Like sands through the hourglass...

Satan may hate that love is the message, but 56 years in Salem is worth celebrating! Then again, even the devil loves a good time, as it was surely having a hoot on Halloween. So, grab a glass of something sparkling and that leftover candy as we toast to the best cast and crew in television in this week's DAYSiversary-sized Two Scoops!

Twelve words is all it takes to set aflutter the heart of any DAYS fan. They're a nostalgic dozen. Ones that warm our hearts. Ones we can always celebrate. Ones that make us proud as, well, a peacock. So, friends and fellow fans, all together now, "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives!"

Macdonald Carey's smooth, ageless voice remains a warm welcome 56 years in. Yes, 56 as of -- today! November eighth marks the shows DAYSiversary, and I'm so grateful and honored to wish everyone at Team DAYS a heartfelt congratulations on their continued achievements!

The show has been a wonderment all my life, thanks to my mother who got me hooked early on. It's been an exciting escape an hour a day. It's been a team to cheer for. A reason to yell at my TV at times, too. DAYS has certainly been a safety blanket during bad times. And it's always a riveting reason to come together and discuss (and debate) the happenings in Salem with loved ones. It's been an inspiration for me as a writer and simply a joy to watch as a fan. I can't claim fandom for all 56 years unless I de-SORAS myself or use Eugene Bradford's time machine, but I can claim love at first sight.

Seriously. When you pause to consider the scope of 56 years of storytelling, it's staggering. The show started rather humbly with the Hortons. The big bang on the first episode was Julie stealing a fur stole from Bartlett's department store! We also learned of Mickey's heartbreaker ways and of Marie's upcoming nuptials to neighbor Tony Merritt. Yes. Back then, Salem was a simpler place. Oh, how it's changed! AmIright, Satan and Sami!?

Still, while our hearts rooted with the Hortons, hardly any of us can imagine a DAYS landscape without all the others we've met since. These wonderful, wild, sometimes wicked, and all-around captivating characters are like fictional friends and family -- and occasionally foes -- we visit each weekday. From epic names like Marlena, Stefano, Bo, and Hope to the ones that make us smile when we randomly recall them, like Vern Scofield, Nurse Maxine, Rory, and Bart Biederbecke (to name a very few), Salem surely is the home to so many special residents brought to life by the best in the business. The cast and crew make it easy to smear on our blue and gold face paint and wave our "Team DAYS" proudly each weekday.

Of course, fans also know the pride when the show sneaks into other media. Who didn't love that Franklin Hart was watching DAYS in 9 to 5!? Or when Courtney and Christina chanted, "These are ... 'The Days of our Lives!'" in The Sweetest Thing. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure's Socrates also quoted the show's opening lines. There was also that entire storyline on the little sitcom thingy called Friends, too. Yep. DAYS is special!

I wish I could go on and give out a piece of the Spring Fling crown to every cast and crew member of DAYS (and believe me, I could), but instead, I will simply say I love the show. Being welcomed back to Salem each weekday by Macdonald will never grow old. So, thank you! Thank you, Team DAYS, for giving us all something so special to celebrate, as they say, "all the days of our lives."

Talk about a Halloween treat! What fun it was to see Mike Manning, Blake Berris, and Vincent Irizarry once again. While their characters might be more "love to hate," I have nothing but terrific things to say about these three talented thespians. They haven't missed a beat stepping back into their charters' diabolic roles. Step? Maybe a shuffle, since, you know, they came back as the zombie versions of their characters. Which raises a valid question: is any Salemite sincerely surprised when someone comes back from the dead? I digress.

Zombie Charlie, Zombie Nick, and Zombie Deimos were terrifying and terrific Halloween fun. I'm still not sure-sure what (if anything) they mean in the greater scheme of things, though. Deimos and Nick managed some mischief, but little else. Zom-Charlie, on the other hand, actually killed a man! Well, a goon. Carmine. Still counts. That will have a lasting impact. Ava's in police custody because of it. Will Tripp and Allie's accounts be enough to free her? It seemed like all three zombies, um, zombie-vanished into thin air, so proving the risen had shuffled about Salem might be tricky. Nevertheless, I loved every walking-dead minute of seeing these three talented gents back on my screen!

On the topic of Tripp and Allie, she finally said those three magical words he's been longing to hear. "There's a zombie!" No. Not those. She said, "I love you." You know, after the zombie attack. Does this count? I'm not sure yet, but history has highlighted that the happier a couple is, the harder they're bound to fall.

Snap! Philip ran into Zombie Nick. That must come back to bite someone. As in, Philip can verify the dead Salemites who walked again. But will he!? Not if it helps Gabi, Jake, or, perhaps even Ava, I suspect.

I love me some Shawn-D, but it vexes me when Salemites scoff at the idea of resurrection. Hello, Detective Brady! Your mom and many, many, many loved ones have been declared dead and have bounced back from the great soap beyond. You're too smart to act silly, Sailor Man.

Welp. Rafe and Nicole "Jarlena-ed" on the Basic Black conference room table. Thankfully, Chloe usually works at the other end of it, but that's not the point. They finally hooked up after having a chitchat about Ava and feelings and such. While this wasn't a shock-shock, Rafe was sort of bad about hiding that he was excited Ava "allegedly" stepped over the line so he could cross it with Nicole, guilt-free. Solid relationships rarely stem from affairs, nor is it the bestest of ideas to cross Ms. Vitali. Then again, I guess "Jarlena" is proof that's not always true. So, if you want your tryst to last...do it on a conference room table? I believe that's the moral of this story. That and Industrial Pledge cleans, umm, posterior prints from wooden surfaces.

Yes to Abigail using her investigative instincts to track down the truth! Yes to Chad tagging along. They make a great team. And a big "Hell Yes!" to the amazing acting that abounded in this storyline. Yet, whereas seeing Gwen get hers was fine and dandy, I still loop back to my initial take on this storyline -- Gwen is a stupid schemer.

Ms. Rizczech literally could have had everything she wanted with the truth. Stating something like, "I accidentally plunged down a flight of stairs while fighting with my sister when I went to tell her husband that I had a miscarriage hours earlier, but she wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise, as she was verbally attacking me," would have worked. That's still pretty messed up. Abigail would have felt plenty bad. Gwen could have milked the sympathy. Instead, she made a seven layer lie cake that baked for way too long. While it was delicious that Abs got to dish out some just desert, Gwen's sloppy scheming style made it all hard to swallow. Let's just all celebrate that this course is over and move on to something more scrumptious.

Another Halloween treat was Abe and Nicole's scene. I'd been waiting for that ever since he was shot. Them apologizing that it's been so long between visits makes it clear there needs to be more of them. Like, Nicole will be at the wedding, right!? She must be! She'll be sitting beside Brandon, I'm sure. You know, unless his flight is delayed or has issues. Nah. That'll never happen, but, again, I digress...

Abe and Nicole make me happy. I love their "father-daughter" bond. And I love that he loves and respects her enough to tell her the truth. His response of, "Are you kidding!?" when he found out she's seeing E.J. again was everything. Nicole should listen. Abe knows what's what. He even knows Rafe is the other guy Nicole was talking about. That knowing smirk at the end of their scene spoke volumes. After 40 years, we should know one thing -- listen to Abe, folks. Listen. To. Abe. #TheMoreYouKnow

HOT From shoplifting a stole to stolen gemstones, Satan, and zombies, cheers to everyone at Team DAYS for stealing our hearts for 56 years (and counting)!

NOT In honor of the DAYSiversary, this week's "NOT" has been preempted.

LINE(S) OF THE WEEK Zombie Charlie (to Allie): "Do you really think this is a mask? Do you think I'm Kirsten DiMera out trick-or-treating?"

Victor: "Worth a shot."

Satan (to Nick): "Now go! Go make some evil."

Victor: "I'm allowed to revel in her misfortune." Maggie: "Whatever sparks your joy, dear."

Julie: "You scared me to death!" Kate: "Yet you're still standing."

Steve: "Are things pretty serious between them?" Jack: "She did try to entrap that judge to get Xander out of jail." Steve: "Well. Nothing says love like pretending to seduce another man."

BeelzeDoc stating, "Nick Fallon. This isn't your first undead rodeo, is it?" was hilarious. Also, Nick and Satan sitting in a tree...

I cracked up over Kate bragging that she crawled out of a grave after being shot. She did. You win, La Lady Roberts.

Did we know that Tom Horton was born on the Ides of March!? Or is that retcon or does it hint to a big part of the storyline? Hmm. Just, "Hmm!"

How many times do you think Mike Manning had to brush his teeth to get all that "dirt" out!?

Okay. Sure. Maggie can marry people, too, now.

I want nothing more than to sit by Victor all day. "Dime store Dolly Parton." Love. Him.

I'd also like to sit near Kate and Julie during Thanksgiving. The two of them plus the others that would likely be there would ensure amazing entertainment. I'd surely make sure not to get Kate started on Philip's love life, or Julie on Gabi. Nope. I'll make sure that doesn't happen. *wink*

Oh, darn! Mimi couldn't be at the wedding. How will I go on?

Justin said, "Sonny and his bothers." "My sons" or "my boys" might have been a bit more inclusive. Or just go for the gold and state, "Sonny and the ones who aren't Sonny."

Ha! Even the devil mocked Julie for mourning Nick. Or, as Satan called him, a "fallen angel." Snarky Satan is, um, slaying it!

I'm sad we didn't get a Zombie Charlie and Jan scene. He never did get to confront the cray-cray that killed him. Something tells me that confrontation would be hilarious.

Also, I'm shocked Stefan didn't get the zombie treatment to torment Lani and as a means to meet his twinsy!

Satan cleared up the mystery by stating, "I'm not a person. I don't have a pronoun." There you have it.

Next time we have lattes, I need to ask Belle where she got her comforter! It was certainly chic.

Speaking of housewares, I have the same area rug as Rafe! Only mine isn't in the kitchen. It's in a guest room. Mine also doesn't have a dead mobster on it. Sorry, Raferoni N' Cheese.

I'm glad that Justin hasn't been disbarred, but his recent choices and wedding make me think he's the second best of the Kiriakis family. I believe the "Best of Us" title needs to be handed down to Sonny. #BonnieRuinsEverything

With all the undead shuffling around Salem, I wish Valerie Wildman's Fay could have returned from the grave, too! She could have helped Nicole battle Deimos, given Abe a little encouragement from an old friend (and flame), and maybe taught Gwen about how bad a fall down the DiMera staircase could have been.

PARTING THOUGHTS

So, friends and fellow DAYS fans, that's it for November 8. The brilliant Laurisa, who I'm always thankful for and met because of DAYS, will be back next week to keep the DAYSiversary party going as November Sweeps continues in Salem! As always, thank you for reading, and "That's a fact."

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