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Axed: As the World Turns

After 54 years, CBS daytime soap opera As the World Turns will have its last revolution next September.

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netcast_atwt_logoAfter 54 years, CBS daytime soap opera As the World Turns will have its last revolution next September.

CBS confirmed it will end its run after more than 13,000 episodes and replaced probably with either a talkshow or a game show. Over the years the soap has included several big names including Dana Delaney, James Earl Jones, Parker Posey, Meg Ryan and Marisa Tomei.

Daytime soaps are struggling in recent years. CBS recently ended another, Guiding Light. Soap viewership has been in a steady decline for decades and in more recent years has plummeted as more women have joined the workforce and the number of cable outlets and entertainment choices has exploded.

Meanwhile, daytime has seen success with talk shows and other less expensive formats, while serials require much larger budgets for their big ensemble casts, producers and writers.

“We are disappointed and saddened by the news that the show is not being renewed,” said producer Chris Goutman. “It will certainly be a loss for all of us, and for the show’s loyal audience.”

But the production studio said it would explore finding a new home for the show.

Source: Variety, LA Times

11 Responses

  1. I think NBC and Channel 9 will never be interested in a 2nd soap ….
    As the World Turns is another show that was removed from Channel 9 , just like Young and The Restless .and will never return …
    In the meantime 7TWO has All My Children from Jan 18th !!!

  2. hey Boy Wonder – that story about the Ch 9 switchboard blowing up in 1983 occured during some story-line involving Marlena – the Salem Strangler one?

    Anyway what happened was that the Mike Walsh Show ran about 20 mins overtime and it just so happened that the particular Days ep of that day was going to reveal who the strangler was.

    Apparently an army of fans in QLD were so enraged that the Walsh show was going over-time that they called the switchboard in droves and caused it to meltdown!

    Is one of the more famous stories of yore – i could only imagine the outcry if it finally ends here!

    And Ch 9 would never have dared to palm off Days to Foxtel as they did with the Young and the Restless – the furore would have made national headlines…

  3. Sad to see it go, as As the World Turns was the last remaining on going series left from the 1950s. When it started all daytime soaps were being filmed live to air and shown in 15 minute installments. As the World Turns was the first soap to go for a full half hour. It’s passing will leave Coronation Street (1960) as the worlds longest running tv soap, followed by General Hospital (1963) .

  4. @Patrick…maybe they’ll blow up another Ch 9 switchboard like they did way back in 1983??
    What happened? Was that when everyone thought Marlena was killed but it turned out to be her twin sister Samantha?

  6. Probably by this time next year there’ll only be Days of Our Lives, Bold and the Beauitful and Young and the Restless left.

    Mind you Days of Our Lives is up for renewal next year….which is why the producers made the hard decisions to axe certain stars like Deidre Hall and make it a more focussed show- which has paid off in the ratings.

    But whether that’s enough to actually save it time will tell.

    I know that Australian daytime viewers will fall in a heap if that ever goes – maybe they’ll blow up another Ch 9 switchboard like they did way back in 1983??

  7. This is such a shame. I know soaps are not everyone’s cup of tea, but a lot of us still enjoy a little escape everyday by watching one or two of these shows. Everytime a soap in cancelled it threatens the future of the others. I think that, sadly, there will be none left in a few years time.

  8. No surprises. The show has been in such a poor state.

    I still believe ratings are falling because of the shows themselves. Days of our Lives has been the ratings success story of the last year. It hasn’t been perfect but it’s been consistently okay, which is really working for them and it has a real chance of beating B&B in viewers soon. It already beats B&B is demos.

  10. I really hope NBC picks this grand dame of daytime up. What fans (clearly I am one) have been asking for is the veterans be used rather than shove re casted/newbies who look great but can’t act down own throat. It is so simple. Days has rebounded from bottom of the heap to be nearly #2 (It will get there early nxt yr I predict) by using it’s case wisely and many other things. When I tune in I want to see my faves, I care about them, I have invested time in them. Hopefully they have a different storyline. I don’t want to see a bunch of kids or re casted fave’s stealing airtime in a storyline that they cant’ carry and I don’t care for.

  11. I’d suggest that soap viewership has plummeted in the US as steadily as the standards people demand of their TV drama have increased.

    Even the CSI franchise is like a Kubrick movie compared to this archaic, brainless television.

    I still find it amusing that the Australian variation on the same theme – with sex-obsessed teens substituting for sex-obsessed adults – airs in prime time. These US soaps would be laughed out of the room if they dared air them when stay-at-homes weren’t the only ones watching.

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