CBS cancels Guiding Light

[Vee]

It will be As The World Turns, of course.

[UKBoi]

I think she tried. Repeatedly.

Anyway, this news just plain sucks. I honestly thought GL would make it for another year.

[Toups]

Yup. ATWT is next, in either 2010 or 2011.

[Vee]

Wheeler also alienated a lot of people and was generally incompetent in her job for years. She lay back and took it from the network and Procter and Gamble. They threw out long-term plotting, for God's sake. Who does that?

[bellcurve]

Well put Vee. Well put.

[bellcurve]

Per NY Post:

LOL. Shut up Bloom! Just shut UP!

[Dan]

I think Wheeler needs to be branded with a scarlet C. Maybe that way, no other show will snatch up that bitch.

As for the news, I'm shocked and yet, not. It was always in the back of my mind, but this is a very sad day for daytime. Very sad.

[Vee]

I think it's truly disgusting that this show is 72 years old - unprecedented for any other soap, as far as I know - it survived radio and moved to television, and now it dies like this. You would have expected it to be the show that went the distance due to sheer age; maybe it wasn't always the flashiest or most popular show in the '70s or '80s, but it was steady and solid. It's just another reflection of how horribly GL lost its brand identity in the mid to late '90s. Almost all my youthful memories of GL are of a tacky, horribly-lit show featuring buxom blondes, an effeminate mobster, the Latino chick from Miami Vice, and an overweight woman in pantsuits with a peroxide shag do, calling her husband "Bud" and made up like a clown.

And I like Reva now, but it's not the same Reva. Go fig.

[Cat]

Uh. Chris Goutman?

Spot-on posts, Vee.

[Vee]

Never underestimate apologia. Familiarity breeds blindness.

I loved her as an actress, absolutely loved her, probably still would. But as production personnel? Forget it.

[Cat]

I'd like to remember early 90s GL, when Ric Hearst played Alan-Michael and Beverlee played Alex and gave Roger Thorpe the metaphorical bitch-slap of his life in front of le tout Springfield. Truly a fine vintage!

[koos]

I think the bad ratings had way more to do with air times and not even being aired in some markets, than bad writing.

[Vee]

OTOH, if we exclude Passions (and I do), we're on a respectable timetable for soap cancellation - ten years between AW and GL. That's a hell of a lot less than I expected us to lose by this time.

[UKBoi]

I dont know, if there really was an audience who loved GL they would have found a way to watch it no matter how much CBS screwed it over in the schedules. I hope whatever replacement they have for GL TANKS...and I wonder if NBC would consider snapping GL up considering how cheaply it's produced now. Unlikely, yes, but I refuse to believe GL is getting the chop so soon after me getting into it!

[Dan]

By the way, now that this news has been announced, God dammit writers, you better work your asses off to make the last several months the best we've seen for years. Or the fans will hunt you down one by one by one. I don't care if you have your favorites. If the Cooper family have some big super-duper reunion on September 18th, I will reach through my tv set and strangle you all! Beg a bunch of old faves to make cameos or more. Clean up the writing! This is a show that has lasted 72 years. I think it more than deserves a brilliant ER-style final season. And then pull out all the stops and make me bawl like a [!@#$%^&*] baby September 18th, like I HOPE ER does with me tomorrow (Or I will hunt you down too John Wells!).