Television's longest running daytime drama may get the axe in September

[WI_DEM]

After 70-plus years (if you include radio) "The Guiding Light" may be flickering out:

We say "delicate" because, as we have already mentioned, viewers of soap operas are among the most loyal and passionate fan bases that exist in the entertainment world: They make Twilight fans look positively fair-weather by comparison! So it's no surprise that when TV Week began speculating that CBS might cancel Guiding Light after 70-plus years on radio and television, angry commenters immediately began threatening to boycott Proctor & Gamble products.* And now that Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that the show will almost certainly leave the schedule when its contract with the network expires in September, fans of soap operas — not just GL fans — are concerned about the future of the entire genre.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/03/guiding_light.html

[bluestateguy]

1. I think we should bring back the U.S. Steel Hour

nt

[baldguy]

14. Have to bring back U.S. Steel first.

[geek tragedy]

2. I blame Obama for this. He should bail the show out.

If he doesn't, that shows he's trying to bust the local union.

[Toucano]

3. Maybe the genre is worn out?

I can count on one hand the number of people I know who still watch daytime dramas.

[tridim]

4. That's what it is, the addicts are getting old.

My Mom still watches 'Days Of Our Lives' every freaking day, and yet she admits that it's stupid. She's a soap opera addict, the old school version of today's American Idol addict. Honestly I think the genre died in the 70's, but just enough fans remain that they can keep the shows on the air.

[WI_DEM]

5. I would say that is probably it. Television advertisers don't care for anything unless it appeals

to 18-39 year olds.

[Critters2]

6. When my mom would come to visit, the first thing she did

was check the TV listings to make sure All My Children was on at the same time as at home.

She was also addicted to ER, maybe even more than AMC. I'm going to watch the last show Thursday, and probably cry like a baby because my mom isn't here to watch the end of her favorite show.

[asjr]

7. I don't watch now but Guiding Light

got me through 3 pregnancies.

[graywarrior]

8. Good.

I despise soap operas.

[Connie_Corleone]

9. Guiding Light started going downhill in the late 90s.

I used to watch it when I was a teenager in the 80s. I stopped in the late 90s when all the kids started growing up too fast and I didn't know who they were. One of the kids grew up and passed me in age. LOL!!

But the stories got ridiculous. When Josh cloned Reva, that was it for me.

[WI_DEM]

10. I agree, a lot of these soaps got too weird to be taken seriously.

[monmouth]

11. I remember sitting on the floor in front of the radio with my grandmother

listening to "Guiding Light" and "Helen Trent". Then we both had to go for our naps....LOL. Other favs at the time were "Stella Dallas" - "Portia Faces Life" and "The Goldbergs"....

[ContinentalOp]

12. Wow, that's really sad.

I've never watched the show in my life but I always thought it was amazing how long it has continuously been on the air.

[dustbunnie]

13. Guiding Light was probably one of the more old-fashioned of the lot.

Today, more women work and don't have time for soaps. The "secret shame" plot lines probably seem tame and boring to today's young women. Stories about rich women having love children with their alcoholic, embezzling, rake brothers-in-law are hoe hum, and single mothers no longer come "from the wrong side of the track." Soaps plus the odd science show used to be the only afternoon fare, whereas now you can tune into anything you like, and people who enjoy daytime histrionics usually wait for Maury, Oprah and Dr. Phil to come on.