| Hawkins Falls, Population 6200 | |
|---|---|
 Bernadette Flynn (center) with Macdonald Carey and Frank Pacelli, the show's director, 1953. | |
| Also known as | Hawkins Falls: A Television Novel |
| Created by | Doug Johnson |
| Starring | Bernardine Flynn Maurice Copeland Jim Bannon Arthur Peterson |
| Narrated by | Hugh Downs Wed Howard |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producers | Dave Brown Ben Park |
| Production locations | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Running time | 50 minutes (June 1950–August 1950) 12–13 minutes (April 1951–July 1955) |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | June 17, 1950 – July 1, 1955 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Hawkins Falls, Population 6200 is an American television soap opera that was broadcast in the 1950s, live from Chicago. Though it was not the first original (non-radio-derived) soap opera on American TV, it was the first to be successful, running for more than five years.
Sponsored by Unilever's blue detergent, Surf, the program began as a prime time one-hour weekly comedy-drama on June 17, 1950, and ran in prime time on the NBC network until October 12, 1950.[1]
On April 2, 1951, the series was moved to a fifteen-minute daytime slot, where it was retitled Hawkins Falls: A Television Novel, and developed into a soap opera format.[2] Hawkins Falls ran until July 1, 1955, making it NBC's longest-running soap opera until The Doctors exceeded it in 1967.
The town of Hawkins Falls was patterned after the real-life town of Woodstock, Illinois.[1]
- ^ a b Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (9 ed.). New York: Random House Publishing. p. 593. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4. Retrieved 2024-06-02.
- ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. pp. 208–209. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 22 March 2020.