Today in Soap Opera History (March 27)

1953: Search for Tomorrow's Jo tried to help a mystery patient.
1979: Ryan's Hope's Rae wanted to make Frank jealous.
1989: Daytime soap opera Generations premiered on NBC.
2001: Passions aired a Jerry Springer parody.

"History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera Those We Love was canceled and taken off the air by NBC's Blue Network. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge, Connecticut, and featured Universal starlet Nan Grey. It was canceled so abruptly the story was left in limbo which outraged fans. They responded with a flood of vitriolic mail to NBC, to Ponds Cream, and to such trade journals as Radio Guide. Some suggested boycotting the sponsor; interest was aroused by a "code of rights," to force networks and sponsors to keep faith with the audience; some listeners proposed to appeal to the Federal Communications Commission.

Today in Soap Opera History (March 27)

1953: Search for Tomorrow's Jo tried to help a mystery patient.
1979: Ryan's Hope's Rae wanted to make Frank jealous.
1989: Daytime soap opera Generations premiered on NBC.
2001: Passions aired a Jerry Springer parody.

"All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera Those We Love was canceled and taken off the air by NBC's Blue Network. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge, Connecticut, and featured Universal starlet Nan Grey. It was canceled so abruptly the story was left in limbo which outraged fans. They responded with a flood of vitriolic mail to NBC, to Ponds Cream, and to such trade journals as Radio Guide. Some suggested boycotting the sponsor; interest was aroused by a "code of rights," to force networks and sponsors to keep faith with the audience; some listeners proposed to appeal to the Federal Communications Commission.

Today in Soap Opera History (March 27)

1953: Search for Tomorrow's Jo tried to help a mystery patient.
1979: Ryan's Hope's Rae wanted to make Frank jealous.
1989: Daytime soap opera Generations premiered on NBC.
2001: Passions aired a Jerry Springer parody.

"All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera Those We Love was canceled and taken off the air by NBC's Blue Network. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge, Connecticut, and featured Universal starlet Nan Grey. It was canceled so abruptly the story was left in limbo which outraged fans. They responded with a flood of vitriolic mail to NBC, to Ponds Cream, and to such trade journals as Radio Guide. Some suggested boycotting the sponsor; interest was aroused by a "code of rights," to force networks and sponsors to keep faith with the audience; some listeners proposed to appeal to the Federal Communications Commission.

Today in Soap Opera History (March 27)

1953: Search for Tomorrow's Jo tried to help a mystery patient.
1979: Ryan's Hope's Rae wanted to make Frank jealous.
1989: Daytime soap opera Generations premiered on NBC.
2001: Passions aired a Jerry Springer parody.

"The present contains nothing more than the past, and what is found in the effect is already in the cause."
― Henri Louis Bergson

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera Those We Love was canceled and taken off the air by NBC's Blue Network. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge, Connecticut, and featured Universal starlet Nan Grey. It was canceled so abruptly the story was left in limbo which outraged fans. They responded with a flood of vitriolic mail to NBC, to Ponds Cream, and to such trade journals as Radio Guide. Some suggested boycotting the sponsor; interest was aroused by a "code of rights," to force networks and sponsors to keep faith with the audience; some listeners proposed to appeal to the Federal Communications Commission.

Today in Soap Opera History (March 27)

1953: Search for Tomorrow's Jo tried to help a mystery patient.
1979: Ryan's Hope's Rae wanted to make Frank jealous.
1989: Daytime soap opera Generations premiered on NBC.
2001: Passions aired a Jerry Springer parody.

"Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature."
― David Hume

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera Those We Love was canceled and taken off the air by NBC's Blue Network. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge, Connecticut, and featured Universal starlet Nan Grey. It was canceled so abruptly the story was left in limbo which outraged fans. They responded with a flood of vitriolic mail to NBC, to Ponds Cream, and to such trade journals as Radio Guide. Some suggested boycotting the sponsor; interest was aroused by a "code of rights," to force networks and sponsors to keep faith with the audience; some listeners proposed to appeal to the Federal Communications Commission.

Today in Soap Opera History (March 27)

1953: SFT's Joanne tried to help the mysterious Wilbur. 1979: RH's
Rae plotted to make Frank jealous. 1989: GENERATIONS
premiered on NBC. 2001: PASSIONS aired a Jerry Springer parody.

"There is no present or future, only the past happening over and over again - now."
- Eugene O'Neill

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera THOSE WE LOVE was canceled and taken off the air by NBC's Blue Network. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge, Connecticut, and featured Universal starlet Nan Grey. It was canceled so abruptly the story was left in limbo which outraged fans. They responded with a flood of vitriolic mail to NBC, to Ponds Cream, and to such trade journals as Radio Guide. Some suggested boycotting the sponsor; interest was aroused by a "code of rights," to force networks and sponsors to keep faith with the audience; some listeners proposed to appeal to the Federal Communications Commission.

Today in Soap Opera History (March 27)

On this date in...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera THOSE WE LOVE was canceled by NBC. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge, Connecticut, and featured Universal starlet Nan Grey. It was canceled so abruptly the story was left in limbo which outraged fans. They responded with a flood of vitriolic mail to NBC, to Ponds Cream, and to such trade journals as Radio Guide. Some suggested boycotting the sponsor; interest was aroused by a "code of rights," to force networks and sponsors to keep faith with the audience; some listeners proposed to appeal to the Federal Communications Commission.

Don Knotts on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW

Nothing came of it until six months later, when the Red Network picked up the story as if there had been no gap at all. Most of the audience returned but the show was canceled again in 1940. Six months later it was picked up by CBS then it went back to NBC and ran another three years.

1953: On SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, Joanne (Mary Stuart) tried to help a mysterious coma patient (played by Don Knotts).  The man would turn out to be Wilbur Peterson, a character Knotts played on SFT for two years.  Knotts would say decades later it was the only serious role he ever played professionally.