As The World Turns
CBS's Barbara Bloom on new era of daytime programming for network
Photo Credit: JPI Studios
In an article out today from AD Age, the head of CBS Daytime Programming, Barbara Bloom, spoke on the ever-evolving and changing landscape of the CBS daytime programming block which has seen, As the World Turns and Guiding Light as its first major casualties replaced by the game show, Let’s Make a Deal, and the new “Mommy” gabfest, The Talk, which premieres on October 8th.
Bloom stated in regards to the recent soap opera bloodbath: “It is a time of great change and great opportunity and more viewing choices. Staying at the forefront of making sure you’re the choice that is taken is always a battle. I’ve always thought the mandate is to make this the most competitive and engaging daypart as possible, and for a long time, we worked very closely with Procter & Gamble to try to keep the shows able to fulfill that mandate, and then it became clear that wasn’t happening.”
In regards to her new strategy for the daypart, Bloom said she always tries to keep her audience in my mind, and then works to hire people who the audience is attracted to: “I always try to be really clear about what the universe is that I’m operating in. Am I empowering the people who are working on those shows? That’s the way I work. We really are trying to do the best by both our audience and the company.”
As The World Turns
ATWT Alum Martha Byrne Pays Tribute to Eileen Fulton: “The Original Soap Star Who Paved the Way for the Likes of a Susan Lucci or Andrea Evans”
Tributes and remembrances are pouring in for the the late Eileen Fulton, who passed away on July 14th at the age of 91. Fulton broke the soap opera mold back in the early 60’s when she was cast to play Lisa Miller on As the World Turns, who would turn out to be the first villiainess, vixen, and homewrecker of daytime television.
Fans of the soap loved to love to hate her for how she destroyed many lives in her quests to nab a husband; especially one she had set her sights set on. In fact, Lisa was married 8 times during the history of the show. Fulton was with ATWT on and off until the final year of the show in 2010.
Martha Byrne, who has been Fulton’s castmate for a time (Bryne played Lily Snyder from 1985 to 1989 and then again from 1993-2008 where she also played Rose D’Angelo), took to her account on x to share her thoughts on what Eileen meant to the genre, and also spoke on how Fulton handled not being as front and center on the soap operas as the years went by.
Photo: JPI
“What can I say about Eileen Fulton. The original soap star who paved the road for the likes of a Susan Lucci or Andrea Evans,” began Bryne. “Since Eileen started on ATWT when the show was live, there aren’t enough pieces of history for us to truly grasp the enormity of her stardom and presence in the entertainment business. I remember being so impressed that she was a writer. The best part was she would use real stories from behind the scenes and change the names. Maybe that was her way of giving the audience a wink to include them even more.”
Photo: CBS
Bryne went to share, “She (Eileen) loved her fans and she had many. I went to her one woman shows and the place was always packed. As the years went on and her role wasn’t as prominent as it had been she took it with class. I never heard her complain as many did who were frustrated they didn’t have a storyline. She was always a class act and a true pro who knew a storyline or another opportunity was only around the corner. She knew her value and was secure in herself. A national treasure who shaped the entire industry. Thank you Eileen. I’m sure there was a pink feather boa waiting for you just inside the pearly gates.”
So, what did you think about the sentiments shared by Martha on the legendary Eileen Fulton? Would you agree, as we have previously noted, that Lisa as played by Eileen, was really the prototype for all soap opera “bad girls” to follow? Did you appreciate the fact that while having a more diminished role over the last few decades of ATWT, Eileen took it in stride? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
What can I say about Eileen Fulton. The original soap star who paved the road for the likes of a Susan Lucci or Andrea Evans. Since Eileen started on ATWT when the show was live there aren’t enough pieces of history for us to truly grasp the enormity of her stardom and presence… pic.twitter.com/bN3skb2Rws
— Martha Byrne (@MarthaByrne10) July 20, 2025
The iconic Eileen Fulton, who was daytime’s first bad girl as Lisa Miller on As the World Turns, has died at the age of 91. According to the obituary on her passing, Fulton died earlier this week on July 14th in Asheville, North Carolina, after a period of declining health.
Fulton was born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty in Asheville on September 13, 1933. After studying acting in New York City, she changed her name to Eileen Fulton, when in 1960 she was cast in the film, Girl of the Night, co-starring with Anne Francis.
Eileen would change the face of daytime drama when in 1960 she was cast as the disruptor to the family dynamic, Lisa Miller, on the CBS soap opera. Throughout her ATWT run, the character of Lisa would eventually be married eight times to: Bob Hughes (1960–1964), John Eldridge (1965–1967), Michael Shea (1969–1970), Grant Coleman (1975–1979) ,Whit McColl (1982–1984), Earl Mitchell (1986–1987), Eduardo Grimaldi (1994–1995), and Martin Chedwyn (1996).
Photo: CBS
ATWT historians know that Lisa’s full name by the time the series went off the air in 2010 was: Lisa Miller Hughes Eldridge Shea Colman McColl Mitchell Grimaldi Chedwyn. Fulton played the role with only brief interruptions until the show was cancelled that year making her one of the longest-running tenured soap opera actors in US history. Other performers who took on the role of Lisa in Fulton’s absence included: Jane Powell, Maeve McGuire, Pamela King, Betsy Von Furstenberg, Lynn Rogers and Carmen Duncan.
Throughout her time on ATWT, it was Fulton’s eagerness to play Lisa as a villainess that contributed to the character’s popularity and therefore its longevity. She was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1998 and was awarded a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. In addition, in 1988, Fulton received her first-ever Daytime Emmy Award nomination in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series.
The legendary star was also infamous for the grandmother clause she inserted into her contract that guaranteed she would never have to play a grandmother on the soap. In an interview with the LA Times in 2000 she shared, “At that time, grandmothers had no romance at all – and I wasn’t about to let that happen to me.” At some point, this all changed and she became OK with the idea of grandmother-hood. At one point, ATWT fans were so angry at the manipulative villainess played by Fulton that she had to employ a bodyguard to protect her.
Photo: CBS
When Futon stepped away from the show, at one point, she left to star in ATWT”s 1965 spinoff Our Private World, which aired Wednesday and Friday nights on CBS. In the story, Lisa had fled Oakdale after dumping Bob to move to Chicago, where she wed the wealthy John Eldridge (Nicolas Coster, who later would play Eduardo Grimaldi). Our Private World was canceled after four months on the air, and Fulton went back to As the World Turns in 1966.
When Eileen received her Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, she was part of a group of actors who also received the honor that year including: her ATWT co-stars, Don Hastings and Helen Wagner, plus Ruth Warrick, Frances Reid, John Clarke, Ray MacDonnell, Don Hastings, Jeanne Cooper, and Rachel Ames.
Photo: JPI
For a time early in her career, Fulton not only was appearing in As The World Turns, which at that time was broadcast live, she was simultaneously appearing on Broadway in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and off-Broadway in the long-running musical The Fantasticks.
Fulton performed her cabaret act for many years in venues around New York and Los Angeles. In 1970, she co-authored her first autobiography, How My World Turns. In 1995 she co-authored a second autobiography, As My World Still Turns, to celebrate her 35th anniversary on As the World Turns. She also authored a series of mystery novels. In 2019, Eileen retired from show business and moved to Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Photo: JPI
She is survived by her brother, Charles Furman McLarty (Karen) of Black Mountain; niece Katherine Morris (David) and their children, Everly Ann Morris and Easton Lane Morris of Fort Mill, S.C.; and sister-in-law Chris Page McLarty of Camden, Maine. She was pre-deceased by her parents and her brother, James Fulton McLarty.
Share your remembrances and condolences for Eileen Fulton via the comment section below, but first check out this classic early scene from ATWT featuring Fulton as Lisa, and the 2004 Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award presentation.
As The World Turns
ATWT Alum Tala Ashe Scores Tony Award Nomination; OLTL Alum Jonathan Groff and ‘Glee’ Favorite Darren Criss Also Receive Nods
Nominations for the 78th annual Tony Awards were announced Thursday morning honoring the best in the recent Broadway season.
The awards will be presented on June 8th live from Radio City Music Hall live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ with Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, a Tony winner for The Color Purple, hosting the show.
While musicals Buena Vista Social Club, Maybe Happy Ending and Death Becomes Her topped the nominations with 10 each, the list of Hollywood names and former soap opera alums who will be part of Broadway’s bigges makes it interesting drama for Broadway’s biggest nights.
Photo: JPI
In addition, there were big time snubs including: Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal and Kieran Culkin, who failed to make the nominations list, while other big names including: George Clooney are in the running.
Soap fans should take note that Tala Ashe (ex-Ameera Ali-Aziz, As the World Turns – 2007) scored her first-ever Tony nomination in the Best Featured Actress in a play category for her performance in English. The play takes place in an Iranian classroom where four adult students and their teacher leapfrog through a linguistic playground, this is a funny, stunning triumph about the universal foibles of language and miscommunication.
Photo: JPI
On As the World Turns, Ashe’s Ameera became involved with Luke and Noah, after she fled Iraq when her mother died, after her protector, Noah’s father, the Colonel, was reassigned and imprisoned. Once in Oakdale, when he heard her sad story, Noah (Jake Silbermann) agreed to a marriage of convenience, upsetting then boyfriend Luke Snyder (Van Hansis).
Once again, Tony Award winner, Jonathan Groff (ex-Henry Mackler, One Life to Live -2007) had scored another nomination. This year for his star turn as Bobby Darin in the new musical, Just in Time. Groff is competing in the category alongside former Glee star, Darren Criss, who is nominated for his work as a retired robot in Maybe Happy Ending.
Photo: JPI
Interestingly enough, Jeb Brown who is nominated in the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Dead Outlaw, was formerly the bandmate of Beyond the Gates and General Hospital star, Jon Lindstrom.
Audra McDonald made Tony history scoring her record-setting 11th overall nomination, this year for her starring role in the musical revival of Gypsy. However, she will face-off with former Pussycat Dolls singer, Nicole Scherzinger, who plays Norma Desmond in the latest adaption of Sunset Boulevard, where she is getting all the raves this Broadway season.
Photo: JPI
You can check out the full 78th annual Tony Award nominations here.
So, remember Tala from ATWT as Ameera? Jonathan from OLTL as Henry? Who do you think should take home a Tony Award next month in the Big Apple? Comment below.
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Cancelling ATWT was a big mistake. We will see how long this new crap lasts. I for one will not be watching.
CBS Daytime made the choice to cancel As the World Turns and Guiding Light. I have made my choice to turn off CBS during the daytime hours and watch Days of our Lives and Swift Justice. Both are seen on my NBC affiliate. Dr Phil and Oprah are on my ABC station. In fact I think the only CBS show I will watch is Blue Bloods on Friday night, and that will be from my DVR. I may not be speaking for all people, but you have lost my family.
what a bunch of nonsense. She took something unique and replaced it with something ordinary. the affiliate in my city doesn’t even bother airing GL replacement at 3pm they pushed it off to a less desirable slot, something they never did with GL. She has ruined CBS daytiime and doesn;t care one bit for the viewers who have been loyal to cbs daytime for years
It’s a shame that all we’re getting are reality shows and more game and talk shows.ATWT had such a core of decency, even with all the sleazey characters that wandered through.I really feel sick about it and what does it say about our society as a whole with the garbage that people are watching.If this is the way of the world I think we all are in big trouble.
Nothing is replacing ATWT on my DVR. I’m moving to watching episodic nighttime TV series DVDs instead. The traditional networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) still don’t get how most people watch “live” TV today – they record it. It doesn’t mean people are not watching; they are simply time-shifting their viewing to a time when it’s convenient for them. There were probably millions of ATWT viewers that were simply not counted. I get it’s all about the ad dollars for the networks (obviously, they have to make money somehow), but if you still want eyes on your commercials in this new world, try shortening the commercials to 10 or 15 seconds so it’s inconvenient to fast forward and work on product placement like in film. I’m not interested in watching a mind-numbing game show or another gabfest. CBS has lost this daytime viewer.
I think it was a mistake to cancel ATWT and to me Barbara Bloom is a Blooming idiot. I’d say it is easier to have a certain number of loyal viewers that are actually buying what is advertised as opposed to having new game shows and talk shows that will be hard to find and keep.. This was it for me i’ve moved on from CBS to find my entertainment.
How can she say that she is keeping her audience in mind. By cancelling ATWT you are most certainly not thinking about your audience. My daughter was the 4th generation in my family to watch ATWT. Have you thought about people like my grandmother and mother who have worked all of their life and since retiring has been enjoying this show. Even when they couldn’t watch it during the day, once vcr’s came along they started recording the show and so did I. You have no idea what you have done. In my line of work in medical office administration, I have seen people waiting for Drs. appts. watching ATWT on the flat screens in the waiting rooms as well as people in assisted living centers and nursing homes. You have no idea of who the audience is. This show had a vast audience from all walks of life. Theire are also more men watching soaps now than ever before. You might not think that you’ve made a mistake but you will find out in the long run. The dumbest thing about all of this is that you and P&G are both playing the blame game when it’s us the fans that are being hurt in this whole fiasco. This was the only soap that I watched.
It amazes me how people like Barbara Bloom land executive/director of programming positions of anything! The truth is this woman is a complete failure! She sucked at ABC and she’s sucking up the place at CBS!
Since Barbara Bloom held former CBS head of daytime programming Lucy Johnson’s position, she’s managed to lose two iconic soap operas with Guiding Life and As the World Turns; enable poor writing staffs and production teams and is pretty much responsible for CBS Daytime’s tanking ratings.
When Lucy Johnson held the position, the daytime line up was primarily locked around CBS Daytime’s strengths The Price is Right and Young and the Restless. I recall As the World Turns and Guiding Light pulled in decent ratings by holding on to their core audience.
Sadly, under Barbara Bloom’s leadership, everything went to hell in a hand basket. It’s quite obvious her superficial concerns lies with what’s pretty. She’s a dim bulb that never looks beneath the surface!
Like Chris Goutman, Jean Passanante, Barbara Bloom’s arrogance and disdain for soap opera fans is quite evident with every interview they give. They have no idea who their viewing audience are. They, like so many idiots in control of the daytime industry have bought into this so called LARGE teenage soap viewing myth. If they took time out to read the fan mail, they would know that the vast majority of people who watch soaps are astute working professionals over 25 years of age who enjoy GOOD acting, storytelling and character driven writing.
Well, thanks to Ms. Bloom, she has successfully ruined CBS Daytime for me — a working professional. My CBS Daytime viewing has been suspended indefinitely.
Liv you summed up my feelings perfectly! My family no longer watches anything on CBS.
cbs has gone to the dog. cutting the people from cbs morning news to as the world turn and guiding light. some time changes are not good. how many talk show can you have. i am really enjoying abc. they are keeping it real.
It`s time to reveal some of the secrets on ONE LIFE TO LIVE ,we`re sick of watching in suspense.
Canceling ATWT was one of the biggest mistakes CBS ever made!
That’s for sure.As a long time viewer I still miss it and i know i always will.i stopped working a year and a half ago and i was so happy to have
‘time’ to really sit down and watch it with no interruptions….it was the one constant in my life.Even on bad days it was so much better than what’s on TV now.And the acting was so good most of the time.54 years on the air and the show and the viewers were not treated with respect at all.I have so many channels on my TV and i’m hard pressed to find anything decent to watch.
CBS is a mess! Not only did they cancel ATWT, but the got rid of their whole early show news team. I used to be a big fan of CBS, but they seem to think nothing of their fans or the people who work for them. I perfer to watch ABC or NBC now!!