The world stops turning today for the people of Oakdale, Illinois, when the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" ends after more than 54 years on the air.
"As the World Turns" debuted on April 2, 1956, and was the highest rated soap for 20 years (1958-1978). The soap was famously interrupted by Walter Cronkite at 1:40 p.m. on November 22, 1963, to announce the shooting of President John F. Kennedy. "As the World Turns" chronicled the dramatic lives of the Snyder, Hughes, Ryan and Montgomery families, but more recently made waves introducing two popular gay characters -- Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer.
"As the World Turns" was the country's second longest-running soap opera. The longest running soap was its sister show, "The Guiding Light," which went off the air last year after 72 years of combined television and radio broadcast. Today's final episode -- the 13,858th one -- was taped on June 23, 2010.
Soap operas are in trouble these days because, just as with primetime programming, reality shows and talk shows are cheaper to produce. And many reality shows play out like soap operas anyway. "As the World Turn's" most recent ratings averaged 2.51 million viewers, making it the least watched soap still on the air.
"As the World Turns" will be replaced by "The Talk," a new talk show with Julie Chen. "The Talk" debuts on October 18.
You can watch the final episode today at 2pm on WRAL.
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