{alltv} 'As the World Turns,' one of TV's legendary soap operas, ends its 54-year run

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First, CBS extinguished the "Light." Now, a year later, the network is bringing the "World" to an end. Sound like apocalyptic tidings? They certainly are for the languishing daytime soap opera, which is about to lose another of its illustrious representatives, "As the World Turns." CBS dumped "Guiding Light" last September. That closed the book on a record run of 72 years, beginning on radio in 1937 and jumping to television in 1952.

"As the World Turns" will stop spinning with the episode airing at 2 p.m. Friday on WOIO Channel 19. In many ways, this is the bigger loss. "As the World Turns" started a 20-year reign as daytime's top-rated serial in 1958, and that was a time when soap operas were incredibly popular and profitable.

"Even though 'Guiding Light' was older, this unquestionably was the big one," said Michael Logan, the resident soap-opera expert at TV Guide. "More than any another soap opera, this is the one that entered the nation's consciousness in an iconic way."

This is the one that was famously spoofed on "The Carol Burnett Show" with skits called "As the Stomach Turns" (a parody suggested by "As the World Turns" star Eileen Fulton). This is the one that set the standard for all soap operas.

"It was the show that invented so much of the soap form -- the pregnant pauses, sitting around having coffee while talking about your problems, the big dramatic freeze before a commercial," Logan said. "Even people who didn't know anything about soap operas knew this title. And if you didn't watch it, this seems to be the one your mom or your grandmother watched. "

"The Young and the Restless" has been TV's No. 1 soap for 22 seasons, but its viewership is an anemic fraction of what "As the World Turns" was pulling in its heyday. At its peak, and that peak was the 1963-64 season, "As the World Turns" posted a dizzying 15.4 rating (percentage of all TV homes). Last season, "The Young and the Restless" was tops with just a 3.7 rating.

And, friends, a 15.4 rating is higher than the one that took "Friends" to No. 1 in the prime-time ranks for the 2001-02 season. It's comparable to the rating that made "American Idol" the most-watched prime-time show of the 2009-10 season.

"No question, this was the big hit," said author and TV historian Robert J. Thompson, a professor of communications at Syracuse University. "This was the soap opera. It was the gold standard."

Like "Guiding Light," "As the World Turns" was created for CBS by "the mother of soap operas," Irna Phillips. The opening words, "Good morning, dear," were spoken on April 2, 1956, by Helen Wagner.

A beloved symbol of the show's durability, Wagner, despite failing health, continued to appear on "As the World Turns" until shortly before her death on May 1. She was 91.

Wagner's character, Nancy Hughes, was on-screen when, at 1:40 p.m. on Nov. 22, 1963, the soap opera was interrupted by CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite: "Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."

"This was the top season for 'As the World Turns,' " Thompson said. "It has been suggested that one of the reasons word of the assassination spread so quickly was that Cronkite broke into 'As the World Turns.' Millions of housewives were immediately calling their husbands to tell them what was happening."

By 1963, Eileen Fulton's scheming Lisa had become one of the most talked-about characters on daytime television. She was credited with keeping Lisa a top-10 name for baby girls from 1963 to 1976.

Fulton joined the show in May 1960. Don Hasting was introduced to viewers as Nancy's youngest son, Bob Hughes, five months later. Both remain central players on "As the World Turns."

"There is so much history built up with these characters that I expect the ending will be extremely touching," Logan said. "I think there will be some highly emotional resolutions for fans. They'll be tying bows on the package in some cases, but they'll also be leaving behind some good question marks so these characters will live on in the minds of the fans."

The cancellation of "As the World Turns" leaves the networks with only six daytime soap operas. There were 19 of them during the 1969-70 season. ABC's "General Hospital," which premiered in 1963, will take over as the longest-running serial.

"The loss of these two epic soap operas is a devastating one-two punch to the soap-opera form," Logan said. "But the difference is that when 'Guiding Light' went out, the patient was brain-dead by the time they pulled the plug. 'As the World Turns' still is firing on all cylinders.

"They made the decision to go out with all guns blazing. They're really cooking, and they didn't give up when it was canceled. CBS is killing a very different type of show here, and that makes this loss all the more poignant."

What has been killing the daytime soap opera? Thompson cites four lethal factors.

"First, serialization now is done all over the place, and it's done better on cable dramas," he said. "Second, the reality show has given younger viewers a quicker dose of cliffhanger storytelling. Third, soaps are just too expensive, when it's so much cheaper just to schedule another judge show or another game show. Fourth, and most important, the demographic that the soap opera was invented for -- women at home -- doesn't exist anymore."

Still, Logan believes this will be the last major loss for a while: "There now is some stability with the remaining six. The future is far from rosy, but the killing spree seems to be over."

Both Logan and Thompson also see some hope for the form being kept alive on the Internet, where dozens of scaled-down serials have appeared.

"The daytime form really is amenable to online serialization," Thompson said. "They'll be shorter and have lower budgets, but it could work and should work online."

But Thompson also believes this is a time to celebrate, not mourn, the daytime soap opera.

"The soap opera is the one form that did what television is uniquely qualified to do, and that is to tell stories that go on forever," Thompson said. "The soap opera, and none more than 'As the World Turns,' showed the power of developing stories and characters, not just over hours and weeks, but decades and generations."

And almost all of the acclaimed shows of the last 15 years, from "Sex and the City" and "The Shield" to "The Sopranos" and "Mad Men," have used serialized storytelling.

"They owe their aesthetic quality to the soaps," Thompson said.

Logan couldn't agree more: "Serialization has become our chosen storytelling form, and we owe that to the soap opera. So really, when you look across the TV landscape, it really is the ultimate success story."