CBS cancels Guiding Light

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yes, 91-93 is widely regarded as GL's last "golden era." Deservedly so, I must say. So much goodness happened around that time, which makes every soap look totally unwatchable today.

[Dan]

From 1991-1993, it was well regarded, mostly because of the tenure of Nancy Curlee as headwriter. When her material stopped airing in early 1994, the quality of the show suffered a massive blow. After that, JFP's tenure is kinda tarnished. Not to mention the whole Maureen story.

Of course, I agree with you that Maureen's death was BRILLIANT and heartwrenching stuff. I argue that it wasn't the horrible, horrible event others make it out to be.

[BadZoe]

About time, I quit this show as a teenager and when they fired and thought they could replace the tremendous Michael Zaslow that show was DEAD to me.

[DRW50]

Her first few years were well-regarded. She was lucky in her headwriters. Nancy Curlee left because, IIRC, JFP tried to put some of the blame for Maureen's death on her. 1994 was all over the place, at best, and had many problems, like way too much Buzz, stories which went nowhere and suffered from recasts (Nick/Alex/Mindy), the poor attempts to define Tangie (such a waste of Marcy Walker). By early 1995, the ratings were still falling and cancellation rumors began.

The material surrounding Maureen's death was brilliant, but the character never should have been killed off.

[EastMA2]

I've met Jill Farren Phelps. As a fan of GL, I had a nice conversation with her. She was lovely. She didn't have to be nice to me, someone who recognized her on the street in NYC. She could have easily ignored me.

Yes, I do think that killing Maureen off GL was a mistake, but I don't buy into the theory that is why GL is going off the air 17 years later because of it. So many more people did so much more damage since then.

[Cheap21]

Anyone really surprised? The show has been on life support for years.

[Dan]

But think of it this way. Had she not been killed off, would she still be on the show? Probably not. If she was, she would be like Kim Hughes popping up once every two months to despense coffee and dress down the youngsters.

At least she was allowed to go in a blaze of glory in a BRILLIANT storyline. I shudder to think what Weston, McTavish, E&B, and Kreizman would have done to the character.

[bellcurve]

Unlike CBS's O&O's, most affiliates have remained loyal to GL and their 3PM/2CST timeslot. This isn't a situation like AW/BEACH/PC where the affiliates shelved the show in latenight. Hell, some affiliates have sacked B&B to late-night or refuse to show it at all, but air GL.

Also, without affiliates, how would old people and lower-income households get weather, news, and get some form of contact to the outside world? There are newspapers, but that doesn't give us late breaking developments on our world or weather? Thank Goodness my damn affiliate didn't just vanish because a show got canceled.

[kalbir]

I watched Guiding Light from 1989-1992 and even though I haven't watched in close to 17 years, I feel bad for the fans that the show is ending. At least there's YouTube et al where we can watch clips from our favorite past storylines.

I have a feeling that CBS has a new game show in the works and the host could be Doug Davidson. I think it was posted here that Doug was supposed to be let go from Y&R the same time as Don Diamont. Maybe CBS was waiting to put a new game show in their line up with Doug as the host.

As for B&B going to an hour, if it was 1994 I would be all for it (I gave up B&B in 1999), but I don't see it as a possibility in 2009.

[DRW50]

I think if she had lived, the show would have had an easier time navigating those rough mid-90s years. I think a lot of people gave up on the show around that time, because with the recasts of so many major characters (Blake, Billy, Roger, Alex), with Maureen's death in the middle of this, and all the attention given to newcomers like Buzz, people felt like their GL was gone. I think this was also around the time some affiliates started dumping the show to early slots in major markets (I might be wrong, I don't know).

I did like the story, but at the time I also felt cheated, in a way, because the people who had lied to her and helped cause her death stayed around, and while they weren't very happy (except for maybe a year between Ed and Eve), they moved on. Maureen never had the chance to go on to that next story arc, she was the one who was sinned against and then she was killed. I think that sort of reflected how JFP viewed Maureen as somewhat irrelevant, and how she was shocked at viewers not feeling the same way. Didn't she even plan to put Ed and Lillian together after Mo died? Or was that just a rumor?

I can't say whether she would have stayed or what her exit would have been, I just think they never should have killed her off at the time they did, because she was the closest thing they had to a Bert Bauer character at a time when they really needed one.

[bellcurve]

B&B would have to move out of Television City to accommodate an hourlong show.

[MarkH]

Not gonna happen. The international buyers don't want a longer show (indeed, that would probably monkey with a key reason for its success), and CBS won't have the stomach for ANY soap expansion. Talk/game/variety/judge, etc. is where it is at.

Maybe if they let Kim Zimmer, Crystal Chappell, Gina Tognoni and Jessica Leccia host a View type show? Now that might work....

Let's not forget that this is part of the story.

Knowing this, watch all our soaps suffer further bleeding. More firings at Y&R, ATWT... And it explains that this really wasn't about GL, but about a larger context in which it found itself (and not in a position of strength to deal with it).

[bellcurve]

And that's exactly what I meant.

[leevo64]

Sorry for the fans of the show :-( Hopefully the show will continue its creative upswing and end on a high note...

[Kendall]

I'm a CBS soap fan and I'm thinking about turning the light off on that NETWORK. What really p*sses me off is that BLOOM lied to the whole "GL" cast/crew about the show being renewed . ATWT still has that expensive lighting and it's still capable of hitting 3 million viewers. I HOPE P&G finds a new home for GL and does everything in their power to make sure that ATWT doesn't end up in GL situation next year.