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‘World’ coming to end

“The World” has just nine more months to turn.

CBS dropped the ax on one of TV’s longest-running soaps yesterday, notifying the cast and crew that it’s canning “As The World Turns” after 54 years on the air.

The final episode of the Brooklyn-based show will air in September.

“It’s been really somber,” said Terri Colombino, an 11-year veteran of the soap, describing the mood on the set. “I can’t say I was super surprised. There have been rumors for a long time, but to actually hear the news is just a punch in the gut . . .

“Everyone kept saying, ‘I thought we had at least one more year.’ ”

The cancellation of the show sticks yet another fork in the dying soap-opera genre, which is attracting fewer and fewer daytime viewers. CBS’s other big soap, “Guiding Light,” aired its final episode last September after more than 70 years on TV and radio.

“It’s just a shock — it’s like mother and daddy got divorced or died or something,” said Eileen Fulton, who plays the oft-married Lisa Grimaldi on “ATWT” and will mark her 50th year on the show in June.

“It’s money. It’s always money,” Colombino said. “If they can put a talk show or game show or reality show in that time slot, even if they get half the ratings, it benefits their bottom line.”

Since “All My Children” moved to LA this month, the only daytime drama that will be left in New York is “One Life to Live.”

Between cast and crew, an estimated 200 local workers will be out of a job when “ATWT” finishes its run and pulls out of JC Studios in Midwood, where it’s been based for more than a decade.

“I’m auditioning all the time,” Colombino said. “I’d like to stay here. I love New York. But maybe this is God telling me, ‘OK, it’s time.’ ”

Fulton predicted that everybody will land on their feet. “We’re all very good at what we do, and we’ll all be working again,” she said.

“ATWT” broke ground in the late ’80s when it became the first daytime drama to include a gay male character, Hank Eliot, played by Brian Starcher.

It was also the jumping off point for stars including Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, Martin Sheen and James Earl Jones — who all appeared on the soap before making the leap to the big screen.

maxine.shen@nypost.com