The Real Reason Why As the World Turns Was Canceled
Eileen Fulton's death at 91 this week made headlines for one reason — she was the last living connection to As the World Turns, the CBS soap that ran for over five decades before getting axed in 2010.
Fulton played Lisa Miller, the soap's first "bad girl," from 1960 until the very end.
With her gone, the question has resurfaced: why was a show that dominated daytime TV for 54 years even canceled in the first place?
A Giant That Stayed Too Long
When As the World Turns launched in 1956, it was ahead of the curve. It expanded soap operas from 15-minute quick hits to half-hour dramas, following upper-class families like the Hughes and Stewarts. Viewers tuned in religiously to see doctors, lawyers, and socialites entangle themselves in affairs, betrayals, and legal messes.
By the 1970s, the show was pulling nearly 20 million viewers per episode. But by the late 2000s? That number had cratered to under 3 million.
Why Ratings Collapsed
- The show's core audience — stay-at-home housewives — was vanishing by the 80s and 90s as more women entered the workforce.
- Reality TV exploded, offering cheaper, unscripted drama that networks could mass-produce.
- Social media and tabloid culture replaced soaps with real-life celebrity scandals in real-time.
TV Insider put it plainly when the show ended:
"The mesmeric hold of the soap, the spell of its simmering close-ups and spiraling plotlines, has been broken."
CBS Pulled the Plug
In April 2010, CBS announced the cancellation of As the World Turns. The decision was simple math — the show wasn't profitable anymore. Production costs stayed high, but the audience wasn't coming back.
Even with Eileen Fulton's star power, even with 54 years of history, the network didn't see a future in it. Fulton herself criticized CBS leadership for not understanding the loyalty of daytime viewers, but loyalty didn't pay the bills.
What's Left of the Legacy
The show ended in September 2010. A few daytime soaps like General Hospital and The Young and the Restless still cling to life, but barely.
Fulton's death doesn't just mark the passing of a soap opera icon — it's a reminder that the daytime TV empire collapsed because TV audiences changed, and the networks moved on.
That's why As the World Turns was canceled. Not because it stopped being good — but because the people who watched it were no longer there.