TV Week talks of GL's possible replacements.....I'm surprised they're not giving the time back to the affiliates:

$25,000 Pyramid’ Contender to Replace ‘Guiding Light’

By Josef Adalian

A new version of "The $25,000 Pyramid" from Sony and producer Michael Davies ("Who Wants to Be a Millionaire") is one of the projects CBS is considering as a replacement for "Guiding Light."

Neither Sony nor CBS would comment. However, two people familiar with the situation said Mr. Davies and Sony have come up with a reworking of the classic "Pyramid" game show format designed to fit into CBS' daytime lineup.

The new take likely would be an hour in order to fill the timeslot vacated by "Guiding Light," which ends its CBS run in September (link: http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/04/cbs_wil...ght_in_sep.php).

While "Pyramid" is a contender to replace "Light," it's not CBS' only option. The network is said to be considering contenders produced in-house, including talk shows.

Whatever CBS chooses to replace "Light," the network may want to launch a property with a pre-sold brand attached. Luring new audiences to daytime won't be easy, and having a show with a concept or host that's already well-known would make CBS' marketing job easier.

"Pyramid," of course, fits that mold—and is no stranger to CBS. The Dick Clark-hosted "$10,000 Pyramid" bowed on CBS daytime in 1973. It later moved to ABC, as well as syndication, and then returned to CBS in the 1980s, running until 1988.

Sony last attempted to revive "Pyramid" in 2002, launching a syndie version of the show with Donny Osmond as host.

The studio is already a leading supplier of daytime programming to networks, distributing Corday Productions' "Days of Our Lives" to NBC and producing "The Young and the Restless" for CBS.

(Editor: Baumann)

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please times eleventy hundred billion thousand zillion let them replace it with a game show or two. PLEASE. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing worthy of taking GL's place would be a soap or a game show, IMO.

I am hoping that GL will have a week of flashbacks, maybe some interviews shot with people like Kevin Bacon, Sherry Stringfield, ect- Just a return of all the amazing actors in some form or another. This show could really go out in a BIG way. People like the woman who played Maureen, the woman who played Annie, EVERYONE- interviews, flashbacks, a true celebration of this show.

If they do pick up the Sony-produced "$25,000 Pyramid" to replace GL, I wouldn't be surprised to see CBS cancel ATWT and snag DAYS from NBC next year. Since Y&R and DAYS are both also Sony productions, CBS is in a good position to steal it (if it wants it). The demos for DAYS are much better than ATWT's.

Edited April 1, 200916 yr by Carolyn1980

First AW, Now GL. It is seriously like another family member has died. I'm about to just stop watching TV period. AW gone, GL Gone, ATWT will be gone soon, and lets not even start on the primetime series that I have invested my time with and they get cancelled without a fighting chance. 25 good years of memories will never fade though. I hope CBS crumbles after this major F-up. Oh and on a side note if NBC cancels Kings I hope they just fold as a network.

GL4EVER!!!!!

I so wish another soap will replace it. But it will never happen.

Pyramid is such a tired show. I hate the way Dick Clark produced awards shows but I think he was the one who really gave Pyramid the energy it had. I'm surprised of all game shows this is the one they're coughing up. I think Password would have been a better choice.

Whatever happens, I see this being the incentive for CBS and the other networks to get rid of most of the other soaps within the next few years. Most of them are too unwatchable and/or overbudget at this point to even put up a fight. The only ones I really think are worth keeping right now are Y&R, OLTL, and maybe DAYS.

Pyramid is such a tired show. I hate the way Dick Clark produced awards shows but I think he was the one who really gave Pyramid the energy it had. I'm surprised of all game shows this is the one they're coughing up. I think Password would have been a better choice.

Whatever happens, I see this being the incentive for CBS and the other networks to get rid of most of the other soaps within the next few years. Most of them are too unwatchable and/or overbudget at this point to even put up a fight. The only ones I really think are worth keeping right now are Y&R, OLTL, and maybe DAYS.

I was hoping for a daytime version of their "Million Dollar Password" from last year. They could keep or get rid of the whole "Million Dollar" angle, but there was enough interest in the first batch of shows that I think it'd translate well for a daytime audience. They'd have to realize that there is absolutely no way to sex-up a remake of a game show from the 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s, so if they go that direction, they have to know that it's going to skew older.

Well, I can't say I'm surprised by this. It's been a long time coming.

I was hoping for a daytime version of their "Million Dollar Password" from last year. They could keep or get rid of the whole "Million Dollar" angle, but there was enough interest in the first batch of shows that I think it'd translate well for a daytime audience. They'd have to realize that there is absolutely no way to sex-up a remake of a game show from the 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s, so if they go that direction, they have to know that it's going to skew older.

I think the revival proved Password still has life left, and I don't think Password needs any specific host, just someone competent (Alan Ludden was the master, but the hosts since him have been respectable). I know MDP was pulled because it skewed too old, but I think at this point any game show in daytime is going to skew older, except maybe Price is Right. I haven't seen their recent demos.

Unless they have some game show version of "Dance Off Pants Off" or some retread of the game shows MTV ran 15-20 years ago than they probably almost have to go with an older-skewing show. I guess as long as it's cheap, they won't care.

This is sad news indeed.

For so many years GL has given me so many fond memories. From David going on the lamb, to the Springfield blackout, Annie's breakdown on the stand, to Phillip/Olivia/Alan. So many memories.

I'm not going to be sad though after the final episode. I'm going to be proud that from 1937 to 2009 Guiding Light lived a very colorful and drama filled life on both radio and tv.

Edited April 1, 200916 yr by MichaelGL

There's not much I can add to what's already been said by others. This was my first soap I fell in love with at 11 years old after staying home sick from school one day and watching Mom's "stories" with her.

I loved this show. Not so much recently, but still. No other soap has ever got to my heart like GL has. And I will miss it terribly.

ICAM with Dan. EW and the writers better get to fuckin working and give this show an appropriate, wonderful swan song. If they [!@#$%^&*] this up, then to hell with them.

I guess I should be sad, but I'm not. This new production model killed any chance of me enjoying the show.

R.I.P GL you were one of my fave shows in 1995-1998 and again in 2005-2007

Like others have said I just hope if GL is done that the remarkable achievement of this many years of daytime is honored. Not so much of the sneering attitude which I've seen in some places, like that EW article.

Well, I Called That One Wrong

So, after my exhaustive denial of the Guiding Light cancellation hype (and calling my sources on the show who assured me that things were touch and go but they hadn’t heard anything), the show was cancelled today. So, TVWeek one million, fans of Guiding Light, zero. Maybe I was just in denial. Having spent time with the hardworking, optimistic cast and crew just a couple weeks ago, it seems surreal. The longest running soap in daytime is dead, just as started to regain new life creatively. It was, in the end, surely a business decision. I have always suspected that GL was secretly Barbara Bloom’s favorite CBS soap. I heard her excitement when she spoke of the show back in my days at Y&R. If Y&R was the class president, GL was the interesting underachiever who was struggling to turn her life around. Though it wasn’t always reflected on screen, in terms of promotion or budget, she kept the show on the air way longer than its ratings justified. She allowed Ellen Wheeler to experiment with a new production model so the show could stay on the air. Though fans, including me, grasped at straws, the show’s numbers in key demos were significantly lower than the other soaps. The recent improvements, and passionate Otalia fans, haven’t been reflected in the ratings. Unfortunately, it would probably have taken another year of improvement for viewers to notice. Affiliates didn’t help by airing the show in the morning in numerous markets. But most viewers gave up on the show during its first round of budget cuts when the cast was decimated and all the scenes took place in a Beacon Hotel room. They never came back.

My history with GL goes back to the 90s when a college roommate introduced me to what I had always thought of as an old people’s soap. (Ah, that was part of the problem.) It was a great time for the show. The famous blackout week got me hooked. The writing was sophisticated. The acting was superb. It was, also, in retrospect, the beginning of the end. Soon after, Maureen Bauer, a character whose significance I didn’t yet understand, was killed. Most fans would pinpoint that moment as where the show went wrong. Cut out Springfield’s heart and its body will die. The show was still good for several years before it went through its disastrous attempt to mimic James Reilly’s DOOL with Clone Reva and time travel.

I had high hopes for Dave Krezman’s reign as headwriter. Fans forget, but he started out strong with the potentially interesting revelation that Roger had a long lost son Sebastian and the introduction of Jonathan. U was thrilled that a young writer was given the chance to headwrite. I hoped it would revitalize the genre. Then the budget cuts happened. Perhaps a more experienced writer would have been able to handle them better. Numerous mistakes were made (cutting Ross and keeping Jeffrey?). The cuts don’t excuse the sloppy storytelling. But there were still reasons to keep watching. In fact, I’ll say that Jammy and Otalia were the only truly classic soap love stories of the past five years. The new production model was jarring. The show looked more like a freshman student film for the first six months of 2008. I found it impossible to sit through the jerky camera work and numerous scenes of people wandering through fields to the soundtrack of generic pop music. The audience was quite justified in giving up. If only they had known that it was finally safe to come back to Springfield. When I think of GL, I will remember the good times. The brilliant Patrick Mulcahey episodes that inspired me to pursue a career in daytime. The who-shot-Roger-Thorpe storyline that kept me guessing, and delivered a payoff. The unbridled joy of Frank and Eleni’s wedding. The tears I shed at the deaths of Maureen and Tammy. Beth Ehlers ability to sparkle opposite numerous leading men. Kim Zimmer’s one of a kind Reva Shayne baptizing herself the slut of Springfield. The sexiness of Rick Hearst’s Alan-Michael Spaulding, Paul Anthony Stewart’s Danny Santos and Tom Pelphrey’s Jonathan Randall. I will always treasure my more personal memories of interviewing Kim Zimmer twice, watching the show tape, and witnessing Ellen Wheeler’s passion for her job.

The week began with the further collapse of the automobile industry. Now another American institution is dead. No other show has gone from radio to television to the internet, from fifteen minute black and white episodes to handheld digicams. The show transcended eras and trends. It was never the cool soap. It was the soap you watched with your family, arguing about what Reva was wearing and whether Roger Thorpe was worthy of sympathy. Even reading the show’s official press release, I’m still grasping at straws, hoping CBS decided to play a cruel April Fool’s Day prank. But the cold hard truth is, come September the light will turn out for good. And, a little piece of all its fans hearts will die with it.

Edited April 1, 200916 yr by Sylph

I must wonder which GL characters may end up in Oakdale....