She's back. No, she really is back. Alison Sweeney (Sami, "Days of Our Lives") has just inked a deal that will keep her on the show through November 2021. Sweeney joined the show as troublemaker-in-chief when she was 16. Like all typical "Days of Our Lives" characters, she has died more than once, and she was strapped to an electric chair that was unplugged at the very last moment. Yeah, they just recycled the storyline with Ben. A good story always bears repeating.

The first time I spoke with Sweeney, she had been on the show for a month. She had better and more stories than actors who had been on the show for decades. Her day was not only filled with acting. She was headed to kickboxing, and after that, she was off to ride on her horse and had lines to learn. Today, her life is filled with directing, starring in her own Hallmark Mystery channel movies, parenting and being a wife of more than 20 years. Sweeney, who hosted "The Biggest Loser," battled bulimia in real life and has always been open about her personal life. She is well aware that Sami is a lighting rod for love and hate. Just read social media posts. Sweeney admits no one is neutral when it comes to Sami. "Sometimes, I read a script and think, 'She what?!'" says Sweeney. "She is me, so I have to make it work." Make it work she does. "Days" is set to start taping next week. Hurricane Sami comes storming in a few weeks later. Ken Corday, the show's executive producer, is excited. "As usual, Sami will be the eye of the storm." "Days" fans, buckle your seat belts; it is going to be a bumpy ride.

I have had the pleasure of interviewing Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki, "Young and Restless") for over 40 years. She was honest and open about her life. Except when it came to her childhood. Ask about the film "Marnie," or working with Clint Eastwood or John Wayne as a child, and she would demure, "I really don't remember that." Oh, she remembered that time all right, but who can blame her for try to blot it out. In her memoir, "Always Young and Restless," out this week, her real life makes her soap character's life seem like the Garden of Eden. Her grandmother, a hoarder and her guardian, looked on as a 4-year-old Melody was sexually abused by a man who ran a school for child actors. She writes: "I knew what was happening was wrong. I wondered if I was doing something wrong." In the 10 years it took to write the book, she asked her two children and her husband, Edward Scott, who has executive produced "Young and Restless" and "Days of Our Lives," if they were OK with it. "I am very open in the book," Melody says. "Why write a memoir if you are going to gloss over what happened." It is, by turns, happy, sad, uplifting and soul crushing. She credits "Y&R" for giving her the life she now embraces. "It gave me my family, a great lifestyle and a chance to play one of daytime's iconic characters."

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: SturmjaegerTobi at Pixabay