Days Of Our Lives 8/28 Episode Delay Shows Downside Of Soap's Move To Peacock

Something is seriously wrong with "Days of Our Lives," and it doesn't bode well for the show and soap operas in general. Ever since NBC moved it from its broadcast slot of 57 years to the Peacock streaming service in September 2022, fans were divided and older fans not familiar with apps were especially alienated. Peacock charges to watch the show with ads and charges more if you want to watch it ad-free, which many fans find outrageous when it was previously viewable on TV for free. 

New episodes are posted every weekday at 6 a.m. ET, and on August 28 fans woke up to a shock, as one eagle-eyed viewer pointed out on Twitter, "They released next Monday's episode by mistake and actress Rachel Melvin was in the credits as Chelsea [Brady]." That's right, the September 4 episode was erroneously posted, giving away spoilers, so clearly someone was inattentive. One Twitter post noted the episode had been deleted by 8:35 a.m. ET., and the correct one appeared later that day.

When it aired on NBC, "Days" had 1.6 million viewers, but after moving to Peacock, it lost 750,000 of them. Parrot Analytics reported that the show's demand is higher than 96.5% of other dramatic series in the U.S., and you'd think NBC would know this. If fans really want to watch the show, they must seek it out, but a mistake like this will turn away casual viewers who'll move on, especially with the two spoilers revealed: Melvin's return and the appearance of comedy legend Dick Van Dyke. 

We were appalled at the blatant disregard NBC had for fans of "Days of Our Lives" by posting a future episode, thereby revealing secrets which viewers had been debating online. Access Hollywood reported on April 20 that Dick Van Dyke was going to debut on the soap in the fall, and spoilers for the week revealed he was set to first appear on September 1, so fans were surprised to see him so soon. One savvy viewer posted a screenshot from the episode on Twitter that depicts Julie Williams (Susan Seaforth Hayes) talking to Van Dyke's as-yet-unknown character, and responses flowed in from angry and confused followers.

Soaps get the fans engaged in dialogue on social media by keeping the comings and goings of actors as well as storylines under wraps. While the casual viewer most likely isn't going to read the end credits, the fact that one spotted Rachel Melvin's name was enough to catch fire online, ruining her surprise return even for the occasional watcher. While we love to debate about characters and stories, we don't want spoilers, NBC!

Sadly, soap operas are a dying breed. If another sudser doesn't post to its sister streaming service properly, we always have DVR as a backup. But we can't do that with "Days," which makes it frustrating and gaffs like this are an indication that the networks just don't care about soaps or its fans anymore. If Peacock continues to have glitches like this, "Days" could lose even more viewers.