As I mentioned last week, this month our blog series is about soap operas, and I titled it “I Met My Twin When I Married My Mother’s Neighbor’s Uncle’s Grocer’s Best Friend’s Attorney Who is Also My Fourth Cousin Once Removed.” After looking at Peyton Place which seemed to set the standard for television soap operas, I had three more weeks to fill. I had quite a few options to write about. I decided to choose the two that my mother watched the most and the one that I got to start watching from the first episode: As the World Turns, Days of Our Lives, and The Young and the Restless.
However, I did want to mention The Guiding Light. This soap started on the radio in 1937. It continued on the radio until 1956 but also aired on television from 1952-2009. With its 57-year-long-run, it is currently the longest-running soap opera.
Now, back to our topic today which is As the World Turns. This soap came close to taking the record for the longest-running soap, it began in 1956; it was canceled in 2010, giving it 54 years on television. If you were going to binge watch this one, it might take a bit. You would have to sit through 13,763 hours.
The show was set in Oakdale, Illinois. Before this soap opera aired, “serials” were always fifteen minutes long. However, this show, along with The Edge of Night, both began the same day as thirty-minute-long episodes. The first decade or so was filmed in black and white before switching to color in 1967. In 1975, the show switched to an hour-long format.
Believe it or not, from 1958-1978, the show had ten million viewers checking in daily. In 1995, the series celebrated its 10,000th episode.
The show was created by Irna Phillips, one of the first soap opera writers on the radio. She preferred realistic plots and interesting characters more than the unbelievable drama that was at the center of many serials. Irna was a pioneer in the field of soap operas. She passed away in 1973, so she never realized the longevity of the show.
Photo: imdb.com
She often featured professionals, and the legal and medical fields were represented on this show as we learned about their private lives and careers. We slowly get to know the family members and their inner thoughts. In this series, we are introduced to the upper-class Hughes and Stewart families. Eventually, the rural Snyder family and wealthy Lucinda Walsh become entwined in the weekly plots. In 1960 Lisa Miller came to Oakdale played by Eileen Fulton. She was a southern “vixen” and was the person I remember best from the show when my mom watched.
Three of the characters to be on a soap opera the longest were part of the crew: Helen Wagner as Nancy was on 54 years, Don Hastings as Bob Hughes was on 50 years and Fulton, the vixen, appeared on the show for 47 years. A couple of characters on Days of Our Lives come close to this record; Susan Seaforth Hayes has actually tied Wagner; she began on Days in 1965 and was still seen in 2022.
Plots developed gradually over time with conversations and character reflections. You could miss a day or two during the week and still know what was happening on the show.
In 1958 it became the number-one drama show in the US. The soap would win the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series in 1987, 1991, 2001, and 2003. The writers won in 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. Directors picked up the award in 1993 and 2007. There were many other Emmys awarded to the show including for Supporting Actor and Actress, Lead Actor and Actress, Outstanding Ingenue, and Lifetime Achievement Award.
The show was remembered for the character of Hank Elliot who was the first gay male character out of the closet on daytime television in 1988 and the first kiss between two men, Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer.
The first words spoken on the show were by Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner) when she said “Good morning, dear.” Nancy would appear on the show for almost the entire run. She was dropped from the series during the first season after developing a conflict with Phillips. She returned after six months and stayed until 1981 when she left because she did not think that the writers were including the veteran cast members enough, but she returned in 1985 and stayed until August of 2010 when she passed away. The writers had been hoping Wagner would have the last word in the show with the final lines, but she died two weeks before.
In December of 2009, CBS announced it would not be renewing the soap opera and the last episode was taped June 23, 2010, airing in September of that year. The final words were spoken by Bob Hughes, Nancy’s son, when he said “Good night.”
I think because of the title, this show was used as a parody often. For example, on the cartoon Tom & Jerry, Tom is watching “Nine Lives to Live” when Jerry changes the channel to “As the Cheese Turns”; Carol Burnett had a recurring sketch where she played one of the matriarchs on “As the Stomach Turns”; and on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a soap opera is written starring Lady Elaine Fairchild in the “As the Museum Turns.” Being a museum curator by profession, I admit I am a bit intrigued by the last one. Maybe I should start taking more notes at work.
I’m guessing for stay-at-home moms, watching a soap like As the World Turns, was a bit of a respite from the constant cleaning and caring for younger children. They could get involved in other peoples’ lives that seemed more complex and romantic. Fifty-four years is a long time; many of these characters must have seemed like part of the family after that many days spent together. Today reality is so depressing, I guess I prefer to watch sitcoms.
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