History YMMV / DaysOfOurLives

* RealityIsUnrealistic: One particular aspect of the 2019 storyline in which Julie Williams suffers a massive heart attack (which Gabi thought Julie was faking to make her feel guilty about her behavior towards Julie, nearly leaving Julie for dead) was seen as pretty outlandish among some fans. After forcing Lani Price to do some groveling to allow the transplant to happen, a grieving and vengeful Gabi Hernandez allows Julie to receive the fatally wounded Stefan [=DiMera=]'s heart. As payback for Lani accidentally killing Gabi's husband, Stefan [=DiMera=][[note]](Lani was attempting to shoot his mother, the once-thought-deceased Vivian Alamain, who was about to kill Lani, only for Stefan to dive in front of the bullet and get mortally wounded in the neck)[[/note]], Gabi blackmails Lani into jilting Eli Grant on their wedding day under threat of using an app that controls the speed of a [=DiMera=] Enterprises-manufactured pacemaker implanted into Julie (Eli's aunt)’s heart to kill her. Head writer Ron Carlivati revealed on his Twitter account in October 2019 that the plot device was inspired by a 2013 Creator/{{CNN}} report about former Vice President Dick Cheney, who had an internal defribrillator he received in 2007 modified to disable wireless features that could be hacked to induce a coronary event.

** Reilly's second tenure kicked off with the notorious Melaswen arc, possibly the single craziest storyline in soap history, where various beloved characters were apparently murdered by a SerialKiller, who seemed to be revealed as the very-beloved Marlena, only to have an epic FakeOutTwist where all the characters were actually abducted to an island. Everyone agreed it was preposterous. The division was between fans who felt it was SoBadItsGood, others who were upset at the shamelessness of the audience manipulation, and some who were just relieved that nobody was actually dead.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilly's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second tenure in the writer’s room (from 2003 to 2006[[note]]A period which saw Reilly pulling double-duty on ''Days'' and fellow NBC soap ''Series/{{Passions}}'', the latter of which he created, serving as head writer and consulting producer on both shows[[/note]]) was a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and the gloriously nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.

* HostilityOnTheSet: Julie and Doug abruptly disappeared from the show in 1984 after Susan Seaforth Hayes and Bill Hayes complained to head writer Margaret [=DePriest=] about the OutOfFocus and {{Flanderization}} issues they perceived happening to the characters. The last straw for [=DePriest=] was seeing them talk about their concerns on a local Los Angeles TV news show. [=DePriest=] was let go a few months later, and Doug and Julie returned in 1990.

* DorkAge: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilly's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second tenure in the writer’s room (from 2003 to 2006[[note]]A period which saw Reilly pulling double-duty on ''Days'' and fellow NBC soap ''Series/{{Passions}}'', the latter of which he created, serving as head writer and consulting producer on both shows[[/note]]) was a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and the gloriously nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.

* DorkAge: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilly's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second tenure in the writer’s room (from 2003 to 2006[[note]]A period which saw Reilly pulling double-duty on ''Days'' and fellow NBC soap ''Series/{{Passions}}'', the latter of which he created, serving as head writer and consulting producer on both shows[[/note]]) was a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and gloriously nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.

* SuperCouple: Bo and Hope, John and Marlena, Jack and Jennifer, Steve and Kayla and more.

** Chelsea Brady, upon being [=SORASed=], started off as an extremely hated character. She was an arrogant [[JerkAss jerkass]], was rude to everyone around her (even her best friend Abby), was responsible for killing her little brother, and tried to break up Bo and Hope's marriage in order to rekindle his relationship with her mother, Billie Reed. When she started dating HollywoodNerd Nick, she became a much better person. She went from being the most hated character to one of the show's more popular characters.

* BrokenBase: This happens with any soap opera regarding couples, story arcs, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still controversial. Supporters will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the effects of the 1988 writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (e.g. Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still present and popular in the modern day. Detractors claim his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the story and alienated longtime fans, and/or that he relied too much on [[ShockingSwerve shock]] value, [[NegativeContinuity ignored continuity]], dragged out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's (including the retconning of "Roman Brady's" origins to reveal that John had just assumed Roman's identity) and Tony [=DiMera=]'s parentage, and reduced characters and their motivations to [[{{Flanderization}} two dimensions, at most]].

* DorkAge: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilly's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second tenure in the writer’s room (from 2003 to 2006[[note]]During which, Reilly pulled double-duty as head writer of the NBC soap he created, ''Series/{{Passions}}''[[/note]]) was a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and gloriously nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.

* DorkAge: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilly's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second (from 2003-2006) was a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and gloriously nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.

* SeasonalRot: There were quite a few storyline issues associated with the frequent writer switch-ups that occurred between 2015 and 2017. Storylines and couples flip-flopped so often that it became irritating to try and keep up with. Each turnover seemed to warrant [[OutOfFocus changing the B-cast]] at much-higher rates than usual: In that time, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show thrice (each), Xander was PutOnABus only to be brought back for another storyline...three times, and Eve was let go only to end up returning as a recurring character twice and then being forgotten about. (Her actress, Kassie [=DePaiva=] was diagnosed with cancer and was allowed to take time off, but there was no on-screen reason for her departure until she returned again.) While not entirely universal, the change to Ron Carlivati as head writer caused a lot of these changes to settle into more acceptable standards.

* SeasonalRot: There have also been issues with the frequent writer switchups in the 2015-2017 years. Storylines and couples have flip-flopped so often that it became irritating to try and keep up with. Each turnover seemed to warrant [[OutOfFocus changing the B-cast]] at much-higher rates than usual: In that time, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show thrice (each). Xander has been PutOnABus only to be brought back for another storyline...three times. Eve was let go only to be returned as a recurring character two times and then being forgotten about. (Her actress, Kassie [=DePaiva=] was diagnosed with cancer and was allowed to take time off, but there was no on-screen reason for her departure until she returned again.) While not entirely universal, the change to Ron Carlivati as head writer caused a lot of these changes to settle into more acceptable standards.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: One particular aspect of the 2019 storyline in which Julie Williams suffers a massive heart attack (which Gabi thought Julie was faking to make her feel guilty about her behavior towards Julie, nearly leaving Julie for dead) was seen as pretty outlandish among some fans. After forcing Lani Price to do some groveling to allow the transplant to happen, a grieving and vengeful Gabi Hernandez allows Julie to receive the fatally wounded Stefan [=DiMera=]'s heart. As payback for Lani accidentally killing Gabi's husband, Stefan [=DiMera=][[note]](Lani was attempting to shoot his mother, the once-thought-deceased Vivian Alamain, who was about to kill Lani, only for Stefan to dive in front of the bullet and get mortally wounded in the neck)[[/note]], Gabi blackmails Lani into jilting Eli Grant on their wedding day under threat of using an app that controls the speed of a [=DiMera=] Enterprises-manufactured pacemaker implanted into Julie (Eli's aunt)’s heart to kill her. Head writer Ron Carlivati revealed on his Twitter account in October 2019 that the plot device was inspired by a 2013 CNN story about former Vice President Dick Cheney, who had an internal defribrillator he received in 2007 modified to disable wireless features that could be hacked to induce a coronary event.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: One particular aspect of the 2019 storyline in which Julie Williams suffers a massive heart attack (which Gabi thought Julie was faking to make her feel guilty about her behavior towards Julie, nearly leaving Julie for dead) was seen as pretty outlandish among some fans. After forcing Lani Price to do some groveling to allow the transplant to happen, a grieving and vengeful Gabi Hernandez allows Julie to receive the fatally wounded Stefan [=DiMera=]'s heart. As payback for Lani accidentally killing Gabi's husband, Stefan [=DiMera=][[note]](Lani was attempting to shoot his mother, the once-thought-deceased Vivian Alamain, who was about to kill Lani, only for Stefan to dive in front of the bullet and get mortally wounded in the neck)[[/note]], Gabi blackmails Lani into jilting Eli Grant on their wedding day under threat of using an app that controls the speed of a [=DiMera=] Enterprises-manufactured pacemaker implanted into Julie (Eli's aunt) heart to kill her. Head writer Ron Carlivati revealed on his Twitter account in October 2019 that the plot device was inspired by a 2013 CNN story about former Vice President Dick Cheney, who had an internal defribrillator he received in 2007 modified to disable wireless features that could be hacked to induce a coronary event.

* HesJustHiding: Despite WordOfGod that any characters killed off from now on will ''stay'' dead, most fans are refusing to believe this about Stefano, given the myriad of times he's returned from the dead. Such a rule didn't really stick again and they even ran a story where Rafe and Shane made it look like Stefano was alive when they thought he wasn't. At least until they saw a picture that wasn't a part of their plan of what appeared to be Stefano alive. This was presumed to be the last official plot for Stefano now that his actor, Joseph Mascolo, passed away in December 2016... but even Mascolo's death couldn't prevent the Phoenix from rising again, and Stefano was temporarily revived in November 2019, with Stephen Nichols in the role (albeit presumed to be as a brainwashed Steve Johnson).

* HesJustHiding: Despite WordOfGod that any characters killed off from now on will ''stay'' dead, most fans are refusing to believe this about Stefano, given the myriad of times he's returned from the dead. Such a rule didn't really stick again and they even ran a story where Rafe and Shane made it look like Stefano was alive when they thought he wasn't. At least until they saw a picture that wasn't a part of their plan of what appeared to be Stefano alive. This was presumed to be the last official plot for Stefano now that his actor, Joseph Mascolo, passed away in December 2016... but even Mascolo's death couldn't prevent the Phoenix from rising again, and Stefano was revived in November 2019, with Stephen Nichols in the role (albeit presumed to be as a brainwashed Steve Johnson).

** Belle Black. While Carrie and Sami Brady, and Jennifer Horton all worked well in their role as the young blonde female heroine of the show, Belle was widely reviled by fans.

** Taylor Walker, particularly for coming off as such a RelationshipSue for EJ. After two extremely likeable actresses (former ''Series/GeneralHospital'' stars Natalia Livingston and Tamara Braun) failed to sway fans into liking her, she was mercifully PutOnABus for the second time. (Taylor was first seen in 1998, with Katherine Ellis in the role, also short-lived.)

* SeasonalRot: There have also been issues with the frequent writer switchups in 2015-2017 years. Storylines and couples have flip-flopped so often that it became irritating to try and keep up with. Each turnover seemed to warrant [[OutOfFocus changing the B-cast]] at much-higher rates than usual: In that time, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show thrice (each). Xander has been PutOnABus only to be brought back for another storyline...three times. Eve was let go only to be returned as a recurring character two times and then being forgotten about. (Her actress, Kassie [=DePaiva=] was diagnosed with cancer and was allowed to take time off, but there was no on-screen reason for her departure until she returned again.) While not entirely universal, the change to Ron Carlivati as head writer caused a lot of these changes to settle into more acceptable standards.

** Alex North, a new character that was developed to allow Wayne Northrop to be able to return the show (his old role of Roman Brady having been recast nine years earlier, in 1997, with Josh Taylor, who previously played bartender Chris Kositchek from 1977 to 1987), launched into a storyline that a good chunk of fans would prefer to forget, in which Alex was revealed to be an abusive ex-husband of Marlena's who used his authority as her therapist (in order to help her regain her memory) to control her.

* SeasonalRot: There have also been issues with the frequent writer switchups in recent years. Storylines and couples have flip-flopped so often that it became irritating to try and keep up with. Each turnover seems to warrant [[OutOfFocus changing the B-cast]] at much-higher rates than usual: In a span of two years, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show twice (each), and are now returning for the third. Xander has been PutOnABus only to be brought back for another storyline...three times. Eve was let go only to be returned as a recurring character two times and then being forgotten about. (Her actress, Kassie [=DePaiva=] was diagnosed with cancer and was allowed to take time off, but there was no on-screen reason for her departure until she returned again.) And so on and so forth.

* BrokenBase: This happens with any soap opera regarding couples, story arcs, etc., but the original tenure of head writer James E. Reilly is still controversial. Supporters fans will argue he breathed new life into a show still reeling from the effects of the 1988 writers' strike and point out that quite a few of his characters (e.g. Sami Brady, Kristen Blake, Lucas Horton, and the Reed-Roberts family) are still present and popular in the modern day. Detractors claim his use of supernatural and other unrealistic (even by soap standards) elements derailed the story and alienated longtime fans, and/or that he relied too much on [[ShockingSwerve shock]] value, [[NegativeContinuity ignored continuity]], dragged-out storylines, made an incoherent mess out of backstories like John Black's (including the retconning of "Roman Brady's" origins to reveal that John had just assumed Roman's identity) and Tony [=DiMera=]'s parentage, and reduced characters and their motivations to [[{{Flanderization}} two dimensions, at most]].

* DorkAge: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilly's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second (from 2003-2006) was a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and gloriously-nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.

* SeasonalRot: There have also been issues with the frequent writer switchups in recent years. Storylines and couples have flip-flopped so often it became irritating to try and keep up with. Each turnover seems to warrant [[OutOfFocus changing the B-cast]] at much-higher rates than usual: In a span of two years, Belle and Shawn returned and left the show twice (each), and are now returning for the third. Xander has been PutOnABus only to be brought back for another storyline...three times. Eve was let go only to be returned as a recurring character two times and then being forgotten about. (Her actress, Kassie [=DePaiva=] was diagnosed with cancer and was allowed to take time off, but there was no on-screen reason for her departure until she returned again.) And so on and so forth.

* DorkAge: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilley's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second (from 2003-2006) was a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and gloriously-nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.

* DorkAge: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilley's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second (from 2003-2006) was a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and and gloriously-nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.

* DorkAge: Years and several writing regimes later, there are still critics who assert that the show never recovered from Reilley's initial tenure as head writer. But even fans who liked his original run will generally agree that his second (from 2003-2006) a dumpster fire, even if they did enjoy Chelsea Brady and and gloriously-nonsensical Salem Stalker storyline.