'Guiding Light' Soap Opera Canceled After 72-Year Run

Paxton007 · Apr 1, 2009

The soap opera "Guiding Light" is switching off after a 72-year run that predates television.
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I'm calling hoax.. But I guess we'll see.

Fox News story.

LauraR · Apr 1, 2009

Wow. I had no idea it was around for that long.

I can't even imagine a soap on the radio. Guess it would be more palatable than actually watching it though. LOL

KingSteve · Apr 1, 2009

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/01/april.fools.pranks/index.html

augiedoggie · Apr 1, 2009

Oh crap, the gf is going to freak if this is true! :eek The NYT published this too.

darlene1029 · Apr 2, 2009

if I remember correctly it was a 15 min segment just before Beany and Cecil,
that was a while back

Paxton007 · Apr 2, 2009

I think it must be a real story, here's more on the subject today.

Guiding Light Finally Killed by Procter & Gamble

There was a time when Procter & Gamble had about eight soap operas on the air. As of September 18, they will be down to one: "As the World Turns." The company, working with CBS, has killed "Guiding Light" after 72 years on radio and TV.

The killing of "Guiding Light" began about a decade ago. That was when P&G — which now calls it production company Telenext to keep angry viewers from protesting Crest and Pampers — allowed the show to jump the shark. They performed the first human cloning ever in fiction or in real life. It was all downhill from there, and the show’s producers seemed to enjoy the chaos. As fans fled, the stories became more and more absurd.

And then last February 2008, the show left the studio and regular sets. P&G, the most successful corporation in the world, claimed it was too expensive to keep up permanent sets in a studio. This was patently wrong, and made as little sense as a soap story. They forced the actors out into the cold of Peapack, New Jersey, and turned everything into a location shoot. The lighting and sound were awful. Costumes, hair, makeup all went away. P&G wanted out of "Guiding Light" and there was only one way to do it — shoo off the remaining fans.

In order to pull off this disaster, P&G had to find complicit employees. They did in executive producer Ellen Wheeler and head writer David Kreizman. These two seemed to revel in the awfulness of the show they made. It was almost as if they were producing "Springtime for Hitler" and hoping for a failure. This time, it worked.

So P&G and CBS get their way. "Guiding Light" will be snuffed out in September. Kevin Bacon got his start there. So did a lot of other good actors including Alison Janney (West Wing), Melina Kanakaredes (CSI New York), Emmy winner Tammy Blanchard, Tony nominee Laura Bell Bundy, plus Billy Dee Williams, JoBeth Williams, Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills 90210), Nia Long, Taye Diggs, Victor Garber, and probably a lot more we don’t even know.

And a lot of good actors went there, and stayed. Kim Zimmer’s won a bunch of Emmy awards. Michael Zaslow was the best villain ever on soaps — Roger Thorpe — until the show’s producers fired him for having ALS after he’d played the part on and off for 25 years. That whole episode — he died about a year later — was actually the first sign that P&G and CBS simply didn’t care about the actors or the fans.

Guiding Light, R.I.P. I’m glad I switched to Colgate Total a long time ago.
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~Huskies~ · Apr 3, 2009

WOW...what else can I say. I can remember the first time hearing the theme music of the Guiding Light. I was 3 or so not feeling well and laying on my mom's lap. My mom had a routine of which she did things. After breakfast, she start her cleaning so, she could as she called it, "get a ring side seat" because this day was gonna be hot...LOL. But I sort of messed-up the routine because I wanted her to hold & rock me cause my tummy hurt:cry. The problem was she didn't get the cleaning or anything else done because we sat and watch 'ALL' of the hot soaps including The Edge of Night (anyone remember that one) and everything else that came on that FridayLOL. My mom really didn't mind, but when Daddy came home...uuummmm:-o:-D.

Wow...I gotta call my mom and give her the BAD news:cry:cry:crybaby

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'Guiding Light' Soap Opera Canceled After 72-Year Run

Paxton007 MajorGeek

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