Days Of Our Lives
Ron Carlivati Reveals When Days of our Lives Episodes From His Head Writing Regime Resume Streaming
Days of our Lives viewers have not been watching material from head writer Ron Carlivati and his writing team for many months. Well, things are about to change.
Circle this Friday, May 31st when the first new script from Carlivati and company will stream on the Peacock soap opera. If you recall, Carlivati had to step away from the writing gig at DAYS due to the writer’s strike, but because the soap tapes at least seven months ahead of air, it is only now that fans will see how the stories shift or finish out that were started by Carlivati.
According to Ron’s conversation with TV Insider, when Carlivati and his team resumed writing the show in late October of 2023, the stories were already written well into 2024. Carlivati explained, “For me, as of us talking right now, the (replacement writers’ material) is still airing, so that has been very tough. I’m just very anxious and eager for our stuff to start airing again.”
Photo: JPI
Ron explained before the writer’s strike, he and his scribes had written up through the 2023 Thanksgiving episodes. Speaking on how the replacement writers tried to handle stepping in for the regular team, Ron expressed, “I think what they tried to do was move things slowly in the hopes that the strike would end and respect where my storylines were so that I could play them off when we came back. Unfortunately, the strike dragged on, so I understand that the show needed to make story decisions.”
The award-winning writer made clear that, “from January to May (2024), those were not my stories. I had nothing to do with those.”
Having lived through a writer’s strike before (when he was at One Life to Live in 2008), Carlivati explained how he dealt with coming back and adjusting the stories including that the plan was to, “blow things up, jettison anything that I did not like, and get back to a show that I understand and can enjoy and tell. ”
Photo: JPI
Look for a Carlivati-style ‘wink-wink’ on Friday’s episode. As he puts it, “I did want to make it clear that this was the line of demarcation, that the writers were back and there was a change happening. We have a little nod or two to what was going on in the first day and I think it will be very obvious and clear to the savvy viewer. Luckily, story-wise, certain things were coming to a head already.”
Photo: JPI
Stay tuned for how Ron resolves a Sloan and Nicole showdown, how Eric will find out he is Jude’s true baby daddy, what happens when the new Gabi returns from Salem from out of the slammer, the Maggie/Konstantin wedding, payback time for Theresa and more.
In addition, and as previously reported, when Carlivati returned, he crafted the series 15,000th episode which is set to air in early December, and will also pay tribute to the late Bill Hayes with the passing of his on-screen beloved character, Doug Williams.
So, glad to know Ron and his team’s material will start to reveal itself this Friday and moving forward on DAYS? Comment below.
Never understood taping so far in advance. If a storyline is a bust they can’t do course corrections for almost a year. Maybe they should just take 5 months off and not tape that they can do what others do and tape 6-8 weeks.
Apparently, it has to do with cost-saving measures. But that doesn’t make sense to me either because if that were the case, all soaps would do it.
DAYS needs a complete overhaul, anyway. None of the current stories are interesting to me, many of the characters are insufferable (Konstantin, Theresa, Sloan), and many of the characters I really liked (Ben, Ciara, Shawn, Belle, Abigail, soon to be Nicole) are not on the canvas. Hopefully this change in pace will be a good thing for the show.
If you tape that far in advance, you can do a lot of the OTHER production stuff in batches, as opposed to producing and finalizing each episode, one after the other, in real time.
This is an imperfect analogy, but think of it like making a new lunch every day vs. making them in advance each month. Yes, it means sacrifices (you won’t have as many fresh/perishable things,you can’t change things up if you find you get sick of a specific meal, etc.) BUT it also means you can save by buying things in bulk at Costco rather than going to the store daily/weekly. It means you can spend a hard weekend getting 30 meals ready vs. having to make time each day to do it, etc. (This is especially important in production, where certain roles are paid by the day, whether they work all day or just part of one, and doing things in batches vs. daily can be the difference between having to hire full-time employees to do a job — which is very expensive – vs. hiring people to do the work as a project when you have enough work for them and letting them go off and do other work in the meantime, which is much cheaper.)
It’s not ideal for several reasons, but it is much, much cheaper. DAYS has a far, far lower budget than the other soaps (which is why they reuse sets more often and refresh them less often, and no longer shoot outside). That’s why you don’t see the same issues on other shows. DAYS had to cut and cut just to get renewed and found something that worked for them, striking the balance.
Believe me, every person on DAYS would love to go back to a conventional schedule for many reasons (though I suspect they do enjoy the longer dark periods and time away that I’ve heard comes with this schedule) but most are resigned this is what was needed to save the show. I respect that, as I really do want to see the show stick around.
yeah, but the other soaps have something resembling a budget and they’re not so desperate to save money. Days is. The other shows clearly feel that they’d rather save money somewhere else, given the choice. Days does not have that choice.
The problem with the 5-month off suggestion is that cast and crew have to get paid or released from their contracts (laid off).
DAYS had the easy solution to this in 2020 when all TV production shut down for 4 months. Instead of adjusting the pace of shooting then, they were able to get to a 7-month advance in short time.
GH, can be at a max is 8 weeks ahead (prior to summer and winter breaks) and occasionally airs some scenes 3 weeks after shooting.
Having several months of episodes in the can should have been used to their advantage during the strike, and they should have just used up those episodes and taken a few months off, rather than use scab writers at all. Days, of course, was able to keep new episodes on the air during the 2020 COVID shutdown, and in the end, only had to do about two weeks of reruns before resuming production, though the last few weeks before that had epsiodes that were “padded” heavily with flashbacks, even some scenes that aired more than once in the same episode.
On the other horn, we’re seeing baby swaps and DID stories in Salem right now. Those aren’t ReRon’s writing??
They aren’t. He knows what people are thinking, which is why, I think, he’s making very clear he had scripts written through Thanksgiving and outlines through Christmas, but everything from early January to today, plotwise, was the scab writers.
When he returned he had weeks of scripts that were already in progress in terms of shooting/production. At best, he could make a few tweaks. His and the true writing team’s stuff starts tomorrow.
It’s easy to credit a writer we love or blame a writer we don’t for stuff we like or don’t. But put simply — and legally: union contracts are no joke and people don’t work at all when they are on strike, not even “behind the scenes” — the stuff from January to today was scab plot and dialogue and Friday is when Ron’s plotting resumes (though even that will have to involve him transitioning out of the existing stories, and working with the cast/contracted actors already in place, as when a new writer takes over).
I’d expect pure Ron stories to start in six weeks or so, by then some contract cycles will be up and Zucker and Burton’s non-story dictated exits will be handled (allowing for the characters on the canvas to start shifting) and all the previous stories will be wrapped up (even if they have repercussions), giving him a clear runway.
I love Mr. Carlivati as a writer but to be honest I liked a lot of the replacement writers work. It was less camp, more generational, slower paced and more adult. I loved the EJ Nicole relationship and the Holly Nicole Brady Tate Theresa parenting vibes as well as the Holly Tate story. It was great to see teens on the soap again. Great to see less Kristen. I even like the Maggie Constantine story because we get to see mature actors in a real storyline other than worrying about their adult children and being clueless. So I hope he doesn’t come in and whack all of the replacement writers work just because he can and because he hates the scabs and because it will only alienate the fans.
Doug Marland once said as newly hired soap writer you should take your time before you make a lot of dramatic changes because what you think on first glance may not be working the fans may have different ideas. I know this is a different situation but i cannot lie some of their work was good. The times are grim and we all want a return to more realistic, intergenerational family drama.
I agree with you on a lot, but the show was too slow for me, too repetitive, and weeks went by where nothing of significance happened. The scabs also didn’t use or refer to history as much as they could have (a strength of Ron’s) and missed some big opportunities, such as making the burning and rebuilding of the Horton house a non-event.
Holly and Nicole has been interesting and I agree completely about the value of intergenerational storytelling. But I would like a little more plot and payoff. If Ron can strike a balance, I’d prefer him.
Can’t wait for Ron’s material to start airing again. For the most part, the last several months have been kind of rough to watch. I’m anxious to see Xander finally learn the truth about being Victor’s true son and heir, kick Alex to the curb and make Theresa pay for her conspiracy with Konstantin, including kidnapping his daughter. I also want Shane to find out how she betrayed his trust wnen she tampered with Victor’s will after he left it with her. Nothing against EOB, but this character, IMO, has been completely ruined. I find her unwatchable. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I’d rather see Gwen return. I found her much more interesting.
Rumor down here in Hell is that Xander’s mother will be coming to Salem for his wedding, and obviously she will know the truth about who his father was. I’m thinking she may not be aware that Victor intended to tell the truth about being Xander’s father in his final will & testament, but when she gets to town and finds out that Alex is passing himself off as the heir, things will “click” in her mind and she will realize her son’s being cheated.
They went to the trouble of burning the Horton House in order to buy a new couch? At least they pretended to rebuild the house and not move them into that three wall condo/bedroom set that everyone else lives in.
Days of our Lives long-running cast member James Reynolds revealed on the November 10 edition of Entertainment Tonight that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and his character of Abe Carver will now be going through an on-screen Parkinson’s battle as well.
Speaking with ET’s Nischelle Turner, the 80-year-old actor and Daytime Emmy winner shared how he attempted to hide the warning signs dating back to 15-20 years ago when he would have, “What they call the hallucinations. My wife (Lissa) would say, ‘You were hitting me last night in bed,’ and I would say, ‘What?!’ I was having these really horrible dreams.” Reynolds also added that he realized falling out of bed was an early symptom of Parkinson’s too.
Discussing the on-going tremors that have become more noticeable over time especially in hands, James shared that when he finally told the Days of our Lives cast they were nothing but “extraordinarily helpful and supportive.”
Photo: ET
SCREEN LIFE TO MIRROR REAL LIFE
Now with DAYS about to launch into Abe’s Parkinson’s storyline, Reynolds hopes that he can turn his experience into something positive by encouraging others facing the disease to keep fighting. During the sit-down, Reynolds co-star Jackée Harry (Paulina Price) recalls her reaction to learning of Reynolds’ real-life diagnosis and how she has continued to search for new treatments to inform James about.
Although Parkinson’s disease currently has no cure, there are medications and treatments can help those manage symptoms and improve quality of life. The condition progresses at a different pace from individual to individual.
As discussed in his conversation with ET, Reynolds cited Michael J. Fox and Alan Alda as two high-profile celebrities who have brought awareness to the disease.
Photo: JPI
In story on DAYS, Abe in recent weeks had been experiencing tremors which led to seek help and a diagnosis Dr. Kayla Johnson (Mary Beth Evans). Soon Abe and others will find out of his battle with Parkinson’s. Although on the promo for this week’s DAYS, Abe is seen telling Kayla, that he will do something, “when the time is right.”
James Reynolds is one of the most prolific performers, being the longest-running Black Actor in a role on a television series, not to mention his aforementioned Lead Actor Daytime Emmy win in 2018, and being inducted in 2025 into the Daytime Emmy Gold and Silver Society of honorees.
You can check out James’ in-depth conversation on his Parkinson’s diagnosis below.
Share your thoughts for James after learning of his health battle, and what do you think of Days of our Lives incorporating the disease into Abe Carver’s Salem storyline? Let us know in the comment section.
Alice Halsey is making a return to her Daytime Emmy-nominated role of Rachel Black on Days of our Lives. In a twist, Halsey is actually filling-in for her successor, Lorelei Oliva Mote.
According to TV Insider, an offer went out to Halsey to make a short comeback for four episodes when Mote had a scheduling conflict. The episodes Halsey taped will not be seen until late in 2027, due to Days of our Lives ongoing production schedule which tapes almost a year ahead of dropping new episodes on Peacock.
Mote has been playing Kristen DiMera (Stacy Haiduk) and Brady Black’s (Eric Martsolf) daughter since March 2026. Halsey had stepped away from the role in which she played from April of 2025 to March of 2026, and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination along the way in the Outstanding Emerging Talent category at the 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards.
Photo: JPI
FROM ‘LITTLE HOUSE’ TO SALEM
Halsey is now starring in the central role of Laura Ingalls in the Little House on the Prairie reboot on Netflix, which premiered this past June and in which the second season wrapped last month in October.
On coming home to Salem, Halsey shared, “It was very exciting. My parents told me that I would be coming back for a few more episodes, and I was so happy. I was freaking out. I was like, ‘I get to go back to Days. I get to see everybody again.’ And I’m just really glad that I get to be here.”
Stepping into Rachel’s skin after months away from the role, Alice explained, “I came in, and I did my work, and it was just awesome. It was fun, and it reminded me so much of back when I was Rachel before, and it made me even more grateful to be able to be Rachel again.”
She added “Rachel has matured a little bit more than when I was there, and it’s really fun to be able to play that up. She is older now, and so, of course, Rachel has changed, but my portrayal of her is essentially the same. She’s still the little girl that she used to be.”
Now below, you can check out Michael Fairman TV’s chat with Alice on the red carpet at the 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards via the Michael Fairman Channel, where she furthered discussed being a part of the reboot of the iconic series, Little House on the Prairie, plus loving her Days of our Lives family.
So, what do you think about Alice filling-in for Lorelei Olivia Mote on DAYS? Have you watched her on Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie? Let us knoq via the comment section.
Days Of Our Lives
‘Days of our Lives’ Celebrates 61st Anniversary: EP Ken Corday Teases New Character’s Arrival in Spring 2027
Today, November 8, marks the iconic Days of our Lives 61st anniversary having first burst on to the soap scene back on this date in 1965 on NBC. For 57 years the soap opera was a part of the NBC daytime programming block, and then in September of 2022 it debuted on the NBCUniversal streamer, Peacock as the first broadcast television daytime drama to move onto a streaming platform.
Now, here we are in DAYS sixth decade, and it’s found a way to survive with their unconventional taping schedule of shooting almost a year ahead of dropping new episodes on the platform, and Salem is still kicking as of this moment.
The anniversary week of episodes which begin tomorrow on Monday, November 9 through Friday November 13 will feature: the returns of Thaao Penghlis and Leann Hunley as Tony and Anna DiMera, more on the arrival of the newest DiMera, Dominik Marino as played by Kyle Pryor, Leo Stark (Greg Rikaart) in dire straits, and whatever secret long-running character, Abe Carver (Daytime Emmy winner, James Reynolds) is keeping.
Photo: Corday Productions
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ON SALEM CANVAS LOOK IN THE MONTHS AHEAD
Days of our Lives executive producer, Ken Corday, who took over the reins of the soap from his parents, the late Ted and Betty Corday, fully in 1986, previewed what’s ahead as Salem turns 61 with Soaps.com and talked about the foundation of the shows legacy characters and families. Previously, the series was renewed for its 62nd and 63rd season.
Most intriguing is Corday revealed there is a brand new female character coming to the show in the Spring of 2027. Ken explained what lies ahead, “There are some new, young loves, rekindled romances and complicated triangles. I’m particularly excited about a brand-new character who brings some levity to the canvas and gets herself involved with almost everyone in Salem. She’ll debut in the spring. Stay tuned!”
Corday also added, “We are having fun exploring the dynamics between the Kiriakis and DiMera families, much like the Montagues and the Capulets. Each of our core families – the Hortons, Bradys, Carvers and Hernandezes – will be important in upcoming stories and will intertwine.”
NEWCOMERS AND FAMILIAR FACES
Pictured in the celebratory cast photo which was shared with the outlet were: DAYS newcomers Sofia Mattsson (Chloe Lane, and ex-Sasha Gilmore, GH), Brytni Sarpy (whose DAYS role is yet be revealed, ex-Elena, Y&R and Valerie, GH) and the return of Bryan Dattilo (Lucas Horton).
You can check out this action in Salem and DAYS anniversary week promo below.
Then, share your congratulations today for Days of our Lives as they celebrate their 61st anniversary via the comment section below. Let us know your thoughts on who could be playing the brand-new female character Ken Corday is speaking of? We previously reported that it looked like Brytni Sarpy would not be hitting the screens till early Summer.
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