Mandate For Days of Our Lives New Co-Headwriter: *This* Is Your Top Priority
Well, Chad and Belle finally kissed on Days of Our Lives, and somehow, the entire town saw it! OK, we know how — they kissed on camera at the Cubs game everyone was watching, but the fact that so many folks were interested in it makes it kind of unique! But it does make sense because between Chad and Belle, they’ve either been involved with or are related to just about everyone watching the Cubs.
And that’s not unique to them. Belle, at least, thanks to John and Marlena being their own family unit, doesn’t have a lot of family connections to worry about. She could potentially work with just about anyone but Brady. But when you take a pairing like Brady and Sarah and things get a lot tougher — especially when it comes to the Hortons! Sarah’s related to… well, a whole lot of the town!
Those two falling for each other after being friends does make a certain amount of sense, but not all the fans are feeling it. At the end of the day, though, as Redditor u/brian_ts118 pointed out over on the Days of Our Lives Subreddit, “they’re running out of people to pair up who aren’t related to each other.”
We wouldn’t go quite that far, but it does bring up a problem that, while not unique to Days of Our Lives, does seem to dog it more than the other soaps. The core families are so intertwined at this point, it’s tough to find someone you aren’t related to! And even if there isn’t a blood relation, there are some ties that you just don’t mess with. In Brady’s instance, if Sami ever came back, there is no way fans would ever get behind putting them together, even if they aren’t related biologically. They’re siblings at this point, and that’s that.
Days of Our Lives only really has four major families, and at this point, they’re so deeply intertwined, it’s really tough for folks to not be related in some way. And few families have spread out quite so much as the Hortons.
Just look at Liam. Now that we know that his mom is Ivy Selejko, there are already some fans wondering if Mike Horton could be Liam’s bio dad since, after things fell apart between Ivy and Pete, she and Mike got together briefly. But if that happened, then Liam and Ari would be a no-go. They’d be first cousins, once removed (Lucas and Mike are half-brothers) and while it would tie Liam to a major family, it would put a serious damper on his love life.
Hopefully, they leave Liam as is, allowing the show to tie him into Salem’s history, without handicapping his dating life. Jada was the same way. Her dad, Marcus Hunter, was Steve’s best friend decades back, so when she came to town, she had an instant “in,” while being free to date anyone in town she pleased!
To be sure, there are smaller families around. The Hernandez’s, the Greenes — and now, maybe the Chois? — but with the exception of Gabi and Cat (and now Ari), there isn’t a whole lot of play for the family members right now.
So we would suggest that when Ryan Quan joins Jeanne Marie Ford as co-headwriter in July, one of the first things they do is bolster the smaller families, and maybe, if they’re looking for new blood, bring in characters like Liam — with ties to Salem, but who aren’t related to half the town!
Or, heck, they could do more with already established characters who the fans have warmed to like Melinda or even bringing Sloan back. That would give the show more pairings to play with, more chemistry tests to run and let them try out new couples instead of bouncing around with pairings that just never work.
Families grow and shrink over the years in daytime and eventually, it’s inevitable that they become more and more intertwined. But there’s always a chance to bring in fresh blood and new characters. Done right, even stand-alone characters can grow to beloved members of Days of Our Lives. Just ask Marlena!
