Soap Operas are having some trouble these days, and yet NBC's Days of Our Lives keeps going strong, even getting a new 3 year renewal. The secret to their success? Copious and ridiculous product placement! Five hilarious examples inside.

Chex Mix is good, but not this good. "You need to try it. It's like a million different flavors in your mouth." Thanks for shoving it down our throats. Can we get back to the delicious, delicious story?

It's true: Soap Opera Digest reports that Deidre Hall, who's played Days of Our Lives's Dr. Marlena Evans for 32, um, colorful years, has been let go along with longtime screen partner Drake Hogestyn, aka John Black. Deidre was your run-of-the-mill soap diva until insane genius writer/producer James E. Reilly (himself a resent casualty of a more permanent, God-mandated downsizing) took over and incorporated Satan-rape into the proceedings. In Marlena's memory, we revisit the classic Days exorcism scene, featuring Hogestyn as the vomit-splattered Man of God sent to drive out the ratings-goosing demons. It might be daytime TV, but this is some effectively scary shit—particularly when she starts stabbing her privates with an Itty Bitty Book Light. Video after the jump.

No, that's not just a string of nonsense words. Wonderfully named author, activist, and autobiographer Kola Boof is something of a character. Originally from Sudan, Boof's chief notoriety comes from her claim that she once did time as an involuntary coital companion for Osama bin Laden. The exact terminology is a bit dicey, as Boof hates that the New York Post keeps referring to this as her "sex slave" period; Boof's bio says she was Osama's "lover ... against her will," so take your pick. Some have expressed doubts about Boof's bin Ladenizing, but the more pressing question is this: Why was Boof fired from her job as a writer on Days of Our Lives?