That's interesting.

I agree that the show may have stayed on a long time. The ABC stories, at least in the clips I've seen, are still very strong. Very good acting and writing and production values. At least the Slesar years. The later stuff seems weaker, Lee Sheldon and more focus on new characters, but I guess the show was almost over then anyway right?

Thanks saynotoursoap I've heard the stuff about Nicholson long ago probably on Wost or something.

I find it funny that P&G's no-competition rule which caused the 1972 line-up changes for CBS was ignored just a few years later and especially in the 80s and 90s when AW and ATWT were competing against each other.

I would under ordinary circumstances avoid a thread of this nature; however, I feel compelled to respond as a result of proliferative misinformation.

In 1972, CBS' daytime schedule did not change on September 4, as reported in some reference sources. September 4 was Labor Day, and all CBS soaps were preempted for Jerry Lewis' telethon. The schedule changed on September 11, 1972.

Edge did not have lower ratings than Love of Life when canceled. Edge's ratings were rising in 1975. The week of the announcement of Edge's move to ABC, Edge had a 7.6 rating, and Love of Life had a 7.4 rating. The idea Edge would have been canceled in 1980 instead of Love of Life is absurd. CBS moved Love opposite Edge in 1979, and Love floundered to cancellation opposite Edge's competition.

Edge was not canceled to make room for As the World Turns. I interviewed many production personnel for a book about daytime TV. Nick Nicholson, Henry Slesar, and and a VP at P&G told me the true story of how Edge was dispatched to ABC. The behind-the-scenes saga was better than any soap opera. The condensed version is that P&G owned both Edge and ATWT. P&G had complete control over the situation because CBS couldn't expand World Turns to an hour without P&G's cooperation, and CBS desperately needed to counterprogram the successful new 1 hour Days. CBS tried to give back affiliate time to keep Edge, but the affiliates weren't willing. CBS finally decided to axe Musical Chairs, at the time the lowest rated program on its schedule. Edge was to have been given back the 4/3 time-slot on CBS, and P&G agreed despite the no-competition rule with Somerset. Nicholson, however, was 100% gung- ho to get Edge on ABC because ABC had been taken over by Fred Silverman and was on its way up. Nicholson thought Edge would get a better budget and demos on ABC and convinced P&G to pursue the change rather than go along with CBS. If ABC had not taken it, Edge would have remained on CBS at 4. CBS did in fact cancel Musical Chairs in October, along with another failed game show. Therefore, rather than not having any room to keep Edge, CBS had one full hour of open programming by the time Edge moved to ABC.

The story of Edge's cancellation was hyped in the press to promote the show's move and also generate interest in World Turns' expansion to an hour. The true story is Edge wasn't canceled at all. It was a carefully orchestrated move that backfired due to affiliates replacing it with cheaper syndicated and local programming. If Edge had remained on CBS. I am almost certain it would have continued running well into the 80's and might remain on air today.

wow thanks for sharing this information. I was always baffled by the fact that CBS ran syndicated or reruns at the 4pm time period instead of moving Edge to that time period. IMO, I don't think Edge would have been canceled at all and may still be on the air today if CBS was able to keep it at 4pm. I also think that if ABC moved all of it's soaps back starting at 11am (RH, LOV, AMC, OLTL, GH, Edge) and ended at 4pm, Edge would still be on ABC too.

By the way, any thoughts on SFT? I still think that if it didn't move to NBC, Capitol would have never aired and SFT would have ended in 1987.

IIRC I believe during the Corrington era on SFT the idea of expanding it to an hour was entertained briefly, probably before Bell finally gave into expanding Y&R into an hour. The Corringtons had managed to stabilize SFT after suffering ratings drops thanks to competition from Ryan's Hope as well as add more modern soap elements to the show. Unfortunately it was not to be.

Edited October 21, 200916 yr by soapfan770

SOD made mention of Search expanding when the Tourneur/Sentell families were introduced and established.