Mistakes are a part of life, but a small error in a recent Days of our Lives episode was almost a part of death, as well. Specifically, the death of Kimberly Brady (Patsy Pease).
The panic-inducing mistake happened during a recent scene in which Brady (Eric Martsolf) told Victor (John Aniston) that Theresa's (Jen Lilley) mother, Kimberly Brady Donovan (Patsy Pease), was "still dying" -- which referred to a 2018 storyline in which Theresa left town when she learned her mother was battling cancer. The line was both confusing and upsetting to many viewers, as Kimberly had recovered and was doing well the last time her name was mentioned.
Thankfully, DAYS head writer Ron Carlivati noticed the flurry of panic happening on social media after the scene aired and clarified that he is not killing off Kimberly, as was recently implied on-screen. He explains that an error in script continuity is to blame for the accidental revisal of history.
"To all who commented on/reacted to this scene: Kimberly is not 'still dying.' This beat was not in the outline and should not have been in the script. It was a continuity error," Carlivati tweeted. "As previously stated, Kimberly is doing better. Apologies to anyone who was upset or offended."
To all who commented on/reacted to this scene: Kimberly is not "still dying." This beat was not in the outline and should not have been in the script. It was a continuity error. As previously stated, Kimberly is doing better. Apologies to anyone who was upset or offended. #days pic.twitter.com/whCN6imIO2
- Ron Carlivati (@carlivatiron) January 22, 2019
As for how exactly a mistake like that could happen, it's due to the organization of how scripts are made. When writing soap opera episodes, the head writer usually works with a team of breakdown writers who create a synopsis for each day, breaking the episode down into scenes with an outline of key moments that should happen in each one. That outline is then given to a scriptwriter, who creates the dialogue.
As Carlivati shows via a screengrab of that day's script, there wasn't anything about Kimberly in the original outline, meaning the dialogue writers likely forgot about Kimberly's off-screen recovery when they added in Eric and Victor's small talk about her battle with cancer. And honestly, who can blame them? As soap opera fans know, producing daytime dramas is a demanding job that comes with an incredible amount of material and complex character histories. Add into the mix that DAYS films months in advance (meaning what's being written now doesn't air until the better part of a year later), it's easy to see that sometimes mistakes can happen.
The important thing is that, despite what was said on-screen, Kimberly is not dying, which is most certainly a relief for fans who have loved the character since Pease brought her to Salem back in 1984.
Are you relieved to hear that Kimberly Brady isn't dying like a recent episode accidentally implied? How do you feel about DAYS making a continuity error? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
