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?

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.

Edited April 25, 20251 yr by DRW50

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. 

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

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.

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.👍

3 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

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. 

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!

How late did P&G’s wiping process run for? It seems tragic to me that Lovers & Friends/FRFP is essentially lost even though it aired in the late ‘70’s. 

25 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

How late did P&G’s wiping process run for? It seems tragic to me that Lovers & Friends/FRFP is essentially lost even though it aired in the late ‘70’s. 

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).

I'd add CAPITOL, GENERATIONS and SANTA BARBARA to that list.

Port Charles, The City, Sunset Beach, Santa Barbara, Capitol,Texas

To a lot of us they seem like newer soaps but time marches on.

I'd bet the 90 min preem of How to Survive... is out there somewhere.

2 hours ago, Khan said:

I'd add CAPITOL, GENERATIONS and SANTA BARBARA to that list.

 

2 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Port Charles, The City, Sunset Beach, Santa Barbara, Capitol,Texas

To a lot of us they seem like newer soaps but time marches on.

I'd bet the 90 min preem of How to Survive... is out there somewhere.

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.

17 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

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.

Retro TV re-aired the first episode of The Doctors a few years back, but has never aired it since, though it was apparently available for streaming at some point. Some screen captures exist here. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5597472/?ref_=ttep_ep_1

15 minutes ago, cody_1990 said:

Retro TV re-aired the first episode of The Doctors a few years back, but has never aired it since, though it was apparently available for streaming at some point. Some screen captures exist here. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5597472/?ref_=ttep_ep_1

Oh, that's great to know.

I figured it was saved, but thanks for the confirmation.🙂

4 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

Oh, that's great to know.

I figured it was saved, but thanks for the confirmation.🙂

Vetsoapfan, I have sent you a PM!

3 hours ago, MissPalmer said:

Vetsoapfan, I have sent you a PM!

Gracias! I will check it out!😉

The first episode of "Never Too Young," plus a few more from its first months on the air, exists. Years ago, WoST posted an episode of "Paradise Bay." Not sure if it was the debut or another episode from its short run.

I always feel like it's a fair assumption that most Hollywood-based soaps from the 60s were saved. GH, DAYS, and Y&R give me hope. "Bright Promise" was produced in part by Bing Crosby - you can't convince me that it doesn't fully exist in Paramount's archives.

I saw the premiere of SuBe again on WOST some years ago. I assume it's around.