Series Description

The As The World Turns Soap Opera is a daytime drama series on CBS. It was set in the fictional city of Oakdale, Illinois and explored the complicated relationships and life problems of families mostly headed by doctors, lawyers and other professionals.

As The World Turns Cast

Maura West .... Carly Tenney (1995-2010)
Michael Park .... Jack Snyder (1997-2010)
Terri Colombino .... Katie Peretti (1998-2010)
Roger Howarth .... Paul Ryan (2003-2010)
Marie Wilson .... Meg Snyder (2005-2010)
Grayson McCouch .... Dusty Donovan (2003-2010)
Jon Hensley .... Holden Snyder (1985-2010)
Kelley Menighan Hensley .... Emily Stewart (1989-2010)
Trent Dawson .... Henry Coleman (1998-2010)
Jennifer Landon .... Gwen Norbeck Munson (2005-2010)
Jesse Lee Soffer .... Will Munson (2004-2010)
Ellen Dolan .... Margo Montgomery Hughes (1989-2010)
Colleen Zenk Pinter .... Barbara Ryan (1978-2010)
Martha Byrne .... Lily Walsh Snyder (1985-2008)
Don Hastings .... Bob Hughes (1960-2010)
Van Hansis .... Luke Snyder (2005-2010)
Mick Hazen .... Parker Snyder (2006-2010)
Elizabeth Hubbard .... Lucinda Walsh (1984-2010)
Austin Peck .... Brad Snyder (2007-2009)
Alexandra Chando .... Maddie Coleman (2005-2010)
Zach Roerig .... Casey Hughes (2005-2007)
Marnie Schulenburg .... Alison Stewart (2007-2010)
Ewa Da Cruz .... Vienna Hyatt (2006-2010)
Mark Collier .... Mike Kasnoff (2003-2009)
Noelle Beck .... Lily Snyder (2008-2010)
Scott Holmes .... Tom Hughes (1987-2010)
Jennifer Ferrin .... Jennifer Munson (2003-2006)
Julie Pinson .... Janet Snyder (2007-2010)
Jon Lindstrom .... Craig Montgomery (2008-2010)
Jake Silbermann .... Noah Mayer (2007-2010)
Kathryn Hays .... Kim Hughes (1972-2010)
Marie Masters .... Susan Stewart (2003-2010)
Billy Magnussen .... Casey Hughes (2007-2010)
Elena Goode .... Jade Taylor (2006-2007)
Cady McClain .... Rosanna Cabot (2003-2009)
Kathleen Widdoes .... Emma Snyder (1986-2010)
Paolo Seganti .... Damian Grimaldi (1994-2010)
Meredith Hagner .... Liberty Ciccone (2007-2010)
Agim Kaba .... Aaron Snyder (2003-2009)
Kin Shriner .... Keith Morrissey (2004-2006)
Benjamin Hendrickson .... Hal Munson (1986-2006)
Paul Leyden .... Simon Frasier (2004-2010)
Ashley Greiner .... Faith Snyder (2006-2009)
Allie Gorenc .... Sage Snyder (2006-2010)
Dylan Bluestone .... Daniel Hughes #2 (2001-2006)
Eileen Fulton .... Lisa (1960-2010)
Justine Cotsonas .... Sofie Duran (2007-2008)
Scott Bryce .... Craig Montgomery (1982-2008)
Terri Garber .... Iris Dumbrowski (2005-2010)
Jordana Brewster .... Nikki Munson #1 (1995-2001)

Tagline

"As the world turns, we know the bleakness of winter, the promise of spring, the fullness of summer and the harvest of autumn - the cycle of life is complete".

As The World Turns Trivia:

Irna Phillips, the creator of "As the World Turns" also created "The Guiding Light TV show". The Guiding Light radio show aired for 15 years and the series was broadcast on television for another 57 years! That made it the longest running drama series in history!

As the World Turns was considered by critics to be very conservative with script that rarely covered potentially controversial subjects such as marital cheating or other morally decadent activities. The series was, however, the first soap opera in the U.S. to feature a gay man as a character on the show.

Many soaps were conservative in their early years due to the fact that they were often sponsored by companies led by older conservative men or the products that the sponsors sold tended to be purchased by conservative consumers. By the 1960s things loosened up as the sexual revolution came into full swing. Not only were women willing to be subjected to adultery on TV for example, they even loved seeing it if the adulteror paid a big price for his cheating ways! When sponsors saw that their sales actually increased as the storylines got racier, their objections diminished and eventually disappeared almost entirely.

As the World Turns was the #1 rated soap opera from 1958-1978 although it was tied with "Another World" for that distinction two years during the 1970s. At one point the series had a daily audience of ten million viewers!

Another World was originally developed as a "TV spinoff" of As the World Turns. CBS turned the show down though and when NBC decided to air the program CBS wouldn't allow any characters from ATWT to appear on the new series so it does not technically qualify as a spinoff series.

Until the premiere of As the World Turns and "The Edge of Night" who both aired their first episodes on April 2, 1956, all soap operas had been fifteen minute broadcasts. The two new soaps ran for thirty minutes from their first episodes and most soaps followed their lead soon thereafter. The lengthier broadcasts were important as they allowed for scripts that centered around several characters instead of just one main character. This allowed the interpersonal relationships on the shows to become much more complex. In a further move towards complexity, As the World Turns was the first CBS soap to expand to one hour in length on December 1, 1975. In this case it only got third place among all soaps on television because "Another World" went to one hour first and "Days of Our Lives" was second.

The first CBS soap opera to expand to one hour (1 December 1975) and the third soap opera to expand to one hour in television history. The first was "Another World" (1964) and the second was "Days of Our Lives" (1965). As the World Turns began broadcasting in color on August 21, 1967.

The final episode of As the World Turns aired on September 17, 2010. It was the 13,858th episode produced! As of that date, General Hospital inherited the title as the longest running soap opera on U.S. television and the British series "Coronation Street" became the longest running soap on TV worldwide.