Where the Heart Is is an American soap opera which was telecast on the CBS television network from Monday, September 8, 1969, to Friday, March 23, 1973. Created by Lou Scofield and Margaret DePriest, the program ran for 25 minutes, the remaining five minutes of its timeslot ceded to a CBS news break. Scofield and DePriest were the original headwriters. A year after the soap’s premiere, they were succeeded by Pat Falken Smith. In 1972, Smith was replaced by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer. The series was produced by Tom Donovan and directed by Richard Dunlap.

Storylines

Set in the fictional town of Northcross, Connecticut, Where the Heart Is focused on the sexual and psychological intrigues of the dysfunctional Hathaway family. Although some believe that the serial was patterned after Grace Metalious’ scandalous novel Peyton Place, the serial was actually CBS’ attempt to create a psychosexual, family melodrama popularized by NBC’s Days of our Lives. With such prurient themes as unabashed adultery, out-of-wedlock babies, and vaguely incestuous love triangles, WTHI’s irreverent, fast-paced stories were certainly an oddity among CBS’s other staid, conservative serials.