‘Days of Our Lives’ moving to Peacock after over 55 years on NBC

After airing on NBC for almost 60 years, “Days of Our Lives” will have a new home starting next month.

On Wednesday, NBCUniversal revealed in a press release that the long-standing daytime drama will begin streaming exclusively on Peacock on Sept. 12.

“Days of Our Lives” will continue its current daily format and new one-hour episodes will be released on Peacock every weekday.

Speaking about the major programming shift, Chairman, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming Mark Lazarus said in the press release, “With a large percentage of the ‘Days of Our Lives’ audience already watching digitally, this move enables us to build the show’s loyal fanbase on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers.”

Peacock already launched a spinoff called “Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem” in September 2021. The show focuses on multiple beloved fan-favorites from the original series, including Kristian Alfonso and Peter Reckell’s characters Hope and Bo Brady.

“Days of Our Lives” first premiered on the network on Nov. 8, 1965 and followed the lives of the Horton, Brady, Kiriakis and DiMera families in the fictional town of Salem.

In 2020, “Days of Our Lives” celebrated its 14,000th episode, making it NBC’s longest-running series. Throughout its run, the show has won 58 Emmy Awards and featured actors like Deidre Hall, Drake Hogestyn, Alison Sweeney, Suzanne Rogers, Reckell, Alfonso and John Aniston.

Aniston, 89, and his portrayal of the powerful and cunning Victor Kiriakis since 1970 earned him a lifetime achievement award at the 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in June.

Daughter Jennifer Aniston presented her father with the honor after delivering a heartfelt speech.

“It’s an opportunity to not only pay tribute to a true icon in the daytime television world, but it’s also a chance to recognize the lifelong achievement of a great and well-respected actor who also happens to be my dad,” she said in a recorded message. “John Aniston has been working in television consistently for over half a century.”

The daytime drama genre has taken a hit in the last two decades. With the upcoming removal of “Days of Our Lives” from NBC’s line-up, ABC’s “General Hospital” and CBS’s “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful” now remain as the only network soap operas.

The “Days of Our Lives” switch to Peacock also reflects the trend of broadcast shows moving to streaming platforms. Variety reported in April that ABC would be moving “Dancing With the Stars” to Disney+ for its 31st season.

The NBC soap opera’s current time slot will be given to “NBC News Daily.” For the news program, which also launches on Sept. 12, journalists such as Kate Snow, Aaron Gilchrist, Vicky Nguyen and Morgan Radford will be covering breaking and international news.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com