The Brighter Day
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The Brighter Day was a soap opera which aired on CBS-TV from January 4, 1954 to September 28, 1962. It ran, at times, simultaneously on the NBC radio network; the NBC radio run was from 1948 to 1956. The radio and television versions were created by Irna Phillips.
The first and only soap opera to air on network television with an explicitly religious theme, the show revolved around Reverend Richard Dennis and his four children, Althea, Patsy, Babby, and Grayling. (Originally, in the radio version, there were five children, the oldest daughter, Liz, had married and left the family as the show began on television.)
Another soap opera, The Guiding Light, initially had a religious theme as a radio show but had dropped it by the time it moved to television. Like The Brighter Day, that particular serial was also created by Irna Phillips.
Originally set in the town of Three Rivers in the radio version, the television show started out in New Hope, Pennsylvania. On the radio version in late 1953, the Dennis family was forced to move to New Hope as a result of a flood washing out the town of Three Rivers. Later in the show's run, the Dennis family moved to Columbus, which was established as a college town.
The Brighter Day had a traditionally low Nielsen ratings count. For most of the 1950s, it was among the lower-rated soaps, and as the show entered the 1960s, it usually ranked last. In the summer of 1961, the show wished to save money by going to a cheaper locale to tape; as a result, the sets and production moved from New York City to Los Angeles. This ended up harming the soap more than not, as key characters were dropped abruptly from the storyline when the actors did not wish to relocate. In early 1962, the show moved from its traditional late-afternoon timeslot to late morning, and the ratings took even more of a dip.
In the summer of 1962, the show made history by making the first contract role on daytime for an African American. The actor, Rex Ingram, did not make much of an impact as the show was cancelled one month after his debut.
Among the actors who appeared on The Brighter Day, the most famous alumni are Hal Holbrook and Patty Duke.
