The First Hundred Years
Television series / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The First Hundred Years is the first ongoing TV soap opera in the United States that began as a daytime serial, airing on CBS from December 4, 1950 until June 27, 1952.[1]
A previous daytime drama on NBC, These Are My Children, aired in 1949[2] but only lasted one month, and NBC's Hawkins Falls began in June 1950 as a primetime "soap" and didn't move to daytime until April 1951.[citation needed]
The show began with the wedding of Chris Thayer and Connie Martin, which lasted for the first week of episodes. The couple settled down in a huge, unkept white elephant mansion, a present from Connie's father.[3]
The series did not succeed due to very low viewership, as few American households had television sets, and fewer still watched during the afternoon.[citation needed]
The series was replaced with the television version of Guiding Light, which would prove to be much more successful,[4] airing for 57 years (72 years total when its 15-year run on radio is taken into account).[citation needed]