Cindy explains Days of our Lives (DOOOOOOL!!) in Bitches, and I for one am grateful to her for it:
It began with the forging of the great blue collar heros. Three (if you don't count Bo, and the second generation of hottie blue collar guys) were given to the Days of Our Lives fans, immortal, wisest and fairest of all fanly beings.
Chris Kositchek (played by Josh Taylor) craftsmen of Salem's halls, was gifted to the race of women, who above all else, desire hottie working men.
Then The Cordays--the Wise didst say, "If one hottie non-doctor, non-nightclub owner, non-lawyer character is good, are not two better, still?" And they didst forge police officer Roman Brady (Wayne Northrop) from the salt air of the suddenly fresh water Salem waterfront, and he was a son of a...fish shop owner.
Then it came to pass that Wayne Northrop fell from the graces of some dark lords or another, who most likely desire money above all else, and thus did Stefano DiMera slay Roman Brady. Somewhere in there, Chris Kositchek faded from memory of the executives, but not the fans.
But hope (not Hope, although her too, but that's another story) remained, 'tho the quest lay on a razor's edge, for the dark lords did invoke the deepest magicks in the land of serial entertainment, darker than even the dread SORAS, and they didst recast Roman Brady, in the form of Drake Hogestyn. The race of women was appeased. Their wrath lay not dead, but at least dormant.
And then, the queerest thing happened--a last alliance of Wayne Northrop and the Days of Our Lives Lords marched back into Salem, and they did invent new magicks, and turned--by now fan favorite--Drake Hogestyn's Roman Brady into John Black/Forrest Alamain (don't ask), and re-recast Wayne Northrop as Roman Brady. Again.
Alas, the alliance did not last, and Wayne Northrop again departed from Salem's shores/riverbank/whateverfront, and the race of women was sad. Or angry. Or disinterested. Or perhaps Deidre Hall likes her character to stay at the center of a triangle whenever possible. It was in this moment when all hope had faded, that Ken Corday son of King Ted and Queen Betty, took up his parent's sword, and wand, and various orbs, and recast the character of Roman Brady. Again. With Josh Taylor, who was once Chris Kositchek.
But the hearts of soap opera fans are easily corrupted. And the casting director has a will of its own. It betrayed the fandom. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend, legend became myth and for a few years, Wayne Northrop nearly passed out of all knowledge, and he wasn't ready for that. When chance came, he ensnared a new character--Alex North, who is *also* in love with Marlena, or trying to kill her, which isn't always a conflict of interests, as well you know.
But he's a doctor this time, instead of a hottie blue collar/cop/secret agent/forgotten millionaire brother. This shall not pass.