Starting Days of our Lives in 2026? Good news: the show is engineered for exactly you. Sixty years of history sound intimidating, but Days is one of the easiest soaps to enter — this guide gives you the map: the five families, the traditions, and a starting plan.

The essentials: 1965, Salem, the hourglass

Days of our Lives premiered November 8, 1965, following the Horton family in the fictional Salem, Illinois — and has aired nearly every weekday since (the show's history). Its opening — sand falling through an hourglass — is one of television's most recognizable images, and its structure is the genre's friendliest: five families, one town, stories that re-explain themselves as they run. Our full Days history explainer covers the six decades in detail.

The five families

Per the show's official framing, the canvas is the intertwined stories of the Hortons, Bradys, Kiriakises, Hernandezes and DiMeras (Peacock's show page). In one line each: Hortons are the moral center (and the Christmas ornaments); Bradys run the pub and the heart; Kiriakises bring shipping money and old-world codes; Hernandezes staff the hospital and the police; DiMeras supply the gothic villainy and the longest feuds. Every current storyline — the return shaking two marriages, the EJ-Cat romance — is two or more of these families colliding.

How to start watching in 2026

  1. Stream on Peacock. New episodes drop weekday mornings; the show is exclusive there and renewed through Season 63 (the renewal facts).
  2. Pick one family storyline. Days re-explains context constantly — start with whichever family's current arc hooks you.
  3. Use recaps without guilt. Days recaps its own history in dialogue; a weekly recap doubles your comprehension. Our catch-up guide has the method.