A World Apart (TV series)

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This article is about A World Apart, the short-lived soap opera. For other titles with this name, see A World Apart.

A World Apart was a daytime drama which ran from March 30, 1970 - June 25, 1971 on the ABC network.

The initial stories were written by Katherine Phillips, adopted daughter of soap legend Irna Phillips (Irna allegedly quit her headwriting job at CBS' As the World Turns to help her daughter at the rival network). Soap writer Betty Kahlman (played by Elizabeth Lawrence, then Augusta Dabney) raised her adopted children without a husband, elements similar to Irna's own life. Betty then married Russell Barry (William Prince) and the early focus was on generational conflicts between a newly married middle-aged couple and their confused children. People tried to understand each other but were ultimately "a world apart", echoing the title. Eventually the soap-within-a-soap element was scaled back (and Katherine Phillips was replaced by Richard Holland and Suzanne Holland) and Betty and Russell settled into a tranquil marriage.

Other storylines centered around the Sims family, who were mired in less turmoil than the Kahlmans but still had their problems, as Dr. Ed Sims (James Noble) and his extremely conservative wife Adrian (Kathleen Maguire) struggled with their rebellious daughter Becky (Erin Connor).

The series ran Monday-Friday at 12:30 p.m. EST, opposite the then-very popular Search for Tomorrow. ABC canceled the show after a little over a year, wrapping up with a moving episode where Patrice Kahlman finally made peace with giving her newborn son up for adoption (among the few, if not only, episodes of this show known to survive).

Many future film and television stars appeared during the brief run, including Susan Sarandon (Patrice), Clifton Davis (Matt Hampton), Susan Sullivan (Nancy Condon), Dorothy Lyman (as Julie Stark, a wild flower child), and David Birney (Oliver Harrell).

Augusta Dabney and William Prince had a long and happy real-life marriage, and had played husband-and-wife on Young Doctor Malone several decades prior.

Creator/headwriter Kathryn Phillips was later replaced by the headwriting couple of Richard and Suzanne Holland.