The Edge of Night was unique among daytime soap operas in focusing on crime, rather than domestic and romantic matters. It was admitted that the city skyline seen in the opening credits was that of Cincinnati, Ohio, where the show's sponsor, Procter & Gamble, was based. Unlike Mason, whose adventures took place in Southern California, Monticello, the city of The Edge of Night, was somewhere in a generic state in the Midwest - a state so generic that its capital city was "Capital City". Gardner would eventually patch up his differences with CBS and Perry Mason would debut in prime time the next year. A writer from the Perry Mason radio show, Irving Vendig, created a retooled idea and the show as we know it was born. Erle Stanley Gardner was to create and write the show, but a last-minute tiff between him and the network caused Gardner to pull his support from the idea. The show was originally conceived as the daytime version of Perry Mason, which was popular in novel and radio formats at the time. The next Monday, ABC aired a special 90-minute episode, which started with dowager Geraldine Whitney ( Lois Kibbee) in a coma after she was knocked unconscious in a robbery. The episode ended with Serena Faraday ( Louise Shaffer) shooting her husband on the steps of the courthouse. The last live episode aired on November 28, 1975, which, coincidentally, was the last episode aired on CBS. These two programs were the last two American soap operas generally to be aired live, which they were into the 1970s and which also accounts why only about one-fourth of the episodes of The Edge of Night are available for syndication. Edge was the second of the two original half-hour soaps As the World Turns also premiered in this format earlier the same day.
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