Cleveland Plain Dealer on the End of "The World", Soaps
Mark Dawidziak interviewed TV Guide's Michael Logan and TV historian/author Robert J. Thompson for the Cleveland Plain Dealer about As The World Turns going off the air this coming Friday after 54 years. The article dove into what the end of the "world" means for serialized drama.
"It was the show that invented so much of the soap form -- the pregnant pauses, sitting around having coffee while talking about your problems, the big dramatic freeze before a commercial," Logan said. "Even people who didn't know anything about soap operas knew this title. And if you didn't watch it, this seems to be the one your mom or your grandmother watched. "
"Serialization has become our chosen storytelling form, and we owe that to the soap opera. So really, when you look across the TV landscape, it really is the ultimate success story."
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Comments
8 April 2010
1 year 17 weeks
My mom went into labor with my sister while watching a Friday cliffhanger episode of ATWT in 1977. To this day she refuses to admit whether or not she stuck around for the ending of that episode.
14 June 2009
2 days 11 hours
There are so many great night time serials out there. I wish someone from night time would tackle the daytime world. it desperately needs it. Imagine a daytime version of Weeds or Nurse Jackie or Desperate Housewives or Sex in the City, or Dexter or Queer as Folk or hell even Real Housewives of Atlanta. Better yet since daytime is on five days a week fifty two weeks a year, a daytime show could be all of those things. I could settle for a well executed homage (ie copy) to night time serials on daytime. They borrowed our format, we borrow their stories..... works for me.
6 May 2009
4 weeks 6 days
Goodbye my friend.
4 May 2009
13 hours 42 min
I have watched ATWT since 1991......there were periods when Douglas Marland was HW and when Hogan Sheffer was HW where the show was the best daytime had to offer.
It just breaks my heart that the show is ending.
Good night dears.
Sniff.
19 June 2009
4 days 11 hours
I'm glad the article pointed out something I've said to many people who go on about "The Sopranos" or "Mad Men," that those shows are actually soaps of a different kind. Some people have scoffed and said "Sopranos" or "Mad Men" are a million times better than stupid soaps, but they just don't realize how much so many shows nowadays owe to soaps.