oakdale

First Guiding Light and now this: CBS confirmed this morning that they are canceling another long-running soap opera. Don't worry Young & The Restless fans (for now), the show that is going away is As The World Turns.

The show has been on the air for 54 years. The last episode will air in September.

This is actually really depressing. Soap operas (daytime soap operas, not prime time shows like Melrose Place) are a great dramatic format and deserve a place on the television landscape.

Unfortunately, it looks like the networks are moving further and further away from them, looking for cheaper alternatives. It's weird to think about, but now the only soaps that are left are Y&R, The Bold and the Beautiful, All My Children, General Hospital, One Life To Live, and Day Of Our Lives. And I bet none of those are safe (especially the ones on CBS).

Did you see Mad Men recently? As part of Harry's creating a TV division at the Sterling Cooper ad agency, he was made responsible for screening scripts of TV fare so that the content pleased/satisfied/supported the advertisers' desires. Interestingly, it was Joan -- the office manager/head secretary -- who was given the scripts to read and her main focus of As the World Turns.

She became completely engrossed in the 1962 Oakdale story in which a character came to from a coma with a new personality. Her enthusiasm for the soap story convinced the advertisers to back As the World Turns rather than Love of Life, another CBS soap at the time.

Mad Men was historically accurate about As the World Turns. It was the top-rated soap opera for 20 years -- 1958-1978 -- and in 1962 (the year in which Mad Men is currently set), ATWT had increased its share from 47.7 to 53.7 in just a year. It was the soap on the rise and over half all TVs on in daytime were watching this CBS soap.

Wow, this is an impressive achievement, any way you slice it. Helen Wagner has played the same character on the same show for a half century!

Wagner has played the character of Nancy Hughes on As The World Turns since this show's debut on April 2, 1956. She is now 87 years old. Just think of all the TV shows where an actor might play the role for a year or three or five or ten. Take that, David Caruso!

Wagner uttered the very first line in As The World Turns: "Good morning, dear. What would you like for breakfast?" (His answer: "Your head on a plate, you selfish bitch!" I'm kidding, I'm kidding.) She is also the actress in that famous ATWT scene that was interrupted by Walter Cronkite breaking in to the soap and telling the world that JFK had been shot (they did the show live back then).

Congrats, Helen.