Martin Tourneur
| Search for Tomorrow | |
|---|---|
 Title card, 1982–86
|
|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Created by | Roy Winsor |
| Starring |
Mary Stuart Larry Haines |
| Narrated by | Dwight Weist |
| Composer(s) | Dick Hyman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 35 |
| No. of episodes | 9,130 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 15 minutes (1951–68) 30 minutes (1968–86) |
| Production company(s) | Procter & Gamble Productions |
| Distributor | Americana Entertainment (1951–82) |
| Release | |
| Original network |
CBS (1951–82) NBC (1982–86) |
| Picture format |
Black-and-white (1951–67) Color (1967–86) |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 3, 1951 – December 26, 1986 |
Search for Tomorrow is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC after 35 years on December 26, 1986.
Search for Tomorrow was created by Roy Winsor and was first written by Agnes Nixon (then known professionally as Agnes Eckhardt) for the series' first thirteen weeks and later by Irving Vendig. The program was one of several packaged from the 1950s through the 1980s by Procter & Gamble Productions, the broadcasting arm of the famed household products corporation, who were also responsible for the likes of Guiding Light, As the World Turns, The Edge of Night, and Another World.
Search for Tomorrow aired as a fifteen-minute serial from its debut in 1951 until 1968, at 12:30 p.m./11:30 a.m. Central Time. Procter & Gamble used the show to advertise mainly Joy dishwashing liquid and Spic and Span household cleaner. As the show's ratings increased, other sponsors began buying commercial time. Both "Joy" and "Spic and Span" continued to be the primary products Procter & Gamble advertised on the show, well into the 1960s.
The serial discontinued live broadcasts in favor of recorded telecasts in March 1967, began broadcasting in color on September 11, 1967, and expanded to a half-hour on September 9, 1968, keeping the 12:30/11:30 slot while its old-15 minute partner, The Guiding Light, also expanded to 30 minutes, moved to the CBS afternoon lineup at 2:30/1:30. At the time, Search for Tomorrow and The Guiding Light, which had shared the same half-hour for sixteen years, were the last two fifteen-minute soap operas airing on television. Search for Tomorrow would remain the top-rated show at 12:30/11:30 until well into the late 1970s, despite strong competition from shows like NBC's The Who, What, or Where Game and ABC's Split Second and Ryan's Hope.
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