END OF AN ERA

DAYS OF OUR LIVES is about to farewell two legends. Next Wednesday, Nine will screen the final episode with John and Marlena (Dierdre Hall, pictured) and coming sometime in the near future, a tribute to Frances Reid who played matriarch Alice Horton. The 94 year old died this week in real life but continues to live on in Salem .. for now. Alice was previously thought to have died when she was murdered by Marlena when she was the Salem Slasher. Only she wasn't a murderess, Marlena had been drugged and all her "victims" turned up alive and well on Melaswen, a complete copy of Salem constructed by Tony DiMera on a remote desert island. Utterly ridiculous but funny when you consider they didn't have to build any new sets, just throw a few tropical plants around the existing ones. This time Alice's exit will have to be more permanent ... RIP Frances Reid ...

HAVE I MISSED MARLENA?

It's the big soap issue of TV WEEK today but even though I read their synopses religously, I still can't figure out if John and Marlena have left DAYS OF OUR LIVES yet. Their last episode aired in the US a year ago and I was sure it was a scam because these two have "died" countless times over the years and always come back to Salem. But this time, they really do seem to be gone and why hasn't some other soap snapped up the stunning Dierdre Hall (pictured)? Could she be in the running to be Katherine Chancellor's long-lost daughter on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS now that it's been revealed that Jill isn't. Y&R producers have scotched rumours that Kim Zimmer (GUIDING LIGHT'S Reva) is lining up to play the role so let's hope it could be 62-year-old Dierdre. After all, there aren't many actresses in Hollywood today who end up on Good Plastic Surgery.com rather than Awful Plastic Surgery.com. Come back soon Marlena ....

REMEMBER WHEN DAYS OF OUR LIVES USED TO BE GREAT?

July 11 is a distinguished birthdate for famous people. There's Yul Brynner (THE KING AND I), Reg Varney (ON THE BUSES), fashion designer Giorgio Armani (75), legendary Aussie Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (93) and Aussie actress Rachael Taylor (who wisely refused to do the terrible TRANSFORMERS sequel despite starring in the first one). There's also Susan Seaforth Hayes (66) who played Julie Horton, Daytime's first soap superstar. Before Luke and Laura exploded on GENERAL HOSPITAL in the '80s, it was DAYS OF OUR LIVES' Doug and Julie who were on the cover of TIME in the 70s. Once upon a time DOOL was required viewing. My own soap obsession started the day I was playing at a friend's place during his school holdays and his mother arrived home from grocery shopping. She ran up the back steps, threw the bags onto the floor spilling the contents everywhere, and ran through the house screaming "Addie's taken an overdose!". She bolted to the TV and I wandered in behind her, settling down to watch DOOL for the first time. So here's Doug and Julie's wedding from 1976, complete with pink-veiled bridesmaids and Marlena (Dierdre Hall) looking more matronly over 30 years ago than she does today ...