The Edge of Night

Edge of Night was awesome...I use to run home after-school and watch the last twenty minutes of General Hospital (got out at three each day) and then watch the day's episode of Edge of Night before starting on my homework...Must have been around twelve or thirteen at the time but even back then I knew that the actors were awesome. I was crushed when they announced that the show was going off the air, because it was the only show other than General Hospital that had interesting teenagers and sexy young looking older people on it...I loved RAVEN...she was my favorite and when her husband revealed that he was living a lie the whole time and she remained his wife well they had me at hello... this was one of the shows that could keep people watching with only a half an hour of programming when TRUE serials (I use to call them Cereals...because I didn't know any better at the time) were an hour long. the others were Search for Tomorrow (another fave), Ryan's hope and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (Yeah that is OLD SCHOOL) Hoping the series comes to Soap Net...I'd so watch...

An interesting fact about this show is that it had its origins in the Perry Mason radio show before it was a TV show.

The radio show ran from 1943 to 1955, five days a week, on the CBS radio network.

It was part soap opera and part detective story.

When the radio show moved, with most of the cast and the production staff, to TV, it was renamed Edge of Night.

The cast members were given new character names.

The Perry Mason character was dropped. On September 21, 1957, CBS aired a new show, Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr.

I remember watching this show when I got home from school in the late 70's and early 80's. What stands out most in my mind was a storyline involving the character April Scott. If I recall correctly, she was pregnant and having hallucinations for weeks involving the sound of a train whistle and a shadowy man. When her hallucinations finally ended, there was a really spooky finale scene where Satan (sinister laughter, horns, and all!!!!!) appeared in a cloud of smoke on the balcony of the apartment she shared with Draper. I was terrified for days! You weren't sure whether it meant that Satan had caused her hallucinations, or was just following her around for Halloween, or what, but the fact that a soap opera would use horror movie imagery like this will always make The Edge Of Night something I look back on REALLY fondly! :-)

"The Edge of Night" was without a doubt one of the best daytime soaps ever. Unlike other soaps, Edge focused on intelligent, complex mysteries fraught with irony, suspense, and edge-of-your seat action. The show's ensemble cast was probably the best in daytime history, supporting Edge's reputation a classy, well-written, and terrifically acted program. Sadly, after 28 years of superior programming, Edge was dropped in favor of higher-budget, more popular soaps, all of which in effect plagiarized Edge's plots, action, and individuality. Accept no susbstitutes: Edge was The Best!

I was fortunate enough to get a double serving of EON during summer break. When EON moved to ABC, the Baltimore affiliate aired the show at 4:00p.m. directly following GH. However, my hometown of Washington, DC would broadcast the same episode the next morning at 10:30 a.m. The quality of the Baltimore channel was clear when it was cloudy but otherwise snowy at best.

Murder mysteries were EON's forte and the one effect they did better than any other daytime drama was the quick fade to black. There was no slow resolve to black. The music would swell, then suddenly the screen goes black. I loved it!!!!!!

The character names were straight out of period pieces

Just to name a few: Adam Drake, Nicole Travis (Drake), April Cavanaugh, Preacher Emerson, Miles Cavanaugh, Margo Huntington Dorn, Elliot Dorn, and two of my favorites villains Molly Sherwood and Winter Austin.

My favorite Friday cliffhanger occurred at the WMON studios. Winter had reached wits end and decided to confront Nicole in the news studio. The mad chase lead to the catwalk and the overhead in the studio. They both wore a white button-up blouse and blue jeans. There hair were a similar honey hue. When the railing broke, one of the two flipped over the railing and fell face first onto the floor below.

It was awesome, but the kicker was, they waited until Tuesday to pick up the story. They sure don't make'em like they used to.