Love of Life

Love of Life was an American soap opera which aired on CBS from September 24, 1951 until October 25, 1979, when it was taken off the air abruptly for emergency retooling. The show returned for a limited run very early the next year, with the final episode of the serial airing on February 1, 1980.

The final years

However, after Labine and Mayer left, the show lost focus and the grittier storylines (in which it was implied that Ben was sodomized while in prison) did not please the viewers, and the ratings sank lower. Partly, this was due to its fringe timeslot: since the beginning, Love of Life had aired in the very late morning, and few soaps have had success airing before noon. The show's ratings had been middling in the 1950s and 1960s, but had dropped sharply as the show entered the 1970s.

Related Topics:
Sodomized - 1950s - 1960s - 1970s

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On April 23, 1979, Love of Life switched timeslots (the show was moved from its traditional 11:30 AM slot to 4 PM). On October 25, the show was taken off the air altogether for emergency retooling. Love of Life was brought back early the next year and ended its run abruptly in February, with a cliffhanger: after testifying in a trial, heroine Betsy Crawford (Elizabeth Kemp) collapsed as she was leaving the stand. No one knew what happened to her as the show was not picked up by another network. The final scene of the series was longtime director Larry Auerbach walking through the empty sets, as Tony Bennett's "We'll Be Together Again" played in the background.

Related Topics:
April 23 - 1979 - October 25 - Elizabeth Kemp - Larry Auerbach - Tony Bennett

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