Soap opera soap opera "Guiding Light" (originally titled "The Guiding Light" until 1975) started as a radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television in June 1952. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s, during which creator Irna Phillips was involved in a dispute with Procter & Gamble, "Guiding Light" was heard or seen nearly every weekday from 1937 until 2009, making it the longest story ever told in a broadcast medium. Originally serials were broadcast as fifteen-minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956, "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night", both produced
Screening of soap operas in Australia After running for several months on W, the show was moved to FOX8, before being pulled altogether in December 2005. Fans in Australia lobbied hard to get it back. "General Hospital" returned to Australian television on 5 July 2010, again on W, at 12:50 pm and on its time shift channel W2 at 2:50 pm, with episodes ten weeks behind after the US. W dropped the show on 17 June 2011. "General Hospital" has had Australian-born actors George Lazenby, Rick Springfield, Tristan Rogers, and Thaao Penghlis as cast members. "Generations" is an American soap opera that had a short run