| As the World Turns | |
|---|---|
Title screen, 2009–2010 |
|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Created by | Irna Phillips |
| Written by | Jean Passanante (2001–2010) Leah Laiman (1999–2010) |
| Starring | Series cast |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 13,858 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Ted Corday (1956–1965) Mary Harris (1965–1971) Fred Bartholomew (1971–1973, 1980–1981) Joe Willmore (1973–1978) Joe Rothenberger (1978–1980) Mary-Ellis Bunim (1981–1984) Robert Calhoun (1984–1988) Laurence Caso (1988–1995) John Valente (1995–1996) Felicia Minei Behr (1996–1999) Christopher Goutman (1999–2010) |
| Running time | 30 minutes (1956–1975) 60 minutes (1975–2010) |
| Distributor | Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc. (1986–2008) TeleNext Media, Inc. for P&G Prods. (2008–2010) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | April 2, 1956 – September 17, 2010 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
As the World Turns (often referred to as ATWT) is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light. Running for 54 years, ATWT holds the second-longest continuous run of any daytime network soap opera in American history, surpassed only by Guiding Light. As the World Turns is notable for having been produced in New York City[1] for all of its time on television (its first 43 years in Manhattan and in Brooklyn from 2000 until 2010).
Set in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois, the show debuted on April 2, 1956,[2] at 1:30 pm EST. Prior to that date, all serials had been fifteen minutes in length. As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, which premiered on the same day at 4:30 pm EST, were the first two to be thirty minutes in length from their premiere.[3] At first, viewers did not respond to the new half-hour serial, but ratings picked up in its second year, eventually reaching the top spot in the daytime Nielsen ratings by fall 1958. In 1959, the show started a streak of weekly ratings wins that would not be interrupted for over twelve years. The show switched to color on August 21, 1967, and expanded from a half-hour in length to one hour starting on December 1, 1975 when The Edge of Night moved to ABC. In the year-to-date ratings, As the World Turns was the most-watched daytime drama from 1958 until 1978, with ten million viewers tuning in each day. At its height, core actors such as Helen Wagner, Don MacLaughlin, Don Hastings, and Eileen Fulton became nationally known.
The show passed its 10,000th episode on May 12, 1995, and celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 2, 2006. On September 18, 2009, As the World Turns became the last remaining Procter and Gamble produced soap opera on television after Guiding Light aired its final episode.
On December 8, 2009, CBS announced that it canceled As the World Turns because of low ratings.[4][5] The show taped its final scenes on June 23, 2010, and with a sad dramatic storyline finale, its final episode aired on September 17, 2010. On October 18, 2010, CBS replaced As the World Turns with The Talk.
As the World Turns was the creation of Irna Phillips who, beginning in the 1930s, had been one of the foremost creators and writers of radio soap operas. As a writer, Phillips favored character development and psychological realism over melodrama,[6] and her previous creations (which included Guiding Light) were especially notable for placing professionals – doctors, lawyers, and clergy people – at the center of their storylines. Phillips wrote: "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."[7]
And so it was with As the World Turns, with its slow-moving psychological character studies of families headed by legal and medical professionals. The personal and professional lives of doctors and lawyers would remain central to As the World Turns throughout its run, and would eventually become standard fare on all soap operas. Whereas the 15-minute radio soaps often focused on one central, heroic character (for example, Dr. Jim Brent in Phillips' Road of Life), the expanded 30-minute format of As the World Turns enabled Phillips to introduce a handful of professionals within the framework of a family saga.
One of Phillips' innovations was to introduce a sort of Greek chorus to the stories. The primary purpose of characters such as Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner) was to comment on the crises faced and decisions made by the town's more dynamic residents. This technique contributed to the popularity of the show and continues to be widely used in other soap operas.
Phillips' style favored gradual evolution over radical change. Slow, conversational, and emotionally intense, the show moved at the pace of life itself – and sometimes even more slowly than that. Each new addition to the cast was done in a gradual manner, and was usually a key contact to one of the members of the Hughes family. As such, the show earned a reputation as being quite conservative (though the show did showcase a gay male character in 1988).[8] During the show's early decades, the content-related policies of its sponsor Procter & Gamble Productions may have contributed to the perception of conservatism. The soap-manufacturing giant typically balked at storylines in which adultery and other immoral behavior would go unpunished, and as late as the 1980s characters from the primary families were still generally not allowed to go through with abortions.
As the World Turns premiered on April 2, 1956.[9] It was the first television daytime drama with a 30-minute running time; all daytime dramas until then had had 15-minute running times.[10]
The series was also CBS' first to expand to a 60-minute running time, doing so in 1975.[10] By 1958, the program was the number one daytime drama in the United States, where it remained until 1978.[11][12] As the World Turns won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series four times, in 1987, 1991, 2001, and 2003.
The show changed opening title sequences from the original format several times:
From its premiere on April 2, 1956, the show's announcer was Dan McCullough.
The show had the same theme song (an organ-piano tune for the opening theme, and an organ-piano-celesta tune for the long closing theme, which transitioned into pre-recorded versions in December 1973, composed by Charles Paul), and opening visual (a globe spinning in space) for 25 years.
During the black and white years, the globe was in the distance and to the right of the camera. As the theme played, the camera zoomed in until the globe was centered. The title card faded up and Dan McCullough announced. For the midbreaks and closing, the globe was on center.
Color brought some minor changes. The globe was now always on center. The title zoomed out from the middle of the globe. The organ version of the main theme was used over the color visual until early December 1973, when the theme became orchestrated.
Prior to 1973, Charles Paul played a celeste composition called "Simple Melody" over the midbreak plugs. During 1973, organ music was dropped from the body of the show, in favour of electric piano only. However, it was not until early December 1973 that the orchestrated opening and closing themes replaced the live organ versions.
The sponsor tags from the show's premiere until the opening sequence was changed in 1981 were hand drawn pictures of the product, or the name of the product, superimposed over the globe. On a 1965 closing sequence, the sponsor tag was an actual photo card of the product.
On November 2, 1981, a new synthesized theme song was introduced, with computer-enhanced visuals. The globe was relegated to an O in the word WORLD, with three beams of light reflecting separate ways. The globe was on the center of the screen for the closing sequences.
In February 1982, McCullough was replaced as announcer, by Dan Region.
On February 3, 1993, the theme song and opening visual was changed again. Barry DeVorzon, who also composed the theme song of The Young and the Restless, provided the theme song.
The credits were done by computer specialist group Castle/Bryant/Johnsen.
In the visuals, the letters of the title slowly passed by, with the seasons illustrated inside the letters. When the visual reached the O in WORLD, a spinning globe fell into its place and the whole title was zoomed out of focus, to be seen by the audience.
For a brief period, the globe was used to promote the viewer feedback line. Beauty shots were then used for the credit crawl. A credit crawl was run almost daily, either short or full crawl. This was the last title sequence to use traditional closing credits.
The show changed its music and opening again on November 1, 1999. For the first time, cast shots (both solo and group) were seen, accompanied by music. (ATWT had been one of the last soaps to incorporate cast shots into their openings.)
The globe was now made up of clips from throughout the show's history.
The closing credits were never seen on the air on CBS, but they were seen in rebroadcasts on SoapCity.com.
The visual returned to seeing a spinning globe (the computerized globe of clips from the opening) in space with the credits scrolling, ending with the title.
For the first time in the series history, ATWT had no official announcer or show announcements, although a station announcer would announce the sponsor tags on days where the show was sponsored. Cast members also made special announcements.
A new sequence, featuring clips of the cast, and a more "mellow" music selection, debuted on July 8, 2002.
The backdrop for the actor clips was gold, changed to sky blue in November 2003. The music from 2002 remained intact. Several shorter versions of this intro were used, rotating from day to day, and each featuring different members of the cast. There are two versions of closing credits. The globe fades off as the credits run. There is no closing title card, as the background fades up and the crawl runs. The closing logo is the 1993 version, now in white. In September 2006, a temporary intro was introduced to mark the "Ice Storm" theme of the next few shows.[13]
A new opening sequence premiered on April 30, 2007. It featured a dramatic, piano-based score, accompanied by shots of the main characters (usually in pairs with their storyline counterparts), and composite images of the characters' histories superimposed over their shots against a gold background.
The logo that had been used since 1999 was replaced with one which kept the globe in place of the "O" in "WORLD", but the logo typeface was changed and "AS THE" in the title aligned to the right instead of the center.
A few months later, ATWT debuted another opening, including only the title forming over a black background playing over the previous scene's music, minus the cast montage. The closing credits also start rolling at fade up.
On June 22, 2009, the show debuted yet another new sequence, with a spinning globe and one full line of text entering from the right side of the screen to the middle in front of the globe. In the background is a faded version of the show title in larger letters.
This new title sequence has a stark resemblance to the original title sequence from 1956 with a modern flair.
Production ended on June 23, 2010 in their Brooklyn, New York studios, with the final episode airing on September 17 of that year.[14]
Barneys of New York frequently provided menswear. The announcer would almost daily plug Barney's during the closing, in addition to other providers. During the Dan Region era, preemptions due to special programming (holidays, early-round NCAA Tournament games, US Open tennis coverage, etc.) were announced over the final logo or during the credit crawl. This practice is shown on the many surviving episodes of the era.
With the immortal words "Good morning, dear," actress Helen Wagner (Nancy Hughes) opened As the World Turns on April 2, 1956.[15]
Wagner is acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records for holding the world record for the longest amount of time appearing as the same character,[16] playing the role of Nancy Hughes since the show went on the air on April 2, 1956, though she has not played the role without interruption. Wagner was temporarily dropped from the series after the first six months due to conflicts with creator Irna Phillips. Wagner also left the series in 1981, when she felt that writers were not interested in the veteran players. She returned as a regular contract player in 1985 after Douglas Marland became headwriter.
On the episode broadcast on Monday, August 30, 2010, it was revealed that Nancy had died in her sleep; the next day's episode dealt with Nancy's memorial service. Nancy Hughes's memorial aired just two weeks before the series finale. The show's producers stated in interviews that they had to revise their plans for the final episode because of Wagner's death - they had hoped that Wagner would say the final lines of the last episode just as she had said the first words of the first episode (presumably "Good night, dear.").
There have been several crossovers between As the World Turns and other soaps:
Since 2005, a number of characters have crossed back and forth between As the World Turns and The Young and the Restless:
The irony in his appearance in the above-mentioned episodes, is that twenty-years before, LeBlanc left the role of Kirk McColl, the youngest son of Lisa's fifth husband, Whit McColl (Played by Wagon Train star Robert Horton, who was killed-off shortly before Fulton's return to the show). So, to many long-time fans of both As The World Turns and The Young and the Restless, it was weird seeing LeBlanc as the character from the latter show. History was also made during LeBlanc's appearance on ATWT, since both shows are made by different production companies (Bell Productions for Y&R; Procter and Gamble for ATWT), although they are on the same network.
On November 22, 1963, the live CBS broadcast of As The World Turns began as always at 1:30 EST. In this episode, the Hughes family were discussing plans for Thanksgiving. Ten minutes later, a "CBS News Bulletin" slide suddenly came up on the screen and Walter Cronkite gave the first report of the assassination.[17]
| “ | Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting. More details just arrived. These details about the same as previously: President Kennedy shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy, she called 'Oh no!', the motorcade sped on. United Press says that the wounds for President Kennedy perhaps could be fatal. Repeating, a bulletin from CBS News, President Kennedy has been shot by a would-be assassin in Dallas, Texas. Stay tuned to CBS News for further details.[17] | ” |
At the end of this bulletin, CBS rejoined ATWT, which was still in progress, as the cast, performing the episode live, was not yet aware of the rapidly developing situation.[17]
As NBC and ABC, the other two major U.S. TV networks, were not programming at the time (the 1:30–2:00 ET period belonging to their local affiliates), As The World Turns has the distinction of being the last regular U.S. network program broadcast for the next four days as the assassination of JFK and the transition of power to President Lyndon B. Johnson took center stage.
As The World Turns enjoyed a virtually uninterrupted reign as the highest-rated soap from 1958 to 1978,[11] tying for first place with NBC Daytime's Another World (1973–1974, 1977–1978) and Days of our Lives (1973–1974). By the mid-1960s, it was so firmly entrenched that its strongest competition, Let's Make a Deal, despite developing a devoted fan base in its own right and becoming one of daytime's most popular game shows, could not come close to matching it in the Nielsens.
Its strength was such that ABC ran hour-long drama reruns in the 1–2 p.m. (noon-1 Central) slot in the mid-1960s and NBC, after losing Deal to ABC in 1968, ran a total of eight shows, all short-lived (with the exception of Three on a Match, which lasted three years), against ATWT and Deal from that point until 1975.
As that year began Another World was expanded to sixty minutes, with their first hour long episode airing on January 6, 1975. Although this did not directly affect ATWT, as the two shows were not in competition for anything other than the overall ratings win, CBS' afternoon lineup suffered some ratings damage as the popular soap put a dent in the ratings of both of CBS' popular afternoon game shows, The Price Is Right and Match Game. NBC, pleased by the success that the expansion of Another World has brought to the network, elected to do the same thing with Days of Our Lives beginning on April 21, 1975; this put Days and ATWT in direct competition for ratings. Incidentally, the expansions were occurring seven years after the last two fifteen minute serials, Search for Tomorrow and Guiding Light, expanded to thirty minutes.
CBS decided that they too needed to expand at least one of their daytime series. Since ATWT was still the front-runner in the ratings battle, it was chosen as one of the series; the other was The Price Is Right, which at the time was part of CBS' afternoon schedule. ATWT and The Price Is Right were due to expand in September 1975, and the latter was moved back to the morning in order to facilitate that. While TPIR's expansion was initially only intended to be an experiment, ATWT's was to be permanent and required the cancellation of one of CBS' half-hour serials in order for that to happen. CBS found that series in The Edge of Night, which at the time was the network's lowest rated program; although it was once a solid performer in the ratings, Edge had been moved at Procter & Gamble's insistence from its 3:30 p.m. timeslot to the 2:30 p.m. slot following Guiding Light in 1972 and as a result lost a large portion of its audience which was composed largely of teenagers, men, and young adults. In order for the expansion to take place, Edge would have to be canceled- the rest of CBS' soap opera lineup was performing well in the ratings and the network did not have a spare timeslot to put it in that would not risk preemption. CBS announced that it would not renew Edge when its contract was up, but the serial was saved when ABC offered to take it.
However, a problem arose that would have caused a major issue had CBS elected to go ahead with a September expansion of ATWT. The network had a contract with P&G to air Edge until December 1975 and the expansion would have resulted in an immediate cancellation. This meant that no new episodes of Edge would air for three months, and ABC was not interested in taking on the serial if that was to be the case. This required an arrangement to be made between the networks and production company- ATWT would delay its expansion while Edge would continue to air on CBS, and the series would move to ABC once the network was able to free a timeslot for it. In November 1975, ABC announced the cancellation of the game show You Don't Say!, which had been airing in the network's 4 p.m. timeslot. The final episode was scheduled to air on November 28, 1975, after which Edge would be free to leave CBS and ATWT would be free to expand to sixty minutes.
The first hour-long episode of ATWT aired on December 1, 1975 (the same day that The Price Is Right marked its permanent expansion to an hour). With the expansion the serial was not only up against Let's Make a Deal, which by this point in time had been struggling in the ratings for some time, but also against The $10,000 Pyramid, which at the time was the third-highest rated game show in daytime. In the first half hour, ATWT performed well enough against the fading Deal that it moved to Noon within four weeks and also beat its replacement, Rhyme and Reason. The second half hour, however, saw ATWT not perform as well when taking on The $10,000 Pyramid, which had also performed well against Guiding Light in the 2 p.m. slot. Although the expansion was not a complete success, at the end of the season the serial was again at the top of the daytime Nielsens despite a 1.4 point drop from the year before.
Although the eventual hit game Family Feud ran against ATWT from July 12, 1976 until April 22, 1977, it did not become a hit for ABC until its move to the mornings. It was only when ABC made its first move to a one-hour soap with All My Children that trouble really began for ATWT (and also Days), since ABC kept that serial's starting time at 1/noon, meaning that fans of that serial who tuned to NBC or CBS would miss the last half of that day's storyline (or, contrariwise, would not, if they watched until the mid-program commercial break and then changed channels, pick up the ATWT or Days activities from the episode's beginning, since ABC strategically placed its break several minutes after the bottom of the hour). Further, AMC's emphasis on youth-oriented, sexier story lines provided a sharp contrast to the domestic, almost quaint tone of ATWT (and, to a lesser degree, the melodramatic, somewhat topical Days). On January 16, 1978, ABC ballooned its decade-old One Life to Live to the 2/1 starting time, compounding the other networks' headaches. These factors helped contribute to the fall of ATWT from the top spot in the ratings at the end of the 1978-79 season. After finishing the previous season tied with Another World for #1 in the Nielsens, ATWT fell to fourth behind AMC, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless.
On February 4, 1980, CBS moved and expanded The Young and the Restless to a full hour after the cancellation of the long running soap Love of Life. Y&R moved from Noon/11am to 1pm/Noon (the former affiliate break timeslot) and ATWT was bumped up to 2pm/1pm and Guiding Light to 3pm/2pm. CBS was not satisfied with this schedule against ABC and NBC and it lasted just a little over a year. On June 8, 1981, ATWT returned to its longtime 1:30/12:30pm start time with Search for Tomorrow following at 2:30/1:30pm and Y&R leading off the soap lineup at either Noon/11am or 12:30/11:30am (depending on affiliate preference).
ATWT remained at 1:30/12:30pm until March 20, 1987, when CBS scrapped the five-year-old Capitol in favor of The Bold and the Beautiful. Believing that B&B would do better running in tandem with Y&R (especially on Eastern Time Zone affiliates), CBS scheduled it at 1:30/12:30, and finally settled ATWT at 2/1, where it remained until its final episode in September 2010. Although facing the full length of AW and OLTL once again, the Douglas Marland era of 1985 from 1993 saw a resurgence in ratings, and by 1991 it was back in its once habitual top-four placing. ATWT would survive NBC's cancellation of its sister AW in 1999 in favor of Passions, which itself was canceled in September 2007.
One example of the drastic change in daytime television can be found in the following:
| Rank/Serial | Household Rating | (Time Slot) Network |
|---|---|---|
| 1. General Hospital | 16.0 | (3-4pm) ABC |
| 2. All My Children | 10.2 | (1-2pm) ABC |
| 3. One Life to Live | 10.2 | (2-3pm) ABC |
| 4. Guiding Light | 7.5 | (3-4pm) CBS |
| 5. The Young and the Restless | 7.0 | (12:30–1:30pm) CBS |
1995 ratings
| Rank/Serial | Millions Of Viewers |
|---|---|
| 1. The Young and the Restless | 7.2 |
| 2. All My Children | 5.891 |
| 3. General Hospital | 5.343 |
| 4. The Bold and the Beautiful | 5.247 |
| 5. One Life to Live | 5.152 |
As the World Turns spent a record breaking 20 years on top of the Nielsen ratings for American daytime soap operas. They would retain this record until The Young and the Restless broke it in 2008 when it remained #1 for 21 years and counting.
| Year(s) | Household Rating |
|---|---|
| 1958–1959 | 9.8 |
| 1959–1960 | 9.9 |
| 1960–1961 | 10.4 |
| 1961–1962 | 11.9 |
| 1962–1963 | 13.7 |
| 1963–1964 | 15.4 |
| 1964–1965 | 14.5 |
| 1965–1966 | 13.9 |
| 1966–1967 | 12.7 |
| 1967–1968 | 13.6 |
| 1968–1969 | 13.8 |
| 1969–1970 | 13.6 |
| 1970–1971 | 12.4 |
| 1971–1972 | 11.1 |
| 1972–1973 | 10.6 |
| 1973–1974 | 9.7 (Tied with Days of our Lives and Another World) |
| 1974–1975 | 10.8 |
| 1975–1976 | 9.4 |
| 1976–1977 | 9.9 |
| 1977–1978 | 8.6 (Tied with Another World) |
Record Low: 1,773,000 viewers on December 25, 2009. (Nielsen Media Research)
|
1956-1957 season
1957-1958 season
1978-1979 season
1979-1980 season
1980-1981 season
1981-1982 season
1982-1983 season
1983-1984 season
1984-1985 season
1985-1986 season
1986-1987 season
1987-1988 season
1988-1989 season
1989-1990 season
1990-1991 season
1991-1992 season
1992-1993 season
|
1993-1994 season
1994-1995 season
1995-1996 season
1996-1997 season
1997-1998 season
1998-1999 season
1999-2000 season
2000-2001 season
2001-2002 season
2002-2003 season
2003-2004 season
2004-2005 season
2005-2006 season
2006-2007 season
2007-2008 season
2008-2009 season
2009-2010 season
|
CBS:
| Duration | Name |
|---|---|
| 1956–1965 | Ted Corday |
| 1965–1971 | Mary Harris |
| 1971–1973 | Fred Bartholomew |
| 1973–1978 | Joe Willmore |
| 1978–1980 | Joe Rothenberger |
| 1980 – fall 1981 | Fred Bartholomew |
| Fall 1981 – October 1984 | Mary-Ellis Bunim |
| October 1984 – October 1988 | Robert Calhoun |
| October 1988 – May 1995 | Laurence Caso |
| May 1995 – November 8, 1996 | John Valente |
| November 11, 1996 – June 4, 1999 | Felicia Minei Behr |
| June 7, 1999 – June 23, 2010 | Christopher Goutman |
| Duration | Name |
|---|---|
| 1956–1965 | Irna Phillips |
| 1965–1966 | Irna Phillips and William J. Bell |
| 1966–1970 | Katherine Babecki |
| 1970 | Joe Kane and Ralph Ellis |
| 1970 | Winnifred Wolfe |
| 1970 | Katherine L. Phillips |
| 1971 | Winnifred Wolfe and Warren Swanson |
| 1971 | Warren Swanson, Elizabeth Tillman, and John Boruff |
| 1971–1973 | David Lesan and Irna Phillips |
| 1973–1978 | Robert Soderberg and Edith Sommer |
| 1979 | Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt |
| Late 1979 | Douglas Marland (13 weeks, before moving to Guiding Light) |
| Late 1979–1981 | Bridget and Jerome Dobson |
| 1981 | Paul Roberts |
| 1981 | Tom King |
| 1981 | K.C. Collier |
| 1981 | Jean Rouverol, Chuck & Patti Dizenzo, David Cherill, and Tom King |
| 1982–1983 | Bridget and Jerome Dobson |
| 1983 | Caroline Franz and John Saffron |
| Mid 1983–1984 | John Saffron |
| 1984 – November 1984 | Tom King and Millee Taggart |
| November 1984 – April 1985 | Cynthia Benjamin and Susan Bedsow Horgan |
| April 1985 – November 1985 | Susan Bedsow Horgan |
| November 1985 – April 1993 | Douglas Marland (died) (Robert Calhoun during 1988 WGA strike) |
| April 1993 – January 1995 | Juliet Law Packer and Richard Backus |
| January 1995 | Juliet Law Packer, Garin Wolf, and Richard Culliton |
| January 1995 – January 1996 | Richard Culliton (Fired) |
| February 1996 – late 1996 | Stephen Black and Henry Stern (Fired) |
| Late 1996 – May 1997 | Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez, and Addie Walsh |
| May 1997 – fall 1997 | Jessica Klein |
| Fall 1997 | Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez, and Addie Walsh |
| December 1997 | Addie Walsh |
| January 1998 – June 1999 | Lorraine Broderick, Hal Corley, and Addie Walsh (co-headwriters) |
| June 1999 – June 12, 2000 | Leah Laiman and Carolyn Culliton (co-headwriter) |
| June 13, 2000 – July 2001 | Hogan Sheffer, Carolyn Culliton, Hal Corley, and Stephen Demorest (co-headwriters) |
| July 16, 2001 – September 2002 | Hogan Sheffer, Jean Passanante, and Carolyn Culliton |
| September 2002 – May 2005 | Hogan Sheffer and Jean Passanante |
| May 2005 – October 2007 | Jean Passanante, Leah Laiman, and Christopher Whitesell |
| October 2007 – January 24, 2008 | Jean Passanante and Leah Laiman |
| January 25, 2008 – April 17, 2008 | Christopher Goutman (2007 WGA strike) |
| April 18, 2008 – January 2010 | Jean Passanante and Leah Laiman |
| January 2010 – March 12, 2010 | Jean Passanante and David Kreizman |
| March 15, 2010 - September 17, 2010 | Jean Passanante and Lloyd Gold |
In South Africa, As the World Turns started airing on June 1, 2010 on SABC 2 from 14:10 to 15:00 each weekday. Episodes are 4 years behind the USA.
The Netherlands has aired the show on RTL 4 since 1990 (9:00 am and 5:00 pm) and on RTL 8 since 2007 (10:30 pm). RTL4 airs the episodes from one year and seven months ago. ATWT is the most popular foreign soap in the Netherlands and has about 800.000 Dutch viewers each day, it's the second popular soap of all soaps in the whole country, after GTST. ATWT actor Todd Rotondi (ex-Bryant) had a cameo role on the Dutch soap Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden (Good Times, Bad Times) and Elizabeth Hubbard was a guest in the RTL talkshow Jensen! and in Mooi! Weer de Leeuw. In July 2009, Hubbard plays a guest role on GTST, she plays the role of sexuologe Sair Poindexter, the mother of main character Irene Huygens. GTST announced a return of Sair Poindexter in December.
In Canada As the World Turns aired on Global Television Network and on NTV in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In Italy As the World Turns, under the title Così gira il mondo, started to air in 1986 on Canale 5, in the afternoon after Guiding Light time slot, with episodes three years behind the U.S. In 1987 it was moved to another channel, Rete 4. The show was canceled in 1992. At that time, episodes were four years behind the U.S.
In Bulgaria, the show was aired on Efir 2 from 1993 to 1995. Diema Family will continue with the episodes from 2004, starting on April 8, 2008.
In Jamaica As The World Turns started airing on Television Jamaica Monday to Friday 1:00pm beginning in 2011.
In Serbia, the show began airing on TV Avala on August 10, 2009, to very little publicity. It currently airs weekdays at 8:00 am, as well as Saturdays at 5:15 pm. The reruns air occasionally (depending on the rest of the late-night programming) around 3:15 AM. The show was canceled on April 25, 2010, for unknown reasons.
In Albania, the show will be seen on Vizion+,[18] beginning with episodes from 2006.
In the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, the show will begin airing on December 15, 2009, Monday to Friday at 12:15 on Sitel
Belize's Great Belize Television is the sole broadcaster of ATWT, at 2:00 pm Central Time on schedule with the U.S.
In New Zealand As The World Turns' was aired on TVNZ from 1962 to 1989.
In Australia, As The World Turns' was aired on Network Ten first at 1.30 pm, then moved to 5:00pm before ultimately being dropped entirely in 1987.
In 2006, CBS launched a reality show called InTurn on their broadband channel innertube, the winner of which would go on to receive a 13-week acting contract on As the World Turns. The eventual winner of InTurn was Alex Charak, an 18 year old "Student/Pizza Transportation Artist" from New York.[19] Charak made his debut as the character Elwood Hoffman on September 26, 2006. A one-hour "best-of" show aired on CBS on November 24, 2006.
CBS launched InTurn 2 in the summer of 2007. For the new season, the age restrictions expanded to allow for middle-aged viewers to participate, and there were nine competitors instead of eight.[20] The winner of the second season was Ryan Serhant, a recent graduate of Hamilton College. Serhant made his debut in the contract role on November 7, 2007. He plays Evan Walsh IV, son of Evan Walsh III. He is a young hotshot biochemist prodigy who comes home to Oakdale to try to convince Craig Montgomery to invest in the cutting edge biomedical tech field. He began taping on September 24, 2007, two days after the close of his off-Broadway play, Purple Hearts.
Inturn 3 began airing in April 2008 and featured 17 episodes.
As the World Turns has won 43 Daytime Emmys:
It was also the longest running dramatic series created exclusively for television.
In 2010, As the World Turns was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding Daily Drama" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards.[21]
In October 2011, SoapClassics has released a 4 DVD collection of 20 selected episodes, marking the first time that any ATWT episodes have been available on any recorded medium. The oldest episode on the collection dates from September 29, 1979, while the latest episode is from April 10, 2010.[22] In November 2011, a "Christmas in Oakdale" DVD was released, celebrating five Christmas episodes from the show. The featured Christmases are 1985, 1992, 1995, 2000 and 2007.
The firm intends to release a series of DVD collections and is exploring multiple distribution options, including broadcast and cable television, in markets both domestic and overseas.