Do Anyone remember Tony Merritt and his father Craig Merritt from the 60's??

I think it would be wonderful to bring Tony Merritt back to town with a wife and two kids name Alice and Tom, named after his former neighbors Alice and Tom Horton.

Marcy Walker, Grant Aleksander, Jay Hammer/Peter Simon/Richard Van Vleet/Robert Gentry, and Maeve Kinkead would be excellent in this role.

Sheffer hardly created several new characters. He always brought in old characters (Mike, Rosanna, Dusty, Lucy, Alison, Aaron, Jennifer, Craig, etc.) and integrated them into the canvas. I'm sure he's taking a good look at the past and seeing how to best tell the stories he wants to tell. So be it the Merritts (which I doubt, since I hardly think fans are clamoring for them) or anyone else, I think it is safe to predict some history.

I find it extemely unlikely that Hogan will dig that deep into ancient Days history. I think we only need to look at the failure of Arlene Sorkin's return to show that fans didn't go running to the boards to gush over this history dig and she was only 15 years out. 30 years might be a bit much.

Having said that, I think Andre is absolutely right that Hogan will mine history for old characters and recast them and integrate them into the show. Likely suspects include Lawrence Alimain, Vivian, Stephano, Nicole, Eve Donavan, Marcus, Jonah, Mike, Robin, Jeremy, and Sarah Horton.

These do not seem unlikely or far out considering the current cast of characters. But the show will have the shed many characters to make this work. With the exists of Shawn (probably will be recast), Phillip, Jennifer, Jack and possibly Roman there is some room but I think more cuts will come. This is just my prediction, however.

I think DAYS should bring back Melissa and Sarah Horton and maybe Mike Horton to make the Hortons a bigger presence on the show. I also think re-casting Mickey (if only recurringly) is essential to the Horton family.

I do hope Jennifer is re-cast at some later date. Shawn should be re-cast, as should Phillip if Jason Cook and Kyle Brandt do end up leaving.

I find it extemely unlikely that Hogan will dig that deep into ancient Days history. I think we only need to look at the failure of Arlene Sorkin's return to show that fans didn't go running to the boards to gush over this history dig and she was only 15 years out. 30 years might be a bit much.

Well I was gushing

There are a *lot* of characters from the past who could be brought back and could play well in current storylines. Sarah Horton (Mickey & Maggie's daughter via artificial insemination from Dr. Neil Curtis) immediately springs to mind. During her last run, Sarah was Carrie's best friend and she would be in the Austin/Carrie/Lucas/Sami age bracket. Also, Dr. Valerine Grant would be a good choice, too. She and Abe were once involved, but she left Salem. When David Banning (Julie's son) left Salem, it was presumably to move to New York to attempt to reunite with Valerie (to whom he once was very much in love). If both David & Valerie returned (having been married years ago and now with a child of young-adult age), I could see it playing well into current storyline. Their marriage could be strained. Valerie feels drawn to Abe again (putting her into conflict with Lexie at the hospital). David might find a sympathetic ear in Kate (how would Julie react to Kate as a potential romantic partner for her son?). If David & Valerie happen to have a son (he would be the first bi-racial Horton), he could be a young intern at the hospital (throwing him into the middle of a potential Valerie/Lexie feud) and could be a strong contender for a romantic pairing with Stephanie --- especially after he takes special interest in her when he saves her life after a racing accident. Can the upstanding, responsible, noble young doctor tame Stephanie's free spirit? What if Chelsea marks him as a target just to spite Stephanie?

And who's that 40ish newcomer female to Salem (who buys the Spectarer and starts looking for dirt on Salem's residents) who seems to harbor some sort of vindetta against Julie? Is that vindetta enough to make a play for David to get to Julie? And what of the woman's ex-husband and two grown children who follow her to town? It turns out the woman's maiden name is Anne Peters, the daughter of Julie's old rival Susan Martin Peters and Anne believes Julie responsible for her mother's problems stemming from an heretofore unknown clash during one of Julie's many trips to Europe.

Oh, the possibilities of the past....

Matt, if Sarah came back then Noelle could come back too. Since Sarah and Noelle are half-sisters, it would be explained that Noelle came there to see her sister.

I would love Susan and Greg's child to come back to town. I was thinking that their child was a boy though. I remember when Oliver Martin, played by Shawn Stevens, came on the show as Melissa's love interest - that the talk in mags then was that Oliver might be Susan's son with Greg Peters. It would be great to revisit that part of Days history.

I never figured out why Days wrote Susan out and never revisited her story. She was such a popular character on the show.

I love all your ideas. I still want Days to revisit Bill & Laura's story and revive the Laura and Kate feud. I love the idea of Mike getting involved with Kate. I know that Mike and Bill have shared women before (Janice and then Mike shared Linda with Mickey), but I think with Kate it would be great - esp. knowing Laura hates her.

The show has never really explored Lucas and Bill's relationship that much either - would be nice to see that acted on more.

Mike's son needs to come to town too. He would fit in with Abby and Chelsea's age group. Days has not done a gay story and Jeremy would be great for this. To see how the Horton's deal with it would be great.

But I don't want the younger Mike that we had last. I want Michael Weiss back or at least someone in that age group.

And if they bring back David, bring back Gregg Marx. He was great as David.