As the World Turns

As the World Turns
As the World Turns final title card, circa 2009-2010
Created by	Irna Phillips
Written by	Jean Passanate
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	13,858
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ted Corday (1956–65) Mary Harris (1965–71) Fred Bartholomew (1971–73, 1980–81) Joe Willmore (1973–78) Joe Rothenberger (1978–80) Mary-Ellis Bunim (1981–84) Robert Calhoun (1984–88) Laurence Caso (1988–95) John Valente (1995–96) Felicia Minei Behr (1996–99) Christopher Goutman (1999–2010)
Location(s)	New York City, New York
Running time	30 minutes (1956–1975) 60 minutes (1975–2010)
Distributor	Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc. (1986–2008) TeleNext Media, Inc. (2008–2010)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	April 2, 1956 – September 17, 2010

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As the World Turns (often referred to as ATWT) is an American television soap opera which aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010.

Set in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois, the show debuted on April 2, 1956, at 1:30 pm EST. Prior to then, all serials were 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.

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. 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. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light.

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.

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 for CBS after Guiding Light aired its final episode on the network.

On December 8, 2009, CBS announced that it canceled As the World Turns after almost 54 years due to low ratings. The show taped its final Procter and Gamble for CBS on June 23, 2010, and with a sad dramatic storyline finale, its final episode on the network aired on September 17, 2010. On the Monday of the show's final week CBS delayed As the World Turns in the Mountain and Pacific time zones in order to air the Men's Final at the 2010 U.S. Open live; the match between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had been scheduled for the day before but was postponed due to rain. Fans and critics called this "disrespectful" to the 54-year-old soap opera. On October 18, 2010, CBS replaced As the World Turns with a newly debuted talk show The Talk.

As the World Turns is notable for having been produced in New York City for all of its time on television (its first 43 years in Manhattan and in Brooklyn from 2000 until 2010).

The As the World Turns series finale marked its fourth year on September 17, 2014 and its fifth year on September 17, 2015.

As the World Turns marked a 60th Anniversary on April 2, 2016. The show's series finale marked its sixth anniversary on September 17, 2016. The series finale of As the World Turns will mark a seventh anniversary on September 17, 2017.

Opening Title Cards

Cast

Complete cast members

Actor	Character	Duration
Noelle Beck	Lily Walsh	2008-2010
Terri Colombino	Katie Peretti Snyder	1998–2010
Daniel Cosgrove	Chris Hughes	2010
Trent Dawson	Henry Coleman	1998–2010
Ellen Dolan Mary Beth Evans	Margo Montgomery Hughes Sierra Esteban	1989–1993, 1994–2010 2000-2005, 2010
Eileen Fulton	Lisa Miller Grimaldi	1960–1964, 1966–1983, 1984-2010
Van Hansis	Luke Snyder	2005–2010
Don Hastings	Bob Hughes	1960–2010
Kathryn Hays	Kim Sullivan Hughes	1972–2010
Jon Hensley	Holden Snyder	1985–1989, 1990–1995, 1997–2010
Scott Holmes	Tom Hughes	1987–2010
Roger Howarth	Paul Ryan	2003–2010
Elizabeth Hubbard Alexa Kaplan Jennifer Landon	Lucinda Walsh Hallie Munson Gwen Munson	1984–1999, 1999–2010 2005-2008, 2010
Jon Lindstrom	Craig Montgomery	2008–2010
Billy Magnussen Cady McClain	Casey Hughes Rosanna Cabot	2008–2010 2002-2005, 2007-2008, 2009, 2010
Grayson McCouch	Dusty Donovan	2003–2008, 2008–2010
Kelley Menighan Hensley	Emily Stewart	1992–2010
Michael Park	Jack Snyder	1997–2010
Marnie Schulenburg Jesse Soffer	Alison Stewart Will Munson	2007–2010 2004-2008, 2010
Maura West	Carly Tenney	1995–1996, 1997–2010
Colleen Zenk Pinter	Barbara Ryan	1978-2010

Recurring cast members

Actor	Character	Duration
Larry Bryggman Ewa Da Cruz	John Dixon Vienna Hyatt	1969-2004, 2010 2006-2010
Valentina de Angelis	Faith Snyder	2010
Allie Gorenc Terri Garber Sarah Glendening	Sage Snyder Iris Dumbrowski Lucy Montgomery	2006-2010
Bailey Harkins	Johnny Donovan	2008-2010
Mick Hazen Eleanor Handley Anthony Herrera	Parker Munson Snyder Monique James Stenbeck	2006-2010
Lesli Kay	Molly Conlan McKinnon	1997–2004, 2009–2010
Ben Levin	Gabriel Caras	2010
Marie Masters	Dr. Susan Burke Stewart	1968–1979, 1986–2010
Kurt McKinney	Ellis	2010
Isabella Palmieri	Natalie Snyder	2009-2010
Julie Pinson	Janet Ciccone Snyder	2008–2010
Vanessa Ray Katy Selverstone	Teri Ciccone Francoise	2009–2010
Eric Sheffer Stevens	Dr. Reid Oliver	2010
Jake Silbermann Kristina Sisco Billy Warlock	Noah Mayer Abigail Williams Anthony Blackthorn	2007-2010
Kathleen Widdoes	Emma Snyder	1985–2010
Sarah Wilson	Liberty Ciccone	2010