Five Things That Happened On March 24 In Soap History

In 1987, One Life to Live's Viki Buchanan (Erika Slezak) visited heaven, where she reunited with several of her former loved ones. Her trip to the afterlife occurred when she suffered a brain aneurysm and required surgery. Erika Slezak recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2012, "I especially loved heaven [as a storyline]. I talked nonstop for five days. I had these delightful people that I loved so well, Kristen Allen, who played evil Tracy James, and Mark Metcalfe, who played Stick. They were terrific fun. They played the two bad guys in heaven. It was fun to see Lee Patterson back as Joe. They also brought in a mother and a father for Viki: Lori March, who played Eugenia and Tom O'Rourke [Victor]. The joy of it all was Jon Fielder, who was my guardian angel, Virgil — which was just brilliant."

In 1995, after Kevin Collins chased his psychotic twin brother, Ryan Chamberlain (both played by Jon Lindstrom) into a hall of mirrors, an explosion went off, and Ryan was seemingly killed right in front of Kevin's eyes. The character, who was introduced in 1992, would remain dead until 2018, when his resurrection enabled Lindstrom to resume playing the dual roles. In 2023, Lindstrom admitted to Soap Opera Digest that he did have a preference for portraying Ryan, saying, "Ryan was always more fun to play. You know how in a ride-around lawn mower you push the gas but it only goes so fast because the governor keeps the speed down? Well, Kevin kind of has a governor, whereas Ryan doesn’t, and that’s one of the ways it was easy to differentiate between the two. One is really repressed, and the other isn’t!”

In 1999 on Bold and Beautiful, Rick Forrester (Jacob Young, l.) was in bad shape after being involved in a catastrophic drag racing accident. His loved ones, including mother Brooke, father Eric and big brother Ridge anxiously awaited news about his condition. Doctors informed his worried kin that Rick needed a kidney transplant. Brooke, Eric and Ridge all offered themselves up as potential donors. In the end, it was Amber (Adrienne Frantz) who proved to be a match and donated her kidney to save Rick.

In 2015, Paul Telfer (pictured with Arianne Zucker as Nicole Walker) debuted on Days of Our Lives as Xander Cook, nephew to Victor Kiriakis. Reflecting on how the character had evolved over the years, Telfer told Soap Opera Digest in 2023, "He’s changed a lot, but at the same time he’s still that same insecure, ostracized, can’t get out of his own way, own worst enemy. Over the years, he has shown a little bit of growth and has been through experiences that have expanded who he actually is and who he’s capable of being, but he still tends to revert back to these core qualities of insecurity and being a self-sabotager in a lot of ways."

In 2022 on Young and Restless, Nate Hastings (Sean Dominic) took Elena Dawson (Brytni Sarpy) to the penthouse that had been bequeathed to him by the late Neil Winters and proposed to Elena that they relocate there. He noted that he understood if she felt uncomfortable living across the hall from the apartment she used to share with Devon, but Elena assured him that she loved the idea of them moving into the penthouse.