Chin Up: Days of Our Lives Bad News Is Actually a Good Thing

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Well, it’s finally time to say goodbye to a Days of Our Lives era! It’s a curious era that, if we’re being honest, got a lot of flack from fans, but we’ll be the first to admit that not everyone is cheering on Body and Soul’s demise on Days of Our Lives. We’ve known this was coming, though, for a long time.

For one thing, Days of Our Lives just couldn’t keep up such a huge Body and Soul presence forever. How could you have year after year of storyline about a fictional soap within a soap? At the same time, it couldn’t just fade into the background and be forgotten with so many Salemites involved in it, so eventually, we reasoned, the plug had to be pulled on it. And indeed, we learned a little while back, Body and Soul was on the way out and Days of Our Lives was getting back to telling more character-driven, romantic stories.

None of this was bad, unless you were one of the fans of the tongue-in-cheek homage to soapdom. But now that it’s happened, we get why some folks may be a bit nervous for Days of Our Lives itself — especially since One Life to Live ended with their own soap within a soap, Fraternity Row, getting canceled along with ABC’s beloved sudser. Plus, the same episode that ended the Body and Soul storyline, let us know that Salem University Hospital was also in serious trouble.

Look, a lot of the show happens at the hospital. After all, as Seth just casually mentioned to Bonnie and Johnny, Salem has the highest number of psychos per capita in the nation. (We aren’t quite sure “psycho” is the medical term for homicidal sociopaths, but we get the gist.) The hospital disappearing could have a serious impact on the Salem survival rate. Who will come up with the antidotes and life-saving brain chip removal surgeries if the hospital doesn’t exist anymore?!

So combine the news that Body and Soul is out and the hospital is about to declared bankruptcy (and possibly close because of it), we get why some folks might be worried about Days of Our Lives’ future.

The good news is, we’re currently racing towards the show’s 60th anniversary in November. On top of that, new headwriters are set to take over at the end of April, and, just this past fall, the only streaming sudser was renewed through its 61st season with Days of Our Lives consistently in Peacock’s top ten shows.

So yes, in a way, Body and Soul has been a metaphor for Days of Our Lives in much the same way Fraternity Row was for One Life to Live. But Days of Our Lives isn’t going anywhere, so in this case, the Body and Soul storyline ending is more of a symbolic move to usher in a new chapter for our beloved Salemites. And while we don’t know where the hospital story is going, it seems pretty clear that it’s going to thrust vets like Marlena and Kayla front and center once more.

In other words, this is a new chapter we’ve all got reason to be excited for.