Guiding Light
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| Guiding Light | |
|---|---|
| [[1]] Guiding Light title card |
|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Creator(s) | Irna Phillips |
| Starring | A sizable list of regulars |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 15,140 (as of March 30, 2007) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Procter & Gamble Productions |
| Executive producer(s) | Ellen Wheeler |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | January 25, 1937 (radio) June 30, 1952 (television) – present |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Guiding Light (known as The Guiding Light prior to 1975) is an American television program credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the longest-running soap opera in production and the longest running drama in television history. The 15,000th televised episode of Guiding Light aired on September 7, 2006. Due to this series run, it is not only considered to be the longest soap opera, but the longest series of any show created.
The program was created by soap writer Irna Phillips, and began as an NBC radio serial on January 25, 1937 before moving to CBS on June 30, 1952, as a televised serial.
Contents |
[edit] Production and locales
| U.S. daytime soap operas currently on the air: |
| All My Children (ABC) |
| As the World Turns (CBS) |
| The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS) |
| Days of our Lives (NBC) |
| General Hospital (ABC) |
| Guiding Light (CBS) |
| One Life to Live (ABC) |
| Passions (NBC) |
| The Young and the Restless (CBS) |
| Edit this box |
The Guiding Light has been broadcast from three locations: Chicago, Illinois from 1937 until 1946, Hollywood, California from 1947 until 1949, and New York City from 1949 until the present. It was moved from Chicago to Hollywood (despite objections of both Irna Phillips and Arthur Peterson) to take advantage of the talent pool. Production was subsequently moved to New York City, where it remains. It is currently taped at the CBS studios in midtown Manhattan.
The fictional action has also been set in three different locales - it was based in the fictional towns of Five Points and Selby Flats before "moving" to its current day locale of Springfield.
[edit] History, plot development, and cast
Due to the 6-decade run of Guiding Light as well as the complexity of the storylines, the show's history has been split up into separate entries. Cast lists are under individual articles.
[edit] 1930s and 1940s
The series was created by Irna Phillips, who based it on personal experiences. After giving birth to a still-born baby at age 19, she found spiritual comfort listening to the on-air sermons of Preston Bradley, a very famous Chicago preacher and founder of the Peoples Church, a church which promoted the brotherhood of man. It was these sermons that formed the nucleus of the creation of The Guiding Light, which began as a radio show.
[edit] 1950s
In 1952, The Guiding Light began airing on CBS television. Episodes were 15 minutes long.
After Irna Phillips moved to As The World Turns in 1958, her protege Agnes Nixon became Head Writer of The Guiding Light.
With the transition to television the main characters became the Bauers, a lower-middle class German immigrant family.
[edit] 1960s
Agnes Nixon reliquished her role as head writer in 1966. In 1967, the show was first broadcast in color. A year later, the show expanded from 15 to 30 minutes.
The 1960s saw the introduction of African-American characters, and the main focus of the show shifted to Bill and Bert's children, Mike and Ed.
[edit] 1970s
Feeling pressure from newer, more youth-oriented soap operas such as All My Children, Procter & Gamble hired headwriters Bridget Dobson and Jerome Dobson in 1975. The Dobsons introduced a more nuanced, psychologically layered writing style, and included timely storylines, including a complex love/hate relationship between estranged spouses/step-siblings Roger and Holly. They also created a number of well-remembered characters, including Rita Stapleton, whose complex relationships with Roger and Ed would propel much of the story for the remainder of the decade, and Alan Spaulding and Ross Marler, who would both remain central characters into the 2000s.
In the fall of 1975, the name was changed in show's opening and closing visuals from The Guiding Light to Guiding Light. On November 7, 1977, the show expanded to a full hour and aired from 2:30-3:30 p. m. daily.
The show in the 1970s focused on the Bauers and the Spauldings. Several notable characters were introduced.
[edit] 1980s
The expansion of Another World to a full hour caused all the soap operas (and California-based serials) to move ahead a half hour, with Guiding Light now airing from 3p. m.-4p. m.
The decision was made to re-introduce the thought-dead character of Bill Bauer. Everyone had thought that he had died in an airplane crash in the early 1970s, but he was said to actually be alive. When he returned to Springfield, he bought his daughter Hillary with him.
Shocking to most viewers, Jerome and Bridget Dobson killed its young heroine, Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris Bauer, R. N. She was killed by a drunken driver, and many viewers stopped watching the show due to this death.
In 1980, the Dobsons began writing to As the World Turns, and replaced by former actor Douglas Marland. He created some new characters like vixen Nola Reardon. In May 1980, Guiding Light won its first Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Drama.
An ever more complicated storyline focused on the Bauers, the Spauldings, the Reardons and the Raines. Pam Long became head writer in 1983, and refocused the show on Freddy Bauer (now called Dr. Rick Bauer), Phillip Spaulding, Mindy Lewis and Beth Raines. She also introduced characters Alexandra Spaulding and Reva Shayne. Long would return for a second stint from 1987 to 1990.
[edit] 1990s
With the new decade, the show started to change from Long's homespun, earthy style to a more realistic style. The Bauers, Spauldings, Lewises, and the Coopers had been established as core families, and most major plot developments circled around them.
The show suffered major cast losses mid-decade, including the loss of characters Maureen Bauer and Alexandra Spaulding. As the decade progressed, the show began a series of outlandish plot twists to compete with the serial Days of Our Lives, including a highly controversial story on cloning.
[edit] 2000s
The 2000s began with the splitting of the show into two locales: Springfield and the island nation of San Cristobel. In Springfield, the Santos mob dynasty created much of the drama. Meanwhile, the royal Winslow family had their own series of intrigues to deal with. In 2002, however, San Cristobel was written off the show and the mob's influence in the story was subsequently diminished and, with the departure of character Danny Santos in 2005, eliminated althogether.
In 2005, former director and actress Ellen Wheeler (Emmy Award Winner, All My Children and Another World) took over as Executive Producer of Guiding Light. She and writer David Kreizman made numerous changes to the sets, stories, and the cast. Several veteran actors were dropped, mainly due to budget cuts. Due to the lack of veteran influence, Wheeler has refocused the show on the youth of Springfield, centering on the controversial pairing of cousins Jonathan and Tammy.
CBS now offers Guiding Light to affiliates from 10-11a.m. ET and 3-4p.m. ET. And on September 18, 2006, CBS began to offer a 9am ET feed of the show to its East Coast affiliates. [2] Previously, affiliates airing the show in the mornings had to do it on a one day delay.
The show is celebrating its seventieth broadcast anniversary in 2007. The show plans to mark the occasion with a number of events, including closing production for a week so that cast and crew can go to Biloxi, Mississippi and rebuild homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina.[3][4] There will also be on-screen celebrations, including an episode where current cast members portray former characters.
[edit] Cast
Please see the articles by decade for cast. The current cast is in the article Guiding Light (2000-2009)
[edit] Ratings/Scheduling History
Unlike most attempts made by popular radio serials to convert to a television version, Guiding Light never had any difficulty holding onto its old listening audience and making new viewers simultaneously. This was made easy by the fact that neither ABC nor NBC broadcast programs on their respective networks at 2:30 p.m. Eastern/1:30 Central, where CBS first placed GL. Six months into the run, however, the network moved the serial to a timeslot that gave it great popularity with its housewife audience, 12:45 p.m./11:45 a.m., where it ran for the next 15 years and eight months, sharing the half hour with its sister Procter and Gamble-packaged soap, Search for Tomorrow. GL handled the competition breezily, even legendary shows such as Queen for a Day on ABC (briefly in 1960) and NBC's Truth or Consequences. Usually, GL ranked second in the Nielsen ratings behind another P&G serial, As the World Turns.
By 1968, though, changing viewership trends prompted CBS to expand its last two 15-minute daytime dramas, disrupting long-standing viewing habits. Search took over the entire 12:30-1/11:30-Noon period, with GL returning to its first timeslot, 2:30/1:30, albeit in the now-standard half-hour format, on September 9. This also caused the dislocation of The Secret Storm and the beloved Art Linkletter's House Party, as well as the cancellation of the daytime To Tell the Truth. It would not be the last time, though, as the next 12 years would bring several shifts around CBS' lineup.
The 1970s saw GL's popularity dip somewhat, largely from the competition posed by younger-leaning serials such as The Doctors on NBC, but it still garnered decent ratings. After four years, CBS bumped it up a half-hour to accommodate P&G's demand that Edge of Night move to 2:30/1:30, a move that led to the end of that show on CBS three years later. In the meantime, GL stayed steadily on course against NBC's Days of Our Lives, another soap favored by younger women, and ABC's Newlywed Game. In late 1974, ABC replaced Newlywed with The $10,000 Pyramid, which went on to garner strong ratings, but not greatly at GL's expense. Meanwhile, by fall 1975 (at this point, the show dropped the word "The" officially from its title), the impending departure of Edge and CBS' planned expansion of ATWT affected GL by pushing it back to 2:30/1:30 in December, where NBC still ran The Doctors and ABC had a short-lived hit the next year with an updated Break the Bank. To complicate the picture further, ABC opted to make its first expansions, that of One Life to Live and General Hospital, in July 1976, each occupying one-half of a 90-minute block.
With this in mind, CBS acted to give its veteran serial a contending chance by expanding it to an hour in length on November 7, 1977, strategically keeping its start time put in order to dissuade viewers from turning to the other networks. This gained particular importance when ABC finally added 15 minutes to both OLTL and GH by January 1978, so that GL straddled those two programs, as well as the first half of sister P&G show Another World on NBC. Despite GH surprising all observers by skyrocketing from near-cancellation to the top place in the ratings with the "Luke and Laura" storyline, GL hit an upswing as the decade ended.
On February 4, 1980, CBS bumped GL down again, to 4/3, in the midst of a major scheduling shuffle intended to give Young and the Restless a shot at beating ABC's All My Children. It has remained in this timeslot since, facing GH and NBC entries such as Texas, The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour and Santa Barbara. none of which made significant impacts upon GL. Further GH eventually petered out by the mid-1980s as well. Overall, the first half of the 1980s saw a revival in Guiding Light's popularity, with a top-five placing achieved in most years, and although it slipped as the decade progressed, it was still performing solidly. This remained the case until the mid-1990s, when the show's ratings sunk as low as eighth out of 11. However, during the controversial clone storyline in 1998, ratings experienced a brief resurgence. Still, as of 2006, the lack of significant improvement in the ratings (coupled with massive budget cuts) has intensified speculation about the show's long-term future.
In fact, as of January 2007, stations in the following markets air GL earlier in the day: Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Fort Wayne, Ind., South Bend, Ind., Portland, Me., Albany, N.Y., and Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Pa. Surprisingly, the first eight of these fourteen stations tape-delaying GL are actually CBS-owned. This represents a radical departure from past practices, when network owned-and-operated stations were almost never allowed to postpone airing a program from the live feed.
Only two CBS affiliates do not air GL at all: KOVR-TV in Sacramento, California, even though a network-owned-and-operated station; and WNEM-TV in Flint/Saginaw/Bay City, Michigan, which instead programs it on its digital My Network TV channel, "My 5."
Daytime history: Highest rated week (November 16-November 20, 1981) (Household Ratings- Nielsen Media Research)
| Serial | Household Rating | (Time Slot) Network | Millions Of Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|
| All My Children | 10.2 | (1-2p. m.) ABC | 14 million |
| One Life To Live | 10.2 | (2-3p. m.) ABC | 13.9 million |
| Guiding Light | 7.9 | (3-4p. m.) CBS | 9.9 million |
December 26 - December 30, 2005 (millions of viewers)
- As the World Turns 3,771,000
- One Life to Live 3,417,000
- All My Children 3,362,000
- Guiding Light 3,137,000
[edit] Awards
[edit] Daytime Emmy Awards
[edit] Show
- 1980 Outstanding Daytime Drama Series
- 1981 Outstanding Writing for a Daytime Drama Series
- 1982 Outstanding Daytime Drama Series
- 1982 Outstanding Writing for a Daytime Drama Series
- 1982 Outstanding Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts (Technical Direction/Electronic Camerawork)
- 1983 Outstanding Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts (Lighting Direction)
- 1984 Outstanding Achievement in Design Excellence for a Daytime Drama Series
- 1985 Outstanding Direction for a Drama Series
- 1985 Outstanding Achievement by a Drama Series Design Team - Ronald M. Kelson
- 1986 Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team
- 1986 Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Drama Series
- 1986 Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design for a Drama Series
- 1987 Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Drama Series
- 1987 Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Drama Series
- 1990 Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team
- 1991 Outstanding Original Song: "Love Like This"
- 1991 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
- 1992 Outstanding Original Song: "I Knew That I'd Fall"
- 1992 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
- 1992 Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Title Design
- 1993 Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team
- 1993 Outstanding Achievement in Multiple Camera Editing for a Drama Series
- 1994 Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team
- 1994 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
- 1995 Outstanding Lighting Direction for a Drama Series
- 1995 Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Drama Series
- 1996 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
- 1996 Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Drama Series
- 1996 Outstanding Live and Direct-to-Tape Sound Mixing for a Drama Series
- 1996 Outstanding Lighting Direction for a Drama Series
- 1998 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
- 1998 Outstanding Lighting Direction for a Drama Series
- 1998 Outstanding Original Song: "Hold Me"
[edit] Individuals
- 1983 Lifetime Achievement Award: Charita Bauer (Bert Bauer)
- 1984 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Judi Evans Luciano (Beth Raines)
- 1985 Distinguished Service to Daytime Television: Charita Bauer (Bert Bauer) [posthumous]
- 1985 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)
- 1985 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Larry Gates (H.B. Lewis)
- 1987 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)
- 1990 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)
- 1991 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Rick Hearst (Alan-Michael Spaulding)
- 1992 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Maeve Kinkead (Vanessa Chamberlain)
- 1993 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Ellen Parker (Maureen Reardon)
- 1993 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Monti Sharp (David Grant)
- 1994 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Michael Zaslow (Roger Thorpe)
- 1994 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Justin Deas (Buzz Cooper)
- 1994 Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series: Melissa Hayden (Bridget Reardon)
- 1995 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Justin Deas (Buzz Cooper)
- 1995 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jerry verDorn (Ross Marler)
- 1996 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jerry verDorn (Ross Marler)
- 1996 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Kevin Mambo (Marcus Williams)
- 1997 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Justin Deas (Buzz Cooper)
- 1997 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Kevin Mambo (Marcus Williams)
- 1998 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Cynthia Watros (Annie Dutton)
- 2002 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer)
- 2003 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Jordi Vilasuso (Tony Santos)
- 2006 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)
- 2006 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jordan Clarke (Billy Lewis)
- 2006 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Gina Tognoni (Dinah Marler)
- 2006 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Tom Pelphrey (Jonathan Randall)
[edit] Other awards
- 2005 Writer's Guild of America Award, written by David Kreizman, Tita Bell, Joyce Brotman, Christopher Dunn, Lloyd Gold, Kimberly Hamilton, Jill Lorie Hurst, Penelope Koechl, Eleanor Labine, Royal Miller, Casandra Morgan, Danielle Paige, David Smilow, Gillian Spencer, Brett Staneart, Donna Swajeski, Ellen Weston [5]
- 2005 Director's Guild of America Award
[edit] Head writers and executive producers
| Head writer(s) | Years | Executive producer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Irna Phillips | 1937 – 1958 | David Lesan, Joe Ainley, Carl Waster (1937 – 1956) (radio) Lucy Ferri Rittenberg (1952-1958; television) |
| Agnes Nixon | 1958 – 1966 | Lucy Ferri Rittenberg |
| David Lesan, Julian Funt, Theodore Forro, Mathilde Forro, John Boruff, James Lipton & Gabrielle Upton |
1966 – 1968 | Lucy Ferri Rittenberg |
| Irna Phillips | 1968 – 1969 | Lucy Ferri Rittenberg |
| Robert Soderberg & Edith Sommer | 1969 – 1973 | Lucy Ferri Rittenberg |
| James Gentile, Robert Cenedella & James Lipton |
1973 – 1975 | Lucy Ferri Rittenberg, Allen Potter |
| Bridget Dobson & Jerome Dobson | 1975 – 1979 | Allen Potter |
| Douglas Marland | 1979 – 1982 | Allen Potter |
| Pat Falken Smith | 1982 – 1983 | Allen Potter, Gail Kobe |
| L. Virginia Browne | 1983 | Gail Kobe |
| Richard Culliton & Pamela K. Long | 1983 – 1984 | Gail Kobe |
| Pamela K. Long | 1984 – 1986 | Gail Kobe |
| Mary Ryan Munisteri, Ellen Barrett & Jeff Ryder |
1986 | Gail Kobe, Joe Willmore |
| Joseph D. Manetta & Sheri Anderson | 1986 – 1987 | Joe Willmore |
| Pamela K. Long | 1987 – 1990 | Joe Willmore, Robert Calhoun |
| Nancy Curlee, Stephen Demorest, James E. Reilly & Lorraine Broderick |
1990 – 1993 | Robert Calhoun, Jill Farren Phelps |
| Stephen Demorest, Patrick Mulcahey, Nancy Williams Watt, Millee Taggert & Sheri Anderson |
1993 – 1995 | Jill Farren Phelps |
| Sheri Anderson | 1995 | Jill Farren Phelps |
| Douglas Anderson | 1995 | Jill Farren Phelps, Michael Laibson |
| Megan McTavish | 1995 – 1996 | Michael Laibson |
| Michael Conforti & Victor B. Miller | 1996 | Michael Laibson |
| Barbara Esensten & James Harmon Brown | 1996 – 2000 | Michael Laibson, Paul Rauch |
| Claire Labine | 2000 – 2001 | Paul Rauch |
| Lloyd Gold | 2001 – 2002 | Paul Rauch |
| Millee Taggert & Carolyn Culliton | 2002 – 2003 | Paul Rauch, John Conboy |
| Ellen Weston | 2003 – 2004 | John Conboy, Ellen Wheeler |
| David Kreizman | 2004 – present | Ellen Wheeler |
[edit] Trivia
- Arthur Peterson, Jr., who played Reverend Dr. John Ruthledge from 1937 to 1946 on radio, would later play the memorable character of the Major on the ABC comedy show spoof of soap operas, Soap. Caroline McWilliams who would later play Janet Mason Norris from 1969 to 1975 also was on Soap playing Burt Campbell's secretary, Sally (who Burt thought he'd had an affair with; in reality he hadn't), and later would appear on the Soap spinoff, Benson for several seasons.
- Three times, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, NBC nearly canceled the radio version of The Guiding Light, but irate fans kept writing en masse, and NBC brought back the show. The final and fourth time NBC cancelled the show, CBS radio revived the show less than a year later.
- In real life, Theo Goetz, the actor who played Papa Bauer from 1949 to 1972, had escaped Nazi occupation in Austria.
- The character of Roger Thorpe "died" three times in the series, the first two times in the late 1970's, and then finally off-screen in 2004. The actor who played Roger for most of the character's run, Michael Zaslow, died in 1998 from Lou Gehrig's disease.
- In 1989, Michael Zaslow was asked to return to GL to play Alan Spaulding after having been killed off in 1980 in the role of Roger Thorpe. Zaslow declined, believing he would be too identified with Thorpe, and suggested the show find a way to bring Roger back from the dead. The rest is GL history.
- Joan Collins made a much publicized turn as the third Alexandra Spaulding, but scheduling of her then-book tour conflicted with her filming obligations. Proctor & Gamble chose to replace Collins with Marj Dusay, who was the second actress to play Alexandra after Beverlee McKinsey vacated the role in 1992.
- Joan Collins playing Alexandra Spaulding is a bit of soap opera irony: Beverlee McKinsey, who created Alexandra, is also famous for her role as nasty Iris Carrington on Another World; Iris was the model for Collins' famous prime-time role, nasty Alexis Carrington, on ABC's DYNASTY.
- Bert Bauer's first son, Mike, was named after actress Charita Bauer's real life son, Michael.
- The November 1, 2006 episode involved a crossover with Marvel Comics, featuring a superhero called "The Guiding Light".
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- CBS-TV: GL
- FindYourLight.net, an official CBS site that accepts user-submitted content
- Guiding Light Central-Forum
- Soapdom.com's Guiding Light
- Guiding Light at the TVGuide.com
- GL Discussion Group
- [6], a Guiding Light forum
- GL Procter & Gamble Forum
- Inside The Marvel/Guiding Light Team Up
- Biography: Preston Bradley; Inspired creator Irna Phillips
Categories: Articles lacking sources from August 2006 | All articles lacking sources | 1952 television program debuts | CBS network shows | Television series by Procter & Gamble Productions | 1950s American television series | 1960s American television series | 1970s American television series | 1980s American television series | 1990s American television series | 2000s American television series | Guiding Light | Soap operas | American radio drama | World record holders
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