The rumor mill is churning out all kinds of tidbits about Days of our Lives' eventual end, but the stars of the NBC soap are standing firm in their belief that the grains in the hourglass will continue to fall.
Several key members of the nearly-50-year-old soap spoke with ET Online about their current working environment and why DAYS has been such a heralded part of television history.
"I think it has an old stigma of being over the top and not being a real drama, and the storylines overshadowed the acting in the past, but if you look at it in the last eight to 10 years, I don't see that," Bryan Dattilo (Lucas Horton) shares. "I see the best place for acting that I've seen on daytime."
And not only that, longtime cast member Deidre Hall (Marlena Evans) says it's also one of the bravest series currently on the air. "DAYS has done a very fine job of staying current. If there are topics to be discussed, we discuss them," she says. "We did the first crib death on television. It had never been seen on TV. There was no warning. Marlena walked in the room and saw D.J. in the crib... We did the first twin storyline. We had the first possession storyline. We had the first gay wedding. We have been heralded for our bravery, and I think we deserve it."
With great acting and groundbreaking storylines at play, it's no wonder DAYS has brought the hourglass to fans for almost 50 years. "Days of our Lives is almost like an heirloom people hand down to their kids," says Eric Martsolf (Brady Black), adding that it's especially apparent at fan events. "One of my favorite things to do is to watch great grandma come up, grandma, mom, mom's daughter and sometimes mom's daughter's daughter. You literally have four or five generations standing in line for your autograph, and you understand the generational power of this show."
In January 2014, NBC renewed Days of our Lives through September 2016.
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