Claim: As the World Turns debuted on April 2, 1956 at 1:30 pm.

As the World Turns -LRB- often referred to as ATWT -RRB- is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2 , 1956 , to September 17 , 2010 . Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light . Running for 54 years , As the World Turns holds the second-longest continuous run of any daytime network soap opera on American television , surpassed only by Guiding Light . As the World Turns was produced for the first 43 years in Manhattan and in Brooklyn from 2000 until 2010 .   Set in the fictional town of Oakdale , Illinois , the show debuted on April 2 , 1956 , at 1:30 pm EST. . Prior to that date , all serials had been 15 minutes in length . As the World Turns and The Edge of Night , which premiered on the same day at 4:30 pm EST , were the first two to be 30 minutes in length from their premiere . At first , viewers did not respond to the new half-hour serial , but ratings picked up in its second year , eventually reaching the top spot in the daytime Nielsen ratings by fall 1958 . In 1959 , the show started a streak of weekly ratings wins that was not interrupted for over 12 years . The show switched to color on August 21 , 1967 , and expanded from a half-hour in length to one hour starting on December 1 , 1975 , when The Edge of Night moved to ABC . In the year-to-date ratings , As the World Turns was the most-watched daytime drama from 1958 until 1978 , with ten million viewers tuning in each day . At its height , core actors such as Helen Wagner , Don MacLaughlin , Don Hastings , and Eileen Fulton became nationally known . Three of these actors -- Wagner , Hastings , and Fulton -- are also the three longest serving actors in the history of American soap operas .   The show passed its 10,000 th episode on May 12 , 1995 , and celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 2 , 2006 . On September 18 , 2009 , As the World Turns became the last remaining Procter and Gamble-produced soap opera for CBS after Guiding Light aired its final episode on the network .   On December 8 , 2009 , CBS announced that it cancelled As the World Turns after almost 54 years due to low ratings . The show taped its final Procter and Gamble scenes for CBS on June 23 , 2010 , and with a dramatic storyline finale , its final episode on the network aired on September 17 , 2010 . On October 18 , 2010 , CBS replaced As the World Turns with a newly debuted talk show The Talk .