General Hospital With more than 15,000 episodes and counting, "General Hospital" is the longest-running daytime drama in American TV history. Recently, the cast of the ABC soap opera came together to celebrate the show's 60th anniversary.

Causes. As women increasingly worked outside of the home, daytime television viewing declined. New generations of potential viewers were not raised watching soap operas with their mothers, leaving the shows' long and complex storylines foreign to younger audiences.

The history of the daytime soap opera sometimes reads like a story arc from a program in one of television's oldest and most influential genres. Starting from humble beginnings on radio, soaps transitioned to daytime TV in the late 1940s and rose to become immensely popular especially in the 1970s and 80s.

General Hospital The ABC Television Network's Emmy® Award-winning daytime drama, "General Hospital," is both the longest-running scripted drama and the longest-running American soap opera currently in production.

Today, only three of them remain -- The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS), General Hospital (ABC), and The Young and the Restless (CBS). Their ratings are a fraction of what they used to be, even just a few years ago, so it can feel like they're on borrowed time.

Although Susan Harris had planned for five seasons of Soap, the program was abruptly canceled by ABC after its fourth season. Therefore, the final one-hour episode, which originally aired on April 20, 1981, did not serve as a series finale and instead ended with several unresolved cliffhangers.

While some providers removed Soapnet upon the launch of Disney Junior, the channel continued to operate on some providers until it finally ceased operations on December 31, 2013.

We're drawn to familiar faces and feel a satisfying sense of belongingness when we're with people we've known for a long time - even if they're fictional. Because our brains are wired to attach to familiar faces, fans have a strong attachment to soap opera characters, who are seen five days a week.

'Soap operas' are daytime serials with a dramatic content aimed primarily at a female audience. The soap opera emerged in the US radio industry of the early 1930s when the advertising agencies of the soap, toiletry, and foodstuff industries took on the role of developing programs that could attract a female audience.

Coronation Street, the quintessentially British soap opera, holds the official Guinness World Record for being the longest-running / oldest television soap opera in history. The show first premiered in 1960, and has since aired over 10,200 episodes.

24 Longest-Running TV Shows Ever, Ranked By Duration

• 8 Sesame Street – 54 Years.
• 7 Sazae-San / サザエさん – 54 Years.
• 6 As The World Turns – 54 Years.
• 5 Days Of Our Lives – 58 Years.
• 4 General Hospital - 60 Years.
• 3 Coronation Street - 63 Years.
• 2 The Tonight Show - 69 Years. 1954 - Present.
• 1 Guiding Light - 72 Years. 1937 - 2009.

One constant: The Young and the Restless has been the most-watched soap every week since, a streak that now stretches to an incredible 1,560 consecutive weeks - exactly 30 years. No modern entertainment program in any daypart has had such a long streak.