1951: 'Search for Tomorrow' Begins its 35-Year Run
On this day in 1951, CBS premiered the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow. The series' main character, for its entire run, was housewife Joanne Gardner, played by actress Mary Stuart. Storylines followed Gardner as she dealt with widowhood, motherhood, remarriage, infidelity and blindness.
The 15-minute broadcast shared a half-hour block with Guiding Light for its first sixteen years and, in 1968, expanded to a half hour.
As with many soaps, Search for Tomorrow featured a range of actors who moved on to more prominent film, TV and stage productions, including Ken Kercheval, Larry Hagman, Susan Sarandon, John James, Kevin Kline, Morgan Fairchild, Kevin Bacon, Viggo Mortgensen, Jane Krakowski, Sandy Duncan, Lee Grant and Angela Bassett.
In 1982 the show moved to NBC, where it airred until its cancellation in 1986.