<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> External links </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Website </Td> </Tr> <P> As the World Turns (often referred to as ATWT) 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 third - longest continuous run of any daytime network soap opera on American television, surpassed only by General Hospital and Guiding Light . As the World Turns was produced for the first 43 years in Manhattan and in Brooklyn from 2000 until 2010 . </P> <P> 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 were indifferent 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 . </P>

What year did as the world turns end