Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: A Statistical Look at Canceled Soaps
With the constant rumors of NBC pulling the plug on Days (which I hope never happens mind you), I got a little curious as to how many soaps have been canceled and dug into my old, faithful book, “The Soap Opera Encyclopedia” (published in 1997). As the findings were pretty interesting, I thought I’d share them! Please note, the shows written into the first list were canceled after the book was published, but I wanted to add them to the total. The second list is the names of the shows just for giggles as some of the titles are pretty laughable!
Network: Number of Cancelled Soaps:
ABC 10 published + Port Charles = 11
CBN* 1
CBS 17
Direct TV 1 (Passions (again))
Dumont 1
Fox 1
NBC 34 published + Another World, Passions & Sunset Beach = 37
TBS 1
*Christian Broadcast Network
Network: Canceled Shows:
Please note, some shows were canceled on one network then picked up by another only to be cancelled again. I’ve added the airdates after the show to specify them as well as specifying if a show went through a name change.
ABC The Best of Everything; Dark Shadows; The Edge Of Night (1975-1984); Flame In The Wind (1964; renamed A Time For Us and ran from 1964 -1966); Loving (1983-1995; renamed The City and ran from 1995-1997); Never Too Young; The Nurses; Port Charles; Ryan’s Hope; A World Apart; The Young Marrieds
CBN Another Life
CBS The Brighter Day; Capitol; The Clear Horizon; The Edge Of Night (1956-1975); The Egg And I; The First Hundred Years; Full Circle; How To Survive A Marriage; Love Is A Many Splendored Thing; Love of Life; The Road Of Life; Search For Tomorrow (1951-1982); The Secret Storm; The Seeking Heart; Valiant Lady; Where The Heart Is; Woman With A Past
Direct TV Passions (2008)
Dumont A Woman To Remember
Fox Tribes
NBC Another World; Ben Jerrod; The Bennetts; Bright Promise; Concerning Miss Marlowe; The Doctors; Fairmeadows, U.S.A.; First Love; Follow Your Heart; From These Roots; Generations; Golden Windows; The Greatest Gift; Hawkins Falls; Hidden Faces; Kitty Foyle; Lovers And Friends (1977; renamed For Richer, For Poorer and ran from 1977 -1978); Miss Susan; Moment of Truth; Morning Star; One Man’s Family; Our Five Daughters; Paradise Bay; Passions (1999-2008); Portia Faces Life; Return To Peyton Place; Santa Barbara; Search For Tomorrow (1982-1986); Somerset; Sunset Beach; Texas; These Are My Children**; Three Steps To Heaven; A Time To Live; Today Is Ours; The World Of Mr. Sweeney; Young Dr. Malone
TBS The Catlins
** Please note, “These Are My Children” aired from January 31 to February 25, 1949 and preceded ABC’s “All My Children” (1970) by 21 years … AKA NBC did not rip off the title.
There are currently only eight soaps still on the air: All My Children, As The World Turns, The Bold & The Beautiful, Days, General Hospital, Guiding Light, One Life To Live and The Young & The Restless.
