An ode to Days Of Our Lives in memory of the chief

[Kevin M.]

Tom Heald and I bonded over our history with the NBC soap opera. My mom bought the family's first VCR (which I had to program) just so she could watch the series. In college, there was a unique segment of attractive girls who liked the show, so I'd watch it there as well. All the watching served me well when I was hired as a page and was one of few pages to could speak about the show, the characters, the actors, etc.

Anyway, the show is turning 50 years old, and though it has changed quite a bit since I regularly watched it (Maggie & Victor are a couple?), I've been tuning in to see many of the familiar faces return to the show for its anniversary month. Last week, Bo Brady returned to Salem, but the joy was short lived for fans, since the writers gave the character an inoperable brain tumor, and on Friday's show he died in the arms of his beloved Hope "Fancy Face." One of the unique things about a series that has run for decades is when they show a flash-back, they freakin' show a flash-back. And to see a series of clips of the actors and the characters grow over 30 years was cool to watch, and even though I know that Bo, aka Peter Reckell, is alive and well and the only reason the character was killed off was because NBC is too cheap to pay for long term contracts for the seasoned actors, it was still emotional, and it's not something too many prime time shows outside of Bonanza could do.

All this reminded me of Tom and the chats we used to have on AOL Instant Messenger (yep, that's how long ago it has been) wherein we'd talk about (OK, dish like two catty teenage girls about) the characters and the actors who played them.

Just felt like sharing.

But seriously, Maggie and Victor?

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Kevin M. (RPCV)