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.

Ryan Murphy’s latest offering, back on FX this time, is an addictive, entertaining  and cringey can’t-take-your-eyes-off car wreck.

After watching the first seven episodes that are available to critics, Murphy’s latest installment of “Crime Story”  I can tell you that “Impeachment” has a bit less bite than  its predecessors but definitely has its own kind of dirty quirky charms. It’s a debauched saga that is addictive to watch.

The actors are across the board terrific especially Beanie Feldstein who plays Monica Lewinsky in as  immature but endearing.  Real-life Monica is a producer and script consultant, so the result of that is that it leans heavy on  Lewinsky’s  story flaws and all.

Co-star Sarah Paulson, a Murphy stalwart and an executive producer, plays Linda Tripp. She’s always terrific and throws herself into the role.  This role is made heavier for the actress as she burdened by prosthetics, a much talked about fat suit and heavy make-up but she still manages to make Tripp both sympathetic and vile.

Some of the same challenges affect Clive Owen who plays President Clinton with a down home and smarmy charm. Cobie Smulders nails the mad meanness of Ann Coulter. Billy Eichner plays Matt Drudge as the digging, quippy press soothsayer he indeed was. Annaleigh Ashford expertly plays Paula Jones with depth.  She doesn’t go for the obvious mocking of small town Paula as she easily could have. Judith Light is perfection as the opportunistic Susan Carpenter McMillan, who wormed her way into the Paula Jones drama to garner whatever press she could get for herself.

The stellar cast also includes Mira Sorvino as Monica’s protective Mother, Blair Underwood as Clinton fixer Vernon Jordan, Elizabeth Reaser as Kathleen Willey who accused Clinton of sexual assault, Rae Dawn Chong as Clinton’s elegant and loyal secretary Betty and more recognizable faces.  Edie Falco plays tough as nails Hillary, although critics didn’t see much of her, as we only had up until episode 7 of the 10 episodes in full.Margo Martindale is sensational as book agent Lucianne Goldberg.

The series gets punchier with each episode.  Beanie does a beautiful job showing us this young woman in her early 20’s who is naïve, flawed, vulnerable in a ‘relationship’ which is one sided and sad. Your understanding of Monica does bring up empathy instead of the punchline she’s long been in popular culture. The series sometimes teeters on camp, but then it hits you with meaningful and unjust scenes that make you indeed cringe.  “Impeachment: American Crime Story” bottom line is again, addictively entertaining to watch.

The one new 9/11 documentary I want to see airs this Thursday on Paramount Plus. It’s called “26th Street Garage: The FBI’s Untold Story of 9/11,” and it’s the story of how the FBI set up an instant headquarters in the garage of the Starrett-Leigh Building on West 26th St. and the West Side Highway.

No one knew about it or where it was, but the 26th Street Garage became the center of all activity.

No one knew except Martha Stewart, of course. Her offices were in the building, and when she realized what was happening she became their caterer. Martha’s OmniMedia has kitchens and resources that came in handy. I don’t think we’ve ever heard that story before.

Of course, it was a year and a half later that Martha was arrested by the Feds in her insider trading scandal. She wound up going to jail. You’d have thought she’d earned some good points for her 9/11 work. I think she’s owed an apology.

My old pal, Anne Beagan, is an executive producer. Another old friend, Elaine Kaufman, would be so proud!