Sunday, April 1, 2012

Today in Soap Opera History (April 1)

On this date in...

1963: Frank and Doris Hursley's GENERAL HOSPITAL premiered on ABC. Read a flashback article on the first decade of stories in three parts here, here and here.





1963: Orin Tovrov's THE DOCTORS premiered on NBC.

1976: On ANOTHER WORLD, Rachel told Iris no one intended to tell Mac the real reason she married Robert.

1980: On GUIDING LIGHT, Roger Thorpe fell to his death in SANTO DOMINGO. You can buy this episode from SoapClassics on the first GL Classics DVD.



1987: On SANTA BARBARA, Julia told Mason he is the father of her baby.

1988: Eden and Cruz were finally married on SANTA BARBARA.





2009: CBS canceled GUIDING LIGHT. Sadly, We Love Soaps was first to break the news here.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Jane Powell (ex-Rebecca, LOVING; ex-Lisa, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 83
Don Hastings (ex-Bob, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Jack, THE EDGE OF NIGHT) - 78
Ali MacGraw (ex-Lady Ashley, DYNASTY) - 73
Denise Nickerson (ex-Amy, DARK SHADOWS) - 55
Jennifer Runyon (ex-Sally, ANOTHER WORLD) - 52
Traci Lind (ex-Pru, RYAN'S HOPE) - 46
Jessica Collins (Avery, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; ex-Dinah Lee, LOVING) - 41
Bryan Buffington (ex-Bill, GUIDING LIGHT) - 32
Matt Lanter (Liam, 90210) - 29
Josh Zuckerman (ex-Max, 90210; ex-Eddie, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) - 27
Jendra Jarnagin (Cinematographer, IN BETWEEN MEN)

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to [email protected].

RELATED: 
- VOTE: Primetime Soap of the Week Poll (March 25-31, 2012)
- VOTE: Indie Soap Best of the Week Poll (March 25-31, 2012)
- VOTE: Daytime Soap Best of the Week Poll (March 26-30, 2012)

3 comments:

  1. Hard to believe it's the three year "cancelversary." I still remember where I was when I heard the news.

    Still can't believe CBS was so callous as to announce on April Fools' Day. If that wasn't a giant "eff you" to the audience, I don't know what is.

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  2. There had been cancellations of soaps prior to Guiding Light but for some reason the cancellation of GL, in particular, seemed to have touched off an entirely new sentiment of the Soap as an endangered entity, especially when it was followed a year later by the ATWT cancellation and the subsequent ABC shows.

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