Times of my Spends occurs as long-heading Western soap opera. It debuted in November 8, 1965, and may however exist as viewed weekdays on the NBC network and as much as the world. Originally, a indicate experienced a Hortons when its core personal. A serial is placed in the invented village of Salem.

The first episode

A foremost episode revolved as much as teen Julie Olson (foremost played by Charla Doherty; since 1968 the role has been played by Susan Seaforth Hayes) stealing a mink stole from either Bartlett's Emporium. She lie around her surtitle, telling wallmart detective that her name was Julie Horton. Following, her granddaddy, Dr. Tom Horton (Macdonald Carey) and his boy (Julie's uncle) Mickey (so John Clarke) were called down to a police office to resolve the matter. Home, Dr. Tom's married woman Alice (Frances Reid) was lamenting the reality of completely her kids allowing her; her girl Marie (at that instance played by Maree Cheatham) was going to exist as married to Tony Merritt (Richard A. Colla).

=Plot line=

The 1960s
In a beginning, once a story did non revolve as much as either Tom or even Alice, the sexual love of their 5 tikes were fictive display. Their girl Addie (Patricia Huston, then Patricia Barry), married to Ben Olboy, had tremendously condition raising their rebellious girl Julie also when their son Steven. Tom Horton, Jr., presumed dead around Korea, came residence sustaining the disfigured face & the recently identity. Inadvertently, his sister Marie fell taken by using with him. While it learned of every more's confessedly identities, Marie was therefore ashamed that she attend sleep in the convent. Tom & Alice's more tikes, Bill & Mickey, fought on top a warmheartedness of lovely Laura Spencer, played by Susan Flannery.

The 1970s

"The Bill/Laura/Mickey Love Triangle"
Considered to exist as one of a virtually all darling Times of My Experiences plot line & one of a hanker heading plot line of the indicate's history, a Bill/Laura/Mickey triangle lasted for about a decade & was a number 1 major plot line of the series to benefit major attention from either casual fans due to its twists, turns, apply of spectacular pacing, & the controversial utilise of rape as a major plot element. the plot line began using a temporarily harebrained Bill Horton ravaged Laura & impregnated her following. Laura sought to pass a tike dispatch when her hubby Mickey's boy however finally, it was revealed that Mickey was infertile & a truth all about their boy Mike Horton's parentage was revealed. Mickey left town & across the series of cases would prevent higher sustaining blackout & calling himself Marty Hansen. When you took this period, Mickey would meet the gimpy domestic girl known as Maggie Simmons (Suzanne Rogers) and fall enamored sustaining her. Ultimately Mickey regained his memory & returned to Salem using Maggie when Laura & Bill would eventually marry & have a 2nd toddler Jennifer.

The Courtship of Doug Williams and Julie Olsen
An additional popular storyline/couple on a indicate in a period of the Seventies was the relationship & marriage of wildchild Julie Olsen & lounge singer turned conman Doug Williams (Bill Hayes). Them met fallowing Doug Williams wwhen introduced as Bill Horton's cellmate around prison, whenever Bill Horton was convicted of manslaughter against Tommy Horton's married woman Kitty. When within clink, Bill inadvertently tipped off Doug to the fact that Susan Hunter (Denise Alexander) experienced inherit a large inheritance when her married man wwhen recently deceased person (she had flushed him, however was allowed to own the money as it was proven she was temporarily mad). Fallowing he was paroled, Doug come to town, bent in wooing Susan & incurring his mitts on occasionally money. Susan would keep close at hand there are no a portion of it, instead getting him date her rival Julie. When a few soul-self-analysis, she realized that she may not pay hit Doug up to now Julie, however he told her that she couldn't back out. Eventually, all the same, Doug truly brutal crazy by using her.

Doug & Julie experienced the rough in instance meeting, when Doug got another time married her mother Addie (ab initio he was single utilizing her for her money, then again it fell infatuated, possibly though he however loved Julie). Addie's bout using leucaemithe cemented his attach to her, & she wore him the kid known as Hope when she was withwithin the coma, nigh demise from either cancer (Addie was assibilate Forty in the period of her gestation; women returning birth late in life was a plot element typically left undiscussed in the early 1970s. In the story, Addie experienced assumed that she experienced began climacteric, however incurred out otherwise). Shortly when, Addie died; she wwhen hit by the truck as she pushed her immature toddler's stroller to safety, however possibly so, Doug & Julie were non loose to become two or three. Julie was trapped around the loveless marriage to Bob Anderson, & although she did non are wed to him, he gave her security. One of these days, Doug was fed higher & went back to his ex-ex Kim (she experienced tricked him into coming back to her by saying their divorcement was never final). En route, Doug was taking part around the car accident & Julie rush to his side. Julie was divorced quickly & them were married within weeks (in tune using a viewers' collective clamor to use a characters eventually wed). Them would continue a indicate for many other years prior to finally allowing a series early when you took a Eighties when their characters were existence phased call at favor of recently characters/relationships, however own since manufactured many is restored to the indicate since the early Nineties.

Exit William J. Bell
For its number 1 20 years on the air, Times of My Spends was supervised by Betty Corday (her husband Ted Corday created a show however died two or three years fallowing the premiere), sustaining her boy Ken ingesting an progressively big role around production. A indicate's initial plot line were co-written per Cordays & Irna Phillips but the 1st really profits began in the late Sixty's once Bill Bell took over when headwriter. He created a Bill/Mickey/Laurthe triangle, a popular contention between Julie Olson & Susan Hunter, & was considered such an integral a portion of the program that whilst he left the series in the early Seventy's to produce The Young and the Restless, NBC sued him to make him stay. Bell agreed to provide story outlines which would dog as much as 1975-1976.

Enter Marlena Evans and the Brady Family
A expansion of a indicate to an hour besides leave a writers to expand the focus of the indicate beyond the Horton personal. A indicate's writers would produce the brand fresh personal in the form of the middle-class Irish-Catholic personal "The Bradys", world health organization were anchored by Shawn & Caroline Brady & featured an assortment of babies including Roman (originally played by Wayne Northrop) and Bo (played by Peter Reckell. Meanwhile a indicate began to focus supplementary & extra in an assortment of doctor characters introduced onto a indicate, world health organization gained popularity amongst viewers.

Per late 70s, a popular character was Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall), who was the favored of so head writer Pat Falken Smith (who took on top fallowing a departure of Bill Bell), Marlena Evans quickly became a indicate's independent heroine & have a romance sustaining fellow doctor( attorney non doctor) Don Craig (Jed Allan). It got the boy (D.J., world health organization died of SIDS). Fallowing her marriage to Don ended, Marlena was exterminate by a serial killer known as the Salem Strangler. Fans picketed NBC studios, however writers quickly revealed that Marlena's evil twin sister Samantha (world health organization got been played by Deidre Hall's real-life twin Andrea for five years) when a indicate eventually united Marlena & her fresh lover Roman Brady together when a indicate's independent "supercouple".

The End of Laura and Bill
a indicate ended a decade by owning a literal bang when longtime favorites Bill & Laura Horton were written away from the indicate around a controversial plot line involving mental illness and criminal conversation when Bill Horton began cuckold Laura, whose mind got turn into awfully unstable due to years of hiding the identity of her boy Microphone's father from either him. Laurthe began the slow & steadily breakdown culminating around the bloodcurdling sequence in which Laura forced her girl Jennifer in a bus everthing by herself & then that she can last and attempt to hang herself. Laurthe would become laid within the mental institution & enter into a catatonic state when Bill Horton discreditably left Salem. Their girl Jennifer meanwhile would become sent to boarding school.

The 1980s
Behind the scenes chaos
Per prevent of a Seventies, a indicate experienced never to return across many originative changes behind the scenes. Falken Smith left in the late Lxx's across a contract dispute & across the slow however steadily decline inside prices, turmoil gripped the cast & crew. At one point Susan Seaforth Hayes' mother was headwriter. Al Rabin, a executive producer at a period began to phase out humans he deem contributing to an atmosphere of "negativism". Around 1979 & 1980, about a twelve characters were written away from the series.

To the surprise of the indicate, fans were non impressed per characters world health organization took their place. About of these million viewers defected between 1980 & 1981, & of the nine characters introduced in this month, simply chanteuse Liz Chandler (Gloria Loring) gained a resulting & stayed around. Falken Smith wwhen over again hired as headwriter & her Salem Stalker plot line, along by owning the acute concentrate on Marlena & Roman, propelled a indicate to a revival. Falken Smith left once again in the early Lxxx's due to an additional contract dispute. Perchance the sole moo point around her era was a plot line in which Doug's long-wasted married woman Lee (Brenda Benet) agonized over her infant's extended hospitalization & sickness. Falken Smith did non understand Benet's have infant got recently died. Benet performed a scenes while forgoing complaint, however 1 day inside 1982 she committed suicide. Times dedicated Lee's remaining episodes inside memory of Benet, & said Lee left town.

"The Supercouple Phenomenon"
Meanwhile in rival network ABC, a unbearable popularity of the pairing of Luke & Laura in General Hospital led to Days of My Endures to attempt to cash on the phenomenon of the "supercouple" by pairing off their assorted characters into various relationships. A virtually all popular one couples involved Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso) Brady, who quickly became a focal point of a indicate in a period of the mid-80s & helped the indicate regain its popularity. A indicate as well get ahead by using addition of deuce recently characters, Steven (aka "Patch", due to the fact that the character bore an eye-patch fallowing losing an eye when a Merchant Marine) (Stephen Nichols) and Kayla Johnson (virtually all notably played by Mary Beth Evans), whose courtship became a major plot line for the series within & helped to lead to the introduction of one of the indicate's virtually all popular characters.

Jack Deveraux (originally played by Joseph Adams, so by James Acheson) was the politically challenging newspaper newsman from either a flush personal world health organization became the spoiler for the relationship between Patch & Kayla, at long last marrying Kayla when you took a period of unhealthiness that left Jack nigh dying. A contention between Jack & Patch all over Kayla took an potentially greater turn while it was revealed that Jack was Patch's yearn misused brother, the revelation that led to Jack slip into a great depression on top his confusion above his newly identity. Meanwhile Kayla began an affair behind Jack's back by using Patch & that while a affair was involved, Jack committed spousal rape against Kayla. Kaylthe quickly told Patch, world health organization attacked Jack on the roof of a nearby building. In a following struggle, Patch dropped Jack from either a roof & a fall stimulated Jack to suffer extreme damage to his kidneys, forcing Patch to produce the controversial guide to give Jack one of his kidneys. Kayla & Jack quickly divorced afterwords & Patch & Kayla eventually reunited.

Despite his nefarious behavior, whilst a role was recast by using Matthew Ashford, Jack quickly garnered fan interest. Jack was an extremely complex character whose dark edge was complemented sustaining the level of experiential angst across his super identity when learning that he was adopted & fallowing his rape of Kayla. Indeed, like than whitewashing a rape story a writers exploited it as a source of wonderful angst for Jack, world health organization struggled by using his guilt on top a incident for many years. Ashford was extremely identifiable in the role, & new recasts brought their have style (Mark Valley, Steve Wilder).

When a indicate began to regain its popularity, it was too decided to bring a focus back to the Horton personal, world health organization per mid-1980s was marginalized in favor concentrate on the Brady personal. Laura & Bill Horton's girl Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) wwhen brought back, now as a uncivilized adolescent sent to accept Tom & Alice Horton then as to provide a jeune fille by having a stable front yard that her parents were incapable of yielding her. Jennifer quickly became the popular figure & began the friendly relationship by owning a second recently character, Frankie Brady (Billy Warlock). Frankie was the adolescent world health organization was got been legally adoptive by Shawn & Caroline Brady. Them become two or three however quickly broke higher when the writers came higher by having a idea of pairing Jennifer by using Jack Deveraux, which led to a protracted suit when Jennifer "redeemed" Jack across their love. Frankie was revealed to become European royalty, & moved to Africa with Shane's daughter Eve (Charlotte Ross).

The DiMeras and The Kiriakis Families
An additional addition to a indicate in a Eighties was a creation of ii fresh families, the DiMera & the Kiriakis families. Each were created by indicate writers, world health organization felt that a series was lacking villains for the independent characters to struggle against. It was a series of complications from either this struggle that led to the "action-adventure" element that virtually come to define a indicate in the mid-to-late 1980s (& was attempted to become duplicated in the late 1990s & early 2000s). Stories involving constabulary mysteries & spy risky venture unfolded, including a creation of a invented spy professional, a International Security Alliance (ISA), to battle a unco high-level & far-reaching spherical criminal conspiracies involving the Kiriakis & DiMera kin group. Many Salem residents, including Roman Brady, Shane Donovan, John Black, Steve Johnson, & Bo Brady, were revealed to getting served sometime using a ISA.

the Kiriakis Personal was headed by Victor Kiriakis, a moneyed Greek man of affairs world health organization experienced ties to organized crime, especially doses, harlotry, & minor porno. It's been hinted above the years that although depending within Salem, a heavily total of Victor's illegal operations took place inside Chicago; Miami; Naples, Italy; & his native Greece. Victor habitually incurred himself around conflict sustaining a Salem police force department & a ISA above his illegal activities. Nevertheless despite his evil, Victor experienced the dark secret that at last led to his redemptiin: years sooner Victor carried on an affair using Caroline Brady that resulted in the conception of Bo Brady. A revelation that Bo was Victor's boy stimulated Victor to renounce crime & last legit however a revelation stimulated problems for Shawn & Caroline Brady's relationship that would survive for many years. Caroline's girl Kim Brady (Patsy Pease) befriended Victor to find criminatory grounds to believe against him, however he found her avowedly motives & threated to obliterate her avowedly love Shane Donovan (Charles Shaughnessy) unless she broke up by having Shane & married Victor. She did, however before long reunited by using Shane & remained married to him for the total of years.

Victor's schemes as well taking part more nefarious souls & families, including ex-ISA professional "Orpheus", a Toscano's (a winery-with personal from either Naples), the Moroni's (a mob personal likewise from either Naples), & the Torres'(the Peruvian personal that led the particularly vicious drug combine).

When Victor mellowed above a years, a DiMeras remained nefarious. A kin was headed by patriarch Stefano DiMera (Joseph Mascolo), who in the early Eighties relocated his personal from either his native Rome, Italy, to Salem, America. the semi-aristocratic DiMerthe personal headed a spherical syndicate & got a burning hate by using the Brady personal all over a few unknown rebuff that occurred inside the distant past in Dublin, Ireland, in which the DiMeras owned a mill that listed many Brady kin, including a immature Shawn Brady. the scheming Stefano likewise experienced a burning obsession by using Marlena that was complicated once Roman married Stefano's daughter-inside-law Anna (Leann Hunley) & experienced the little one known as Carrie using her prior to giving to Marlena and conceiving twins by using her. the struggle to eliminate Roman Brady would at long last effect inside a complicated & long-going plot line above the "real" John Black.

Enter Drake Hogestyn
A contestation began whilst Wayne Northrop left a indicate due to problems by using a counsel of his character. His character of Roman Brady was exterminate inside 1984 while he fell remove the drop in the tropical island in the Caribbean fallowing existence shot by Stefano. Within 1986 it was decided per writers to recast the role of Roman however like than upright replenish him, it was decided to unlimited tell you how come he was okay, existence played by a different actor. It was explained that Roman was recovered by Stefano fallowing his fall from either a drop-off, given quick medical attention, brainwashed into believing that he was one of Stefano's assassins, given extensive expert training in the martial arts, & experienced reconstructive surgery to give him the brand newly face. It potentially gave a viewers a bit mystery when to the really identity of the freshly character--was he really Roman, or even arch-enemy Stefano? Nowadays played by Drake Hogestyn, the character was revealed to become "Roman", & a "Roman"/Marlena relationship again became popular amongst viewers & it remarried. Finally, after Deidre Hall left the indicate within 1987, Hogestyn stayed on & was given the relationship by using the newly character known as Isabella Toscano (Staci Greason), who was the sickly girl of a crime boss known as Ernesto. A relationship & their modems to a various characters on the indicate would lead to one of the best known "umbrella story" of the indicate's redo: A Sail of Deception.

The 90s
A Cruise of Deception was a massive plot line that began around the summertime of 1989 & ran higher through the prevent of the summertime of 1990, ensuant within many plot line eventually existence single-minded & setting higher newly, further complex stories in its wake up. A plot revolved in the area of Ernesto's scheme to exterminate his assorted enemies, virtually all notably Victor Kiriakis & "Roman". Luring his enemies onto a cruise liner, he destroys a vessel, shipwrecking the characters in an island he controlled. When the shipwrecked characters tried to escape a isl&, Jack and Jennifer each eventually have intercourse inside a nearby cave when "Roman" & Bo two reconciled when the prolonged period of tension between them (including the plot in which Bo sided by having Ernesto when section of the scheme to buy retired what he was planning to wash against his father Victor).

In the prevent, everyone manufactured it back to Salem save for Hope, world health organization was "killed" by way of existence drop by the vat of acid by Ernesto. It would late exist as revealed that Ernesto got traded Hope to a DiMerthe personal & that a lookalike known as Greta was dropped into the acid instead. Hope would become brainwashed as the pawn of Stefano, world health organization utilized her as a replacement for her evil doppleganger Gina, a princess world health organization along by using her mercenary/conman lover John Black, stole worthful things for Stefano.

Giving page, Bo would run the relationship by using new arrived doctor Carly Manning (Crystal Chappell). the arrival of Carly Manning would bring a fresh umbrella plot line involving Carly's childhood friend Jennifer (okay, married to Jack) & Frankie Brady, world health organization was retroactively declared to exist as Carly's brother & their war against a indicate's recently villain Lawrence Alamain (Michael Sabatino). Lawrence quickly mass produced his bones when a fresh arch-villainside by murdering Patch in October 1990. Due to a popularity of the character, the writers install an "out" to bring Steve back atThe late date (an retired that when to this day has however to become utilized). By using Patch no more, his darling Kayla, fallowing the romance using her previous brother-inside-law Shane which generated a negative fan response, was before long written away from the indicate also inside 1992.

Lawrence raped Jennifer which put him contradictory by having her hubby Jack. Meanwhile Bo (at present played by Robert Kelker Kelly) began a relationship by owning Carly, whose parents were demanding her to marry a nefarious Lawrence instead.

Meanwhile Isabella & "Roman" married however their married blissfulness was quickly shattered per shocking link to of "Roman's' wife Marlena Evans. Marlena had been kidnapped by Stefano and used to breed a set of twin heirs for the DiMera family. As "Roman" sought out Stefano to seek vengence, another shocking secret emerged as it was revealed that "Roman" was not really Roman and that the real Roman, Wayne Northrop, was also Stefano's prisoner all of these years.

Behind the scenes, the reason for such a massive swerve was that the producers approached Deidre Hall about returning to the show in the role of Marlena after a 5-year absence. Hall would only agree to return if the show also brough back her close friend Wayne Northrop in the role he originated, Roman Brady. The producers were interested but knew quite well that Hogestyn was extremely popular with viewers and they couldn't just fire Hogestyn. However, since Hogestyn's Roman had moved on to Isabella, a compromise was struck: Northrop returned as Roman and it was revealed that Hogestyn's character, John Black, was a mercenary in the employ of Stefano DiMera's criminal organization who had his memories taken from him and was brainwashed into thinking he was Roman as punishment for betraying Stefano (as well as a means of carrying on his favorite hobby--the continual torment of the Brady family).

Through many different writing regimes, John's past would change considerably. He is, to date, quite possibly the most continually rewritten character in the history of television. At first he was a member of the wealthy Alamain family, then he was a priest who Stefano's mistress confided in, before they finalized on John being a mercenary and con artist who worked with Gina, a royal princess who was a con artist like her lover on the side. However, years later it was rewritten again that John was actually the illegitimate son of Daphne DiMera, Stefano's deceased common law wife, and an as-yet-unrevealed father (fan speculation continues to center on Shawn Brady, which would make him Roman's half-brother and may explain why he shared enough similarities with Roman to be able to replace him so easily and for so long). Marlena reunited with the real Roman while John and Isabella celebrated their relationship with the birth of their first (and only) child Brady, named after the family that had taken John in as their own.

Much had changed since Roman was last in town, and he struggled to fit into the canvas. Since John and Marlena were still a popular couple, John's wife Isabella was promptly given cancer and killed off, freeing John to begin an affair with Marlena, which created controversy when Marlena's daughter Sami (Alison Sweeney) caught them having sex on a conference table at a nearby office building. When she became pregnant as a result of this fling, she sought to pass the child off as Roman's and was even unknowingly helped by Sami, who altered hospital files to make the child Roman's. Ultimately, Sami was exposed and Roman fled town in disgrace at being cuckolded by John. The scandal would force Marlena to raise the child (named Belle, after John's former wife Isabella) alone while John was forced to find comfort with a new arrival in Salem, Kristen Blake (Eileen Davidson). Sami meanwhile never forgave Marlena and John (who Sami considered a second father) for betraying Roman like they did, with the incident triggering a turn to the dark side for Sami.

The James E. Reilly Era
In 1993, the show began to drift towards more supernatural storylines when the hiring of new head writer James E. Reilly. One of his first major storylines was to have Carly Manning be buried alive by evil Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel). The storyline shot up the ratings as NBC heavily promoted the storyline with lurid commercials hyping it. With ratings at a high level, the show fired many popular actors such as Ashford, Sabatino and Chappell. Carly and Lawrence suddenly fell in love after years of hating each other and left Salem for Europe while Jack fled town after being rendered penniless and emotionally dead upon learning that his daughter Abby had cancer caused by toxic chemicals he had authorized to be dumped years earlier. The exits were controversial with some fans, particularly the decision to have Jack desert his wife and daughter.

Jennifer quickly moved on with Stefano's mysterious son, Peter Blake (Jason Brooks), but Jack (now played by Mark Valley) returned. Adding to the drama was the return of Jennifer's long-institutionalized mother Laura (now played by Jamie Lyn Bauer). Laura was suspicious of Peter, so he had her office painted with toxic chemicals to send her around the bend. While in a rehab facility she slept with Jack - they had no idea of the other's identity as they had never met and were using assumed names. A monkey wrench was thrown into the story when Reeves quit the show in the fall of 1995 without advance notice. Rumors flew about the real reasons for her departure and the role of Jennifer was quickly recast with Stephanie Cameron, along with a brand new recast of Jack when replacement Mark Valley left the show. The newly recast Jack (Steve Wilder) and Jen finally did reunite but were forced to flee Salem to avoid Peter, who was now infected with a disease that caused him to go insane and to possess insanity induced super-strength. After a year of sporadic appearances, Peter was arrested at long last and Jack, Jennifer, and Abby reunited and left the show for Africa in 1998.

The New Generation
Reilly also began to fill the show with new young actors to help promote the show to younger viewers. Besides Sami Brady, these included her half-sister Carrie (Christie Clark, who had been a cast member since she was a little girl) and dysfunctional half-siblings Lucas Roberts (Bryan Dattilo) and Austin Reed (Patrick Muldoon). Lucas himself was the offspring of a relationship between his mother Kate Roberts (Deborah Adair) and Bill Horton, retroactively inserted into Days canon as the event that caused Laura Horton to have her nervous breakdown. Meanwhile Austin and his sister Billie (Lisa Rinna) were children of a previous marriage of Kate that had ended in Kate having to abandon her children to an abusive father. Austin was a boxer whose budding romance with Carrie suffered after a mobster threw acid in her face (Austin was the indended target).

Quickly Reilly created a love rectangle between Austin, Sami, Carrie, and Lucas that would borrow from previous love triangles, most notably the Bill/Mickey/Laura triangle from the early 1970s. Sami was infatuated with a young man named Alan, who wanted her sister. Alan raped Sami and Sami shot him in the testicles. This quickly became a town scandal and Sami was humiliated. Austin showed her great kindness and she became obsessed with him. Sami would drug Austin and rape him only to run from his house when Austin starts calling Sami "Carrie". She would go to the arms of Lucas, who she would have pity sex with and become pregnant with his child. With help from Vivian, Sami would accuse Austin of being the father of her child and force a marriage between the two. Meanwhile Lucas would use Mike Horton (Roark Critchlow) to break Austin and Carrie up by having Mike steal Carrie away from Austin. However, when Sami discovered the truth about her son Will's parentage it created a landslide of events that resulted in Austin and Carrie marrying and Lucas declaring his undying hatred for Sami for hiding the truth about Lucas being a father from him, as Lucas had longstanding issues with his own absent father.

These new storylines generated much notice but problems developed when Patrick Muldoon left the show, forcing the casting of Austin Peck as the new Austin Reed.

Reilly's second major storyline saw the return of Stefano, who with the help of his new girlfriend, the psychic Celeste Perrault (Tanya Boyd), kidnapping Marlena and John. The two were able to break free with help from Hope, who had been given amnesia to keep her from remembering how she worked as a thief for Stefano. The return of Hope, now calling herself Gina, created havoc for Bo and his new girlfriend Billie, leading her to leave town so as to allow Bo and Hope to be reunited even though through contrived plot twists, there was no physical means to confirm that Hope was indeed Hope. Billie would return though, with new actresses playing her, and would ultimately become pregnant by Bo, though the child would be stillborn (though it would later be revealed that the DiMera family stole the child's dead body and used advanced science to resurrect the dead baby).

Tony DiMera (Thaao Penghlis) returned under Reilly's pen in 1993 to take care of an ill Stefano and to marry his longtime sweetheart, Kristen. Tony had reconciled his differences with Stefano during their absent years from the show. In comparison to the other eras, Tony was portrayed as a protagonist this time, who wanted to legitimize the DiMera business. After a few mishaps, Tony was able to marry Kristen but she ultimately left him for John Black after a long-running affair with him. Afflicted with a fatal blood disease compounding his grief, Tony took up his role as a true DiMera and decided to get revenge. He formed a plan to kill himself and frame John for murder, which was successful. Later it was found that Tony had slipped into a coma and Andre was really the one who had killed himself.

Meanwhile the success of Carly's buried alive storyline cause Reilly to branch out into his most controversial storyline to date, a year long storyline involving Marlena becoming possessed by Satan. The plot brought Reilly high ratings despite numerous interruptions due to coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial and complaints from critics who felt that demonic possession was too over the top a storyline. In the end, Marlena was freed from Satan's grip through the love of John. John's relationship with Kristen was strained when Tony DiMera, who was married to Kristen in spite of her love for John, learned he was terminally ill, killed himself, and set John up to be arrested for his "slaying". John was nearly guillotined but Marlena jumped in front of the blade and Stefano called off the punishment. Reilly turned John's ex-girlfriend Kristen evil then gave her four additional roles to play in a protracted storyline involving doppelgangers, false pregnancies, gender-bending (as one of Davidson's characters was a man), and Stefano dressing up like Elvis Presley so that he could have sex with a woman (played by Davidson) who was obsessed with Elvis. Kristen and the other four characters were later written out in 1998.

A fairly controversial move was Reilly's decision to hire Josh Taylor, who played the popular supporting cast member Chris Kositchek from 1977-1987, to play the role of Roman Brady without any sort of storyline to explain away the drastic change in the character's appearance. Roman was terminally ill, and Marlena and John had to hide their relationship so she could pretend she loved Roman.

By the end of 1997, Reilly left the show to begin work on his new series Passions, which left many subplots up in the air as writers scrambled to resolve the writer's loose ends. For the next few years the show was written by Sally Sussman Morina, who wrapped up many of Reilly's stories. Mike seduced Carrie into committing adultery and the two left town for Israel in November 1999. The villainous Vivian, who quickly went from feared villain to comic relief, left town in February 2000 with her loyal manservant Ivan Marais when he came into a small fortune. Lucas and Sami waged a violent war for custody of Will that ended with Victor stepping in and forcing Lucas and Kate to sign full custody of Will to Sami in exchange for Sami turning over all blackmail material she had on the two. Austin, after a fling with Greta Von Amburg (Julianne Morris) that ended with a virtual reality "Garden of Eden" storyline finally agreed to marry Sami but left her at the altar when he learned how Sami lied to him about Will being physically abused by Lucas to get him to take her side in the custody case.

Finally the whole storyline with regards to Hope's missing years ended when Stefano brainwashed Hope into becoming Gina again while at the same time restoring John's memories so as to bring them under his control once and for all. This led to a controversial episode of the series where Hope and John had sex on a submarine, which many fans denounced as a massive betrayal of their respective marriages while other fans accepted the scene as not an act of adultery since both Hope and John were under the influence of Stefano's control at the time.

Hope became pregnant, and NBC began a much-publicized campaign asking fans to decide who should be the father of Hope's child - John or Stefano. John won, but many fans wanted Bo, Hope's husband, to be the father, and after a change in headwriter, the show rewrote history to reveal that Bo was the father after all after a baby swapping storyline involving Stefano's illegitimate daughter Lexie Carver (Renee Jones) (who for a time became the head of the DiMera crime syndicate when Mascolo was fired from the series). But before this could happen, viewers would have to endure one final twist in the Gina storyline: as the real Gina came out of hiding and kidnapped the real Hope, taking her place before being exposed and dying in the ensuing chaos of her being exposed. The real Hope was freed and eventually Bo and Hope were reunited with their real son.

2000 and Beyond
The show continued on with plotlines that primarily focused upon new teenage characters including Belle Black (Kirsten Storms), Brady Black (Kyle Lowder), Shawn-Douglas Brady (Jason Cook), and Philip Kiriakis (Jay Kenneth Johnson). They were soon joined by Cassie (Alexis Thorpe) and Rex (Eric Winter), who were ultimately revealed to be the offspring of Kate and Roman, who Marlena gave birth to while she was believed to be dead and Mimi Lockhart (Farah Fath), Belle's best friend, whose father lost his job and abandoned her family.

The main storyline of the time involved the relationship between Shawn and Belle. Vowing to remain virgins until they married and exchanging "purity rings" as a sign of love. The other big teen stories of the time were Brady and Phillip's rivalry over Chloe (Nadia Bjorlin), daughter of conniving Nancy and Dr. Craig Wesley (Patrika Darbo and Kevin Spirtas). Chloe initially wore all black ensembles and big glasses. After many taunts as "Ghoul Girl" she shocked the students at the Last Blast Dance by throwing off her cloak to reveal a sexy red dress. Phillip had originally dated her only as a prank (he planned to dump her and break her heart), but he soon fell in love with her. Brady was alienated from his family (he hated his stepmother, Marlena) and confided in Chloe. Eventually Brady and Chloe became a couple, but his grandfather Victor felt Chloe was not good enough for Brady and got her an overseas job singing opera. Tony DiMera (Thaao Penghlis) returned as the new head of the DiMera family, to steal Marlena away from John. His motives remained unclear for many months as he put subtle plans into motion and worked at creating tension among many characters. Stefano had left him a blue key that he said would unlock the secrets to his past and future, and John and Tony spent many months racing to learn the secrets of the key first. It turns out that the key unlocked the bracelets of the Gemini Twins, mind-controlled teenage-aged pawns of Stefano. Tony's fugue states led him to a DiMera island compound on a string of islands shaped like the Gemini constellation and on the island, he used the blue key to open a box containing Stefano's dairy. The dairy contained all of the information pertaining to the Brady / DiMera feud, revealed that John was the son of Daphne DiMera and therefore Tony's half-brother, and further solidified Tony as the new antagonist of the show. He also served as a catalyst for Sami and Lucas to finally acknowledge their feelings for each other, when Sami was nearly killed by Tony when she confronted him over his helping Lexie ruining her relationship with Lexie's stepson Brandon Walker (Matt Cedeno). Finally, the new struggles against Tony resulted in the sudden, surprise revelation that John Black, rather than just being a semi-amnesiac former mercenary-turned-wealthy local businessman, was in fact Salem's resident ISA agent-in-place, and naturally his #1 assignment was to wage the ongoing battle against the DiMera clan (the exact timing of his employment by the spy agency was never revealed; it was just sprung on the audience out of the blue one day).

Finally the writers eagerly exploited the show's newest (at that time) break-out character Nicole Walker (Arianne Zuker). Originally a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, Nicole was hired as a model by Kate and later paid a large sum of money to marry her son Lucas, to help Lucas win custody of his son. Through the Roberts, Nicole discovered the power of money and quickly manipulated her way into the bed of Victor, much to Kate's horror. As her marriage to Lucas ended, she married Victor and soon found herself super-rich and super-powerful, though Nicole found herself outmatched when she crossed swords with Victor. Having survived a near fatal stroke that left him paralyzed for several years, Victor was determined to never be helpless again and used the fact that Nicole murdered rogue doctor Colin Murphy (Justin Melvey) when he tried to blackmail her to keep her under his thumb. Much to Victor's horror, Nicole became involved with Brady. Victor was soon presumed dead and unable to stop Nicole from seducing Brady.

With ratings at an all time low and NBC threatening to cancel the series, James Reilly was brought back as head writer in the summer of 2003 and given carte blanche to "fix" the show. His major storyline to save DAYS was the ultra-controversial Salem Serial Killer storyline, which murdered Abe, Jack, Maggie, Caroline, Cassie, Roman, Tony, Doug and Alice by Marlena, who at the time declared that her decision to kill her closest friends and relatives was based upon her rage that Roman was dating Kate Roberts. The storyline was extremely controversial as many of the victims were longtime fan favorites. In the midst of this original cast member John Clarke (Mickey) left, which added to the controversy. But since the show's ratings were now levelling out with the revelation that Marlena was the killer, the show's efforts were deemed a success by Soap Opera Digest.

After Marlena was "flushed" in a prison riot arranged by Nicole, it was revealed that the victims have been revealed as alive and are all trapped on an island replica of Salem, named, appropriate enough, Melaswen (New Salem spelled backwards). The conclusion to the Salem Serial Killer mystery was laid at Tony's feet, as he wanted to prove that he could be an even bigger villain than Stefano by destroying the lives of the people of Salem as well as make Marlena think she was a murderer. Also, the plan was part of his revenge against John Black, who he could never surpass. Tony and John had a final duel to the death in Tony's faux Zen chamber, resulting in Tony's demise. The captives ultimately were rescued from Melaswen, but an explosion separated Marlena, Roman, Jack and Cassie from the others. Everyone else returned to Salem while the former four were held prisoner in Tony's castle - he was really alive. Fans watched as Sami (while in her "Stan" disguise) caused John to be wracked by excruciating pain and hooked on drugs. While battling his addiction, John became involved with Kate. Marlena was little seen during these months - when she did reappear onscreen, she and Roman saw John and Kate making love and they also chose to make love. The last survivors then managed to escape the castle and return to Salem. Unfortunately, Marlena was pregnant with Roman's child which she ultimately lost when she accidentally fell down a flight of stairs due to the stress of being a woman in her late 40s carrying a child combined with the rather unforgiving reaction from John when she told him the truth.

As 2004 progressed, the slow-paced storylines continued, but ratings fell. In a homage of Marlena's many visits to the prison cages of Stefano, Shawn was kidnapped by his insane childhood friend, Jan Spears (Heather Lindell) and kept in a cage for months while she pulled every trick in the book to seduce him into having sex with her. Meanwhile Belle, who Shawn had left on bad terms with when her refusal to give vital information about her mother being the serial killer resulted in the "deaths" of Shawn's paternal grandfather Doug and his maternal grandmother Alice, and Philip found themselves forced together by Kate, who spent time manipulating the love lives of her children. She also did serious damage to Lucas and Sami's relationship by having Sami drugged and placed with her ex-boyfriend Brandon, resulting in Lucas pulling out of their planned wedding. Another more controversial storyline was Mimi's decision to have an abortion after becoming pregnant with Rex's child on the basis that Rex would not want a child due to the couple's poor financial status. The truth was kept from Rex for many months as fans were forced to watch Rex and Mimi perform the same scene of Mimi trying to tell the truth to Rex only have something interrupt her before she could tell Rex the truth. Meanwhile Jan found out about the abortion and blackmailed Mimi, culminating in Mimi accidentally putting Jan into a coma, then pleading guilty so she would received a lengthy jail term and never have to face Rex again. Ultimately Mimi was released from jail when it was proven that Jan's coma was an accident, but Belle revealed to Rex the truth about Mimi's abortion and Rex dumped Mimi as a result of her lies. Many fans complained that rather than using the storyline as a discussion on the pros or cons of abortion, viewers watched as Mimi was 'punished' for her choice by developing an infection which rendered her barren and losing Rex's love. Actress Heather Tom wrote an op-ed in Soap Opera Digest criticizing the story as inaccurate and irresponsible.

While Victor was presumed dead (actually bonding with old love Caroline on Melaswen), Nicole seduced Brady. Chloe was disfigured in a limo accident and faked her death rather than meet Brady without her beautiful face. Eventually Nicole found out Chloe was alive and through a convoluted series of events, was mistaken for a doctor and had to perform plastic surgery on Chloe's face. Nicole permanently scarred Chloe, but when Brady found Chloe, he told her her scars didn't matter.

After escaping Jan's cage, Shawn crashed his motorcycle into the church in a failed attempt to stop the wedding of Belle Black (now played by Martha Madison) and Philip Kiriakis (played by Real World alumni Kyle Brandt) as his obsession with Belle caused him to stalk her and consume large amounts of booze to deal with his depression. While Philip tolerated Shawn's obsession with his wife for the sake of Belle, Philip soon found his life irreversibly altered when Phillip (who was a Marine) was sent on a mission to Iraq, where he was promptly captured and tortured by Tony. He had assembled a literal army of highly trained mercenaries and sought to conquer Iraq as part of his scheme for world domination. Meanwhile Shawn, having slept with Belle during a snowstorm shortly before Phillip was deployed, was filled with guilt and sought to make amends by going over to Iraq and rescuing Phillip from the portion of the country that Tony's army of European mercenaries had conquered.

Aiding him in the mission was Belle's half-brother Brady, Philip's half-brothers Lucas and Rex, and Sami, who was in disguised as a male reporter named Stan (in truth, Alison Sweeney was on maternity leave and Dan Wells was hired to play her in drag) who proceeded to play the four rescuers and Tony against each other before helping the men rescue Philip. Tony meanwhile escaped capture though the guys' attempt to bring Philip home was rejected by Philip, who opted to stay behind to help his fellow troops free the Iraqis from Tony's remaining forces. It was during his first mission after his rescue that Philip lost his leg to a landmine, sending him home as a result. Many were not comfortable with the use of a war in which many real soldiers had suffered and died as well as the controversial decision to have Phillip lose his leg.

In recent months the show's producers have begun to focus more on the past as they've shifted focus back onto Jack and Jennifer as well as restocking the Horton family tree by way of SORAS Abby to a teenager and having Jack and Jennifer take in Abby (Ashley Benson)'s orphan friend Chelsea Benson (Mandy Musgrave, then Rachel Melvin), in which Bo and Billie found out that Chelsea is their presumed-dead daughter, Georgia Brady.

By the summer and fall of 2005, the soap brought back some of its fan favorites from the 1980s and 1990s including Wayne Northrop (Roman Brady/Alex North), Austin Peck (Austin Reed), Billy Warlock (Frankie Brady) and most recently Christie Clark (Carrie Brady).

Friends
The serial was satirized on the sitcom Friends when one of the principals, Joey Tribbiani (played by Matt LeBlanc) got a job as Dr. Drake Ramoray on the show. All storylines shown on Friends (with guest shots by actual Days of our Lives stars) were fictional and did not represent what was really going on in the soap opera itself. Joey's fictional stint on the show ended when he angered its writers and his character was killed after falling down an elevator shaft. Later, his character was brought back to life in a further spoof on the show (no fewer than thirty-six characters have been "brought back" from the dead on Days). In the new sitcom Joey, Joey was nominated for "best death scene" in which he was stabbed while performing surgery.

Opening sequence

Days of our Lives has one of the most iconic opening sequences in television history. Almost completely unchanged since the show's debut in 1965, the titles show an hourglass, as time slowly trickles to the bottom. In 1966, the focus moved from the entire hourglass to the bottom, with the time trickling away as the theme played. In 1972, the current title lettering was introduced (before then, the show's title was in generic caps).

In 1993, a computerized version of the visual was made, with completely redone sound effects and music. In this version, the hourglass starts focus at the bottom-half, overlooking the dawn. As the sun rises, the focus is zoomed out, and the audience sees the entire hourglass.

Since 1966, Macdonald Carey has intoned the legendary epigram "Like sands through a hourglass, so come the Times of my Spends."

Cast
Current cast members
Kristian Alfonso (Hope Williams Brady) Matthew Ashford (Jack Deveraux) Ashley Benson (Abigail Deveraux) Steve Blackwood (Bart Beiderbecke) Kyle Brandt (Philip Kiriakis) Darin Brooks (Maxwell Brady) Jason Cook (Shawn-Douglas Brady) Bryan Dattilo (Lucas Roberts) Judi Evans Luciano (Bonnie Lockhart) Farah Fath (Mimi Lockhart) Deidre Hall (Marlena Evans Black) Drake Hogestyn (John Black) Brody Hutzler (Patrick Lockhart) John Ingle (Mickey Horton) Renee Jones (Dr. Lexie DiMera Carver, MD) Lauren Koslow (Kate Roberts) Martha Madison (Belle Black Kiriakis) Rachel Melvin (Chelsea Brady) Wayne Northrop (Dr. Alex North, MD) Rhasaan Orange (Thomas Edward "Tek" Kramer) Austin Peck (Austin Reed) Thaao Penghlis (Tony DiMera) Julie Pinson (Billie Reed) Peter Reckell (Bo Brady) Melissa Reeves (Jennifer Horton Deveraux) Frances Reid (Alice Horton), Original Cast Member James Reynolds (Abe Carver) Suzanne Rogers (Maggie Horton) Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady) Josh Taylor (Roman Brady) Billy Warlock (Frankie Brady) Arianne Zuker (Nicole Walker)

Recurring cast members
John Aniston (Victor Kiriakis) Daphne Bloomer (Eugenia Willens) Tanya Boyd (Celeste Perrault) Christopher Gerse (Will Roberts) Garrett, Spencer & Mitchell Gray (Zack Brady) Bill Hayes (Doug Williams) Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie Olson Williams) Chase & Tyler Johnson (Theo Carver) Peggy McCay (Caroline Brady) Frank Parker (Shawn Brady)

Coming and going cast members
Christie Clark (Carrie Brady) (taping starts in early November 2005)

Deceased cast members
Brenda Benet (Lee DuMonde Williams), 1982 Richard Biggs (Dr. Marcus Hunter, MD), 2004 Macdonald Carey (Dr. Tom Horton, MD) Original Cast Member, 1994