As the World Turns
originally aired on CBS
As the World Turns aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. With 13,763 hours of cumulative narrative, it has the longest total running time of any television show. It was the most-watched daytime drama from 1958 until 1978, with some 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.
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. Phillips favored character development and psychological realism over melodrama. The show earned a reputation as being quite conservative, though the show did showcase a gay male character in 1988.