The Edge of Night

"The Edge of Night" was the consequential daytime drama that totally different from the norm. This was a daytime serial that ran its course for an impressive 28 years from 1956 until 1984,producing a total of 7,420 episodes and it ran on two major television networks,CBS and later on ABC. It's staying power on CBS ran for 19 years ending in 1975 and later ended its run on ABC for nine seasons when it went off the air for good in the summer of 1984. Produced for Proctor & Gamble Productions. "The Edge of Night" was totally different from the regular basically melodrama of daytime soap operas,and it had a premise that kept its audiences tuned in to see what happens next. This was a show that was a mixture of daytime drama, mystery, police detection, courtroom drama,dealings with the supernatural, murders,and beyond. And what kept the show going was that the wonderfully written scripts about mysteries and suspense that in fact were written by some of the best writers of its day. And it shows in the number of Emmys the show received for the remainder of its run. It kept you on the edge of your seat.

A grand murder mystery serial. A brilliant whodunit leading to the causes of the scenes and the stark reality of the culprit who committed the unthinkable. And the innerworkings of both the police and the courtroom which fought on the side of the law. The show was so great it really boosted a strong alumni that went through its door including Dixie Carter,Larry Hagman,Richard Dreyfuss,Jon Voight,and even John Travolta played a delivery man in one episode. Not to mention Julianne Moore,Richard Thomas and even Hector Elizondo were part of the cast. It was just that brilliant.

"The Edge of Night"-The CBS Years from 1956-1975. The Black and White episodes: 1956-1967. The Color Episodes: 1967-1984.

"The Edge of Night"-The ABC Years from 1975-1984. *When ABC cancelled this brilliant show in May of 1984,the network replaced it with the greatest travesty of the worst kind..The Gary Collins Show.

Sadly, they do not make Soaps like this one anymore. I was literally sick when it was cancelled. Edge of Night had it all, wonderfully written mysteries and suspense stories. Great characters and wonderful actors. This soap will be sorely missed for a long time. Edge of Night was special. It just had a rare combination of the right writers, actors, directors, even the right sets. The soap may be gone, but its memories will last a lifetime.

"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!

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.

`The Edge of Night' was the consequential daytime drama of mystery, suspense, police detection and crime. For anyone who loved a good murder mystery, this was indeed the afternoon drama to watch. In most instances, you worried every week if lead attorney and crime stopper Mike Karr, his wife Nancy Pollock Karr, or daughter Laurie Ann, would vanish off the face of the earth or be murdered by a larger than life villain who was as well causing grief for Bill Marceau, the chief of police, and the very good citizens of Monticello. The romance between attorney Adam Drake, and socialite and often stalked Nicole Travis Stewart, started `The Edge of Night's' first real super couple and the dynamic twosome simply took our breaths away when they finally wedded in a handsome ceremony in the Karrs garden. It wasn't often that fans of `The Edge of Night' got treated to afternoon romance, bed-hopping and hen-peck husbandry similar to the scenery on most of the other daytime dramas...since `Edge's' important characters were simply too busy scheming about other relevant matters or solving `whodunnit' if `whodunnit' didn't kill them first.

The murder of fan favorite Adam Drake in 1977, was perhaps the show's biggest shocker.