“As The World Turns” Cancelled

By Amanda Pendolino on December 8th, 2009

as-the-world-1 Looks like the world will stop turning for one classic soap opera. According to Variety, CBS has canceled the show after more than half a century on the air. CBS says the final episode will air next September.

This isn’t the first soap to bite the dust, however. Daytime dramas have been in a long-term ratings decline, and CBS canceled another long-running soap opera, Guiding Light, earlier this year.

Still, soaps have been a stepping stone for many actors. Throughout As the World Turns’ 54 seasons (54!), actors and actresses such as Marisa Tomei, Meg Ryan, Parker Posey and James Earl Jones have all appeared at one point or another.

The cancellation will leave CBS with only two daytime dramas: The Young and the Restless and Bold and Beautiful. Do any of you ever watch soaps? Is it just a generational thing? Or maybe it’s that so fewer women find themselves home during the day than 50 years ago? We do have the option of DVRing daytime shows — but does anyone do that with soaps? Or would you rather catch episodes on cable network SoapNet? Some networks also offer full episodes online.

The only soap I ever got into was ABC’s All My Children, which launched Kelly Ripa and even Sarah Michelle Gellar. Production of that show and One Life to Live moved from NY to LA this past summer as part of a cost-cutting measure that also allowed the shows to begin broadcasting in HD.