It's the end of an era for fans of one of the longest running CBS soap operas. Viewers were glued to their TV sets Friday for the final broadcast of "As The World Turns."
Viewers were first introduced to the Hughes family in 1956 and they've been following its ups and downs ever since. Actress Colleen Zenk has been in the thick of all those twists and turns since 1978. Millions got to know her as Barbara Ryan over the next three decades and she got to her TV family like her own family. "They become a part of your world and it was the most difficult thing of letting go of Barbara Ryan was letting go of my "As The World Turns" family," Zenk said.
Colleen relied on her family when she battled tongue cancer three years ago. She convinced her producers to raise awareness about the disease through her character. "I was diagnosed with this and went through what I went through in order to get the word out," Zenk said.
Now that she's closing this long chapter of her life, Colleen feels like she's leaving her fans in the lurch. "Everything that they've been through..the laughter, tears affairs..it's going to be difficult," she said.
But, Zenk says the last show wouldn't let her fans down. "I just wept when I read it. It's saying goodbye."
