Daytime serial spinoffs are a very tricky business, even for soaps as popular as Days of our Lives. Below is a concise list of all the proposed sister shows – which would have featured a swath of popular Salemites – that executives failed to give the green light.
Proposed Days of our Lives Spinoffs
The Doug and Julie Show/The Don and Marlena Show/The Roman and Marlena Show/The Mickey and Maggie Show
These lovers-centric sequels never made it past the pitch stage – no doubt due to fears that divesting DAYS of some of its most popular pairings might have adverse effects on ratings. Of special note, the latter proposal would have marked daytime’s first “rural set” soap opera.
Keeping Up with the Joneses/Sunny-Side Up/Calliope
While there may have been some questions regarding this project’s title, its purpose was certainly clear: spotlight beloved comedic duo Eugene Bradford and Calliope Jones Bradford.
Billed as a “comedic soap,” this Sheri Anderson-helmed serial would have seen the couple transplanted from their familiar Midwest surroundings to Sunnyside, Queens, the blue-collar New York neighborhood from which Calliope hailed. Her family, consisting of a dentist father, two sisters, and a grandmother who toiled as a beautician, would have rounded out the cast of players.
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Pacific Lives
Had NBC ordered this skein to series, it may have very well served as Ken Corday’s Magnus opus. Rather than simply borrow popular DAYS characters, Pacific Lives, set in the Pacific Rim from Hawaii to Japan, would have made stars out of several rarely seen, barely mentioned Horton family members like Tom Jr. (who’d bid Salem adieu in 1979), his daughter Sandy, and siblings, Bill and Marie.
Manhattan Lives (Working Title: Body & Soul)
One of the many perks included in Deidre Hall’s 1991 contract was the opportunity to develop, and executive produce, a series all her own for NBC. Manhattan Lives would have been set in the eponymous New York City borough, where Dr. Marlena Evans would relocate her psychiatric practice. Several beloved characters from DAYS, including Tony and Anna DiMera would have been featured as well.
Marlena would have been joined by step-daughter Carrie Brady, she would gain a vivacious and outgoing gal-pal (the aptly named P. T. Barnum), and she would find herself drawn to a wealthy Donald Trump-esque tycoon and his son.
Which one of these spinoffs would you have most liked to have seen? Sound off in our comment section below. Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Salem, check out all the latest that’s been posted on DAYS spoilers.
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