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Surviving Debut Episodes

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vetsoapfan Mentor

vetsoapfan

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A fellow soap fan lamented to me recently that since most daytime dramas were "wiped" for decades, almost no debut episodes survived to be seen and enjoyed today.

True, a huge amount of soap history has been lost forever...but we are fortunate to have uncovered and archived several first/pilot eps.

I won't list every single show that began well after networks/sponsors decided to archive their material, but here are the golden oldies (and a few newer titles) whose premiere eps are known to exist today:

--Search for Tomorrow

--The Edge of Night (episode number two, not one, but still noteworthy)

--General Hospital

--Peyton Place (primetime, but a soap and significant)

--Days of our Lives

--Dark Shadows

--All My Children

--The Young and the Restless

--Ryan's Hope

--Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman ("iffy" to include here, I know, but it's soapy enough)

--The Bold and the Beautiful

--Tribes

I'd guess that The Doctors' pilot survived, since Colgate-Palmolive kept everything until they sold TD to NBC, but I have seen no official confirmation of this.

Does anyone else know of other daily soaps that have their first broadcasts conserved?

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DRW50 Grand Master

DRW50

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I think Loving's first episode (not just the movie) is on Youtube.

Strange Paradise, if that counts. 

I have wondered if Our Private World was saved since it aired in primetime, or if it that was junked.

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Reverend Ruthledge Community Regular

Reverend Ruthledge

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I know it's not video, but the debut episodes of ATWT and AW are preserved in script form. As you know. The debut episode of TGL is missing, however. Scenes of it were reprinted in future scripts but the intact entire episode is missing and nobody knows where it is. As you also know. I would love to get my hands on the first episode of TGL but I fear that will never happen. 

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vetsoapfan Mentor

vetsoapfan

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I figured Loving's first episode would have been saved, since the show began after wiping was discontinued.

I'd say Strange Paradise counts as a soap. It was a daily continuing drama like Dark Shadows (just a lot weaker, quality-wise).

Primetime's Peyton Place survived, and so did The Long, Hot Summer, so I'd love to know Our Private World did too. It would be wonderful to see the entire run!

Thanks for the additions; I knew I'd forget some potential titles.

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Thanks for mentioning the surviving scripts. I considered adding them to this list once I collected enough titles.

The actual videos are perhaps more emotionally coveted, but the scripts being available to read is also a major thrill!

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vetsoapfan Mentor

vetsoapfan

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I believe P&G wiped their videotapes through 1978, but starting archiving them in 1979. I may be off by a year, but I believe this to be the case.

Of course, various episodes from prior years were kept (like Papa Bauer's funeral from TGL in 1973).

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vetsoapfan Mentor

vetsoapfan

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It didn't surprise me at all that the soaps which premiered after the practice of wiping was discontinued have been saved, either by TPTB or by fans on home-recorded videotape.

A quick search on Youtube confirms the debuts of Texas, Capitol, Port Charles, Generations, Santa Barbara and The City are still up and available for viewing.

The only one I did not find was Sunset Beach, but I'm sure that's around somewhere.

I have never seen or found confirmation that the 90-minute pilot of How to Survive a Marriage exists, but you never know. TEON's 90-minute debut on ABC, from 1975, is up on YT. Anything is possible!

All in all, soap lovers are fortunate this many debut eps are in circulation.

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