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''Days of our Lives'' is an American Soap Opera , which has aired nearly every weekday since November 8 , 1965 7 on the NBC network in the United States , and has since been syndicated to many countries around the world.8910 The series was created by husband-and-wife team Ted Corday and Betty Corday ,11 and many of the first stories were written by William J. Bell . The Cordays and Bell combined the "soaps taking place in a hospital" idea with the tradition of centering a series around a family, by making the show about a family of doctors, including one who worked in a mental hospital.Gilbert, Annie, ''All My Afternoons'', p. 110. Storylines in the show follow the lives of middle and upper-class professionals in Salem , a middle-America town, with the usual threads of love, marriage, divorce, and family life, plus the medical storylines and character studies of individuals with psychological problems.Gilbert, Annie, ''All My Afternoons'', p. 111. Former executive producer Al Rabin took pride in the characters' passion, saying that the characters were not shy about "sharing what's in their gut."12 Critics originally praised the show for its non-reliance on nostalgia (in contrast to shows such as '' As The World Turns '') and its portrayal of "real American contemporary families."Gilbert, Annie, ''All My Afternoons'', p. 109 By the 1970s, critics deemed ''Days'' to be the most daring daytime drama, leading the way in using themes other shows of the period would not dare touch, such as Artificial Insemination and Interracial romance.13 In the 1990s, the show branched out into supernatural storylines, which critics immediately panned, as it was seen as a departure from more realistic storylines for which the show had originally become known.1415 In 2006, when asked about his character, Jack Deveraux , "coming back from the dead" — for the third time — actor Matthew Ashford responded, "It is hard to play that because at a certain point it becomes too unreal...actors look at that and think, 'What is this — the Cartoon Network '?"16 ''Days'', in addition to receiving critical acclaim in print journalism, has won a number of awards, including a (Dr. Tom Horton ) won Best Actor in 197419 and 1975,20 Susan Flannery (Laura Horton) won Best Actress in 1975,21 Suzanne Rogers ( Maggie Horton ) and Leann Hunley ( Anna DiMera ) won Best Supporting Actress for respectively 197922 and 1986,23 and Billy Warlock ( Frankie Brady ) won Best Younger Actor for 1988.24 As with other soap operas, ''Days'' ratings have declined since the 1990s. In January 2007 it was announced that the show "is unlikely to continue NBC past 2009." STORYLINE See Also: List of Days of our Lives storylines When ''Days of our Lives'' premiered in 1965, the show revolved around the tragedies which befell the Horton family. The Hortons were led by patriarch , Addie , Mickey , Bill , and Marie . Over time, additional families, such as the Merritts, Hunters, Bannings, and Andersons were brought to the show to interact with the Hortons and serve as springboards for more dramatic storylines. One of the longest-running storylines involved the rape of Mickey Horton's wife Laura Horton, by Mickey's 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 Nielsen daytime ratings.25 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. It culminated in the death of Addie in 1974 and the marriage of Doug and Julie in 1976.Gilbert, Annie, ''All My Afternoons'', p. 112. In the 1980s, the Brady and DiMera families were introduced, and their rivalry quickly cemented their places as core families in Salem in addition to the Hortons. Around the same time, with the help of head writers Sheri Anderson , Thom Racina , and Leah Laiman , action/adventure storylines and Supercoupling s such as Bo And Hope , Shane And Kimberly , and Patch And Kayla reinvigorated the show, long primarily about the Horton family. Since the 1990s, with the introduction of writer James E. Reilly , ''Days of our Lives'' has moved from traditional plots to supernatural and science-fiction-themed stories, in conjunction with the rivalry of good vs. evil Hatfield/McCoy feud like (Bradys vs. DiMeras). 26 Under the tenure of Reilly, ratings, which were in trouble in the late 1980s and early 1990s, quickly rebounded to second place. Despite shaky footing in the ratings with the introduction of new head writer Hogan Sheffer in 2006, which led the show's producers to hire past fan favorites to stop the ratings hemorrhage,27 ''Days'' has since leveled back to the middle of the daytime ratings, continuing with stories and arcs Reilly originally introduced. Best-remembered stories In addition to the love triangles of Bill/Mickey/Laura and Doug/Julie/Addie previously mentioned, other storylines which were most remembered by viewers included the 1968 story of amnesiac Tom Horton, Jr., who returned from the Korean War believing he was someone else and then proceeded to romance his younger sister Marie;28 the twenty-year tragic love triangle when John Black stole Marlena Brady from her husband Roman ;29 the 1982 "Salem Strangler" (Jake Kositchek, who was nicknamed "Jake the Ripper"), who stalked and murdered women;30 the 1984 '' Gone With The Wind '' storyline when Hope Williams and Bo Brady hid out on a Southern plantation and dressed up as Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler (originally devised to keep viewers tuned in despite pre-emptions due to the 1984 Summer Olympics );3132 " The Cruise Of Deception " in 1990, when madman Ernesto Toscano invited all his enemies aboard a ship, the ''S.S. Loretta,'' and held them captive;33 the 1994–1995 storyline when the town's Christmas tree burned down and Marlena became possessed in '' Exorcist '' fashion;3435 and the 2003–2004 "Melaswen", when several characters purportedly died at the hands of a masked psychopath, but were later revealed to have been kidnapped to the secret island of Melaswen ( New Salem spelled backwards).36 CAST See Also: List of Days of our Lives cast members See Also: List of Days of our Lives characters When ''Days of our Lives'' debuted in 1965 as a 30-minute serial, the cast consisted of 11 actors, nine of whom were permanent fixtures in the storyline.37 In 1974, the show was planned to expand to an hour in length, and the cast was increased to 27 actors in different storylines. By the 25th anniversary in 1990, 40 actors appeared on the show in contract or recurring roles,38 which is the approximate number of actors the show has used since. Of all the current cast members, only Frances Reid , who plays Alice Horton, has been on contract with ''Days of our Lives'' since it began, appearing since the very first episode in 1965. Original cast member John Clarke , who played Mickey Horton, left the series in 2004 and is as of 2007 too ill to continue in the role; the character is now off-screen. Suzanne Rogers , who plays Maggie Horton , and Deidre Hall , who plays Marlena Evans , have been appearing on the show for over 30 years. Along with many other tenured cast members, ''Days'' has also hired many entirely new actors in recent years. Twenty-one of the current cast members have been hired since 2004, and eleven of them are completely new to ''Days''. Many old favorites have returned; starting in 2006, cast members from the 1980s, such as Stephen Nichols ( Steve Johnson ), Mary Beth Evans ( Kayla Brady ), Joseph Mascolo ( Stefano DiMera ), and Thaao Penghlis ( Tony DiMera ) have been brought back to ''Days'', in an attempt to reach viewers who may have quit watching the series.39 EXECUTIVE PRODUCING AND HEAD WRITING TEAM See Also: List of Days of our Lives producers and writers The original executive producer, Ted Corday , was only at the helm for eight months before dying of cancer. His widow, Betty Corday , continued producing the show with the help of H. Wesley Kenney and Al Rabin before semi-retiring to a supervising producer position in 1985 . Upon her death two years later, her son Ken became involved with the day-to-day running of the show, becoming executive producer by 1991 , a title he still holds today. His co-executive producer is Edward J. Scott , who was hired after longtime producer Stephen Wyman left the program. The first well-known head writer, William J. Bell , started writing for ''Days'' in 1966 and continued until 1975 , well after he had spun off his own successful soap, '' The Young And The Restless ''. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, high writer turnover was commonplace. In the early 1980s , Margaret DePriest helped stabilize the show and kill off dead wood in the cast via a serial killer storyline. Later head writers, like Sheri Anderson , Thom Racina and Leah Laiman , built on that stability and crafted storylines of their own, temporarily bringing up ratings. Writing changes occurred after Laiman left the series in 1989, and would not become stable again until James E. Reilly started with the show in 1993. His tenure, which lasted for four-and-a-half years, was credited with bringing ratings up to the second-place spot in the Nielsens. Other writers who succeeded him, such as Sally Sussman Morina and Tom Langan , failed to keep the ratings success, and another writer turnover continued until Reilly returned to the series in 2003 . Currently, the head writer of the series is Hogan Sheffer , who has been in the position since October 2006. His co-head writer is Meg Kelly . RATINGS AND SCHEDULING HISTORY Not long after its introduction in '' to ABC, and in its wake, eight different shows were placed into the slot, with only one, '' Three On A Match ,'' lasting more than nine months. However, this first golden period for NBC daytime proved to be short-lived, as ''Days''' ratings began to decline in 1977. Much of the decline was due to ABC's expansion of its popular soap '' programming offered to affiliates. By the early 1980s, ''Days'' had displaced '' Another World '' as NBC's highest-rated soap. However, the entire NBC soap lineup was in ratings trouble. In fact, by 1982, all of its shows were rated above only one ABC soap ('' The Edge Of Night '') and below all four CBS soaps. The "supercouple" era of the 1980s, however, helped bring about a ratings revival, and the 1983–1984 season saw ''Days'' experience a surge in ratings. It held onto its strong numbers for most of the 80s, only to decline again by 1990, eventually falling back into eighth place. In the mid-1990s, however, the show experienced a resurgence in popularity and the show reached number two in the ratings, where it remained for several years before experiencing another ratings decline beginning in 1999, the year that ''Days'' became NBC's longest-running daytime program (upon the cancellation of ''AW''). Throughout the 2000s, ''Days'' and all the other remaining network daytime serials have witnessed a steady erosion of viewers, mainly due to vastly altered viewing habits induced by Cable networks and alternative genres such as Reality and Talk Shows on minor network affiliates. On January 17 2007 , NBC Universal Television president Jeff Zucker remarked that ''Days of our Lives'' would most likely not "continue past 2009."44 With the impending move of '' Passions '' from NBC to DirecTV in September 2007, ''Days'' will become NBC's last remaining traditional daytime program (excepting the '' Today Show '', which will receive a fourth weekday hour in exchange for the forementioned cancellation) on its mid-day schedule. After the January announcement, the Nielsen ratings for ''Days'' dropped to 1.9 million households'' Soap Opera Digest ''. "Crisis at DAYS! The Secret Plan to Save It". April 17 , 2007 before stabilizing in June near 2.4 million households.45 In an April 2007 interview with '' Soap Opera Digest '', executive producer Ken Corday remarked of the ratings decline of the previous months, "If I don't pay attention to the ratings and what the viewers are saying, I'm an ostrich. I have not seen a decline in the ratings on the show this precipitous — ever. I've never seen this much of a percentage decline."'' Soap Opera Digest ''. "Crisis at DAYS! The Secret Plan to Save It". April 17, 2007. But ''Days'' has not been able to recover the viewers it has lost. On September 10, 2007, due to Passions' cancellation/move to DirecTV and The Today Show's extension to four hours, NBC in most areas will move ''Days'' to 2pm weekdays, taking over Passions' former timeslot. Some areas will stay at 1pm an a few others will move to Noon. EXTERNAL DISTRIBUTION See Also: Screening of daytime soap operas in Australia According to '' Variety '', ''Days'' is the most widely-distributed soap opera in the United States, with episodes not just broadcast via NBC, but also via cable ( SOAPnet ), and as of June 2007, episodes are offered via ITunes .46 ''Days'' also has an international audience. It started broadcasting locally in has aired ''Days'' nearly as long, debuting on Television New Zealand by 1975 at the latest,47 and currently running approximately three years behind the United States on the TV ONE channel. ''Days'' also airs in a number of countries across Europe, premiering in France on July 29 , 1991 , Germany on September 6 , 1993 , Finland on August 11 , 2003 , and Hungary on June 14 , 2004 . Channel 5 aired episodes of ''Days'' in the United Kingdom from March 2000 until April 2001, eventually pulling it off the air; network executives deemed its audience of 200,000 viewers as too low a figure. ''Days'' had previously aired in the UK and Ireland on the Sky Soap channel between 1994 and 1999; episodes were three years behind U.S. telecasts. From September 3 , 2007 , UK viewers will be able to watch Days on the female-skewed entertainment channel Zone Romantica . In Italy ''Days'' aired for only three months in 1985 on Rete A ; in 1992 Italia 7 started to air new episodes, five years behind U.S. telecasts. In 1993 , after 260 episodes, the show was cancelled. THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLE SEQUENCES The title sequence of ''Days of our Lives'' has changed several times since the show's debut, but always maintained hourglass imagery and trademark voiceover, "''Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives''." Beginning in 1966, the voice has been that of Macdonald Carey (1913–1994), who played Dr. Tom Horton from the show's opening until the actor's death from Lung Cancer .48 Opening titles Opening music and announcement
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