Happy Birthday, "Days of Our Lives"!

When I was a kid, I used to stay with my grandmother occasionally during the summer. Granny only had one TV and you had to watch what she wanted to watch. And during the afternoons, that meant her stories—“Days of Our Lives” and “Another World.”

Now for some reason, I didn’t like “Another World,” (which is ironic considering it would later become one of my all-time favorite shows). But “Days” hooked me instantly. There was just something about the villain. His name was Stefano DiMera and I thought everything about him was super cool. They called him The Phoenix (which was cool in itself) and he had a major vendetta against the good guys in town, the Bradys.

The only problem was, I only got to see “Days” when I was at Granny’s because my dad was dead set against soaps. And my mom swore that neither she nor I were going to get addicted to soaps.

I think you know how this one turned out…

Yes, somehow, I got my mom hooked on “Days of Our Lives.” And over the years, we would get hooked on “Another World,” “Santa Barbara,” “Search for Tomorrow” and even “Generations.” But “Days” was the one that opened the door.

Monday, “Days” turns 45 years old—a true achievement in this day and age with cancellation looming around every corner. Sadly, there are no original cast members to celebrate the occasion, but there are plenty of longtime ones to share the event with us.

And one of those is that original villain that first captured my heart—Joseph Mascolo as Stefano DiMera (What can I say? I’ve always liked the bad guys best.). Over the years they’ve screwed up Stefano pretty royally, but these days I think he’s back on track. To be honest, I haven’t watched “Days” regularly since all the Salem Stalker victims were revealed to still be alive in the biggest copout in daytime history (I thought Marlena as the killer was rather ingenious.). My heart just wasn’t in it anymore. But I still keep track through “Soap Opera Digest” and other sources. And I drop in occasionally when I know something big is going to happen (like Marlena and John’s pathetic goodbye).

I still can’t believe that the writers broke up Bo and Hope and re-paired him with Carly. And I can’t believe they did the buried alive trick again. But I love that John Aniston has been returned to his former glory as Victor Kiriakis. No big surprise, I always liked him too…

But my favorite character was probably the dashing Count Antony Dimera (Thaao Penghlis)—before they screwed him up. But Calliope (Arleen Sorkin) and Eugene (Jon DeLancie) were big faves too…

So now I turn to you. Who were/are your favorite characters? What are some of your favorite “Days of Our Lives” memories? You can share them by posting a comment or you can e-mail them to me at hdstaytuned@hotmail.com. You can also tweet me @TVAngela.

Here is one of my favorite moments—when John (who was still Roman at the time) saw Marlena for the first time when she returned from the dead. I wasn’t a big Roman or Marlena fan, there’s just something about this moment that I’ve always really liked.