Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Days of Our Lives’ on Peacock, Marking The Veteran Daytime Soap’s Permanent Migration To Streaming

There were already Days of Our Lives fans who were up in arms about the venerable NBC soap opera moving full-time to NBCUniversal’s streaming platform Peacock. But then even more Days heads cried foul last week, when coverage of Elizabeth II’s death preempted the soap’s final broadcast moments. A move to streaming should ultimately please everyone – a different ad structure could mean longer episodes, once new episodes are filmed for Peacock, and exclusive streaming means no cut-ins for breaking news programming.    

DAYS OF OUR LIVES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “Thanks for calling, Dad,” hotshot exec Alex Kiriakis (Robert Scott Wilson) says as he sits behind his huge desk at TITAN. “Send Sonny all of my love and tell him I’ll see him tomorrow.” And when Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein) enters, Alex says it was her press release that helped level out TITAN’s stock price plunge.

The Gist: After 57 years on broadcast television, Days of Our Lives has left the dwindling pack of network soap operas for a new life on streaming. But other than the platform, it’s the same saucy drama. When the brash Alex asks Stephanie to “celebrate” with him over cosmos, he’s promptly taught a lesson in professional boundaries by the PR executive. And at the DiMera family mansion, the fallout from Jake’s memorial service includes Johnny (Carson Boatman) hopping into bed with Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun). His father EJ (Dan Feuerriegel) hates her, but that’s cool with Johnny because he hates his dad. EJ isn’t a fan of Li Shin (Remington Hoffman), either, who’s engaged to DiMera CEO Gabi Hernandez (Camila Banus). “Now that it’s over,” an icy EJ says of the memorial, “feel free to make a tasty yet hasty exit.” Shin says he’s waiting for Gabi, who’s in the family mausoleum saying goodbye to Stefan, her husband who’s been dead for four years, who was also the now dead Jake’s brother. And that’s when Stefan (Brandon Barash) walks through the door. “Hello, Gabi.”

If you thought Salem mayor Abe Carver (James Reynolds) was going to run for governor, think again. It’s actually Paulina Price (Jackee Harry) who’s running, to the surprise of Paulina’s daughter Chanel (Raven Bowers) and her girlfriend Allie (Lindsay Arnold), who just made 10,000 “Vote for Abe” cookies at the bakery they operate. Stephanie is also running PR for Paulina and Abe, and she aims to promote them as Salem’s political “power couple.”

While Gabi tries to explain that Ava’s sightings of a dead Jake – the ones that have been making her crazy, to the point that Johnny says EJ might be gaslighting her – were actually real, because she was actually seeing Stefan, the guy who’s suddenly not dead doesn’t want to hear about Jake, or Jake’s suit that he’s wearing, or Gabi’s supposed love for him. “I donated Stefan’s heart, and it’s inside Julie Williams right now!” she exclaims, but Stefan counters that Dr. Rolf (Richard Warton) gave him a new heart, and even tears open his shirt to show her the scar. “I’m Stefan,” he says. “That much I’m sure of.” Well, that makes one of us.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There’s precedent for Peacock to handle this soap opera flagship, as the streamer already features the spinoff Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem. And over on Netflix, you can catch four seasons of the pretty decent Dynasty reboot which features Grant Show and Elizabeth Gillies. And General Hospital has appeared on Hulu, though the veteran soap will soon be leaving the service.

Our Take: We know that Gabi originally seduced Stefan so that she could gain control of the DiMera family business, but that in the course of her plan she actually fell in love with him. We also know that Stefan was eventually shot in the neck, and that Gabi held donations of his vital organs hostage in a quest for more power. And we now know that Stefan didn’t really die, because Dr. Rolf put somebody else’s heart inside of him, which has got to be Jake’s, right? Maybe, but what makes this whole sequence in the mausoleum terrific is Gabi rushing in to kiss Stefan while her new fiance is right outside, and Shin’s reaction to seeing Stefan in the flesh. He looks like he swallowed a bug. A big one. And that makes a lot of sense, not only because of the confusing nature of Stefan’s return, but because of the look on his face at the end of this episode. EJ’s accusations about what Shin is after might not be so much hot air after all.

There will certainly be some technical and logistical kinks to work out with longtime Days of Our Lives viewers tuning into NBC for their daily “stories” and getting a news show instead. But with the format’s presence on broadcast networks rapidly dwindling, the migration of a legacy soap to Peacock feels not only natural, but like a necessity for survival. Eric Martsolf, who plays Brady on Days, has said that soap opera fans always embrace change, and he’s not wrong. In what other format can different actors switch into and out of characters, or play entirely different characters on the same show, without viewers calling it out? Change is in the soap opera’s DNA. And fortunately for the continuing craziness of the Days of Our Lives storyline, so is drama.

Sex and Skin: A shirtless Johnny beds down with Ava, and Chanel and Allie share a kiss after their propositioning by Alex. “I don’t ever want to share you with anyone,” Allie tells her girlfriend.

Parting Shot: Stefan has just stalked out of the mausoleum after learning of Gabi and Shin’s engagement, and telling Gabi that he never loved her the way she says she loved him. “I’m so sorry, Gabi,” Shin says, taking her in his arms. “This must be so disturbing for you – so painful. It’s gonna be OK. I’ll make it OK.” And as Gabi hugs him closer, Shin’s eyes narrow over a slimy grin.

Sleeper Star: General Hospital and All My Children veteran Tamara Braun, who won the Outstanding Supporting Actress Daytime Emmy when she debuted as Ava Vitali on Days back in 2008, is having a ton of fun in the role since returning to the soap in 2020. When a sputtering EJ discovers her in bed with his son Johnny, she just shrugs and makes a “What are you gonna do about it?” face at the guy. And later, after EJ calls Ava a “cougar,” Braun makes her exit with a delicious, cat-scratching “roar.”

Most Pilot-y Line: “Feelings have to go both ways,” Stephanie tells Alex after he tries to put the moves on her. “You are…aware of this, right? Since I’m not getting through to you, I will try yet again to be clear. Your attempts at charming me into changing my mind about you are a waste of my time and yours. And frankly, dangerous for your career, because if you continue to overstep, we are not going to be able to work together. Understood?” In response to his Me Too era awakening, Alex proceeds to try to entice Chanel and Allie into a threesome.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Look at it this way, Days of Our Lives fans: now that your favorite daytime soap opera is on Peacock, you don’t have to wait until the afternoon to get caught up on all of the spicy drama.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges