Five Things That Happened On March 23 In Soap History

In 1987, Bold and Beautiful premiered on CBS. It was co-created by late husband and wife team William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell and focused, then as now, on the Forrester family and their fashion empire. At the time, the Forrester clan consisted of (clockwise from top l.) Thorne (Clayton Norcross), Ridge (Ronn Moss), Kristen (Teri Ann Linn), Eric (John McCook) and Stephanie (Susan Flannery). In 2023, McCook enthused to Soap Opera Digest, "I loved the whole concept of the show even before it started. I referred to us as a boutique soap opera, the little sister of Y&R, and I still feel we are. We’re small. We are a half hour. It’s all about glamour. The stories go fast. There are a smaller number of stories and characters than the other soaps. We are different than the other shows, and that has served us well. We are still going strong, and I suspect we will be around for a long time to come."

In 1990, Casey the Alien from the planet Lumina, played by Bradley Lockerman, landed in Port Charles on General Hospital. Robin was on a school trip to Spoon Island when she discovered an unusual crystal — one that glowed at night in her darkened bedroom. One evening in Anna’s garage, beams of light burst out and took on the form of a human. Calling himself Casey, the alien befriended Robin, who thought he was a harmless, if odd, homeless man. As he exposed her to his various crystal-aided abilities, she realized that he was not an earthling.

In 2021 on General Hospital, Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) was on her way out of Nixon Falls when she circled back to the Tan-O and had her first encounter with "Mike" (Maurice Benard) — really, an amnesiac Sonny Corinthos, whose loved ones were mourning him back in Port Charles. Arguably the most grief-stricken? Carly, Sonny's "widow," who was Nina's rival. Nina got the lowdown from "Mike" and Phyllis (one of the Tan-O's proprietors, with whom she shared a past connection) about how he had wound up there. Nina then placed a private call — to Carly. She did not wind up coming clean to Carly about having found Sonny, but struck up a connection with "Mike" that led to romance and, even after Sonny's memory returned, marriage.

In 2022, Susan Walters returned to Young and Restless as Diane Jenkins. She had last played the role in 2010, after an initial run that lasted from 2001-04. Walters's comeback negated the death of the character, then played by Maura West, in 2011. Walters recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2023, "I got a text out of the blue [from former Executive Producer] Tony Morina, and I was like, ‘What’s this all about?’ I called them back and was told that they wanted to bring back Diane: ‘We know she’s dead but we’ll figure it out, so don’t worry.’ And I was like, ‘Uh, I’m not worried. It wasn’t [being played by me].’ So, I didn’t have a problem with that part at all and I was very excited.”

In 2017 on Days of Our Lives, Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) was taking umbrage with everyone around him suggesting that he was in love with Nicole Walker, a charge he vehemently denied. But while on a walk with Tate, he spoke to Nicole on the phone, and after their tender conversation, he came to a stunning (to him, at least) realization: "Oh, Brady. You're in love with Nicole."