Friday, March 29, 2024

“Days of Our Lives” 5 Day Peacock Series Has Big Change: Deidre Hall Replaces Macdonald Carey Announcing the Title

Share

The “Days of Our Lives” logo of an hourglass, and the music behind it have been on the air since 1965. In 1972, MacDonald Carey, star of the show since its debut, took over announcing the title in his deep voice intonation. “This is MacDonald Carey…and these are the days of our lives!” When Carey diedin 1994, the show kept his voiceover and it’s remained that way ever since.

Viewers who tuned in today to Peacock, the NBC streaming service, for the “Days” 5 day special miniseries got a little shock, however. Gone was Carey’s voice. In its place was that of Deidre Hall. She’s played Dr. Marlena Evans since 1976 and is the star of the show. She’s top billed, as well, among the players in the big cast for “Beyond Salem.”

I guess this change to Hall — just for the Peacock series — is a way of differentiating the daily show– which is on the air on NBC — and this one.

I watched the first installment today, and was impressed. The production values were pretty high. NBC never spends any money on “Days,” but it looks like they ponied up for sets, costumes, and bumper shots that looked like they were from prime time. The mini series has a very “Lupin” like look to it as the various characters are trying to find famous stolen jewels all over Europe and in New Orleans and Miami.

Macdonald Carey, like most soap actors in the 50s and 60s, came from prime time and movies. Right before “Days” started in 1965, he starred in a very cool “Twilight Zone” episode called “The Special One.”  He also starred in an “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” episode in 1962. Before that he had his own series in the mid 1950s called “Dr. Christian.” If we’d been around then, we’d have seen Macdonald Carey on our three TV channels every single week!

Well his voice lives on every day on NBC. But not on Peacock. I hope it didn’t ruffle his feathers.

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
spot_img

Read more

In Other News