, created by Irna Phillips and Ted Corday, debuted in color on November 8, 1965. The show's original family, the Hortons, remains a mainstay. Over the years, they've been joined by the Brady, Carver, Johnson, Kiriakis, and Price clans.
Happy 56th Anniversary Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives holds the distinction for being daytime TV's longest current continuous soap. Last year due to a production shutdown because of COVID-19, the other three broadcast soap operas had to air classic episodes after exhausting their current batch of programs.
Days of our Lives: The Early Years
DAYS struggled to find its footing in its first year. Ted Corday passed away and his wife Betty Corday became the show's executive producer. Today, the couple's son, Ken Corday, serves as executive producer.
In 1966, Bill Bell, fresh off a long run at As the World Turns, accepted Betty's invitation to helm the show. By 1971, DAYS was top-ranked thanks to Bell's innovative and powerful storytelling.
Bell also crafted the love story of Doug (Bill Hayes) and Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes), who wed in real-life and remain front and center on DAYS today. Pat Falken Smith took over as head writer when Bell exited Salem to create The Young and the Restless, however, he remained on as consultant, helping the show win Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series at the Daytime Emmys in 1976.
The Brady Bunch
Days of our Lives enjoyed a new level of popularity in 1982 when Falken Smith, fresh off a stint at General Hospital, returned to Salem and created the Brady family, crafting the love stories of Roman Brady (Wayne Northrop) and Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall), and Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) and Hope Williams (Kristian Alfonso). DAYS always had an emphasis on romance but the show specialized in supercouples in the 1980s. Other popular duos at this time included Neil and Liz, Patch and Kayla, Shane and Kimberly, Tony and Anna, Eugene and Calliope, and many others.
The Life of Reilly
In 1992, James E.
Reilly, who went on to create Passions, returned to write DAYS again in 2003.
Marlena hadn't killed anyone. The whole thing was a DiMera hoax. Life returned to abnormal on Days of our Lives but there were sad losses ahead in the coming years. Alice (original cast member Frances Reid), Mickey, Shawn, and Caroline Brady all passed away. Bo returned to Salem having been missing for years.