Today in Soap Opera History (January 17)

On this date in...

1958: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Mike called Willy and asks him to put two investigators on Toni for protection.

1966: Charles Baxter debuted as attorney Fred Douglas on ANOTHER WORLD.

1977: ALL MY CHILDREN moved to the 1 p.m. ET time slot.

1988: Australian soap opera HOME AND AWAY premiered. The show is set in the fictional town of Summer Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales.

2000: SOMETHING IN THE AIR debuted in Australia. The show lasted until 2002.

2007: During the TV critics tour, NBC Universal Television president Jeff Zucker remarked that DAYS OF OUR LIVES would most likely not "continue past 2009."

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Betty White (ex-Ann, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL; ex-Brenda, ANOTHER WORLD; ex-SANTA BARBARA; ex-DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 90
James Earl Jones (ex-Jim, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Jery, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 81
Jane Elliot (Tracy, GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Carrie, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Angelica, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Cynthia, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Madge, A NEW DAY IN EDEN; ex-Linda, A FLAME IN THE WIND) - 65
Naveen Andrews (ex-Sayid, LOST) - 43
Freddy Rodríguez (ex-Gio, UGLY BETTY; ex-Rico, SIX FEET UNDER) - 37

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].

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