Days of our Lives is putting together a series of special episodes that will honor the late Frances Reid. According to a show executive, however, those episodes will not air until the spring.
"The way we're going to deal with her death on screen is we're not going to one day walk downstairs, as it was with Mickey, and say, ‘Oh, Grandma's dead' and then have a day or two where everyone comes to the show and we have a funeral," Days of our Lives' executive producer Ken Corday tells Soap Opera Digest. "[That] really becomes 'lip service' to such a great character."
Due to the nature of the production of soap operas, Days of our Lives typically has scripts written several weeks in advance of their tape date. Viewers, of course, know that episodes that air in any given week were, in fact, filmed about a month earlier. When Reid passed away in early February, the show was already taping episodes that would not air until March.
"[U]nfortunately, because we're so far ahead into writing the show, it won't air really until the end of May sweeps," Corday explains. "But I believe it's far better to do it that way then to just have a day or two of she's gone, here's the funeral and on we go. It's too important and there are too many individual relationships that needed to be remembered and have flashbacks as opposed to a flashback show.
Meanwhile, Reid's former co-stars are sharing their memories of the legendary actress. To read what some have been saying, please read: Daytime reacts to the death of the legendary Frances Reid
For more on the life of Frances Reid, click here.
