On this day March 29 1982 the soap opera Capitol premiered on CBS. Set in the high stakes world of Washington D.C. politics and power struggles the series followed the lives of the wealthy Clegg and Tate families whose rivalries played out against the backdrop of national government.
Capitol ran for 5 seasons with a total of 1,293 episodes. The show combined classic soap opera drama with political intrigue and was one of CBS’s first daytime series centered around life in the nation’s capital. While never as dominant as some of its daytime peers Capitol built a loyal audience and helped launch the careers of several actors including Constance Towers and Debrah Farentino.
80s insight: When Capitol was canceled in 1987 it was replaced by another long running CBS soap opera—The Bold and the Beautiful.