The Edge of Night
Encyclopedia
The Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera
produced by Procter & Gamble
. It debuted on CBS
on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC
, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984. There were 7,420 episodes, with some 1,800 available for syndication
.
. Prior to the debuts, fifteen-minute-long shows had been the standard. Both shows aired on CBS, sponsored by Procter and Gamble.
, which was popular in novel and radio formats at the time. Mason's creator Erle Stanley Gardner
was to create and write the show, but a last-minute tiff between him and the CBS network caused Gardner to pull his support from the idea. CBS
insisted that Mason be given a love interest to placate daytime soap opera audiences, but Gardner flatly refused to take Mason in that direction. Gardner would eventually patch up his differences with CBS and Perry Mason would debut in prime time
in 1958.
It was in 1956 that a writer from the Perry Mason radio show, Irving Vendig
, created a retooled idea for daytime television—and The Edge of Night was born. "John Larkin
, radio's best identified Perry Mason, was cast as the protagonist-star, initially as a detective, eventually as an attorney, in a thinly veiled copy of (Perry Mason)."
, which took place in Southern California
, the daytime series was set in the fictional Midwestern city of Monticello. This setting was presumably modeled after Cincinnati, home base of sponsor Procter and Gamble, whose skyline served as the show's logo until 1980. A frequent backdrop for the show's early scenes was a restaurant called the Ho-Hi-Ho. The state capital, however, was known generically as "Capital City"; the state in which Monticello was located was never identified.
In later years, the jazzier Los Angeles skyline replaced that of Cincinnati; according to the website "The Edge of Night Homepage", the city of Monticello had grown from an average-sized city to the size of a major metropolitan area. The skyline was eventually eliminated in the final two years of the show, as was the word "The" in the title.
While most soaps centered on extended families or large hospitals that tended to be insular in their scope, Edge was probably the only daytime serial to truly capture the dynamics of a medium-sized city. Indeed, the city of Monticello— for all of its longtime friendships, age-old family vendettas, and insidiously cut-throat DAs and bad cops in the proverbial pockets of white-collar mobsters—was as vital a "character" as any human being depicted on the show.
The Edge of Night played on more artistic levels than probably any other soap of its time. It was unique among daytime soap operas in that it focused on crime, rather than domestic and romantic matters. The police, district attorney
s, and medical examiners of fictional Monticello, USA, dealt with a steady onslaught of gangsters
, drug dealers, blackmailers, cult
ists, international spies
, corrupt politicians, psychopaths, and murderous debutantes, while at the same time coping with more usual soap opera problems like courtship, marriage, divorce, child custody battles, and amnesia
. The show's particular focus on crime was recognized in 1980, when, in honor of its 25 years on the air, The Edge of Night was given a Special Edgar Award
by the Mystery Writers of America
. It also should be stated that Edge had more prominent male characters than most soaps, and included genuine humor in its scripts to balance the heaviness of the storylines.
character on radio. He then progressed to the District Attorney's office as an ADA, hung his own shingle as a defence attorney for several years, then became DA of Monticello. Karr was portrayed by three actors: John Larkin
(radio's Perry Mason
), Laurence Hugo, and Forrest Compton
. Later main characters included socialite Geraldine Whitney Saxon (Lois Kibbee
); Mike's wife, newspaper journalist Nancy Karr (played the longest by Ann Flood
), who Mike married on April 22, 1963; Schuyler Whitney (Larkin Malloy
) and his scheming wife Raven (played the longest by Sharon Gabet
).
) was drawn into the criminal world by corrupt uncle Harry Lane (Lauren Gilbert). Nevertheless, Mike and Sara eventually married. Their happiness was short-lived when Sara was written out of the show, killed as she saved the life of their daughter Laurie Ann, who ran into the street into the path of an automobile. By the 1960s, Laurie Ann was a teenager, supplying many plots for the show, and a young wife and mother by the 1970s.
Mike later married Nancy Pollock
(Ann Flood
), a journalist
who helped in many of cases. Other important characters were Police Chief
Bill Marceau (Mandel Kramer), who was one of Karr's best friends and shared a tremendous mutual respect, rare between a defense attorney
and a chief of police (perhaps due to the fact that Mike had once been a police officer himself), Marceau's secretary (and later on wife) Martha (Teri Keane), fellow lawyer Adam Drake (Donald May), his client (and later on, his wife) television personality Nicole Travis (Maeve McGuire
; Jayne Bentzen
; Lisa Sloan), and wealthy socialite Geraldine Whitney (Lois Kibbee
), whose fall down a flight of stairs (which put her into a coma for several months) provided one of the show's more memorable mysteries. Nancy had two siblings: Lee, who eventually married Geri McGrath, and Elaine nicknamed "Cookie."
Nicole Travis Drake has had a most interesting and bizarre history. An early storyline had her victimized by two different women who wanted her dead. She was then accused of murdering Susan Forbes (Bibi Besch
). Adam Drake defended her and proved her innocence. He then broke away from Mike Karr's law firm as partner and opened his own law practice. He hired Nicole as his secretary and a romance began to blossom. When Nicole sensed his lack of interest in marriage she walked out and went to work for another lawyer Jake Berman (Ward Costello
). She continued to date Adam until she told him if he didn't propose to her by New Year's Eve they were finished. She soon got another marriage proposal from her new boss Jake Berman, whose wife had died of an overdose. She didn't accept but moved to New York City with him when he was going to partner at an existing law firm. Adam then searched for Nicole in New York until he found her at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve and asked her "Will you marry me?" She ran into his arms, much to Jake Berman's jealousy. When Adam and Nicole returned to Monticello, so did Jake Berman determined to prevent them from every marrying. He plotted with ex-convict Johnny Dallas (John LaGioia) to frame Adam for attempted murder to prevent him from marrying Nicole. Johnny didn't show up but Jake was murdered by Joel Gantry (Nicholos Pryor) and Adam was arrested for the murder immediately following his and Nicole's wedding at the Karr residence. The day before the jury would find Adam guilty Joel Gantry was found by Kevin Jamison (Dick Shoberg) in San Francisco, who was really Edith Berman's son and convinced Jake had murdered his mother. Adam and Nicole were reunited and finally settled into married life. Sometime later, she was believed to have died in a boating accident in the Caribbean but was discovered alive 18 months later by Kevin Jamison (by this time played by John Driver) in Europe at the same time Adam proposed to Brandy Henderson (Dixie Carter
). Adam and Nicole were eventually reunited once again and Brandy left town. But their marriage ended after Adam was murdered. In one of the foremost startling moments in this serial's history, the character of Nicole was replaced with a new actress and was subsequently de-aged a decade, a rarity for an adult character in the genre. Now younger and more vibrant, Nicole was suitable for a relationship with young doctor Miles Cavanaugh. Nicole was eventually killed off when her makeup powder was poisoned.
Another important relationship was that between Nancy and her younger sister Cookie, who was married first to Malcom Thomas and later to Ron Christopher, whose dealings with loan sharks affected Mike's good friends Louise and Philip Capice. In the show's later years, the Karrs' beautiful daughter Laurie Ann (Emily Prager
), by now a young adult, was an important character. Her relationship with Jonah Lockwood, a sociopath
, almost cost her her life, but he was revealed to be an alternate persona of Keith Whitney, scion of the wealthy Whitney family, nemesis of the Karrs and Marceau. Laurie subsequently married Mike Karr's law associate Vic Lamont (Ted Tinling
) after he went to prison doing undercover work and his life was saved by inmate Johnny Dallas. Johnny was released from prison and became the owner of a restaurant The New Moon Cafe. Laurie (now played by Jeanne Ruskin) played the piano at the restaurant leading to her and Johnny falling in love. When Vic found out Laurie and Johnny were together in Chicago when he didn't show up to shoot and wound Jake Berman he walked out. Laurie and Johnny eventually married and Vic was murdered saving Johnny's life. Laurie (now played by Linda Cook
) and Johnny had a baby they named John Victor. However, Laurie developed mental problems that led her to being placed in a mental institution and Johnny ran away.
One of the later major story arcs was about a train wreck and a prisoner, Draper Scott (Tony Craig
), who had been unjustly convicted of murder, escaping from the train accident, much in the style of Richard Kimble
of The Fugitive
. Although in Draper's case, he also had amnesia, for quite a few months. There was also an interesting storyline in the mid-1970s involving a troubled woman (Nicole's cousin, Serena Faraday) who would change her personality to Josie as she donned a frizzy, black wig in perhaps a nod to One Life to Live
s popular Victoria Lord
/Niki Smith storyline. Another memorable character was Raven Alexander Jamison Whitney (Juanin Clay
, then Sharon Gabet
), a duplicitous coquette who became more stable and faithful in the latter years.
Near the end of the series' run came an unusual story wherein Mike and Nancy, after sleeping in twin beds for nearly their whole married life, decided to "go all out, and buy a double bed", thereby retiring their twin beds for good. It was one of the more unusual moments of the show.
, revealing that an old enemy -- Louis Van Dyne, who had supposedly been sent to the state penitentiary -- had returned to settle some scores, and none of the main protagonists were safe. In addition, police detective Chris Egan (Jennifer Taylor
), spying a supposedly-deceased henchman of Van Dyne, Donald Hext, follows Hext into a previously unknown Monticello street called "Wonderland Lane," and discovers Van Dyne's sister, Alicia Van Dyne (Chris Weatherhead), in a shop, where Alicia is visciously stabbed in the back by her brother, her dying words to Chris Egan, "...Off, off with her head...." Egan barely escapes from the shop after Van Dyne and Hext attempt to capture her and runs out of Wonderland Lane, briefly falling by the post next to the street sign, a stuffed white rabbit propped against it.
The final scene of the series is of Chris Egan telling Mike Karr and others of her encounter with Louis Van Dyne and Donald Hext, in addition to Alicia Van Dyne's stabbing. The show's theme plays over the dialogue, masking Karr's words, but the audience is left to know that the story of Monticello continues onward, albeit off the air. The reason for the cliffhanger was that Procter & Gamble believed that they could find another network to take over production of Edge, but in 1984, there were no cable networks willing to take on such an expensive endeavor.
In 2010, actress Mariann Aalda
, along with soap opera ghostwriter Alina Adams, attempted to continue the story (via blogging) of The Edge of Night by telling the story of Monticello 25 years later, with the explanation that The Edge of Night was actually television's very first reality television series. The blog entries ended abruptly in early 2011, with no explanation by either Aalda or Adams as to the status of the blog series.
Due to the show's crime format and its late start time of 4:30 PM (3:30 Central), Edge had an audience which was estimated to be more than 50% male at one point. In July 1963, the show was moved to the 3:30/2:30 time period (the 4:30/3:30 slot was given back to the affiliates), in which it dominated even over otherwise-hit programs like NBC's You Don't Say and ABC's Dark Shadows
and One Life to Live
. When the show moved to 2:30 PM (1:30 Central) on September 11, 1972 at Procter and Gamble's insistence, the show slid from a solid #2 in the Nielsen ratings
to near-last; it has been hypothesized that the show's ratings dropped because many male viewers and teenagers were unable to make it home from work or school earlier in the afternoon to watch. (This would also not be the only time that P&G's insistence on a certain timeslot for one of their soaps would cause a catastrophic drop in ratings, with the same problem plaguing the long-running Search for Tomorrow
a decade later.)
By Summer 1975, CBS prepared to make its first-ever expansion of a serial to 60 minutes daily, in response to NBC's lengthening of both Another World
and Days of our Lives
some months earlier. Unsurprisingly, daytime executives chose the ratings-leading As the World Turns
, which faced Days directly at 1:30/12:30. Since CBS' affiliates usually aired newscasts in the 1:00/12:00 access slot, and also would preempt Edge if it returned to 4:30/3:30, CBS had no vacant timeslot into which to expand Edge, and had no choice but to cancel it.
and The $10,000 Pyramid; it also was the only network at the time to have never had a P&G-packaged program on its schedule. Thus, ABC was enthusiastic about bringing Edge onto its daytime lineup when P&G approached it about doing so. However, officials informed the company that contractual obligations to other programs would not permit the network to admit Edge onto the lineup until December.
This raised a serious problem because CBS wanted to expand As the World Turns when the Fall season began in September, meaning that Edge would have to leave the air for nearly three months. Had this happened, ABC would have probably rescinded its decision to acquire Edge due to near-certain loss of viewer interest caused by the interruption. Fortunately, P&G negotiated with CBS to delay the expansion of ATWT until ABC had an available slot for Edge. On December 1, Edge moved to ABC, and on CBS, ATWT began occupying the 1:30-2:30 block with Guiding Light
moving down one half-hour to Edges old place.
The last CBS episode of Edge (November 28, 1975) ended with the discovery that Nicole Travis Drake was alive, after she had been presumed dead in an explosion eighteen months earlier while on a boating trip with her husband Adam Drake. ABC aired the show beginning on December 1, with a 90-minute premiere. This episode picked up where CBS had left off, with Geraldine Whitney still in a coma, after having been pushed down a flight of stairs in a murder attempt by her daughter-in-law Tiffany's second husband, Noel Douglas. Nicole, with the help of Geraldine's adopted "son", Kevin Jamison, remembered who she was after suffering from amnesia since the explosion. The final scene of that day's episode was an exciting climax in which Serena Faraday, in her "Josie" split-personality, shot her husband on the steps of the courthouse.
Initially, Edge showed promise when it changed networks. It was the first serial to change networks (the only other to do so would be the P&G-packaged Search for Tomorrow
which would move from CBS to NBC in 1982); it aired in a late afternoon time slot of 4/3 PM for ABC affiliates in the Eastern and Central time zones, and Noon for ABC affiliates in the Pacific time zone because of a different scheduling pattern for ABC's West Coast feed. At first, the show's overall ratings declined because fewer homes had access to it, because ABC affiliates had opted for local or syndicated
programs at the 4/3 slot instead of the network feed for many years, and decided not to abandon the practice. Others tape-delayed the program for morning slots, either the following day or up to two weeks later. Nevertheless, Edge was typically either first (or a close second) in its timeslot for markets that cleared it in its network feed of 4/3, due mainly to the weakness of competing programs on CBS and NBC. Also, the Edge demographics
were significantly better on ABC; thus, the network was actually able to charge higher ad rates for it than several more popular series with higher audience ratings.
Despite never recovering the ground it lost from its CBS days (in fact, sliding into the lowest third in the ratings by 1977), Edges ratings improved slightly once the 1980s began. While the numbers were not as solid, Edge still pulled in ratings in the 5.0 range and improved its position on the ratings list, peaking at 11th in both 1981 and 1982. However, from 1982 on, ratings would fall even further as even more affiliates dropped the show in favor of the aforementioned syndicated offerings. At the end of the 1981-82 television season, Edge pulled in a 5.0 rating. However, with the resulting pre-emptions, the show's rating lowered to a 3.8 in 1983, which caused P&G to lose more money on the program with each passing year.
The series was also broadcasted in Canada
on CBC Television
since the early 1970s, but after more than a decade, CBC opted in Fall 1982 to drop Edge from its daytime afternoon lineup, replacing it with another ABC soap, All My Children
.
In May 1983, P&G dismissed the show's headwriter, Henry Slesar
, whose 15-year stint with the soap was at that time the longest in daytime serial history, and appointed a new headwriter, Lee Sheldon. Sheldon modified the show's plot with emphasis on younger characters and even some humor in an effort to help the ailing serial gain new fans. However, more and more ABC affiliates continued to drop the show.
By fall 1984, Edge aired on less than 62% of ABC's affiliates; over two dozen more affiliates planned to drop the series in the first quarter of 1985. Although ABC intended to continue Edge, even offering to move it to a mid-morning timeslot, P&G was unable to continue producing the show as a result of the constant loss of revenue from frequent pre-emptions. Thus, on October 26, 1984, ABC and P&G made a joint announcement that Edges December 28 broadcast would be its series finale. At this point, the show's ratings were less than half of what they had been at the beginning of the decade; it finished the 1984-85 television season with a 2.6 in only four months of episodes. Edge is the most recent ABC network program to have aired in the 4/3 timeslot to this day; the network followed NBC in giving back the timeslot to its affiliates (NBC had done this in 1979). CBS, which was still programming the 4 PM timeslot with Body Language
at the time, joined the other two major networks in returning the slot to its stations in September 1986 once Press Your Luck
terminated its run.
practice of shows it owned in September 1972, P&G still continued wiping tapes for several more years. Many monochrome and some color episodes were kinescoped (the color kinescopes survive in black-and-white). 45 episodes of the CBS era are known to exist, the best-known of which include the Christmas Day 1974 episode and a September 1975 episode depicting the attempted murder of Geraldine. Some fans also have the second episode of the series (April 3, 1956), which featured Don Hastings, John Larkin and Teal Ames. The first two years of the ABC run also followed this practice, which ceased in 1978 for ABC and all P&G shows.
From August 5, 1985 to January 19, 1989, reruns aired in a daily late-night timeslot on cable's USA Network
, transmitting episodes from June 1981 up to the series finale.
From August 2006 to January 2009, P&G made several of its classic soap operas available, a few episodes at a time, through AOL Video Service, downloadable free of charge. AOL downloads of The Edge of Night commenced with episode #6051 from July 17, 1979.
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
produced by Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
. It debuted on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984. There were 7,420 episodes, with some 1,800 available for syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
.
Concept
The Edge of Night (the working title of the show was The Edge of Darkness) premiered on April 2, 1956 as one of the first two half-hour soaps on television— the other being As the World TurnsAs the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS 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...
. Prior to the debuts, fifteen-minute-long shows had been the standard. Both shows aired on CBS, sponsored by Procter and Gamble.
Mystery and Mason
The show was originally conceived as the daytime television version of Perry MasonPerry Mason (radio)
The radio criminal serial Perry Mason, based on the novels of Erle Stanley Gardner, was broadcast on CBS Radio from 1943-1955. The series was adapted into Edge of Night which ran on television for an additional 30 years.-Adapting Perry Mason to other media:...
, which was popular in novel and radio formats at the time. Mason's creator Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories, best known for the Perry Mason series, he also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J...
was to create and write the show, but a last-minute tiff between him and the CBS network caused Gardner to pull his support from the idea. CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
insisted that Mason be given a love interest to placate daytime soap opera audiences, but Gardner flatly refused to take Mason in that direction. Gardner would eventually patch up his differences with CBS and Perry Mason would debut in prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
in 1958.
It was in 1956 that a writer from the Perry Mason radio show, Irving Vendig
Irving Vendig
Irving Vendig was an American soap opera writer.-Career:He created The Edge of Night for Procter and Gamble Productions and CBS Daytime in 1956. He had been a writer on the Perry Mason radio show...
, created a retooled idea for daytime television—and The Edge of Night was born. "John Larkin
John Larkin (radio and television actor)
John Larkin was an American actor whose nearly-30-year career was capped by his 1950s portrayal of two fictional criminal attorneys — Perry Mason on radio and Mike Karr on television daytime drama The Edge of Night...
, radio's best identified Perry Mason, was cast as the protagonist-star, initially as a detective, eventually as an attorney, in a thinly veiled copy of (Perry Mason)."
Setting
Unlike Perry MasonPerry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
, which took place in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, the daytime series was set in the fictional Midwestern city of Monticello. This setting was presumably modeled after Cincinnati, home base of sponsor Procter and Gamble, whose skyline served as the show's logo until 1980. A frequent backdrop for the show's early scenes was a restaurant called the Ho-Hi-Ho. The state capital, however, was known generically as "Capital City"; the state in which Monticello was located was never identified.
In later years, the jazzier Los Angeles skyline replaced that of Cincinnati; according to the website "The Edge of Night Homepage", the city of Monticello had grown from an average-sized city to the size of a major metropolitan area. The skyline was eventually eliminated in the final two years of the show, as was the word "The" in the title.
While most soaps centered on extended families or large hospitals that tended to be insular in their scope, Edge was probably the only daytime serial to truly capture the dynamics of a medium-sized city. Indeed, the city of Monticello— for all of its longtime friendships, age-old family vendettas, and insidiously cut-throat DAs and bad cops in the proverbial pockets of white-collar mobsters—was as vital a "character" as any human being depicted on the show.
Format
During most of the show's run, the show's fans were treated to an announcer enthusiastically and energetically announcing the show's title, "Theee Edge...of Night!". Bob Dixon was the first announcer in 1956, followed by Herbert Duncan. The two voices most synonymous with the show, however, were those of Harry Kramer (1957–1972) and Hal Simms who announced the show until the series ended in 1984.The Edge of Night played on more artistic levels than probably any other soap of its time. It was unique among daytime soap operas in that it focused on crime, rather than domestic and romantic matters. The police, district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
s, and medical examiners of fictional Monticello, USA, dealt with a steady onslaught of gangsters
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
, drug dealers, blackmailers, cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
ists, international spies
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, corrupt politicians, psychopaths, and murderous debutantes, while at the same time coping with more usual soap opera problems like courtship, marriage, divorce, child custody battles, and amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
. The show's particular focus on crime was recognized in 1980, when, in honor of its 25 years on the air, The Edge of Night was given a Special Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
by the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
. It also should be stated that Edge had more prominent male characters than most soaps, and included genuine humor in its scripts to balance the heaviness of the storylines.
Cast and characters
The show's central protagonist was Mike Karr, tireless crime-fighter, introduced as a cop finishing law school. This character evolved from the earlier Perry MasonPerry Mason (radio)
The radio criminal serial Perry Mason, based on the novels of Erle Stanley Gardner, was broadcast on CBS Radio from 1943-1955. The series was adapted into Edge of Night which ran on television for an additional 30 years.-Adapting Perry Mason to other media:...
character on radio. He then progressed to the District Attorney's office as an ADA, hung his own shingle as a defence attorney for several years, then became DA of Monticello. Karr was portrayed by three actors: John Larkin
John Larkin (radio and television actor)
John Larkin was an American actor whose nearly-30-year career was capped by his 1950s portrayal of two fictional criminal attorneys — Perry Mason on radio and Mike Karr on television daytime drama The Edge of Night...
(radio's Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
), Laurence Hugo, and Forrest Compton
Forrest Compton
Forrest Compton is an American actor. He has appeared in many television series and films but is by far best known as attorney Mike Karr, the central character on the long-running soap opera The Edge of Night, on which he appeared from 1970 - 84...
. Later main characters included socialite Geraldine Whitney Saxon (Lois Kibbee
Lois Kibbee
Lois Kibbee was an American actress.Kibbee was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The daughter of actor Milton Kibbee and the niece of actor Guy Kibbee, Lois is best remembered for portrayal of Geraldine Weldon Whitney Saxon on the CBS/ABC daytime soap opera The Edge of Night, where she appeared from...
); Mike's wife, newspaper journalist Nancy Karr (played the longest by Ann Flood
Ann Flood
Ann Flood is an American actress.She is most known for her work as journalist/author Nancy Pollock Karr on the soap opera The Edge of Night, a role she played from 1962 to 1984...
), who Mike married on April 22, 1963; Schuyler Whitney (Larkin Malloy
Larkin Malloy
Larkin Malloy is an American actor, announcer and voiceover artist as well as one of the most respected Acting Teachers and Private Acting Coaches in New York.Malloy was born in New York City...
) and his scheming wife Raven (played the longest by Sharon Gabet
Sharon Gabet
Sharon Gabet is an American actress known for roles on daytime soap operas.Her longest running role was as Raven Alexander Whitney on The Edge of Night from 1977 to 1984. She also appeared as Brittany Peterson on Another World and as Melinda Cramer Janssen on One Life to Live .-External links:...
).
| Actor | Character | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| John Larkin John Larkin (radio and television actor) John Larkin was an American actor whose nearly-30-year career was capped by his 1950s portrayal of two fictional criminal attorneys — Perry Mason on radio and Mike Karr on television daytime drama The Edge of Night... |
Mike Karr Mike Karr Mike Karr is a fictional character on the long-running daytime soap opera, The Edge of Night.A tireless crime-fighter, Karr was introduced as a cop finishing law school. This character evolved from the earlier Perry Mason character on radio... |
1956–1962 |
| Laurence Hugo | Mike Karr Mike Karr Mike Karr is a fictional character on the long-running daytime soap opera, The Edge of Night.A tireless crime-fighter, Karr was introduced as a cop finishing law school. This character evolved from the earlier Perry Mason character on radio... |
1962–1970 |
| Forrest Compton Forrest Compton Forrest Compton is an American actor. He has appeared in many television series and films but is by far best known as attorney Mike Karr, the central character on the long-running soap opera The Edge of Night, on which he appeared from 1970 - 84... |
Mike Karr Mike Karr Mike Karr is a fictional character on the long-running daytime soap opera, The Edge of Night.A tireless crime-fighter, Karr was introduced as a cop finishing law school. This character evolved from the earlier Perry Mason character on radio... |
1971–1984 |
| Ann Flood Ann Flood Ann Flood is an American actress.She is most known for her work as journalist/author Nancy Pollock Karr on the soap opera The Edge of Night, a role she played from 1962 to 1984... |
Nancy Pollock Karr Nancy Pollock Nancy Karr is a fictional character on the long-running daytime soap opera, The Edge of Night. For 22 years, the role was played by actress Ann Flood.... , Journalist/author |
1962–1984 |
| Teal Ames | Sara Lane Karr, Mike's first wife | 1956–1961 |
| Lois Kibbee Lois Kibbee Lois Kibbee was an American actress.Kibbee was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The daughter of actor Milton Kibbee and the niece of actor Guy Kibbee, Lois is best remembered for portrayal of Geraldine Weldon Whitney Saxon on the CBS/ABC daytime soap opera The Edge of Night, where she appeared from... |
Geraldine Weldon Whitney Saxon, 'Mrs Saxon' Monticello's richest citizen | 1970–1971, 1973–1984 |
| Frances Fisher Frances Fisher Frances Fisher is a British actress. She is known for her work on television, in theater and in films, including roles as Strawberry Alice, the madame prostitute in Unforgiven , and Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the mother of Kate Winslet's character in Titanic .- Early life and education :Fisher was born... |
Deborah 'Red' Saxon, Detective | 1976–1981 |
| Charles Flohe Charles Grant (actor) Charles Grant , also listed as Charles Flohe or Charles Floye, is an American actor most notably recognized for his role as Connor McCabe on NBC's soap opera Santa Barbara. He portrayed the role from 1992 to 1993... |
John 'Preacher' Emerson | 1982–1984 |
| Larkin Malloy Larkin Malloy Larkin Malloy is an American actor, announcer and voiceover artist as well as one of the most respected Acting Teachers and Private Acting Coaches in New York.Malloy was born in New York City... |
Jefferson Brown | 1980–1981 |
| Larkin Malloy Larkin Malloy Larkin Malloy is an American actor, announcer and voiceover artist as well as one of the most respected Acting Teachers and Private Acting Coaches in New York.Malloy was born in New York City... |
Schuyler Whitney | 1981–1984 |
| Sharon Gabet Sharon Gabet Sharon Gabet is an American actress known for roles on daytime soap operas.Her longest running role was as Raven Alexander Whitney on The Edge of Night from 1977 to 1984. She also appeared as Brittany Peterson on Another World and as Melinda Cramer Janssen on One Life to Live .-External links:... |
Raven Alexander Whitney | 1977–1984 |
| Dennis Parker Wade Nichols Wade Nichols, aka Dennis Parker, was an American actor and singer who started his acting career in pornographic movies.His first feature film role was probably in the 1975 gay adult film Boynapped!... |
Derek Mallory, Chief of police | 1979–1984 |
| David Froman David Froman David Wesley Froman was an American actor, born in Miami, Oklahoma, best known for his role as Lieutenant Bob Brooks on the popular television series Matlock.-Career:... |
Gunther/Bruno The Whitney's servant | 1980–1981, 1982–1984 |
| Joel Crothers Joel Crothers Joel Anthony Crothers was an American actor who, in 1981, was noted by columnist Liz Smith to so strongly resemble Tom Selleck that they could be twin brothers... |
Miles Cavanaugh, Dr. | 1976–1984 |
| Terry Davis | April Cavanaugh Scott, Dr. | 1977–1981 |
| Joe Lambie | Logan Swift, ADA | 1977–1981 |
| Tom Keena | Philip Seward | 1979–1980 |
| Jaques Roux | Dr. Calmette | 1976 |
| Dixie Carter Dixie Carter Dixie Virginia Carter was an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women... |
Olivia Brandeis "Brandy" Henderson, Assistant District Attorney | 1974–1976 |
| Mildred Clinton | Judge Sussman | 1975–1976 |
| Dorothy Lyman Dorothy Lyman Dorothy Lyman is an American television actress, director and producer. She is most commonly known for her work as architect Gwen Parrish Frame in Another World and in All My Children as Opal Sue Gardner, and on the syndicated sitcom Mama's Family, as Naomi Harper.Lyman was born in Minneapolis,... |
Elly Jo Jameson | 1972–1973 |
| Tony Craig | Draper Scott, ADA | 1975–1981 |
| Donald May | Adam Drake Mike Karr's law partner | 1967–1977 |
| Jane Bentzen Jayne Bentzen Jayne Bentzen is an American actress and former model, best known for her role as "Nicole Travis Drake Cavanaugh" on the soap opera The Edge of Night, a role she assumed in 1978 after the departure of actress, Maeve McGuire. Bentzen continued in the role until the summer of 1981.-External links:... |
Nicole Travis Stewart Drake Cavanaugh #2 | 1978–1981 |
| Maeve McGuire Maeve McGuire Maeve McGuire is an American actress, best known for her role as "Nicole Travis Drake" on the soap opera The Edge of Night, which she played from 1968 to 1974 and from 1975 to 1977... |
Nicole Travis Stewart Drake #1 | 1968–1974, 1975–1977 |
| Ward Costello Ward Costello Edward "Ward" Costello was an American actor, composer and lyricist. He composed and wrote the lyrics to the theme for The Gallant Hours.... |
Jake Berman | 1972-1973 |
| Nicholos Pryor | Joel Gantry #2 | 1973 |
| Larry Hagman Larry Hagman Larry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas... |
Ed Gibson, detective | 1961–1963 |
| Irving Allen Lee Irving Allen Lee Irving Allen Lee was an African American actor known for playing Detective Calvin Stoner on The Edge of Night from 1977-1984 and Dr. Evan Cooper on Ryan's Hope from 1986-1988. He died from an AIDS related illness in 1992.-External links:* on The Internet Movie Database... |
Calvin Stoner, Detective | 1977–1984 |
| Mariann Aalda Mariann Aalda Mariann Aalda is an American television, stage, and film actress. Aalda is primarily known for her work in television.-Career:She portrayed DiDi Bannister on the long-running ABC soap opera Edge of Night, and had a regular roles on the CBS sitcom The Royal Family, as the daughter of Redd Foxx and... |
Didi Bannister Stoner, attorney | 1981–1984 |
| Jerry Zaks Jerry Zaks Jerry Zaks is a German-born American stage and television director, and actor. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Drama Desk Award for directing The House of Blue Leaves, Lend Me A Tenor, and Six Degrees of Separation and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and Drama... |
Louis Van Dine | 1983–1984 |
| Amanda Blake Amanda Blake Amanda Blake was an American actress known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the television western Gunsmoke.-Early life and career:... |
Julianna Stanhower, Dr. | 1984 |
| Frank Gorshin Frank Gorshin Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show... |
Smiley Wilson | 1983 |
| Lori Loughlin Lori Loughlin Lori Anne Loughlin is an American actress, best known for her role as Rebecca Donaldson-Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom Full House. As of 2011, she portrays the role of Debbie Wilson on 90210, the spin-off of Beverly Hills, 90210... |
Jody Travis #1 | 1980–1983 |
| Leah Ayres Leah Ayres Leah Ayres is an American actress who played Valerie Bryson on the daytime serial, The Edge of Night, in the early 1980s. Ayres is well known for her role in Bloodsport, alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme... |
Valerie Bryson | 1981–1983 |
| Alfred Drake Alfred Drake Alfred Drake was an American actor and singer.-Biography:Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while still a student at Brooklyn College... |
Dwight Endicott | 1982 |
| Kim Hunter Kim Hunter Kim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire... |
Nola Madison (aka Martha Cory) | 1979–1980 |
| Margaret Colin Margaret Colin Margaret Colin is an American actress. She is known for her role as Margo Montgomery Hughes # 1 on As the World Turns and for her role as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on Gossip Girl.-Early life:... |
Paige Madison | 1979 |
| Denny Albee | Steve Guthrie, Det. | 1976–1980 |
| Farley Granger Farley Granger Farley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:... |
Trent Archer | 1979–1980 2 ep. |
| Lee Godart | Eliot Dorn | 1978–1980 |
| Lew Resseguie | Sam Dwyer, Sgt | 1980 |
| Ann Williams | Margo Huntington Dorn, television station manager | 1978–1980 |
| Lori Cardille Lori Cardille Lori Cardille is an American actress, best known for her lead role in George A. Romero's Day of the Dead . Her father, Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille, appeared as a reporter in the original Night of the Living Dead .... |
Winter Austin #1 | 1978–1979 |
| Stephanie Braxton Stephanie Braxton Stephanie Braxton is an American television writer, playwright and actress. She married Dan Hamilton in 1970, but they are currently divorced... |
Winter Austin #2 | 1979 |
| Bruce Gray Bruce Gray Bruce Gray is a Puerto Rican-born Canadian actor.-Early years:Gray was born Robert Bruce Gray in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Canadian parents... |
Owen Madison | 1979 |
| Teri Keane | Martha Spears Marceau, police secretary | 1964–1975 |
| Mandel Kramer | Bill Marceau, First Monticello police chief | 1959–1979 |
| Ted Tinling | Vic Lamont | 1969–1975 |
| Elizabeth Farley | Kay Lepage Reynolds Lamont | 1973–1975 |
| Paul Vincent | Ashley Reynolds | 1972-1973 |
| Alan Feinstein Alan Feinstein (actor) Alan Feinstein is an American actor noted for his 1983 award winning stage performance in A View From the Bridge.-References:... |
Dr. Jim Fields | 1969–1975 |
| George Petrie George O. Petrie George O. Petrie was an American television actor.-Biography:He was born in New Haven, Connecticut. On The Honeymooners he had recurring character roles throughout the series... |
D.A. Peter Quinn | 1963-1974 |
| Bernard Barrow Bernard Barrow Bernard E. "Bernie" Barrow was an American actor and collegiate drama professor. He was best known as an actor for his role as "Johnny Ryan", a publican and the patriarch of an Irish-American family on the television soap opera, Ryan's Hope, on which he appeared from 1975 until the show's demise... |
D.A. Ira Paulson | 1974–1975 |
| Judson Laire | Judge Blackwell | 1973 |
| James Ray James Ray James Ray may refer to:*James Arthur Ray, professional speaker and author convicted of negligent homicide in 2011*James B. Ray , governor of Indiana*James Earl Ray , assassin of Martin Luther King Jr.*James Edwin Ray , U.S... |
Floyd Porter | 1974 |
| Mari Gorman Mari Gorman Mari Gorman is an American actress perhaps best known for her work in television. One of her first major roles was as murder victim and mob pawn Taffy Simms on the soap opera The Edge of Night, in the 1970s.... |
Taffy Simms | 1974 |
| Alberta Grant | Liz Hillyer Prentiss Fields | 1966–1974 |
| Patricia Cornwell | Tracy Dallas Micelli | 1974–1977 |
| Lou Criscuolo | Danny Micelli | 1973–1977 |
| Leslie Ray | Babs Micelli | 1974 |
| Jay Gregory | Morlock Sevigny | 1974–1975 |
| John LaGiola | Johnny Dallas | 1973-1977 |
| Kathleen Cody Kathleen Cody (actor) Kathleen Cody, often credited as Kathy Cody is an American actress. She is known for her role as the characters Hallie Stokes and Carrie Stokes, on the cult television series Dark Shadows, appearing in 49 episodes... |
Laurie Ann Karr #3 | (1966-1968) |
| Emily Prager Emily Prager - Life and work :Prager grew up in Texas, Taiwan, and Greenwich Village, NY. She is a graduate of The Brearley School, Barnard College and has a Masters Degree in Education... |
Laurie Ann Karr Lamont #4 | (1968-1972) |
| Jeanne Ruskin | Laurie Ann Karr Lamont Dallas #5 | 1973-1975 |
| Linda Cook Linda Cook (actor) Linda O. Cook is an American actor, perhaps best known for her portrayal of Egypt Jones Masters on the American daytime soap opera Loving from 1988 to 1991 and 1993 to 1994... |
Laurie Ann Karr Dallas #6 | (1975-1977, 1984) |
| Lucy Martin | Tiffany Whitney Douglas | 1970–1971, 1973–1976 |
| Johanna Leister | Phoebe Smith Jamison, Dr. | 1972–1976 |
| Heidi Vaughn | Phoebe Smith | 1965–1967 |
| John Driver | Kevin Jamison #2 | 1975–1978 |
| Dick Shoberg | Kevin Jamison | 1972–1975 |
| Doug McKeon | Timmy Faraday | 1975–1976 |
| Bernie McInerney Bernie McInerney -Biography:He grew up in Delaware where his father was an auditor with the DuPont Company. McInerney came to acting at a young age, announcing the World Series defeat of the 1946 Boston Red Sox from his bicycle seat as he rode through his neighborhood... |
Mark Faraday | 1975 |
| Niles McMaster | Clay Jordan, Dr. | 1975–1977 |
| Thom Christopher Thom Christopher Thom Christopher is an American actor.He is best known for his portrayal of mob boss Carlo Hesser and Mortimer Bern on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live.Christopher has also had roles on soap operas such as Loving and Guiding Light... |
Noel Douglas #1 | 1974 |
| Dick Latessa Dick Latessa Richard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968... |
Noel Douglas #2 | 1974–1976 |
| Michael Stroka Michael Stroka Michael George Stroka was an American actor on soap operas like ABC-TV's Dark Shadows, in which he played Aristede, Bruno, Bruno Hess, and Laszlo Ferrari from 1969 to 1970... |
Quentin Henderson, Dr. | 1975–1976 |
| Louise Shaffer Louise Shaffer -Biography:Shaffer was born in Woodbridge, Connecticut, where she showed an interest in acting early on in her life. After finishing high school, she attended Connecticut College for Women, then Yale Drama School... |
Serena Faraday/Josie | 1975–1976 |
| Sam Schacht | Paul Fairchild | 1974–1975 |
| Bennett Cooperman | Benny Hayes | 1979 |
| Denny Albee | Steve Guthrie, Det. | 1976–1980 |
| George Hall George Hall (actor) George Hall was a theater, TV, and film actor best remembered by his role as the 93 year old Indiana Jones in the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles . He debuted on Broadway in 1946. He had a memorable and engaging role as Mr... |
John/Ernie Tuttle #2 | 1976–1977 |
| Robert Dryden | oliver Barbour | 1966 |
| Kate Wilkinson Kate Wilkinson Kate Wilkinson was an American stage, film and television actress, best known for her roles as Viola Stapleton in the CBS soap opera Guiding Light, a role she played from 1976 to 1981, and Clara Hudson on the NBC soap opera Another World, which she played from 1987 to 1989.In addition to... |
Mrs. Perkins | 1966 |
| Stephen Elliott Stephen Elliott (actor) Stephen Elliott was an American actor. His best known role was that of crime boss, Burt Johnson, in the hit 1981 film Arthur.-Theatre:Elliott's first acting engagement was at the New York Neighborhood Playhouse in 1946... |
Peter Dalton | ....-1966 |
| Edward Holmes | Willy Bryan | ....-1966 |
| Frances Chaney | Jeanne Culpepper | 50s-60s, 1967 |
| Cathleen Cordell Cathleen Cordell Cathleen Cordell was an American film and television actress.Cordell was born in Brooklyn, New York. Cordell moved to England and then France, in order to begin her childhood education. She died on August 19, 1997, in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, she was 82... |
Virginia Dalton | 50s |
| Richard Janaver | Lloyd Conway | 50s |
| Barbara Joyce | Jane Conway | 50s |
| Phil Sterling | Johnny The Hitman | 1968 |
| Phil Sterling | Vic Ratner | 50s |
| House Jameson | John H. Phillips | 1957-1958 |
| Jane White | Lydia Holliday, RN | 1968–1969 |
| Lester Rawlins Lester Rawlins Lester Rawlins was an American stage, screen, and television actor.Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Rawlins appeared in off-Broadway productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Winterset, In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, and Nightride, for which he won the Drama Desk Award for... |
Orin Hillyer, wealthy Monticello citizen | 1966–1968, 1972–1973 |
| Irene Dailey Irene Dailey Irene Dailey was an American actress, perhaps best known for her work on Broadway and on daytime television.Dailey was born in New York City, the daughter of Helen Theresa and Daniel James Dailey... |
Pamela Stewart | 1969–1970 |
| Alice Hirson Alice Hirson Alice Hirson is an American actress best known for her roles on television.She appeared regularly in soap opera with roles as Stephanie Martin on The Edge of Night, as Marcia Davis on Somerset, and as Eileen Riley Siegel on One Life to Live... |
Stephanie Martin | 1969–1970 |
| Anne Revere Anne Revere Anne Revere was an American stage, film, and television actress.-Early life:Born in New York City, Revere was a direct descendant of American Revolution hero Paul Revere. Her father, Clinton, was a stockbroker, and she was raised on the Upper West Side and in Westfield, New Jersey... |
Dorothy Stewart #1 | 1969–1970 |
| John Cullum John Cullum John Cullum is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, including On the Twentieth Century and Shenandoah , winning the Tony Awards for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for each... |
David 'Giddy' Gideon | 1966–1967 |
| Scott Glenn Scott Glenn Theodore Scott Glenn is an American actor. His roles have included Wes Hightower in Urban Cowboy , astronaut Alan Shepard in The Right Stuff ,Emmett in Silverado , Commander Bart Mancuso in The Hunt for Red October , Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs and The Wise Man in Sucker Punch -Early... |
Calvin Brenner | 1969 |
| James Mitchell James Mitchell (actor) James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children , theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers... |
Lloyd Griffin | 1964 |
| Barbara Berjer Barbara Berjer Barbara Berjer was a well-known American television actress born in Seattle, Washington.Among her many soap opera credits were her roles as alcoholic actress Lynn Franklin on From These Roots ; Claire English Lowell Cassen Shea #4 on As the World Turns ; Barbara Norris Thorpe #2 on Guiding Light... |
Irene Eagon Wheeler | 1964–1965 |
| Richard Thomas Richard Thomas (actor) Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,... |
Ben Schultz Jr. | 1961 |
| Ernest Graves | Walter Palmerlee #2, ADA | 1958 |
| Ian Martin | Commissioner | ....–.... |
| Leon Morenzie | Judge | 1974–1975 |
| William Post Jr. | Walter Lepage] | 1974–1975 |
| William Post Jr. | Mr. Hull] | 1964 |
| Bill Macy Bill Macy Bill Macy is an American television and stage actor.Macy was born in Revere, Massachusetts, to Mollie and Michael Garber, a manufacturer... |
Cab driver | 1966 |
| Mary K. Wells Mary K. Wells Mary K. Wells was an American television writer and actress. She acted on Return to Peyton Place, The Secret Storm, The Brighter Day, As the World Turns, Here Come The Waves, The Searching Wind, George Abbott's Three Men On A Horse, Any Wednesday , Edward Albee's Everything In The Garden, The Edge... |
Louise Capice | 1961–1970 |
| Ray McDonnell | Ray Capice | 1961–1969 |
| Walter Greaza Walter Greaza Walter Greaza , was an American television and film actor. Greaza was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States.-Career:... |
Winston Grimsley | 1960s |
| Barry Newman Barry Newman Barry Foster Newman is an American film, television, and stage actor, famous for his interpretation of Kowalski in the movie Vanishing Point. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy awards.- Life and career :... |
John Barnes | 1964–1965 |
| Fred J. Schollay | Lobo Haynes, gangster | 1972 |
| Hugh Reilly Hugh Reilly Hugh Reilly was an American actor, appearing on the Broadway stage, in films, and on television. He is best remembered for co-starring in the mid-1950s television series Lassie.-Early years and career:... |
Dr. Simon Jessup | 1972-1973 |
| Nancy Pinkerton Nancy Pinkerton Nancy Pinkerton Peabody was an American actress.Pinkerton is perhaps best known as the original actress to play Dr... |
Beth Moon Anderson Barnes | 1963–1967 |
| Fran Sharon | Elaine "Cookie" Pollock Thomas Chistopher | 1962–1964, 1964–1972 |
| June Carter | Elaine "Cookie" Pollock Thomas Chistopher | 1964 |
| John Gibson | Joe Pollock #1 | 1962–1971 |
| Kay Campbell Kay Campbell Catherine "Kay" Campbell was an American actress.Campbell began her career as a model in Chicago. She first rose to fame playing the role of Evey Perkins on the radio serial Ma Perkins from 1945 to 1960. Her first regular televised serial role was as Helene Benedict on The Guiding Light from 1957... |
Rose Pollock #3 | 1964–1969 |
| Anthony Roberts Tony Roberts (actor) David Anthony "Tony" Roberts is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in several Woody Allen movies, usually cast as Allen's best friend.-Early life:... |
Lee Pollock #3 | 1964–1967 |
| Keith Charles Keith Charles (actor) Keith Charles was an American theatre and television actor who was active from 1956 until he retired in 2003. His work included Broadway and off-Broadway roles, and television work, including recurring roles on eight soap operas... |
Rick Oliver | 1966 |
| Val Dufour Val Dufour Val Dufour, born Albert Valéry Dufour was an American actor. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Dufour's parents were of Parisian French descent.... |
Andre Lazar | 1965–1966 |
| Alan Manson | Ken Emerson | 1964–1968 |
| Anthony Ponzini | Tony Wyatt | 1965–1966 |
| Millette Alexander Millette Alexander Millette Alexander is an American actress and concert pianist, best known for being the third and longest-running actress to portray the role of Dr. Sara McIntyre on the serial The Guiding Light. Alexander played the role from December 1968 until June 1983, playing the adoptive mother of Kevin... |
Gail Armstrong | 1958–1959 |
| Millette Alexander Millette Alexander Millette Alexander is an American actress and concert pianist, best known for being the third and longest-running actress to portray the role of Dr. Sara McIntyre on the serial The Guiding Light. Alexander played the role from December 1968 until June 1983, playing the adoptive mother of Kevin... |
Laura Hillyer | 1966-1967 |
| Millette Alexander Millette Alexander Millette Alexander is an American actress and concert pianist, best known for being the third and longest-running actress to portray the role of Dr. Sara McIntyre on the serial The Guiding Light. Alexander played the role from December 1968 until June 1983, playing the adoptive mother of Kevin... |
Julie Jamison Hillyer | 1967-1968 |
| Keith Charles Keith Charles (actor) Keith Charles was an American theatre and television actor who was active from 1956 until he retired in 2003. His work included Broadway and off-Broadway roles, and television work, including recurring roles on eight soap operas... |
Rick Oliver | 1966 |
| Holland Taylor Holland Taylor Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half... |
Denise Norwood | 1977–1978 |
| Marcia Cross Marcia Cross Marcia Anne Cross is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Bree Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and as Dr... |
Liz Correll | 1984 |
| Julianne Moore Julianne Moore Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards.... |
Carmen Engler | 1984 (1 ep.)] |
Storylines
For the show's duration, the stories either revolved around or touched upon Monticello lawyer (and former Monticello police officer) Mike Karr. As the show began, Mike Karr's relationship with Sara Lane (Teal Ames) reproduced the radio serial's Perry Mason/Della Street relationship. Adding a complication for Mike Karr, Sara's family was involved in organized crime. In the early years of the show, Sara's younger brother (Don HastingsDon Hastings
Donald Francis Hastings is a longtime American actor, singer, and writer best known for his 50-year role as Dr. Robert "Bob" Hughes" on the soap opera As the World Turns...
) was drawn into the criminal world by corrupt uncle Harry Lane (Lauren Gilbert). Nevertheless, Mike and Sara eventually married. Their happiness was short-lived when Sara was written out of the show, killed as she saved the life of their daughter Laurie Ann, who ran into the street into the path of an automobile. By the 1960s, Laurie Ann was a teenager, supplying many plots for the show, and a young wife and mother by the 1970s.
Mike later married Nancy Pollock
Nancy Pollock
Nancy Karr is a fictional character on the long-running daytime soap opera, The Edge of Night. For 22 years, the role was played by actress Ann Flood....
(Ann Flood
Ann Flood
Ann Flood is an American actress.She is most known for her work as journalist/author Nancy Pollock Karr on the soap opera The Edge of Night, a role she played from 1962 to 1984...
), a journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
who helped in many of cases. Other important characters were Police Chief
Chief of police
A Chief of Police is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. Alternate titles for this position include Commissioner, Superintendent, and Chief constable...
Bill Marceau (Mandel Kramer), who was one of Karr's best friends and shared a tremendous mutual respect, rare between a defense attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and a chief of police (perhaps due to the fact that Mike had once been a police officer himself), Marceau's secretary (and later on wife) Martha (Teri Keane), fellow lawyer Adam Drake (Donald May), his client (and later on, his wife) television personality Nicole Travis (Maeve McGuire
Maeve McGuire
Maeve McGuire is an American actress, best known for her role as "Nicole Travis Drake" on the soap opera The Edge of Night, which she played from 1968 to 1974 and from 1975 to 1977...
; Jayne Bentzen
Jayne Bentzen
Jayne Bentzen is an American actress and former model, best known for her role as "Nicole Travis Drake Cavanaugh" on the soap opera The Edge of Night, a role she assumed in 1978 after the departure of actress, Maeve McGuire. Bentzen continued in the role until the summer of 1981.-External links:...
; Lisa Sloan), and wealthy socialite Geraldine Whitney (Lois Kibbee
Lois Kibbee
Lois Kibbee was an American actress.Kibbee was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The daughter of actor Milton Kibbee and the niece of actor Guy Kibbee, Lois is best remembered for portrayal of Geraldine Weldon Whitney Saxon on the CBS/ABC daytime soap opera The Edge of Night, where she appeared from...
), whose fall down a flight of stairs (which put her into a coma for several months) provided one of the show's more memorable mysteries. Nancy had two siblings: Lee, who eventually married Geri McGrath, and Elaine nicknamed "Cookie."
Nicole Travis Drake has had a most interesting and bizarre history. An early storyline had her victimized by two different women who wanted her dead. She was then accused of murdering Susan Forbes (Bibi Besch
Bibi Besch
Bibiana "Bibi" Besch was an Austrian/American actress.-Early life:Besch was born in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of theater actress Gusti Huber, who starred in German films during World War II and left Austria in the mid 1940s. Besch had a stepfather, Joseph Besch, a radio executive and former...
). Adam Drake defended her and proved her innocence. He then broke away from Mike Karr's law firm as partner and opened his own law practice. He hired Nicole as his secretary and a romance began to blossom. When Nicole sensed his lack of interest in marriage she walked out and went to work for another lawyer Jake Berman (Ward Costello
Ward Costello
Edward "Ward" Costello was an American actor, composer and lyricist. He composed and wrote the lyrics to the theme for The Gallant Hours....
). She continued to date Adam until she told him if he didn't propose to her by New Year's Eve they were finished. She soon got another marriage proposal from her new boss Jake Berman, whose wife had died of an overdose. She didn't accept but moved to New York City with him when he was going to partner at an existing law firm. Adam then searched for Nicole in New York until he found her at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve and asked her "Will you marry me?" She ran into his arms, much to Jake Berman's jealousy. When Adam and Nicole returned to Monticello, so did Jake Berman determined to prevent them from every marrying. He plotted with ex-convict Johnny Dallas (John LaGioia) to frame Adam for attempted murder to prevent him from marrying Nicole. Johnny didn't show up but Jake was murdered by Joel Gantry (Nicholos Pryor) and Adam was arrested for the murder immediately following his and Nicole's wedding at the Karr residence. The day before the jury would find Adam guilty Joel Gantry was found by Kevin Jamison (Dick Shoberg) in San Francisco, who was really Edith Berman's son and convinced Jake had murdered his mother. Adam and Nicole were reunited and finally settled into married life. Sometime later, she was believed to have died in a boating accident in the Caribbean but was discovered alive 18 months later by Kevin Jamison (by this time played by John Driver) in Europe at the same time Adam proposed to Brandy Henderson (Dixie Carter
Dixie Carter
Dixie Virginia Carter was an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...
). Adam and Nicole were eventually reunited once again and Brandy left town. But their marriage ended after Adam was murdered. In one of the foremost startling moments in this serial's history, the character of Nicole was replaced with a new actress and was subsequently de-aged a decade, a rarity for an adult character in the genre. Now younger and more vibrant, Nicole was suitable for a relationship with young doctor Miles Cavanaugh. Nicole was eventually killed off when her makeup powder was poisoned.
Another important relationship was that between Nancy and her younger sister Cookie, who was married first to Malcom Thomas and later to Ron Christopher, whose dealings with loan sharks affected Mike's good friends Louise and Philip Capice. In the show's later years, the Karrs' beautiful daughter Laurie Ann (Emily Prager
Emily Prager
- Life and work :Prager grew up in Texas, Taiwan, and Greenwich Village, NY. She is a graduate of The Brearley School, Barnard College and has a Masters Degree in Education...
), by now a young adult, was an important character. Her relationship with Jonah Lockwood, a sociopath
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
, almost cost her her life, but he was revealed to be an alternate persona of Keith Whitney, scion of the wealthy Whitney family, nemesis of the Karrs and Marceau. Laurie subsequently married Mike Karr's law associate Vic Lamont (Ted Tinling
Ted Tinling
Cuthbert Collingwood "Ted" Tinling , sometimes known as Teddy Tinling, was an English tennis player, fashion designer, spy and author. He was a firm fixture on the professional tennis tour for over sixty years....
) after he went to prison doing undercover work and his life was saved by inmate Johnny Dallas. Johnny was released from prison and became the owner of a restaurant The New Moon Cafe. Laurie (now played by Jeanne Ruskin) played the piano at the restaurant leading to her and Johnny falling in love. When Vic found out Laurie and Johnny were together in Chicago when he didn't show up to shoot and wound Jake Berman he walked out. Laurie and Johnny eventually married and Vic was murdered saving Johnny's life. Laurie (now played by Linda Cook
Linda Cook (actor)
Linda O. Cook is an American actor, perhaps best known for her portrayal of Egypt Jones Masters on the American daytime soap opera Loving from 1988 to 1991 and 1993 to 1994...
) and Johnny had a baby they named John Victor. However, Laurie developed mental problems that led her to being placed in a mental institution and Johnny ran away.
One of the later major story arcs was about a train wreck and a prisoner, Draper Scott (Tony Craig
Tony Craig
Tony Craig is an English footballer who currently plays for Leyton Orient on loan from Millwall.Craig initially came through the youth ranks at Millwall, and made his Lions debut away at Nottingham Forest late in the 2002-03 season.He had a short loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers midway through the...
), who had been unjustly convicted of murder, escaping from the train accident, much in the style of Richard Kimble
Richard Kimble
Dr. Richard David Kimble is the fictional character and the protagonist featured in the television series The Fugitive. He was portrayed by actor David Janssen. Dr. Kimble, who was born on March 27, 1927 in Stafford, Indiana, is a doctor falsely convicted of the murder of his wife, Helen Kimble,...
of The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
. Although in Draper's case, he also had amnesia, for quite a few months. There was also an interesting storyline in the mid-1970s involving a troubled woman (Nicole's cousin, Serena Faraday) who would change her personality to Josie as she donned a frizzy, black wig in perhaps a nod to One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
s popular Victoria Lord
Victoria Lord
Victoria "Viki" Lord is the principal fictional character and matriarch of the Lord family on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live...
/Niki Smith storyline. Another memorable character was Raven Alexander Jamison Whitney (Juanin Clay
Juanin Clay
Juanin Clay was an American actress who appeared in the 1983 drama-thriller film WarGames. She was one of the contenders for the role of Wilma Deering in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV series, but lost the role when Erin Gray returned to reprise her role from the theatrical release...
, then Sharon Gabet
Sharon Gabet
Sharon Gabet is an American actress known for roles on daytime soap operas.Her longest running role was as Raven Alexander Whitney on The Edge of Night from 1977 to 1984. She also appeared as Brittany Peterson on Another World and as Melinda Cramer Janssen on One Life to Live .-External links:...
), a duplicitous coquette who became more stable and faithful in the latter years.
Near the end of the series' run came an unusual story wherein Mike and Nancy, after sleeping in twin beds for nearly their whole married life, decided to "go all out, and buy a double bed", thereby retiring their twin beds for good. It was one of the more unusual moments of the show.
Over the Edge
Uniquely among daytime dramas, The Edge of Night finished its run with an ominous (and intentional) cliffhangerCliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
, revealing that an old enemy -- Louis Van Dyne, who had supposedly been sent to the state penitentiary -- had returned to settle some scores, and none of the main protagonists were safe. In addition, police detective Chris Egan (Jennifer Taylor
Jennifer Taylor
Jennifer Taylor may refer to:* Jennifer Bini Taylor , American actress* Jennifer Taylor , British author* Jenny Taylor , British cultural analyst and journalist* Jen Taylor , American voice actor...
), spying a supposedly-deceased henchman of Van Dyne, Donald Hext, follows Hext into a previously unknown Monticello street called "Wonderland Lane," and discovers Van Dyne's sister, Alicia Van Dyne (Chris Weatherhead), in a shop, where Alicia is visciously stabbed in the back by her brother, her dying words to Chris Egan, "...Off, off with her head...." Egan barely escapes from the shop after Van Dyne and Hext attempt to capture her and runs out of Wonderland Lane, briefly falling by the post next to the street sign, a stuffed white rabbit propped against it.
The final scene of the series is of Chris Egan telling Mike Karr and others of her encounter with Louis Van Dyne and Donald Hext, in addition to Alicia Van Dyne's stabbing. The show's theme plays over the dialogue, masking Karr's words, but the audience is left to know that the story of Monticello continues onward, albeit off the air. The reason for the cliffhanger was that Procter & Gamble believed that they could find another network to take over production of Edge, but in 1984, there were no cable networks willing to take on such an expensive endeavor.
In 2010, actress Mariann Aalda
Mariann Aalda
Mariann Aalda is an American television, stage, and film actress. Aalda is primarily known for her work in television.-Career:She portrayed DiDi Bannister on the long-running ABC soap opera Edge of Night, and had a regular roles on the CBS sitcom The Royal Family, as the daughter of Redd Foxx and...
, along with soap opera ghostwriter Alina Adams, attempted to continue the story (via blogging) of The Edge of Night by telling the story of Monticello 25 years later, with the explanation that The Edge of Night was actually television's very first reality television series. The blog entries ended abruptly in early 2011, with no explanation by either Aalda or Adams as to the status of the blog series.
CBS
Unlike most soap operas which build a solid audience slowly over many years, The Edge of Night was an instant hit with daytime viewers; it amassed an audience of nine million in its first year, in some respects because the public did in fact perceive it as a daytime Perry Mason, as the producers had intended. Through the 1960s, the show continued to flourish, consistently ranking as one of the top six rated soap operas, alongside the rest of CBS' daytime lineup. It peaked at #2 (behind As the World Turns) in the 1966–67 television season and came in at #2 between 1969 and 1971.Due to the show's crime format and its late start time of 4:30 PM (3:30 Central), Edge had an audience which was estimated to be more than 50% male at one point. In July 1963, the show was moved to the 3:30/2:30 time period (the 4:30/3:30 slot was given back to the affiliates), in which it dominated even over otherwise-hit programs like NBC's You Don't Say and ABC's Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
and One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
. When the show moved to 2:30 PM (1:30 Central) on September 11, 1972 at Procter and Gamble's insistence, the show slid from a solid #2 in the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
to near-last; it has been hypothesized that the show's ratings dropped because many male viewers and teenagers were unable to make it home from work or school earlier in the afternoon to watch. (This would also not be the only time that P&G's insistence on a certain timeslot for one of their soaps would cause a catastrophic drop in ratings, with the same problem plaguing the long-running Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
a decade later.)
By Summer 1975, CBS prepared to make its first-ever expansion of a serial to 60 minutes daily, in response to NBC's lengthening of both Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
and Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
some months earlier. Unsurprisingly, daytime executives chose the ratings-leading As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS 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...
, which faced Days directly at 1:30/12:30. Since CBS' affiliates usually aired newscasts in the 1:00/12:00 access slot, and also would preempt Edge if it returned to 4:30/3:30, CBS had no vacant timeslot into which to expand Edge, and had no choice but to cancel it.
ABC
The audience for Edge had eroded so much that it became CBS' lowest-rated afternoon program, with NBC's The Doctors easily defeating it in the Nielsens for some time. Because of this, CBS informed P&G that it would have to let Edge go. Meanwhile, ABC successfully brought other networks' daytime cancellations into its schedule, namely Let's Make a DealLet's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show which originated in the United States and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host. The traders usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being...
and The $10,000 Pyramid; it also was the only network at the time to have never had a P&G-packaged program on its schedule. Thus, ABC was enthusiastic about bringing Edge onto its daytime lineup when P&G approached it about doing so. However, officials informed the company that contractual obligations to other programs would not permit the network to admit Edge onto the lineup until December.
This raised a serious problem because CBS wanted to expand As the World Turns when the Fall season began in September, meaning that Edge would have to leave the air for nearly three months. Had this happened, ABC would have probably rescinded its decision to acquire Edge due to near-certain loss of viewer interest caused by the interruption. Fortunately, P&G negotiated with CBS to delay the expansion of ATWT until ABC had an available slot for Edge. On December 1, Edge moved to ABC, and on CBS, ATWT began occupying the 1:30-2:30 block with Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
moving down one half-hour to Edges old place.
The last CBS episode of Edge (November 28, 1975) ended with the discovery that Nicole Travis Drake was alive, after she had been presumed dead in an explosion eighteen months earlier while on a boating trip with her husband Adam Drake. ABC aired the show beginning on December 1, with a 90-minute premiere. This episode picked up where CBS had left off, with Geraldine Whitney still in a coma, after having been pushed down a flight of stairs in a murder attempt by her daughter-in-law Tiffany's second husband, Noel Douglas. Nicole, with the help of Geraldine's adopted "son", Kevin Jamison, remembered who she was after suffering from amnesia since the explosion. The final scene of that day's episode was an exciting climax in which Serena Faraday, in her "Josie" split-personality, shot her husband on the steps of the courthouse.
Initially, Edge showed promise when it changed networks. It was the first serial to change networks (the only other to do so would be the P&G-packaged Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
which would move from CBS to NBC in 1982); it aired in a late afternoon time slot of 4/3 PM for ABC affiliates in the Eastern and Central time zones, and Noon for ABC affiliates in the Pacific time zone because of a different scheduling pattern for ABC's West Coast feed. At first, the show's overall ratings declined because fewer homes had access to it, because ABC affiliates had opted for local or syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programs at the 4/3 slot instead of the network feed for many years, and decided not to abandon the practice. Others tape-delayed the program for morning slots, either the following day or up to two weeks later. Nevertheless, Edge was typically either first (or a close second) in its timeslot for markets that cleared it in its network feed of 4/3, due mainly to the weakness of competing programs on CBS and NBC. Also, the Edge demographics
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
were significantly better on ABC; thus, the network was actually able to charge higher ad rates for it than several more popular series with higher audience ratings.
Despite never recovering the ground it lost from its CBS days (in fact, sliding into the lowest third in the ratings by 1977), Edges ratings improved slightly once the 1980s began. While the numbers were not as solid, Edge still pulled in ratings in the 5.0 range and improved its position on the ratings list, peaking at 11th in both 1981 and 1982. However, from 1982 on, ratings would fall even further as even more affiliates dropped the show in favor of the aforementioned syndicated offerings. At the end of the 1981-82 television season, Edge pulled in a 5.0 rating. However, with the resulting pre-emptions, the show's rating lowered to a 3.8 in 1983, which caused P&G to lose more money on the program with each passing year.
The series was also broadcasted in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
since the early 1970s, but after more than a decade, CBC opted in Fall 1982 to drop Edge from its daytime afternoon lineup, replacing it with another ABC soap, All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
.
In May 1983, P&G dismissed the show's headwriter, Henry Slesar
Henry Slesar
Henry Slesar was an American author, playwright, and copywriter. He was also known as O.H. Leslie and Jay Street.-Early life:...
, whose 15-year stint with the soap was at that time the longest in daytime serial history, and appointed a new headwriter, Lee Sheldon. Sheldon modified the show's plot with emphasis on younger characters and even some humor in an effort to help the ailing serial gain new fans. However, more and more ABC affiliates continued to drop the show.
By fall 1984, Edge aired on less than 62% of ABC's affiliates; over two dozen more affiliates planned to drop the series in the first quarter of 1985. Although ABC intended to continue Edge, even offering to move it to a mid-morning timeslot, P&G was unable to continue producing the show as a result of the constant loss of revenue from frequent pre-emptions. Thus, on October 26, 1984, ABC and P&G made a joint announcement that Edges December 28 broadcast would be its series finale. At this point, the show's ratings were less than half of what they had been at the beginning of the decade; it finished the 1984-85 television season with a 2.6 in only four months of episodes. Edge is the most recent ABC network program to have aired in the 4/3 timeslot to this day; the network followed NBC in giving back the timeslot to its affiliates (NBC had done this in 1979). CBS, which was still programming the 4 PM timeslot with Body Language
Body Language (game show)
Body Language is an American game show produced by Mark Goodson Productions. The show aired on CBS from June 4, 1984 until January 3, 1986, and was hosted by Tom Kennedy...
at the time, joined the other two major networks in returning the slot to its stations in September 1986 once Press Your Luck
Press Your Luck
Press Your Luck is an American television daytime game show created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack. It premiered on September 19, 1983 on CBS and ended on September 26, 1986. In the show, contestants collected "spins" by answering trivia questions and then used the spins on an 18-space game...
terminated its run.
Episode status
Most CBS episodes no longer exist. Despite the network ceasing its wipingWiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
practice of shows it owned in September 1972, P&G still continued wiping tapes for several more years. Many monochrome and some color episodes were kinescoped (the color kinescopes survive in black-and-white). 45 episodes of the CBS era are known to exist, the best-known of which include the Christmas Day 1974 episode and a September 1975 episode depicting the attempted murder of Geraldine. Some fans also have the second episode of the series (April 3, 1956), which featured Don Hastings, John Larkin and Teal Ames. The first two years of the ABC run also followed this practice, which ceased in 1978 for ABC and all P&G shows.
From August 5, 1985 to January 19, 1989, reruns aired in a daily late-night timeslot on cable's USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
, transmitting episodes from June 1981 up to the series finale.
From August 2006 to January 2009, P&G made several of its classic soap operas available, a few episodes at a time, through AOL Video Service, downloadable free of charge. AOL downloads of The Edge of Night commenced with episode #6051 from July 17, 1979.
See also
- Perry MasonPerry MasonPerry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
- Perry Mason (radio)Perry Mason (radio)The radio criminal serial Perry Mason, based on the novels of Erle Stanley Gardner, was broadcast on CBS Radio from 1943-1955. The series was adapted into Edge of Night which ran on television for an additional 30 years.-Adapting Perry Mason to other media:...
- The Edge of Night Recasts
- The Edge of Night on MemorableTV.com