Like sands through the hourglass, Days of our Lives has had a gazillion storylines in its 54-year history. Some of them were beautiful, some of them were zany, but all of them make up the fabric of one of the most successful daytime dramas in history. With so many entertaining moments to choose from, is it possible to choose a favorite?
That very question was recently posed to the NBC soap opera's executive producer, Ken Corday, when he appeared on Australia's Today Extra. He admitted that it is an extremely tough question to answer, but after a moment's pause, he named the Marlena possession tale, created by head writer James E. Reilly back in the 1990s, as his ultimate favorite. However, he admits that his initial opinion of the wacky storyline idea wasn't positive.
"The writer called me and said this is what we are going to do. And I said, 'You're mad, that will never work!'" Corday reveals of the storyline that centered around Deidre Hall.
Surprisingly, Marlena's possession tale didn't just work -- it soared to the position of being one of the soap opera's most iconic and memorable moments.
But like we mentioned earlier, DAYS has heaps of memorable storyline moments. Check out a few of the most talked about Salem storylines below and let us know what your favorite DAYS moments are in the Comments section at the end of the article.
After ingesting wild herbs back in 1993, Vivian Alamain (then played by Louise Sorel) was inspired to bury her rival, Carly (Crystal Chappell), alive. In one of the most nail-biting soap plots in history, Carly awoke in her coffin, which was complete with enough essentials to keep her alive until, at long last, she was rescued.
Susan Banks (then played by Eileen Davidson) had everyone believing that she was Kristen DiMera -- until her fake teeth flew out of her mouth during a struggle at John (Drake Hogestyn) and "Kristen's" wedding.
In a dramatic November Sweeps showdown between rivals Stefano (Joseph Mascolo) and Roman (then played by Wayne Northrup) in 1994, Roman plummeted to his death after falling off a cliff. Viewers were crushed -- but thankfully, the beloved character returned, with Josh Taylor playing the part.
Sami (Alison Sweeney) was thisclose to tricking her son's father Austin (Austin Peck) into a second marriage, but Sami's half-sister and Austin's true love, Carrie (Christie Clark), showed up at the church and revealed that Lucas (Bryan Dattilo) was the toddler's true dad. It wasn't just Carrie who enjoyed the dramatic moment when Carrie smacked her sister to the floor. Fans loved the cathartic moment, too.
In a super emotional storyline, Sami's son Will (Chandler Massey) admitted that he was gay. The trailblazing moment led to Daytime Emmys for Massey and the storyline's writers, Marlene McPherson and Darrell Ray Thomas Jr.
Hope (Kristian Alfonso) was about to marry unscrupulous politician Larry Welch (Andrew Hyatt Masset), but just before she walked down the aisle, Bonnie Tyler's song "I Need a Hero" blasted onto viewers' television sets as Bo (Peter Reckell) dramatically swooped in to take his true love for himself.
Always a man of many tricks, Andre (Thaao Penghlis) supplied Sami with magical makeup and a voice changer so she could turn herself into a man named Stan. Why the big gender change? Sami wanted to prove to Lucas that Kate (Lauren Koslow) had manipulated their breakup. Oh, and while she was at it, Sami - a.k.a. Stan -- traveled to Iraq to save Philip (Jay Kenneth Johnson) when he was on duty.
DAYS viewers were horrified when main character after main character was killed off back in 2004. All fans could do was sit back in anguish, wondering what the heck was going on. Well, it turned out that the people who were murdered were actually just dopplegängers of the real characters, who had been kidnapped and taken to a remote island called Melaswen Island (which, as keen fans may have noticed, is New Salem spelled backwards).
What do you think about Ken Corday's initial reaction to the Marlena possession storyline? Which of DAYS' storyline stands out as your favorite? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
