Producers tried to save As The World Turns

 

Yesterday CBS soap As The World Turns came to an end after nearly 55 years on-air. The declining ratings which had plagued the soap over the past few years being the final nail in its coffin. But producers of the soap have insisted they tried to take it elsewhere.

 

Yesterday CBS soap As The World Turns came to an end after nearly 55 years on-air. The declining ratings which had plagued the soap over the past few years being the final nail in its coffin. But producers of the soap have insisted they tried to take it elsewhere. The soap was produced by the production arm of Procer and Gamble who have insisted they looked into other options for As The World Turns and expected it to have lasted another “two or three years.”

Last year fellow P&G soap Guiding Light was also axed by CBS after an incredible 72 years on-air. The soap started out on radio before crossing over to television in the 1950s and was, at one stage, one of the top-rated soaps on American television. But in a reversal of fortunes it became the lowest rated soap and a revamp to turn around its fortunes failed and CBS pulled the plug. P&G also tried to take Guiding Light elsewhere but as with As The World Turns it seems as though no one was interested.

So where could P&G have taken the two soaps? One option could have been DirecTV which has saved prime-time shows Friday Lights and Damages. When NBC cancelled supernatural soap Passions in 2007 it moved over to DirecTV but lasted barely a year on there before the plug was pulled as well. Soaps have moved between Networks before but its incredibly rare – one example is when ABC snapped up The Edge of Night when CBS axed it in the mid 1970s. However, even with the UK broadcaster Channel Five offering to fund production costs for Sunset Beach when it was axed by NBC the soap couldn’t find another home in America and Five’s offer was turned down.

So the cancellation of As The World Turns, as with Guiding Light, Sunset Beach and so many other soaps before it, has proven to be final. Moving a soap elsewhere is incredibly difficult and often results in a loss of ratings. In the UK Australian soaps Neighbours and Home & Away have both moved to Channel Five in the past decade (from their previous broadcasters) but the move has seen a significant drop in ratings – although ratings are still good enough for Five.

With two soaps having fallen to the axe in America within the past year fans attention now turns towards which soap may be next. The most obvious candidate seems to be ABC’s One Life to Live which has been battling cancellation rumours for some years now and is poorly rated – ABC insists its future is secure but for how long?