Random Thoughts On... Days of Our Lives????

Who knew that struggling to get an old kitchen floor up would inspire this post? Maybe that crappy glue got to me or something. Anyway, we were trying to get our house together before our new son, “Baby A”, was born. Yes, that was his name until we centered on something more concrete like Alexander, Anthony, Aaron, or Thalmus... yes, that last one is made up. I don’t know how he would feel being named after a 70’s blaxploitation actor.  Anyway, as I struggled to get that floor up, I started thinking about actors from Days of Our Lives. Then, that went to thinking about weird plots from the long-running soap opera. If you’re wondering why a black dude from the South knows quite a bit about the show, blame my grandma for that. So, here are some random thoughts on my time with the show.

“In the Beginning…”

For those who don’t know, Days of Our Lives is a soap opera that started in 1965 on NBC and is still running these days. They apparently switched to streaming on Peacock recently, so I hope the old ladies got a nephew who has some streaming knowledge. Days (or DOOL for short) was your usual soap opera. It revolves around a couple of families in the fictional Salem, IL. You get a whole lotta drama. This person is in love with that person, this person’s cheating with that person, someone wants to plot to get their love interest away from their true love, and all-around calamity ensues. Also add in assassins, evil business moguls with cool accents, Satan, plastic surgery, many cases of amnesia, hidden twin siblings, illegitimate kids, and a biiiiiatch named Sami. 

Sounds fun, doesn't it?

I should've added Stefano to a villains' list somewhere...

I don’t know when I saw my first episode, but it had to have been the early 90’s during the summer. All I know is that Bo was trying to find some lady (who wasn’t Hope?) who was buried alive in a grave. If you had something you wanted to watch at 1:00pm, you were out of luck because that was Grandma’s time. There was Another World (another soap) and DOOL that she just had to watch. If you’re a kid, you either gotta watch along or find another hobby in the house. We had another TV in the other room where we’d either play tapes or video games… tapes. Man, I feel old!

I only really watched DOOL during days off from school or during the summer. Even though I was a kid and didn’t know much of what was going on, I kinda got the gist. I especially got it when Marlana Evans got possessed by the Devil… and yes, this was a plot they did. I don’t know why, but it probably made for some entertaining television. Also, who can forget Stefano DiMera? Dastardly guy, that Stefano! Always trying to get someone’s lady or screw with John Black… cool name, by the way. Lastly, I have to mention Sami Brady. I think I included her on a list a long time ago about how bad she can be. She did turn over a new leaf at some point, but DANG she was messy!

Sami: the original Kare-- wait, wait. I don't wanna put that on Sami!

High School and Onward

As I got older and started to enter high school, the show kinda reeled me in a bit. I guess the producers really wanted the Dawson’s Creek crowd to come in, and they started to give younger characters a moment to shine along with all the usual messiness. I gotta say it worked because during those off months, I wondered what was up with Shawn, Belle, Phillip, Chloe, Mimi, and the others. Then, the writers really wanted to screw with everyone with the infamous “Salem Stalker” storyline. Basically, some killer was going around Salem taking out random cast members and you never knew who would be next. After the killer was found, things then turned on its head again with the dead people being alive on a tropical island… I bet everyone liked that! Heck, I probably did too!

Too bad they didn't pull another Devil plot... that might've been more fun than some of the "drama". 

After high school, my days of watching pretty much came to an end. It was only a thing for me when my grandmother was around and not lord of the TV. Besides, most dudes don’t watch soaps. At MTSU, I really didn’t watch much of Days since I had class and better things were on. Besides, I did not want to explain watching Days to any of my roommates! I think I did have it playing in the background when one of my roommates came in. I don’t remember what I said to Brandon to explain it away. Since then, I’ve probably seen small snippets of Days at the YMCA or just channel surfing when I had some cable. I couldn’t tell you what was going on at that point. I think the only plot point I remember from that time was Sami’s son, Will, came out of the closet or something.

Favorite Characters

Even though I didn’t watch the show much, there were some characters that I did gravitate towards. John Black and Marlana Evans were a nice couple with plenty of baggage. Who knew impersonating a woman’s dead husband (he didn’t know I think?), getting found out, and ultimately marrying said lady could work out? They dealt with Stefano quite a bit, and that was one bad guy who was usually someone to kinda root for. He also had a crapton of kids! I wouldn’ be surprised if another “Child of DiMera” shows up in that new show.

The Bradys, or at least the ones I remember, were pretty cool. We had Bo Brady, Hope Brady, and their son, Shawn. Bo and Hope were another one of those power couples who would have their own drama. It also involved Stefano. Dude got around a lot, didn’t he? As for Shawn, he’d have his own drama with Belle, John and Marlena’s daughter. Belle was fine mainly because she was played by Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century… yeah, I remember those Disney Channel original movies. There weren’t too many Black characters on there when I watched it, but I always like Lexi and Abe Carver, another power couple.

Finally, there’s Sami Brady, daughter of Roman Brady and Marlena Evans… yeah, she’s got a few kids, man. Sami is a lady that you just love to hate. I remember that she was scheming and conniving trying to get some guy named Austin away from her other sister, Carrie. Even when she tried to turn over to the light side, she still had issues… heck, all the women on this show had issues which is something that can be said about most soap operas. Oh yeah, you know Sami also has a twin brother named Eric, right? Smallville and Supernatural weren't the first places I saw Jensen Ackles show his flowy brown hair at because he was Eric for a time. I wonder if anyone brings that up at those Supernatural conventions. 

…………………………..

In the end, Days of Our Lives was something. Crap truly got wild there with all the romance, secrets, hidden islands, and overall pretty people. Did it all make sense to me at the time? Heck no, but it is still a core memory to me. Thinking about the show got me reminiscing on my time as a youngster. We didn’t have a lot, but what we had was good. My parents and my grandmother were good to us. I think DOOL also led to how I was able to stomach so much of The Secret Life of an American Teenager. At least being with Liz made sitting through all that weirdness funny. Well, I got to go cut a yard and do some other deeds while Liz watches Aaron… we didn’t go with Alex. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.