When television icon, Dick Van Dyke appeared on Peacock’s Days of our Lives last year, viewers were in for a real treat. At 98-years-old, his performance as a mystery man with no memory, who turns out to be the biological father to John Black (Drake Hogestyn), was nothing short of heart-tugging.

Going in to next week’s 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards airing Friday night on June 7th (8pm ET/PT) on CBS and streaming on Paramount+, Van Dyke has to be on the odds-on favorite to take home the gold in the Outstanding Guest Performer category in a Daytime Drama Series, for which he is nominated.

In stirring scenes with Drake Hogestyn (Dick’s real life friend), it is revealed that he is really Timothy Robicheaux, the father John has been searching for his whole life. The on-screen reunion was one of the best moments in the soaps in 2023.

Photo: JPI

Now in a feature with Deadline, Van Dyke spoke on his time with DAYS, and how he never plans on retiring from show business. In fact, he still wants to take a one-man show on the road!

“I’ve just done my first soap opera!” he commented excitedly. Van Dyke added, “Never done that before! I played an old guy, of course, in a wheelchair. My wife played my attendant.”

Photo: CBS

Previously, the iconic star won three Primetime Emmys for his classic sitcom, The Dick Van Dyke Show. From the motion pictures Mary Poppins to Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang to his TV role in Diagnosis Murder (which also starred former Y&R alum, Victoria Rowell) and more, winning a Daytime Emmy could be nice little bonus on top of Van Dyke’s already legendary career.

So, are you hoping Dick Van Dyke takes home the gold next week for his work on Days of our Lives? Comment below.

Look. who’s returning to the soaps but this time down under? Chrishell Stause, who before the reality-series Selling Sunset found notoriety on daytime dramas, is set to play a new guest role on the iconic Australian soap, Neighbours.

Stause will play a new character, Yasmine Shields, who is said to be,”a glamorous and successful businesswoman in pursuit of an exciting new opportunity.” Chrishell will make her way to Australia and start filming in July.

Neighbours releases new episodes Monday-Thursday, at 7 a.m. BST, on Amazon Freevee in the UK and the U.S.  Stause is joining the show at the right time as it just received its first Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series at the upcoming 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Photo: NBC

In a statement, the former All My Children, Days of our Lives and The Young and the Restless star, expressed, “I am honored and excited to join such a beloved and iconic show.  Coming from the world of soaps in the U.S., it’s back to my first love in the entertainment industry. They pitched me an idea for a character, and I was immediately excited to figure out a way to make it happen. Ramsay Street here I come!”

Neighbours Executive Producer Jason Herbison said on the casting news, “We are thrilled to welcome Chrishell to the cast of Neighbours. We created a character especially for her and we can’t wait for her to bring the storyline alive. Expect intrigue and surprises – and many implications for the residents of Ramsay Street.”

Photo: CStauseIG

As fans know, Stause married her partner, Australian musician G Flip back in 2022, so now she has additional roots on the continent.

Previously on the soaps, Chrishell played the role of Amanda Dillon on All My Children (2005-2011), Bethany Bryant on The Young and Restless (2016) and Jordan Ridgeway on Days of our Lives (2013-2015; and make returns in: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023).

Since leaving the American daytime soaps, Chrishell has received an MTV TV & Movie Award ‘Best Reality Star’ and a People’s Choice nomination for ‘Favorite Reality Star’ for her appearance in Selling Sunset. In 2023 she was recognized by Variety as one of the ‘40 Most Powerful Women in Reality TV’ and by Us Weekly as one of the ‘Top 10 Reality Stars of the Year.’

In February 2022, she released her debut memoir, Under Construction: Because Living My Best Life Took a Little Work. Chrishell is committed to philanthropic endeavors and is a vocal advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights.

Photo: AmazonFreevee

The continuation of the long-running series, Neighbours, is about the lives, loves, and challenges of the residents on Ramsay Street in Erinsborough, Australia, a fictional suburb of Melbourne—picked up two years after the finale in 2022, which was watched by millions of adoring fans.

As well as on Amazon Freevee in the U.S and UK as mentioned above, Neighbours streams on Prime Video in Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Australia’s Network 10 will retain first-run rights in Australia for the new chapter of the series. Previous seasons of Neighbours, as well as over 100 iconic episodes, are currently available to stream on Amazon Freevee.

So, what do you think about Chrishell Stause returning to the soaps with a role on Neighbours? Comment below.

Days of our Lives viewers have not been watching material from head writer Ron Carlivati and his writing team for many months. Well, things are about to change.

Circle this Friday, May 31st when the first new script from Carlivati and company will stream on the Peacock soap opera. If you recall, Carlivati had to step away from the writing gig at DAYS due to the writer’s strike, but because the soap tapes at least seven months ahead of air, it is only now that fans will see how the stories shift or finish out that were started by Carlivati.

According to Ron’s conversation with TV Insider, when Carlivati and his team resumed writing the show in late October of 2023, the stories were already written well into 2024. Carlivati explained, “For me, as of us talking right now, the (replacement writers’ material) is still airing, so that has been very tough. I’m just very anxious and eager for our stuff to start airing again.”

Photo: JPI

Ron explained before the writer’s strike, he and his scribes had written up through the 2023 Thanksgiving episodes. Speaking on how the replacement writers tried to handle stepping in for the regular team, Ron expressed, “I think what they tried to do was move things slowly in the hopes that the strike would end and respect where my storylines were so that I could play them off when we came back. Unfortunately, the strike dragged on, so I understand that the show needed to make story decisions.”

The award-winning writer made clear that, “from January to May (2024), those were not my stories. I had nothing to do with those.”

Having lived through a writer’s strike before (when he was at One Life to Live in 2008), Carlivati explained how he dealt with coming back and adjusting the stories including that the plan was to, “blow things up, jettison anything that I did not like, and get back to a show that I understand and can enjoy and tell. ”

Photo: JPI

Look for a Carlivati-style ‘wink-wink’ on Friday’s episode. As he puts it, “I did want to make it clear that this was the line of demarcation, that the writers were back and there was a change happening. We have a little nod or two to what was going on in the first day and I think it will be very obvious and clear to the savvy viewer. Luckily, story-wise, certain things were coming to a head already.”

Photo: JPI

Stay tuned for how Ron resolves a Sloan and Nicole showdown, how Eric will find out he is Jude’s true baby daddy, what happens when the new Gabi returns from Salem from out of the slammer, the Maggie/Konstantin wedding, payback time for Theresa and more.

In addition, and as previously reported, when Carlivati returned, he crafted the series 15,000th episode which is set to air in early December, and will also pay tribute to the late Bill Hayes with the passing of his on-screen beloved character, Doug Williams.

So, glad to know Ron and his team’s material will start to reveal itself this Friday and moving forward on DAYS? Comment below.