ON WEDNESDAY, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation announced the discontinuation of television’s longest running soap opera, Days of Our Lives. Since then thousands on social media have reacted to the news.
​Some view it as a startling change to Bajan culture while others felt it was about time the show ended. The soap opera is so popular and becamea part of the Bajan landscape that in 1989 MADD released a song titled Days Of Our Lives, which became a huge hit.
The cleverly written Eric Lewis song was about a man who “wring he hand” in a woman’s “jawbone” since she was so caught up with the show that she neglected to prepare meals, do house chores and take care of their child.
​The refrain:“Forgive me, oh let me go I’d never ever beat her so. But this Days Of Our Lives it driving me crazy and I know some day it will lead me down to Glendairy…”
Today, the Saturday Sun goes back in time for Days fans whose lives may be “disrupted” by this sudden change.
When Days Of Our Lives premiered in 1965, the show revolved around the tragedies and triumphs of the suburban Horton family. Over time, additional families were brought to the show to interact with the Hortons and serve as springboards for more dramatic storylines. Originally led by patriarch Dr Tom Horton and his wife, homemaker Alice, the Hortons remained a prominent fixture in current continuity.
One of the longest-running storylines involved the rape of Mickey Horton’s wife Laura by his brother Bill. Laura confided
in her father-in-law Dr Tom, and the two agreed that her husband Mickey should never know. The secret, involving the true parentage of Michael Horton (a product of the rape) and Mickey’s subsequent health issues as a result of the revelation, spanned episodes from 1968 to 1975.
The storyline was the first to bring the show to prominence, and put it near the top of the Nielson daytime ratings. Another love triangle, between lounge singer Doug Williams, Tom and Alice’s daughter Addie, and Addie’s own daughter, Julie, proved to be very popular around the same time. The storyline culminated in the death of Addie in 1974 and the marriage of Doug and Julie in 1976.
In the early 1980s, the Brady and DiMera families were introduced, and their rivalry quickly cemented their places as core families in Salem beside the Hortons.
Around the same time, with the help of head writers Sheri Anderson, Thom Racina, and Leah Laiman, action/adventure storylines and super couples such as Bo and Hope, Shane and Kimberly and Patch and Kayla reinvigorated the show, previously focused primarily on the domestic troubles of the Hortons.
Since the 1990s, with the introduction of writer James Reilly, Days Of Our Lives has moved from traditional plots to some supernatural and science-fiction-themed stories, in conjunction with the rivalry of good versus evil, in a Hatfield/McCoy feud style the Bradys versus the DiMeras. (TTY/Wikipedia)
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