During the first months of 2024, the Days of Our Lives stories you’ll see were written by scab writers during the Writers Guild of America strike that took up a chunk of 2023. The show already has a different (and better feel), but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a list of things we want for our favorite Salemites as the year begins.
End This Baby Switch
Sure, baby switches are a tried and true soap trope, but only if done right and only if it doesn’t constantly involve the same characters and doesn’t happen too frequently. DAYS’ last baby switch in 2020 also involved a child that belonged to Eric (Greg Vaughan) when he didn’t know he was the father. Sarah (Linsey Godfrey) and Eric’s dead baby was switched with Brady (Eric Martsolf) and Kristen’s (Stacy Haiduk) living daughter, with Baby Mickey now living as precocious Rachel Black (Finley Rose Slater).
Even Nicole (Arianne Zucker) switched a baby several years back when she claimed Sami’s (Alison Sweeney) daughter, Sydney, as her own. Now, Eric is unwittingly raising his son with Nicole, stolen by new wife Sloan (Jessica Serfaty). Eric thinks he adopted this infant despite knowing nothing about the birth parents, where this baby came from, and not signing one legal paper to make this Melinda The Stork-delivered child his.
Oblivious Nicole recognizes the baby as the one she gave birth to, but a DNA test says otherwise so she believes it despite knowing how easy they are to fudge. She also believes a mystery doctor who told her that her baby was cremated without questioning Chief of Staff Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) about the alleged mishap.
This baby switch needs to end fast, or at least in the first months of 2024. Every character involved has been dumbed down and practically ruined to make this work and the only silver lining is the Emmy-worth performance Arianne Zucker is giving as a grieving mother.
Finish What Was Started With Bo and Hope
Bo Brady is alive and Hope Brady is in Greece with him after thinking he died in her arms in the park eight years ago. The problem is, Bo is still comatose so their romantic reunion still hasn’t happened. DAYS managed to squander an extended Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso comeback in the spring of 2023 and that needs to be remedied ASAP.
Except for a writer’s strike disrupting a good portion of the year, there is no real excuse for DAYS not bringing Bo and Hope back to the forefront to finish what it started before 2023 came to a close, but it can remedy the problem before the end of 2024. Reckell has been quite forthcoming on social media that he is willing to return to the role he made famous 40 years ago. We’re sure TPTB can entice Alfonso as well to give us a proper Bo and Hope reunion after nearly a decade.
Romance, Romance, Romance
In the 1980s, DAYS was the premier supercouple soap, giving us pairings like the aforementioned Bo and Hope, plus other classic ‘ships’ like Steve (Stephen Nichols) and Kayla and John (Drake Hogestyn) and Marlena (Deidre Hall). All these years later, we still have Stayla and Jarlena on our screens, but we still don’t see enough romance in Salem.
With couples like Sarah (Linsey Godfrey) and Xander (Paul Telfer) and Johnny (Carson Boatman) and Chanel (Raven Bowens), DAYS needs to spend more time tapping into what’s already on the canvas. We also look forward to DAYS developing the young love story of Holly and Tate.
The players are already lined up for us to see more romance, love scenes, and heart in Salem in 2024 — instead of plot point gimmicks that can often make the show seem like a parody of a soap rather than an actual soap.
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