As the World Turns Gets Nuked

Soap fans who haven't yet recovered from the end of the Otalia era may want to have a seat and pour a stiff drink: CBS has announced it'll be pulling the plug on As the World Turns in September of 2010. The Proctor and Gamble property is a gay daytime fave for it's Luke and Noah (a.k.a. Nuke) storyline. In fact, the popular couple just celebrated their 50th on-air kiss last month! (Cheezy-hot montage above.)

While network broadcast soaps are getting thrown out with the old-media bath water, so to speak, they've got the advantage of an engaged and vocal fan-base -- which means there's potential for bringing their signature complicated family trees and watery-eyed confrontations to alternate media formats. Just this week, the actresses who played Guiding Light's lesbian power couple launched Venice, a volunteer-produced, Twitter-enabled web series that picks up where the network left off.

Which is to say, Nuke fans need not despair just yet: ATWT's production company says that the end of CBS's involvement in the show doesn't necessarily spell the end of Nuke -- or the rest of the storylines developed (and redeveloped, and re-redeveloped) over the past 54 years -- and that they are "proactively seeking a new outlet to carry the show, and are open to exploring innovative formats and relationships." Enter the age of neo-Nuke!

Previously > Guiding Light's Otalia Gets Romantic in 'Venice'