As the World Turns 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 Guiding Light. With 13,763 hours of cumulative narrative, As the World Turns has the longest total running time of any television show. In terms of continuous run of production, As the World Turns at 54 years holds the fourth-longest run of any daytime network soap opera on American television, surpassed only by General Hospital, Guiding Light, and Days of Our Lives. As the World Turns was produced for its first 43 years in Manhattan and in Brooklyn from 2000 until 2010.
The original core family, the Hugheses, in the 1980s: Clockwise from top left: Kim Sullivan Hughes (Kathryn Hays), Bob Hughes (Don Hastings), Tom Hughes (Gregg Marx), Margo Montgomery Hughes (Hillary Bailey Smith), Andy Dixon (Scott DeFreitas), Frannie Hughes (Julianne Moore) Center: Chris Hughes (Don MacLaughlin) and Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner)
The initial CBS News bulletin which interrupted As the World Turns at 1:40 pm (EST), as Nancy (Helen Wagner) talks with Grandpa (Santos Ortega)
A soap opera, daytime drama, or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns.
Publicity photo of Rosemary Prinz as Penny Hughes from As the World Turns
A scene from EastEnders on Christmas Day 1986, watched by 30.15 million viewers. The story, in which Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) served his wife Angie (Anita Dobson) with divorce papers, was the highest-rated soap episode in British history, and the highest-rated program in the UK during the 1980s. Only the 1966 World Cup Final and the funeral of Princess Diana rank higher in the all time ratings.
Leah Thys, actress in the Belgian soap Thuis. At the back Peter Rouffaer is visible.