Days of Our Lives Overhaul: What’s First On the New Headwriters’ Must-Change List

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Soaps.com may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

It was certainly a shock to learn that Days of Our Lives had said goodbye to longtime headwriter Ron Carlivati after seven years. The good news for fans of the current writing team is that Carlivati’s material will be airing well into the spring. In fact, everything from the show’s 15,000th episode to Doug’s funeral is already in the can. And if there’s one thing the currently airing writers excel at, it’s big events like those.

Heck, our view of Konstantin and Maggie’s wedding before went from dread to utter delight when they returned to pen it after the writers’ strike. And both of Xander’s double weddings were fun and packed with drama. Then there were the even bigger swings like the one year time jump. That was new and fun, trying to figure out what happened in the year we missed. But while some parts worked, others left us scratching our heads. Why did Adrienne have to die if she was just going to be replaced by lookalike Bonnie?

One definite plus is how good Johnny looked in his red devil suit!

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

Then there’s some of the other extremes. The devil’s return may have been a fun nod to a kooky past at first, but he massively overstayed his welcome. And over the years, Dr. Rolf went from a mad doctor to Salem’s own miracle man. There’s been no one he hasn’t been able to bring back to life — heck, Stefano even came back in a brain chip!

There have also been some incredible couples that have come out of the last few years: Xander and Sarah, Ben and Ciara, Chad and Abigail (though her death cut that relationship short). At the end of the day, like with most writers and shows, there’s been plenty of ups and downs. But chances are there’s been something over the years for pretty much everyone to enjoy.

And now that we’re moving on, we’re confident the show is in great hands under its new co-headwriters, Paula Cwikly and Jeanne Marie Ford. Cwikly is a soap writing veteran of the likes of The Young and the Restless and As the World Turns, and Ford has been writing for Days of Our Lives for over 30 years now, starting back in 1992 as a writer’s assistant.

Ultimately, though, we’re not just a soap website, we’re also soap lovers. So naturally, we’ve got more than a few ideas of what the new headwriters could do to smooth out some of the show’s bigger wrinkles.