The longest-running American daytime soap opera debuted in November 1965 and is still going strong. Responsible for giving the world many a beloved super couple, DOOL is renowned for telling stories that span generations.
It’s been a long time since a new daytime drama was launched on network television (the last one was in 1999 with Passions). Now CBS is finally introducing a new show called Beyond the Gates.
Tom Horton
In a genre that has been largely stagnant for decades, days of our lives was an innovation. Its flights into the macabre and postmodern satire put a new twist on a tried-and-true formula.
The show’s light orchestral theme music, composed by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, became a signature of the soap opera genre. The quaint setting of Salem was contrasted with the grittiness of the DiMeras and Bradys, but the Horton family was a consistent element.
The drama also tapped into the popular teen audience with a series of stories featuring romances between young lovers and nefarious scheming. This included a serial killer, an exorcism, and even a love triangle involving a gay couple. The saga of Roman and Marlena established the Bradys as an alternative to the bourgeois Hortons. Other supercouples followed, including Bo and Hope (Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso) and Kimberly and Shane (Patsy Pease and Charles Shaughnessy).
Alice Horton
The Horton family is one of the oldest on the soap, having been in Salem since the show debuted. Unlike many other soaps of the time, Days focused on African-American characters.
The show shifted its focus in the 1970s, when long-term head writer William J. Bell pushed the envelope with sexually charged and controversial storylines, including a lesbian marriage, an interracial romance, and daytime’s first exorcism.
Eventually, the drama shifted away from that type of plot and toward a more traditional format. Frances Reid portrayed beloved matriarch Alice Horton until she passed away in 2007. Macdonald Carey portrayed husband Tom from the start of the show to his offscreen death in 1994 and then again in 2010. The Horton clan has been in Salem for decades, and their legacy continues on today.
Mickey Horton
When the show premiered, it centered on the Horton family. Frances Reid played matriarch Alice for a time and Macdonald Carey portrayed Dr. Tom. Carey also delivered the famous opening line still heard every episode as sand pours into an hourglass.
Other actors have also portrayed multiple characters over the years. These include Judith Chapman, Lois Kibbee, John Loprieno, Lori March, and more.
The nefarious Vivian Alamain once buried her nemesis alive! It was an outrageous story that garnered tons of attention for the soap. It is one of the most memorable stories in Days of Our Lives history. It was also the first time a Black soap opera had an African-American character as its center of the storyline. It was called Generations and ran on NBC from 1989-91. The show was a hit and had many of the same cast members as Days of our Lives.
Marie Horton
Despite the fact that they may have appeared to be an all-American family, the Horton clan was anything but. In the 1970s, Marie struggled with mental illness and attempted suicide. She also suffered a miscarriage. After finding out that she had a daughter, she went to Canada looking for her and ended up discovering that she was living under the name Jessica Blake.
Under the creative pens of a handful of innovative head writers, Days began to cross into pure fantasy. Vivian Alamain buried her nemesis alive! Outrageous scribe James Reilly wrote a possession story for the sainted Marlena that resulted in daytime’s first exorcism.
Eileen Davidson tackled five roles on the soap, including villainous Kristen DiMera, who faked a miscarriage and hired a doppelganger to conceive and bear a child for her (which ultimately led to the birth of EJ DiMera). Davidson earned a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1998.
Julie Olson
Eileen Davidson conquered five roles on the soap, earning Daytime Emmy nominations for Kristen Blake, Susan Banks, Sister Mary Moira, Thomas Banks and Penelope Kent. She also wowed audiences with an outrageous possession storyline in 1995 that garnered a huge amount of attention for the show.
Julie and Doug represented a pivotal hinge point in the kinds of stories the soap was telling. Their saga was the first major interracial storyline on any network era soap. The African American magazine Jet featured the pair on its cover, pointing to their significance in a time when the idea of blacks dating whites was not embraced as it is now. They paved the way for other Salem supercouples such as Roman and Bo, and Kayla and Steve. Their tangled relationships were both romantic and Gothic, with murder, and sibling rivalry and redemption arcs.
Abe Carver
Abe Carver, played by James Reynolds, is one of the most lovable characters in Days of Our Lives history. He started out as a cop back in the ’80s and has been police commissioner and mayor of Salem. He’s had several love interests but has remained steadfast in his devotion to his first wife, Lexie Brooks. They had a daughter together named Lani Price and she followed in his footsteps as a Salem police officer.
He also had a brief fling with Chanel Dupree, who threw him under the bus when she exposed that Marlena was actually possessed by Stefano DiMera’s spirit. Currently, Abe is working with his protege Tek Kramer as they investigate the DiMeras’ illegal activities. He and Lexi recently reunited and he’s now helping them cope with their son Theo’s autism. His eyesight is beginning to deteriorate so he has undergone a second retina transplant.
Lucas Roberts
After co-creator Ted Corday died in 1966, the show was retooled under his widow and head writer Betty Corday. This saw refurbished sets, the debut of the Brady Pub, and the addition of new characters such as Vivian Alamain, Lisanne Gardner, Billie Reed, and Kate Roberts.
In 2004 Lucas finally admitted his feelings to Sami and proposed. She accepted, and the couple headed to the altar. However, Kate found out and blackmailed them into getting divorced so she could take custody of their son Will.
Soon after, Sami began a relationship with Chloe and Lucas was devastated by her betrayal. Eventually, he was able to forgive Chloe and move on. He was also supportive of his son Will’s sexual orientation and attended PFLAG meetings. He also worked with his friend Austin to help him run Mad World.
Billie Reed
Billie Reed (Lisa Rinna) first appeared in Salem in 1992 as a drug-addicted singer who believed her stillborn daughter Georgia was alive. After a stint living with Carrie Brady, she started to turn her life around when she met Bo and fell in love.
Over the years, she worked on the Salem PD, became a crime boss and even had her own cosmetics company called Countess Wilhelmina. Billie often ran into trouble with her mother Kate and men like Nicholas Alamain.
Despite her best efforts, Bo and Billie couldn’t stay together and she left town. Now that she’s back in the picture, he isn’t happy about her relationship with Chelsea. She tries to manipulate her into believing that Bo slept with Nick in a hotel. But this doesn’t work out and they both end up hurting each other in the process.
Sami Brady
When Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) returned to Salem in 2008, she was accompanied by Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering). An FBI agent, Rafe was assigned to protect Sami during her stay in witness protection. Though they initially had a contentious relationship, the two eventually fell in love and married.
Sami and Rafe’s relationship was marred by her romance with the bad boy of Salem, EJ DiMera. Their son Johnny was conceived from their teenage love affair.
It’s been 35 years since the last major network soap opera debuted on the air and even longer since a daytime drama focused on predominantly African-American characters. However, that’s about to change. CBS’s new drama, Beyond the Gates, will make its debut this February. It will be the first black-led soap since NBC’s Generations debuted in 1989. The family on the show owned a successful ice cream business.
Carrie Brady
Carrie was a lawyer and co-owner of High Style. She worked with her brother-in-law, Rafe Hernandez, and the two solved cases together. During this time, she developed feelings for Rafe. One day after solving a case with him, they kissed. Unfortunately, Sami and Austin walked in and saw them.
Later, Carrie took a job in Salem as a private investigator. She soon teamed up with her former boyfriend, Austin Reed. Carrie also began to feel sick and a pregnancy test confirmed that she was pregnant with Lucas’s baby, Will.
She spent the rest of 1998 arguing with her husband. Eventually, she left Salem and returned for Grandma Caroline’s memorial service in 2019. She was also back in 2021 to take over for Billie on the soap. The following year, she was reunited with her son. Carrie left the story again in 2022.