‘Days of Our Lives’ Has Released Its Cast and I Am Panicking

Is one of the longest-running daytime soaps about to call it quits?

Shock waves are running through my world right now with the news that Days of Our Lives has released its entire cast from their contracts.

Now I guess I shouldn't panic just yet, since this only means the actors in the daytime series are allowed to find new jobs. But it means all the actors are allowed to find new jobs!

Some of these people have been playing the same character for the over 50-year run of the show.

I seriously can't imagine them leaving.

I also can't imagine this show leaving TV. It has literally been a part of my entire life.

When I was a kid, my mother would watch DOOL nearly every day. So much that my sister and I used to play "Days of Our Lives" with our friends in the neighborhood and pretend to be Jennifer Horton, Hope Brady and more.

Then in college, it was one of the things that first got me and my suitemates hanging out together in our shared living room. It was a bonding hour for us.

And though I can't watch the show at its 1 p.m. airtime these days, I do catch up with it most nights on demand. It is my favorite guilty pleasure show of all time.

To think that these characters I have known all my life could be leaving television is honestly kind of devastating. I feel like I know them so well it'll be like losing touch with family members.

According to TMZ, which first shared the news, the release from contracts doesn't necessarily mean the end of the show for good.

NBC is just choosing to put the soap on indefinite hiatus. That doesn't sound any better.

The 55th season is underway now and NBC is going to wait until early 2020 to decide if there will be a season 56.

The only saving grace here is that DOOL tapes eight months in advance. So when filming stops at the end of November, fans like myself will still have until summer 2020 to enjoy the show.

And then, who knows...