Love Is a Many Splendored Thing

Created by the original serial mom Irna Phillips, Love is a Many Splendored Thing began with the Eurasian daughter of the original stories leads coming to San Francisco and falling into her own interracial love affair. The other hot storyline was the ambivalence of a novice nun in her choice of the church or love. Fred Silverman, then the head of CBS daytime ordered Phillips to kill both "controversial" storylines. Rather then buckle to CBS, Phillips resigned. The two stories were out the door almost immediately after her departure.

The show was then focused into a story of Young Love, a theme that would later lead both All My Children and The Young and the Restless into almost instant hits. Helped by the Young Love theme and being the lead out for the then powerhouse As the World Turns, Love is a Many Splendored Thing ended it's first season in eleventh place with a 7.9 rating. By the end of the third season it's numbers had grown to a 9.5 and ended the season in sixth place, over taking it's main competition Days of Our Lives.