Why Caroline’s Days of Our Lives Memorial Was NOT Filled With Flashbacks

We saw a beautiful tribute to the late Caroline Brady on the Thursday episode of Days of Our Lives, but while the emotions hit just the right tone, there was still something glaring missing — clips of actress Peggy McCay in her iconic role as the Brady matriarch. Now we know why.

It all started when head writer Ron Carlivati tweeted a picture from the episode, along with an invitation for fans to watch the very special episode. The message and the episode inspired a response from a follower named Brian Peel.

He wrote, “A special tribute to an iconic character. Would’ve been great to see Maggie, Jennifer, Doug & Julie to share Caroline’s connection with the Horton family & more family flashbacks including Kimberly, Victor & Bo. She left behind an incredible legacy. #PeggyMcCay #DAYS”

That is when Carlivati felt compelled to let Peel and the rest of his followers in on something that happened behind the scenes that stopped that from happening.

“We wrote 9 flashbacks in the outline and script. Apparently, they were cut for time. #days,” he responded.

Decisions for time are made a lot on soaps. While the director shoots the script, sometimes over a couple of days depending on what sets are available, it’s pieced together another day in an edit bay. If the episode runs long, hard decisions have to be made about where to shorten — and cutting flashbacks are an easy way to make up that time.

While it can be very disappointing for fans, it was more than likely decided that it would be worse to not have included one of the heartfelt speeches by one of her loved ones. Either way, the Days of Our Lives tribute to Caroline was still quite beautiful.

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.