Soap Operas Through The Years-Part One Poem by Celine Rose Mariotti

Soap Operas Through the Years

Part One



The soap operas started on radio
Back in the 1930's,
1937 exactly for Guiding Light
On NBC radio,
One of the first,
Years later picked up by CBS-TV,
A favorite show of many
For over 50 years,
Far more when you add in the radio years,
But one fateful day
An executive at CBS
Made a very bad decision,
And canceled the show,
Soap Operas have brought
Joy to many viewers,
For many years,
The executives at all the three major networks,
Should bring all of them back,
Who cares about "The Talk"?
Who cares about "GMA in the Afternoon"?
Who cares about the "Kelly Clarkson Show"?
We all prefer our soap operas,
There was another soap opera
That dated back to the 1950's
And that was "As The World Turns",
So many soap operas
Through the years,
My grandmother, Assunta Iannotti,
Was a big fan of "As The World Turns",
She never missed the show,
And had to put up with commentary
From my grandfather, Frank Iannotti,
He took the stories seriously,
He'd watch and say,
"If that were my wife….
Or he'd say
Why is he or she doing that? "
Etc. etc.
He took it very seriously,
Sometimes my grandmother would tell him in Italian,
"Stai. Zitto"
Which means "shut up"
"As the World Turns"
Was on for over 50 years,
But then one fateful day
An executive at CBS
Made a bad decision,
Fans will never forgive or forget,
And cancelled the show,
There was a new soap opera,
From 1967-1973
Called "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing"
Based on the famous well-loved movie
By the same name,
With the same theme song "Love is a Many Splendored Thing",
Leslie Charleson got her start there,
So did Donna Mills and David Birney,
Leslie Charleson went on to play Monica Quartermaine on "General Hospital"
Since sometime in the mid-70's
Till now,
Donna Mills went on to star in the nighttime soap opera, " Knots Landing, "
And years later in "General Hospital"
As Nina's Mom,
"Love is a Many Splendored Thing"
Featured the Donnelly and Elliott families,
And the setting was San Francisco,
It was only on the air a short time
Six years,
When the network cancelled it,
I was just a young kid in elementary school,
But my Mom, my sister and I used to watch it
When my sister and I came home from school,
We loved it.