As The World Turns
NPR: 'As the World' Stops Turning, Are Soaps Dead?' Segment
Photo Credit: JPI Studios
National Public Radio’s, All Things Considered this weekend had as it’s guest, former As the World Turns writer, Peter Brash, for a segment on: if the end is near for soap operas, and what has caused it’s decline. The audio interview was about 3 and half minutes, but on the NPR website, they also posted an accompanying story and excerpts from the interview including the following below!
“Hardly anyone these days admits to watching soap operas, but they once dominated the daytime TV schedules. Forty years ago, there were 18 soaps airing on the major networks; today, there are only six. Next month there will be one fewer when As the World Turns signs off after more than five decades on the air. Peter Brash, a staff writer for As the World Turns, tells NPR’s Audie Cornish that the soaps are really victims of their own success. “The serialized format has spread out just about everywhere you look,” he says. Four decades ago, most shows presented a self-contained story every week. But now, “it’s all branded to hook you in, to tune in tomorrow. “That means you can get your drama fix any time. You don’t have to sit at home all day and devote five hours a week to keeping up with all the illicit affairs, car wrecks, secret babies and evil twins with amnesia. Brash says the soaps were all about women — but hardly any women are watching anymore.
Reality television isn’t helping either, Brash says. “They’re soap operas in themselves They’re just — real. So the audience is savvy enough to know they’re watching one that’s real — ‘Oh, she’s really pulling her hair,’ and ‘Oh my god, she might hurt her” — and one that’s staged. So which one becomes more compelling?”
Brash has written some compelling story lines of his own in 30 years of writing for soaps. “Once, I was responsible for having two naked people fall from a meteor shower. They seemed to be from another planet, and they ran around naked one summer in Salem. I probably should have told the audience right away that the mad scientist in town had just put them up in a rocket ship and they really weren’t aliens. It’s always better if the audience is in on the joke in that way.”
Traditional soaps — naked mystery aliens and all — may be on the wane, but Brash says their influence is felt all over the television dial. “Soap operas are kind of lending their DNA to the rest of the entertainment media world, and that includes dramatic and reality [shows]. So I don’t think it’s a dead medium; it’s just morphing into different things.”
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.
‘Brilliant Minds’ Officially Canceled After 2 Seasons at NBC; DAYS Alum Al Calderon, OLTL Alum Teddy Sears and Zachary Quinto Among the Cast
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‘General Hospital’s’ Jonathan Bennett Receives 3 ‘Critics Choice Real TV Awards’ Nominations for Hallmark Series, ‘Finding Mr. Christmas’
DAYS OF OUR LIVES: Sophia Seemingly Plans to End Her Life, But Not Before Setting Fire to Johnny’s Apartment With Him Trapped Inside
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Sadly, I think daytime soaps are dead or at least will be completely in the next 3-5 years, because they have refused to evolve and change. The dialog is weak, the storylines are often confusing, repetitive, and sadly bad. But, most critically, daytime soaps have committed the ultimate sin. They’ve becoming boring.
Their storytelling has not really evolved since the 80’s. And with the current crop of continually recycled headwriters (I mean typically when a person gets fired from the top post at a job, they are lucky if they get another shot at a similar job, they don’t tend to get job after job after job), soaps will never evolve. There will never be another Gloria Monty/Douglas Marland, who can see daytime soaps for more than what they are now, to see what they can be. And as a result, they will die. It’s very sad.
The main problem with the decline of soap operas is that the writers can’t or won’t come up with new stories. They keep recycling the same old stories that were on 30 years ago.
Times have changed & the stories should change too. If the soaps that are still on the air after ATWT goes off on Sept. 17th want to stay on the air they need to take a good long look at what stories they are writing. People get tired of the ridiculous find out you have a twin 20 years later, or didn’t remember giving birth only to have your child show up, or sleep with every member of the same family.
They should also go all out on any story they write. If they’re going to write a gay or lesbian couple into the show, they should treat them the same way they treat a heterosexual couple, if they’re not, then don’t write them in. The same way with a minority couple, either go the whole way with a story or don’t write it at all.
That’s the main problem we had with ATWT. They wrote first Luke/Noah & threw stupid stories to break them up & get them back together with little sex, then when they finally brought on someone worthy of Luke, they did the same thing. They threw stupid plot devices to keep them from having sex or even have a long term relationship because they can’t have a gay couple happy.
This is my newspaper column in our hometown this week … I thought I would share it with you guys.
Elegy for the End of the “World”
“Good morning, dear.”
Those were the first words spoken by actress Helen Wagner, who portrayed matriarch Nancy Hughes until her death earlier this summer, on the afternoon of April 2, 1956 as CBS-TV premiered the first 30-minute daytime drama live from New York City – AS THE WORLD TURNS.
A production of Cincinnati soap and cleaning products giant Procter and Gamble – the company that gave this genre its nickname – ATWT was a creation of Irna Phillips, who had written and created the most successful soap operas of the radio era, such as THE GUIDING LIGHT.
The residents of fictional Oakdale, Illinois, were live on November 22, 1963, when Walter Cronkite broke into a scene between Nancy and Grandpa Hughes to announce that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. And until the late 1970s, ATWT was still performing each episode live. It ends its life next week, with the final episode taped at Brooklyn’s JC Studios.
ATWT was the number-one soap opera on television its first two decades, and was the first soap featured on TV GUIDE’s cover in 1971; original daytime vixen, Lisa, portrayed by Eileen Fulton, starred in her own prime-time spinoff series, OUR PRIVATE WORLD, in 1965; comedienne Carol Burnett even parodied the program on her variety show with “As the Stomach Turns”. The tragedies and triumphs of the Hughes and Stewart families carried the first quarter-century of ATWT, and if CBS wanted to be known as Tiffany network, then AS THE WORLD TURNS was among its crown jewels.
The few crazy years of competition with rival ABC’s youth-oriented “run-and-gun” soaps are not the most notable in show history, although these years did produce memorable storylines that featured future megastars like Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei, and Julianne Moore.
For many viewers, however, the program’s golden age began in 1985 with the appointment of actor-turned-writer Douglas Marland to the post of Head Writer. Marland re-established the supremacy of the Hughes and Stewart families while adding the Snyder family as a representation of his own life growing up on a Midwestern farm. He refused to let plot devices drive storylines; rather, with actor and audience input, allowed stories to develop from character.
Saying goodbye to an extended Oakdale family that I’ve been watching for virtually my entire life is proving difficult in these last days. I have been there for all the kidnappings, evil twins, back-from-the-dead spouses, and baby switches all these years. I also learned a lot about Alzheimer’s disease, rape, HIV/AIDS, discrimination, and alcoholism along the way. ATWT was an escape, but it was also an education.
I have also witnessed some powerhouse acting – Larry Bryggman as John Dixon, Elizabeth Hubbard as Lucinda Walsh, Don Hastings as Bob Hughes, Colleen Zenk as Barbara Ryan, Maura West as Carly Tenney, Kathryn Hays as Kim Hughes, Michael Park as Jack Snyder, and many, many more who made my daily trip to Oakdale such a worthwhile visit.
I could boycott Bounty, stop doing dishes with Dawn, or never pop a Pringles can again, but how will holding a grudge against P&G products bring back my beloved show? It can’t, and it won’t.
As the last day draws ever closer, it marks not only the demise of my soap opera habit but of the true soap opera era. Procter & Gamble, the inventor of the soap opera, is giving them up permanently. Love and family in the heart of America, as one reviewer called ATWT, is passing us by.
Irna Phillips should be recognized as a legend for her creation, a uniquely American institution that defined the genre and provided 13,858 episodes of quality drama to an audience of millions. We will never see these episodes on DVD sets; books will not be written about these characters. What has happened these past 54 years in Oakdale will fade into the mists of television memory.
Perhaps Irna Phillips had it right when she wrote the epigram for the series in 1956: “as the world turns, we know the bleakness of winter, the promise of spring, the fullness of summer and the harvest of autumn – the cycle of life is complete. What is true of the world, nature, is also true of man – he too has his cycle.”
Michael Bird is a band director for Tallassee City Schools in Tallassee, Alabama. The final episode of “As the World Turns” will air Friday, September 17th at 1:00 p.m.
OK, I’m being biased here. My favorite soaps are One Life to Live and General Hospital. Following the thrilling GH episode of “the Balkin” situation, GH seems to have temporarily gone downhill, but OLTL is still kicking high, in my opinion !! On All My Children, I admire Susan Lucci for her longtime commitment , but I eventually grew tired of her main character not holding on to at least ONE husband, plus many of the storylines just centered around her. I’m glad ABC at least decided to not cancel OLTL until January 2012. Better yet, I hope they will be pressured to change their mind. The replacement shows don’t seem exciting at all!