TV's "Guiding Light" Going Dark

CBS Cancels TV's Longest-Running Drama, Citing Economy And Changing Viewer Habits

(AP)  CBS is pulling the plug on the soap opera "Guiding Light" after a 72-year run that predates television, the show a victim of the economy and changed viewing habits.

The drama's final episode will air on Sept. 18.

The Guinness Book of World Records has cited it as the longest-running television drama. It began as a 15-minute serial on NBC Radio on Jan. 25, 1937, and debuted on CBS TV in 1952, focusing on the fictional town of Springfield and the Spaulding, Lewis and Cooper families.

"For many of us, it was the first show we ever watched," said Lynn Leahey, editorial director of Soap Opera Digest. Unlike prime-time shows that came and went, it was a constant in people's lives. "It really is heartbreaking to see something like this go away."

Procter & Gamble Productions, which makes the show, informed cast and crew Wednesday at separate sets in New York and New Jersey. The company isn't giving up on the story, and will explore different ways to keep it going after September, a spokeswoman said.

Soap operas have been in a long, slow decline in popularity, primarily because many of the women who made up their loyal audiences are no longer at home at that hour. They're working, and can find the communal experience that their favorite soaps once gave them elsewhere.

"Guiding Light" had the lowest ratings of the eight daytime dramas on the air. When it leaves, CBS and ABC will have three weekday soap operas each, and NBC will have one.

"The numbers are really tough for all of these old dramas," said Ron Raines, the actor who portrayed the villain Alan Spaulding on "Guiding Light."

"I don't think any of the other shows want any of us to go off. We're all in this together," he said.

Many successful actors got their start on "Guiding Light," including James Earl Jones, Calista Flockhart, Hayden Panettiere, Kevin Bacon and Taye Diggs.

Faced with extinction a year ago, "Guiding Light" significantly revamped its operations. It ditched its fixed, three-camera set in favor of portable cameras that enabled producers to shoot in different locations. The move saved money and changed the show's look to make it seem more like the reality shows younger viewers are accustomed to.

It didn't work, at least enough for CBS. The network hasn't said what will replace "Guiding Light" on the schedule, but it will almost certainly be a talk or game show, which are much cheaper to make than dramas with a large cast.

The changes also made many of the fans and cast members unhappy, said Carolyn Hinsey, Soap Opera Digest columnist. Two of its biggest stars, Beth Ehlers and Ricky Paull Goldin, quit and now work on ABC's "All My Children."

For fans of the genre, Wednesday's move could be a peek into the future.

Ten years from now, "I absolutely think (daytime dramas) will still be around," Leahey said. "I don't know if you'll be able to watch them from noon to three o'clock on network television."

In fact, the cancellation could be an opportunity for "Guiding Light," she said. Perhaps there's a way to keep the show alive on cable or online; Procter & Gamble says it will have to evaluate whether there's a cost-effective way to do that.

For now, its cast and crew are in mourning.

"What is it? 72 years continuous?" Raines said. "That will never be touched. It's a very sad thing, but these are the times we live in. It's very tough out there."

[somadcbs]

IM SO ******* MAD AT CBS!! I HATE YOUR STATION I DONT EVEN WATCH IT ANYMORE!! THE ONLY REASON I TUNED INTO THE STATION WAS BECAUSE I WANTED TO WATCH GUIDING LIGHT!! I CANT BELIEVE YALL DID THAT!! WHY?? WHY AFTER ALL THESE LONG YEARS JUST TAKE IT OFF!! UGH! I REALL YLIKED THAT SHOW AND IM ONLY 22YRS OLD!! BUT I HOPE GL COMES ON I MISS WATCHING REVA AND DAISY AND LIZZIE, AND THEN YALL MAKE OLIVA, AND NATALIA STORY LINE GET REALLY GOOD AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THE END!! HAPPILY EVA AFTER!! ALAN DIES!! WOW I HATE CBS!! I REALLY FREAKIN HATE YALL!! BOOTY AZZ SHOWS YALL HAVE!!! PLZ BRING THEM BACK!! SAY YALL MADE A MISTAKE!! I REALLY LIKE THEM!! I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO MEET ALL OF THEM!! GOSH PEOPLE DONT ANYONE CARE ABOUT GUIDING LIGHT FANS!! AND THE DAMN SHOW WAS NOT BORING!! FOR ALL THOSE WHO SAY IT WAS A BORING SHOW!! YOUR ARE A HATER!! I LOVED THAT SHOW I COULDNT WAIT TILL IT CAME ON!! I FINALLY FOUND A SOAP SHOW I COULD WATCH!! THEY TOOK PASSIONS NOW GUDING LIGHT!! EVERYONE I REALLY START TO WATCH AND GET TO KNOW THE CHRACTERS AND THIER ROLES YALL TAKE THEM RIGHT OF THE DAMN TV!! I HATE YALL. MAYBE YALL WILL MAKE ANOTHER SAOP SHOW THATS GOOD AND I MEAN GOOD!! DANG THATS THE LEAST YOU COULD DO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE CBS!!!!!!!I HATE CBS!!!!!!!UGH

[annhart40]

I am saddened to see you off the air, I have watched you for over 30 years and now the price is right is on OH BOY just what i wanted to watch. Please come back to us

[myangelgirl123]

Hello,
My name is Mary, I've been a constant fan of the Guiding Light for approximately 53 years.......Yes, I have a life....Why can't you guys TURN THE GUIDING LIGHT INTO A NIGHTTIME PROGRAM LIKE DALLAS OR INTO A FAMILY SHOW LIKE 'LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE'...DON'T LAUGH TOO QUICK!!!!
Look! Maybe they are having a hard time COMPETING WITH OTHER 'SOAPS', but in my opinion it is only because they try to approach the 'grand storylines' in a way that leaves some shred of decency and a sense of humanity....
Look, keep everyone together, regroup, start looking at Springfield like a Real Hometown to Three Major Families and let's go BACK TO THE FUTURE and let them have a "Wise Papa Bower" and a compassionate "Bert" and Really great families and friends...quit all the '********' Soap Opera fighting and getting back at each other and MOVE ON TO real caring, compassion, fun, and that great humor that we've seen so little of....God, Reva, will make the Greatest Grandma......Allen can really continue to be the Great Grandpa and EVERYONE ELSE HAS SUCH GREAT CAPACITY TO KEEP BEING 'MY EXTENDED' FAMILY AS THEY ARE TO THOUSANDS FOR 72 YEARS. COME ON PEOPLE.....NOONE BELIEVED THAT A 'RADIO PROGRAM' WOULD MAKE IT ON TV....WELL THEY THOUGHT LIKE NELLY......JUST DO IT......
MARY BELL

[myangelgirl123]

go girl!!!

[mdhatcher]

my mother us 84 and has watched the guiding light from the start. I am 56 and I have watched it back as far as I can rememeber on a black and white tv. The show gets better every year I just cant see why it is cancelled I hope another network picks it up because I will watch it. Bad Mistake to take it off.

[DaisyDuckDee]

NOOOOO,,,PLEASE DONT GO,,, I even remember my grandmother watching this show when I was a little girl and she would make us take a nap while HER SHOWS were on :) and NOW I LOVE the show AND the cast members we ALL know and love. If anything As the World Turns needs to go ITS BORING now. PLEASE think of another way and dont let your show END ITS JUST GETTING GOOD. PLEASE CBS DONT DO THIS PLEASE ,,,,,, i have been watching for 35 yrs or so,,PLEASE DONT GO

[GLFAN]

CBS PLEASE, PLEASE RECONSIDER. Guiding Light is and always has been the best soap opera. What 60 Minutes is to evening viewers, Guiding Light is to daytime viewers. It has excellent family/characer development with many story lines to follow. Please rethink your decision and look over your budgets. There are many other programs that could be cut first. If this show has been running this long...then it has been doing everything RIGHT!

[griffin888]

On September 18, 2009 millions of viewers will be tuning out CBS for the LAST TIME. CBS has shown NO REGARD for their most LOYAL VIEWERS in the cancellation of Guiding Light. CBS could have moved it to "primetime" any hour of the week. Unforgivable!!! Hey CBS good luck with your gameshow. 3 people might watch it! After 9.18 you'll be blocked from our remote!

[ashleydawn2005]

I'm really upset that they are takin GL off..As soon as i heard they were taking it off i was depressed all day.. Guiding light is better than both bold & the beautiful and atwt's put together!!!! Take one of them off.. grrr

[upsetinpa]

I have been a fan of The Guiding Light for more years than most. I listened to the show on the radio. I think it is a real shame CBS decided to take the best soap, off the air. It definitely will be a mistake, after reading the comments before me. I think things like basketball games should be on the sports channel, and leave The Light alone. So many people, including myself, have a special connection with the characters on the show, especially the many senior citizens that truly look forward to watching it every day. It just isn't fair to do that to the older folks. What other enjoyment do they have, especially if they are shut-ins?

I certainly hope CBS reconsiders this bad decision to take it off the air. I think it will hurt their ratings for sure.

One point I should bring up is how generous it was for the cast to take their time to help with HAP and other organizations to help the less fortunate. This was done on several occasions, even here in Pittsburgh.

If CBS doesn't want them anymore, maybe NBC will put their heart out there and pick them up. Watch the ratings change after that!

I will miss Reva and Josh, or Kim Zimmer and Robert Newman. They make the show.

Pittsburgh "The City of Champions" Loves "The Guiding Light"!

Wise up CBS!

[MoraeA]

CBS and P&G should look at replacing GL with Kim's Closet - a new, refreshing lifestyle and makeover show. They are saying the host Kimberly is going to do for fashion what Rachel Ray has done for food - make it fun.... www.KimsCloset.TV

[pharmon61]

Guiding light is the only soap i watch and i have watched since early 70's in jr high school. I am very upset that it is going off air. My husband and I tape it daily and watch it together over coffee. It is the best drama soap on the air and at first i didnt like the change in filming but now I love it. Very sorry it is leaving I will miss it.
Patti

[jking1996]

I could go on and on and on and on about why not to pull GL from CBS. I have a "gut"feeling CBS won't listen. Like most viewers I have been watching GL for over 15 years. I used to run home from school at 3:15 so I could just get the last 1/2 hour. It's my daily release each day at 3pm. I have tried to get into other soaps: Young and The Restless, As the World Turns but I can't. I agree with others Bold and the Beautiful is so AWFUL. How could even think of turning off GL compared to BB??? CBS you need to wake up. What you are doing is soooooooooooo wrong. Please, please don't do this. How can you let go of the 1st soap opera ever??

[janicecl]

Guiding Light is the only soap I have watched in 10 years or more. I get irritated at some of the guidelines, but I never miss a show. I am very upset that this is happening. I think if ratings are down it is because some of the favorite actors are gone. I really hope to follow the Reva line, and the Frank and natalia. Is Natalia pregnant? she looks it. Alan has done so many illegal things thru this whole show, if it were anyone else he would have been rotting in jail. Daisy is getting really boring, send her to her mother. I guess when this is taken off, I will not watch any. Janice

[bonnielu8371]

I am very sad, the Guiding Light is ending. My Mom watched this show, when I was just a child, and I am a loyal, devoted fan. I love the show and do hope it will still be on. If it's on cable, or online i would definitely watch it. I wish CBS would reconsider. I think it's a terrible decision to stop a show that people love so much.

[masongirls2]

I only watch 3 shows. Days of our Lives, As the World Turns, and Guiding Light. I have watched Guiding Light for 27 years and am furious it is being cancelled. They need to find some way to keep it going, on soapnet or maybe try doing what Passions did and put it on Direct TV. This is an awesome show and I don't want to see it go. Especially with Phillip back.

[sable59]

I would like to see The Guiding Light as a night time series,or maybe show it on the TV Soap Channel.

[LLB04]

I am sooo upset and furious at CBS! How can they cancel a classic like GL and keep the Bold and the Beautiful!!?? Please!!!!!! I have watched GL for 35 years! My mom, sister, aunt, cousins, have watched most of their lives. During breast cancer treatment GL was the bright spot in my day!!
I will never watch CBS again and am glad that the airline I'm employed by no longer shows CBS programming inflight!

[joelcerio]

I've watched Guiding Light all my life. I am extremely upset that it is being cancelled. The show has gotten so much better recently with the return of Grant Alexander as Phillip Spaulding, the moving and dramatic story of Coop's death, as well as Edmund's re-emergence in Springfield. It will only continue to improve with the arrivals of James Spaulding and Michelle Bauer. Announcing the cancellation on April Fool's Day and giving the fans false hope was such a slap in the face to us all!

[GLfanforever]

I think it is ridiculous to take Guiding Light off the air. There are wonderful storylines to be written here. Take one of the other shows off. To CBS this may just be a show, but to GL fans it is so much more than that. We have come to know these characters and relate to them and their situations. I have been watching GL religiously for 22 years, I cannot imagine coming home after a long day and not being able to watch it.... the thought of it breaks my heart. I truly hope that CBS rethinks their decision and keeps GL going.

[SaddenInPa]

I am very upset about guiding light leaving television for good... My grandmother/mom ect have watched it for many yrs... Myself also for 15yrs.. Don't blame the economy on the reason you are taking it away blame the fact that you changed the viewing for morning when every1 is working... I watch guiding light @ 3pmEST where it should have stayed from day 1.... I guess us faithful guiding light watchers don't get a say so?? Once September 18th comes and I say good buy 2 guiding light i will no longer watch CBS... I agree w/ Cindgod the story lines for Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless are worthless its the same drama everyday that never comes 2 a point... Reva and Jeffery finally got a baby and i would like 2 c beyond September 18th what will happen..... DEPRESSING!!!!