Why Days of our Lives Exorcism Felt Familiar: An Ode To The Sitcom Soap

Watching the combined Evans/Black/Brady family cast out the devil from Marlena on Days of our Lives this week was a case of déjà vu. For viewers. No, not back to when the show first did this story in 1994, but to March of 1979. That’s when SOAP, the primetime sitcom which both spoofed soap operas and told stories in the same format, made you care about the characters even as you laughed at – but mostly with – them, broadcast a very similar series of scenes.

Days of our Lives: Instant Replay

DAYS followed SOAP’s format of the devil first berating each individual character for their sins, then had the head of the family making a tearful speech about how their love would unite them and they would always fight evil, no matter what – so be gone, Devil! The only difference was, SOAP was trying to be funny.

DAYS: Applied Chemistry

For instance, when explaining why Baby Timmy was thought to be possessed, Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) rationalized, “A little house shaking, a little light blinking, a little furniture flying, a little maniacal laughter – but I’m sure he finds it all very amusing. Now, personally, I don’t think he’s possessed. I think he’s a little hyper.” Did anyone consider that with Marlena (Deidre Hall)?

Days of our Lives: The Blame Game

As Lucas Horton (Bryan Dattilo) tried to convince himself that having Sami Brady DiMera (Alison Sweeney) kidnapped wasn’t his idea – the Devil made him do it, MarDevil disabused him of that notion in the same way that Jessica was forced to admit, “I want you to know I am holding you personally responsible for any and all damages done to these premises. Except, of course, for the spoon that got caught in the garbage disposal. I don’t think I can blame him for that.”

DOOL: Big Words

And then there’s Benson’s (Robert Guillaume) dramatic speech prior to heading into battle with the devil, “My mother always said to me, Son, she said, look the Devil in the eye and meet him straight on. You can’t wrestle him to the ground unless you’ve got a hold of him first.”

A second later, after a bit more house-shaking, Benson called down, “My mother was a babbling fool, is what she was!”

Don’t believe us, watch the eerily similar possession episode here (about seven minutes in for the Devil stuff), and the stirring final speech here. Tell us you don’t see the resemblance! Let us know in the comments 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, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.