As the World Turns

As the World Turns (often referred to as ATWT) is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera The Guiding Light. Running for 54 years, As the World Turns holds the second-longest continuous run of any daytime network soap opera in American history, surpassed only by Guiding Light. As the World Turns was produced in New York City for all of its time (its first 43 years in Manhattan and in Brooklyn from 2000 until 2010).

Set in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois, the show debuted on April 2, 1956, at 1:30 pm EST. Prior to that date, all serials had been fifteen minutes in length. As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, which premiered on the same day at 4:30 pm EST, were the first two to be thirty minutes in length from their premiere. At first, viewers did not respond to the new half-hour serial, but ratings picked up in its second year, eventually reaching the top spot in the daytime Nielsen ratings by fall 1958. In 1959, the show started a streak of weekly ratings wins that would not be interrupted for over twelve years. The show switched to color on August 21, 1967, and expanded from a half-hour in length to one hour starting on December 1, 1975 when The Edge of Night moved to ABC. In the year-to-date ratings, As the World Turns was the most-watched daytime drama from 1958 until 1978, with ten million viewers tuning in each day. At its height, core actors such as Helen Wagner, Don MacLaughlin, Don Hastings, and Eileen Fulton became nationally known. Three of these actors â€" Wagner, Hastings, and Fulton â€" are also the three longest serving actors in the history of American soap operas.

The show passed its 10,000th episode on May 12, 1995, and celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 2, 2006. On September 18, 2009, As the World Turns became the last remaining Procter and Gamble produced soap opera for CBS after Guiding Light aired its final episode on the network.

On December 8, 2009, CBS announced that it canceled As the World Turns after almost 54 years due to low ratings. The show taped its final scenes for CBS on June 23, 2010, and with a dramatic storyline finale, its final episode on the network aired on September 17, 2010. Like the cancellation of Guiding Light the previous year, CBS kept the time slot, and on October 18, 2010 they replaced As the World Turns with a newly debuted talk show The Talk.

Premise

As the World Turns was the creation of Irna Phillips who, beginning in the 1930s, had been one of the foremost creators and writers of radio soap operas. As a writer, Phillips favored character development and psychological realism over melodrama, and her previous creations (which included Guiding Light) were especially notable for placing professionals â€" doctors, lawyers, and clergy people â€" at the center of their storylines. Phillips wrote: "As the world turns, we know the bleakness of winter, the promise of spring, the fullness of summer and the harvest of autumnâ€"the cycle of life is complete."

And so it was with As the World Turns, with its slow-moving psychological character studies of families headed by legal and medical professionals. The personal and professional lives of doctors and lawyers would remain central to As the World Turns throughout its run, and would eventually become standard fare on many soap operas. Whereas the 15-minute radio soaps often focused on one central, heroic character (for example, Dr. Jim Brent in Phillips' Road of Life), the expanded 30-minute format of As the World Turns enabled Phillips to introduce a handful of professionals within the framework of a family saga.

One of Phillips' innovations was to introduce a sort of Greek chorus to the stories. The primary purpose of characters such as Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner) was to comment on the crises faced and decisions made by the town's more dynamic residents. This technique contributed to the popularity of the show and continues to be widely used in other soap operas.

Phillips' style favored gradual evolution over radical change. Slow, conversational, and emotionally intense, the show moved at the pace of life itself â€" and sometimes even more slowly than that. Each new addition to the cast was done in a gradual manner, and was usually a key contact to one of the members of the Hughes family. As such, the show earned a reputation as being quite conservative, though the show did showcase a gay male character in 1988. During the show's early decades, the content-related policies of its sponsor Procter & Gamble Productions may have contributed to the perception of conservatism. The soap-manufacturing giant typically balked at storylines in which adultery and other immoral behavior would go unpunished, and as late as the 1980s characters from the primary families were still generally not allowed to go through with abortions.

Notable history and accomplishments

As the World Turns premiered on April 2, 1956. It was the first television daytime drama with a 30-minute running time; all daytime dramas until then had had 15-minute running times.

The series was also CBS' first to expand to a 60-minute running time, doing so in 1975. By 1958, the program was the number one daytime drama in the United States, where it remained until 1978. As the World Turns won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series four times, in 1987, 1991, 2001, and 2003.

Cast and characters

Helen Wagner

The first words spoken in As the World Turns in the first episode (aired on April 2, 1956) were "Good morning, dear," said by the character Nancy Hughes, played by actress Helen Wagner.

Wagner was acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records for holding the world record for the longest amount of time appearing as the same character, playing the role of Nancy Hughes since the show went on the air on April 2, 1956 until her death on May 1, 2010, though she has not played the role without interruption. Wagner was temporarily dropped from the series after the first six months due to conflicts with creator Irna Phillips. Wagner also left the series in 1981, when she felt that writers were not interested in the veteran players. She returned as a regular contract player in 1985 after Douglas Marland became headwriter.

On the episode broadcast on Monday, August 30, 2010, it was revealed that Nancy had died in her sleep; the next day's episode dealt with Nancy's memorial service. Nancy Hughes's memorial aired just two weeks before the series finale. The show's producers stated in interviews that they had to revise their plans for the final episode because of Wagner's death â€" they had hoped that Wagner would say the final lines of the last episode just as she had said the first words of the first episode.

Crossovers

There have been several crossovers between As the World Turns and other soaps:

1962
- The character Mitchell Dru (Geoffrey Lumb) was brought to Oakdale after the cancellation of the Procter & Gamble soap The Brighter Day. The same character (and actor) was then transferred to a new Procter & Gamble soap, Another World, shortly after its premiere in 1964. Another World was originally conceived by creator Irna Phillips to be a spin-off series of As the World Turns. Like several other characters from Another World, Mitchell Dru "crossed over" for one or more performances on the first Another World spin-off, Somerset, which premiered in March 1970.

1965
- The character Lisa Miller Hughes (Eileen Fulton) was used as the basis to create a primetime spinoff soap Our Private World, (CBS's attempt to duplicate the success of rival network ABC's Peyton Place), with Lisa leaving Oakdale and moving to Chicago, where she married wealthy John Eldridge, but had an affair with his brother Thomas. Though Our Private World only lasted a few months, and Fulton returned to As the World Turns in early 1966, after taking a few months off, remnants of Lisa's time on Our Private World were resurrected 26 years later, when it was revealed in 1992 that Lisa had had a son off-camera, hitherto unknown to viewers, before returning to As the World Turns in 1966. Her son Scott Eldridge tracked her down as an adult, and remained on As the World Turns for several years.

1999â€"2003
- Shortly after Another World was canceled in June 1999, the characters of Cass and Lila Winthrop (Stephen Schnetzer and Lisa Peluso), and Jake and Victoria McKinnon (Tom Eplin and Jensen Buchanan) crossed over to As the World Turns briefly. Jake and Vicky intended to move to Oakdale, but Vicky was soon killed off in September 1999, then appeared as a ghost to Jake and Molly from November 2000 to February 2001. Cass only appeared on a recurring basis through 2003 (usually whenever anyone in Oakdale needed an attorney, other than resident lawyer Tom Hughes), and Jake (Tom Eplin) remained as a regular on the series until his character was killed off in 2002. Cindy Brooke Harrison (Kim Rhodes) also had minor appearances in 2000 and 2001. Vicky's mother and twin sister, Donna (Anna Stuart) and Marley (Ellen Wheeler, who at the time also directed episodes of "As the World Turns"), made recurring appearances from 2000 to 2002, and left the show when they gained custody of Jake and Vicky's twin daughters after Jake's death. There were also plans to have a now-teenage Steven Frame (Vicky's son with Jamie Frame) come to Oakdale and live with Jake, but the character was reconceived as teenage Bryant Montgomery, the son of As the World Turns couple Craig and Sierra.

Since 2005, a number of characters have crossed back and forth between As the World Turns and The Young and the Restless:

2005
- As the World Turns: At the request of Oakdale, Illinois, District Attorney Jessica Griffin, Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) traveled there to serve as the attorney for Jack Snyder (Michael Park) in a custody hearing involving his late wife Julia Larabee's son, JJ. (April 4 â€" 05, 2005).

The irony in his appearance in the above-mentioned episodes, is that twenty-years before, LeBlanc left the role of Kirk McColl, the youngest son of Lisa's fifth husband, Whit McColl (Played by Wagon Train star Robert Horton, who was killed-off shortly before Fulton's return to the show). So, to many long-time fans of both As The World Turns and The Young and the Restless, it was weird seeing LeBlanc as the character from the latter show. History was also made during LeBlanc's appearance on As the World Turns, since both shows are made by different production companies (Bell Productions for The Young and the Restless; Procter and Gamble for As the World Turns), although they are on the same network.

2007
- The Young and the Restless: Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz) called on her friend Alison Stewart (Marnie Schulenburg) to help trick Cane Ashby (Daniel Goddard) into marriage. After Amber drugged Cane, Alison dressed-up as him for the wedding service. (February 22, 2007)
- The Young and the Restless: Emily Stewart (Kelley Menighan Hensley) traveled from Oakdale, Illinois to Genoa City, Wisconsin, in search of information on her sister, Alison Stewart (Marnie Schulenburg). Emily met with Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz) at Crimson Lights Coffeehouse, but Amber denied knowing Alison's whereabouts. After Emily was gone, Amber placed a call to Alison as a heads-up. (March 27, 2007)

President Kennedy's assassination

On November 22, 1963, the live CBS broadcast of As The World Turns began as always at 1:30 EST. In this episode, the Hughes family were discussing plans for Thanksgiving. Ten minutes later, a "CBS News Bulletin" slide suddenly came up on the screen and Walter Cronkite gave the first report of the assassination.

At the end of this bulletin, CBS rejoined As The World Turns, which was still in progress, as the cast, performing the episode live, was not yet aware of the rapidly developing situation.

As NBC and ABC, the other two major U.S. TV networks, were not programming at the time (the 1:30â€"2:00 ET period belonging to their local affiliates), As The World Turns has the distinction of being the last regular U.S. network program broadcast for the next four days as the assassination and funeral of JFK and the transition of power to President Lyndon B. Johnson took center stage.

Broadcast history

As the World Turns enjoyed a virtually uninterrupted reign as the highest-rated soap from 1958 to 1978, tying for first place with NBC Daytime's Another World (1973â€"1974, 1977â€"1978) and Days of Our Lives (1973â€"1974). By the mid-1960s, it was so firmly entrenched that its strongest competition, Let's Make a Deal, despite developing a devoted fan base in its own right and becoming one of daytime's most popular game shows, could not come close to matching it in the Nielsens.

Its strength was such that ABC ran hour-long drama reruns in the 1â€"2 p.m. (noon-1 Central) slot in the mid-1960s and NBC, after losing Deal to ABC in 1968, ran a total of eight shows, all short-lived (with the exception of Three on a Match, which lasted three years), against As the World Turns and Let's Make a Deal from that point until 1975.

As that year began Another World was expanded to sixty minutes, with their first hour-long episode airing on January 6, 1975. Although this did not directly affect As the World Turns, as the two shows were not in competition for anything other than the overall ratings win, CBS' afternoon lineup suffered some ratings damage as the popular soap put a dent in the ratings of both of CBS' popular afternoon game shows, The Price Is Right and Match Game. NBC, pleased by the success that the expansion of Another World had brought to the network, elected to do the same thing with Days of our Lives beginning on April 21, 1975; this put Days of our Lives and As the World Turns in direct competition for ratings. Incidentally, the expansions were occurring seven years after the last two fifteen-minute serials, Search for Tomorrow and Guiding Light, expanded to thirty minutes.

CBS decided that they too needed to expand at least one of their daytime series. Since As the World Turns was still the front-runner in the ratings battle, it was chosen as one of the series; the other was The Price Is Right, which at the time was part of CBS' afternoon schedule. As the World Turns and The Price Is Right were due to expand in September 1975, and the latter was moved back to the morning in order to facilitate that. While The Price is Right's expansion was initially only intended to be an experiment, As the World Turns was to be permanent and required the cancellation of one of CBS' half-hour serials in order for that to happen. CBS found that series in The Edge of Night, which at the time was the network's lowest rated program; although it was once a solid performer in the ratings, The Edge of Night had been moved at Procter & Gamble's insistence from its 3:30 p.m. timeslot to the 2:30 p.m. slot following Guiding Light in 1972 and as a result lost a large portion of its audience which was composed largely of teenagers, men, and young adults. In order for the expansion to take place, The Edge of Night would have to be canceled- the rest of CBS' soap opera lineup was performing well in the ratings and the network did not have a spare timeslot to put it in that would not risk preemption. CBS announced that it would not renew The Edge of Night when its contract was up, but the serial was saved when ABC offered to take it.

However, a problem arose that would have caused a major issue had CBS elected to go ahead with a September expansion of As the World Turns. The network had a contract with Procter & Gamble to air The Edge of Night until December 1975 and the expansion would have resulted in an immediate cancellation. This meant that no new episodes of The Edge of Night would air for three months, and ABC was not interested in taking on the serial if that was to be the case. This required an arrangement to be made between the networks and production company- As the World Turns would delay its expansion while The Edge of Night would continue to air on CBS, and the series would move to ABC once the network was able to free a timeslot for it. In November 1975, ABC announced the cancellation of the game show You Don't Say!, which had been airing in the network's 4 p.m. timeslot. The final episode was scheduled to air on November 28, 1975, after which The Edge of Night would be free to leave CBS and As the World Turns would be free to expand to sixty minutes.

The first hour-long episode of As the World Turns aired on December 1, 1975. With its expansion, the serial was not only up against Let's Make a Deal, which by this point had been struggling in the ratings for some time, but also against The $10,000 Pyramid, which at the time was the third-highest rated game show in daytime. In the first half hour, As The World Turns performed well enough against the fading Deal that it moved to Noon within four weeks and also beat its replacement, Rhyme and Reason. The second half hour, however, saw As the World Turns not perform as well when taking on The $10,000 Pyramid, which had also performed well against Guiding Light in the 2 p.m. slot. Although the expansion was not a complete success, at the end of the season the serial was again at the top of the daytime Nielsens despite a 1.4 point drop from the year before.

Although the eventual hit game Family Feud ran against As The World Turns from July 12, 1976 until April 22, 1977, it did not become a hit for ABC until its move to the mornings. It was only when ABC made its first move to a one-hour soap with All My Children that trouble really began for As the World Turns (and also Days of our Lives), since ABC kept that serial's starting time at 1/noon, meaning that fans of that serial who tuned to NBC or CBS would miss the last half of that day's storyline (or, contrariwise, would not, if they watched until the mid-program commercial break and then changed channels, pick up the As The World Turns or Days of Our Lives activities from the episode's beginning, since ABC strategically placed its break several minutes after the bottom of the hour). Further, All My Children's emphasis on youth-oriented, sexier story lines provided a sharp contrast to the domestic, almost quaint tone of As the World Turns (and, to a lesser degree, the melodramatic, somewhat topical Days). On January 16, 1978, ABC ballooned its decade-old One Life to Live to the 2/1 starting time, compounding the other networks' headaches. These factors helped contribute to the fall of As The World Turns from the top spot in the ratings at the end of the 1978-79 season. After finishing the previous season tied with Another World for #1 in the Nielsens, As the World Turns fell to fourth behind All My Children, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless.

On February 4, 1980, CBS moved and expanded The Young and the Restless to a full hour after the cancellation of soap Love of Life. Y&R moved from Noon/11am to 1pm/Noon (the former affiliate break timeslot) and As the World Turns was bumped up to 2pm/1pm and Guiding Light to 3pm/2pm. CBS was not satisfied with this schedule against ABC and NBC and it lasted just a little over a year. On June 8, 1981, As the World Turns returned to its longtime 1:30/12:30pm start time with Search for Tomorrow following at 2:30/1:30pm and The Young and the Restless leading off the soap lineup at either Noon/11am or 12:30/11:30am (depending on affiliate preference).

As the World Turns remained at 1:30/12:30pm until March 20, 1987, when CBS canceled the five-year-old Capitol in favor of The Bold and the Beautiful. Believing that B&B would do better running in tandem with Y&R (especially on Eastern Time Zone affiliates), CBS scheduled it at 1:30/12:30, and finally settled As the World Turns at 2/1, where it remained until its final episode in September 2010. Although facing the full length of Another World and One Life to Live once again, the Douglas Marland era of 1985 to 1993 saw a resurgence in ratings, and by 1991 it was back in its once habitual top-four placing. As the World Turns would survive NBC's cancellation of its sister Another World in 1999 in favor of Passions.

End

In December 2009, CBS confirmed that it would not renew As the World Turns, and the last broadcast episode was on September 17, 2010. The final scene included Kim Hughes (Kathryn Hays) told Bob Hughes (Don Hastings) to take as much time as he needed. Bob said the final two lines "Good night" and left the Oakdale Memorial Hospital, and the globe started spinning before the final fade-out.

Ratings

ATWT Ratings: 1956â€"2010

One example of the drastic change in daytime television can be found in the following:

Daytime history: Highest rated week (November 16â€"20, 1981)
(Household ratings- Nielsen Media Research)

1995 ratings

As the World Turns spent a record breaking 20 years on top of the Nielsen ratings for American daytime soap operas, from 1958 to 1978. It would retain this record until The Young and the Restless broke it in 2008 when it remained #1 for 21 years and counting.

Years as #1 series

Record Low: 1,773,000 viewers on December 25, 2009. (Nielsen Media Research)

Schedule

CBS:

April 2, 1956 â€" November 28, 1975: 1:30â€"2:00 PM (12:30â€"1:00 PM, CT/PT)
December 1, 1975 â€" February 1, 1980: 1:30â€"2:30 PM (12:30â€"1:30 PM, CT/PT)
February 4, 1980 â€" June 5, 1981: 2:00â€"3:00 PM (1:00â€"2:00 PM, CT/PT)
June 8, 1981 â€" March 20, 1987: 1:30â€"2:30 PM (12:30â€"1:30 PM, CT/PT)
March 23, 1987 â€" September 17, 2010: 2:00â€"3:00 PM (1:00â€"2:00 PM, CT/PT)

Main crew

Executive producers

Head writers

Crew at cancellation

Writing Team: Jean Passanante, Lloyd Gold, Leah Laiman, Cheryl Davis, Susan Dansby, David A. Levinson, Gordon Rayfield, Dan Mooney, Gigi Swift, Janet Iacobuzio, Josh Griffith
Producing Team: Christopher Goutman, Carole Shure, Jennifer Schacor, Vivian Gundaker, Sarah Shaker, Sonia Blangiardo
Directing Team: Michael Eilbaum, John O'Connell, Jennifer Pepperman, Matthew Griffin Maria Wagner, Habib Azar, Sonia Blangiardo, Ian Toporoff, Christopher Goutman, Michael Kerner, Carol Sedwick, Janet Andrews, James Kowal, Brian Lydell, Jennifer Blood, Nancy Barron, Alexandra Roalsvig, Brett Hellman
Casting Director: Mary Clay Boland

International broadcast

In South Africa, As the World Turns aired on SABC2 from June 2010 to February 2012 from 14:10 to 15:00 each weekday. Episodes were 4 years behind the original US broadcast. In Canada As the World Turns aired on ONtv, and, later, Global Television Network, and on NTV in Newfoundland and Labrador. In Jamaica As The World Turns started airing on Television Jamaica Monday to Friday 1:00pm beginning in 2011. In Belize As the World Turns was seen on Great Belize Television at 2:00 pm Central Time, usually the same day as the U.S. telecasts. In New Zealand As The World Turns was aired on TVNZ from 1962 to 1989. In Australia, As The World Turns' was aired on Network Ten first at 1.30 pm, then moved to 5:00pm before ultimately being dropped entirely in 1987.

InTurn

In 2006, CBS launched a reality show called InTurn on their broadband channel innertube, the winner of which would go on to receive a 13-week acting contract on As the World Turns. The eventual winner of InTurn was Alex Charak, an 18 year old "Student/Pizza Transportation Artist" from New York. Charak made his debut as the character Elwood Hoffman on September 26, 2006. A one-hour "best-of" show aired on CBS on November 24, 2006.

CBS launched InTurn 2 in the summer of 2007. For the new season, the age restrictions expanded to allow for middle-aged viewers to participate, and there were nine competitors instead of eight. The winner of the second season was Ryan Serhant, a recent graduate of Hamilton College. Serhant made his debut in the contract role on November 7, 2007. He plays Evan Walsh IV, son of Evan Walsh III. He is a young hotshot biochemist prodigy who comes home to Oakdale to try to convince Craig Montgomery to invest in the cutting edge biomedical tech field. He began taping on September 24, 2007, two days after the close of his off-Broadway play, Purple Hearts.

Inturn 3 began airing in April 2008 and featured 17 episodes.

Awards and records

Writers Guild of America Awards

2007 "Best Daytime Serial" Written by Jean Passanante, Leah Laiman, Christopher Whitesell, Courtney Simon, Anna Cascio, Lisa Connor, Paula Cwikly, Hogan Sheffer, Judy Tate, Bettina Bradbury, Richard Culliton, Susan Dansby, Judith Donato, Josh Griffith, Elizabeth Page, Melissa Salmons, Charlotte Gibson; CBS Daytime

Daytime Emmy Awards

Show

As the World Turns has won 43 Daytime Emmys:

2007 "Outstanding Directing Team"
2005 "Outstanding Writing Team"
2005 "Outstanding Achievement in Casting for a Drama Series"
2004 "Outstanding Writing Team"
2003 "Outstanding Drama Series"
2002 "Outstanding Writing Team"
2001 "Outstanding Writing Team"
2001 "Outstanding Drama Series"
1999 "Outstanding Original Song" (Tied with General Hospital)
1993 "Outstanding Directing Team"
1991 "Outstanding Drama Series"
1987 "Outstanding Drama Series"

Individuals

2011 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" Michael Park (Jack Snyder)
2010 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" Michael Park (Jack Snyder)
2010 "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" Maura West (Carly Tenney Snyder)
2010 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Julie Pinson (Janet Ciccone Snyder)
2008 "Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series" Jennifer Landon (Gwen Norbeck Munson)
2007 "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" Maura West (Carly Tenney Snyder)
2007 "Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series" Jennifer Landon (Gwen Norbeck Munson)
2006 "Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series" Jennifer Landon (Gwen Norbeck Munson)
2004 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Cady McClain (Rosanna Cabot)
2004 "Lifetime Achievement Award" Helen Wagner (Nancy Hughes)
2004 "Lifetime Achievement Award" Don Hastings (Bob Hughes)
2004 "Lifetime Achievement Award" Eileen Fulton (Lisa Grimaldi)
2003 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" Benjamin Hendrickson (Hal Munson)
2001 "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" Martha Byrne (Lily Walsh Snyder/Rose D'Angelo)
2001 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Lesli Kay (Molly Conlan)
1990 "Outstanding Juvenile Male in a Drama Series" Andrew Kavovit (Paul Ryan)
1988 "Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series" Julianne Moore (Frannie Hughes/Sabrina Hughes)
1987 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" Larry Bryggman (Dr. John Dixon)
1987 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" Gregg Marx (Tom Hughes)
1987 "Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series" Martha Byrne (Lily Walsh)
1986 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" John Wesley Shipp (Doug Cummings)
1985 "Outstanding Juvenile Male in a Drama Series" Brian Bloom (Dusty Donovan)
1984 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" Larry Bryggman (Dr. John Dixon)
1984 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" Justin Deas (Tom Hughes)

Daytime television firsts

As the World Turns ran for 30 minutes along with The Edge of Night, which premiered the same day.
In 1988, the serial made daytime television history by introducing daytime television's first gay male character, Hank Elliot (played by Brian Starcher). The show made history again, in 2007, when Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer (played by Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann respectively) shared a kiss and formed a relationship, becoming the only gay male couple on daytime television. On January 12, 2009, after a long and tumultuous relationship, Luke and Noah finally consummated their love, giving As the World Turns another daytime first.

It was also the longest running dramatic series created exclusively for television.

Supercouples

Jeff Baker and Penny Hughes
Bob Hughes and Kim Sullivan Hughes
Tom Hughes and Margo Montgomery Hughes
Steve Andropoulos and Betsy Stewart
Holden Snyder and Lily Walsh Snyder
Jack Snyder and Carly Tenney Snyder
Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer

Other awards

In 2010, As the World Turns was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding Daily Drama" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards.

In popular culture

On the TV series Tom & Jerry Kids, while Tom watches Nine Lives to Live, Jerry changes it to As the Cheese Turns.

Eminem released a song called "As the World Turns" on his 1999 album, The Slim Shady LP.

In the 1960s - 70s The Carol Burnett Show featured a recurring sketch called As the Stomach Turns, a parody of As the World Turns and soap operas in general.

In the pulp series The Destroyer #22 "Brain Drain" by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, it was revealed that Chiun is a big fan of the soap opera "As the Planet Revolves" and constantly glued in front of the television to catch the broadcast.

Children's television network Nickelodeon once featured a series of shorts entitled "As Our School Bus Turns", with the (actually unconnected) episodes taking place aboard a school bus. Each episode would end with a stereotypical soap opera cliffhanger.

DVD release

In October 2011, SoapClassics has released a 4 DVD collection of 20 selected episodes, marking the first time that any As the World Turns episodes have been available on any recorded medium. The oldest episode on the collection dates from September 29, 1979, while the latest episode is from April 10, 2010.

In November 2011, a "Christmas in Oakdale" DVD was released, celebrating five Christmas episodes from the show. The featured Christmases are 1985, 1992, 1995, 2000 and 2007.

A "CarJack" collection has also been released, celebrating supercouple Carly and Jack in 10 of their most memorable episodes.

The Holden and Lily Story collection has 10 of their most memorable episodes.

Farewell to Oakdale has the final 10 episodes of the series.

The James Stenbeck Story collection has 10 of his most memorable episodes

The "As the World Turns - The Wedding of Bob and Kim" DVD collection contains 10 episodes which aired April 2â€"15, 1985 that featured the bachelor party, the wedding ceremony, and the reception of Bob Hughes and Kim Sullivan, as played by Don Hastings and Kathryn Hays. This collection is only available online.

References

External links

Official website (archived)
CBS's website for the show (archived)
As the World Turns at TV.com
As the World Turns at the Internet Movie Database
As the World Turns-related interview videos at the Archive of American Television

As the World Turns

Premise

Notable history and accomplishments