Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Classic Soaps Week: Search For Tomorrow (1951)

It was the first of Roy Winsor's soap operas to hit the air, and also the longest lasting.

Search For Tomorrow premiered on CBS in 1951, sponsored & produced by Procter & Gamble. As with all soaps of the day, Search ran for 15 minutes a day, then expanded to 30 minutes in the mid-60's, going to color in 1967.

However, CBS decided to pull the plug in 1982 after 31 years. Should've known better than play that game with P & G again, having seen The Edge of Night, another P & G soap, move to ABC 7 years earlier. This time, Search moved to NBC, which already was home to Another World and its various spin-offs. Search lasted four years before NBC ended the series in December 1986.

Following is a sample episode from March 1962.



Mary Stuart (Joanne Tate) was in the cast for the entire 35 year run, and even took the time to appear on the musical game show, Musical Chairs, as a musical guest, in 1975.

I actually did see some of the later CBS and early NBC episodes during summer breaks, just to have some background noise while I was doing other things.

Rating: B-.

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