CBS cancels Guiding Light

[DRW50]

Daytime Confidential claimed Frons wants Cosgrove as a recast Joey Buchanan.

I'd love to see Gina as Victoria but I'm not even sure if Y&R cares about repalcing Ameila Heinle. The idea of a strong woman being in Victor's life might give them pause, they've made sure all the women around Victor now are deluded doormats.

[Adam]

Very true..... I don't know.... Amelia was getting steady airtime up until Maria Bell really got things going..... Amelia was one of Latham's pets.... but mainly due to her storyline tie to her biggest pet Don Diamont....

[kalbir]

I also watched Guiding Light around the same time you did and there were a good number standout actors. Two of daytime's finest in Beverlee McKinsey (RIP) and Michael Zaslow (RIP), and the beginning of the careers of Sherry Stringfield, Melina Kanakaredes, and Nia Long. It is CRIMINAL that Beverlee McKinsey was never even nominated for lead actress in 1992 and 1993.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

GL has traditionally had the best cast in daytime, IMO. They've had tremendous actors over the years, more so than most soaps, IMO.

and yes, La McKinsey was criminally robbed of an Emmy the year before she left. One of the biggest snubs EVER in Emmy history, if you ask me.

[Rakesh]

I really hope P&G finds a new home for GL. I don't want it on DTV though.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

As much as we're all sad to see GL go, I think GL finding another home at this point is a lost cause. It won't last very long any place else.

[Jonathan]

That doesn't stop any soap from recasting. BTW, spoiler tags!

[All My Shadows]

I agree, which is why I hope they don't waste their time planning on keeping the show going. 100% of their energy should be in letting it ride out with dignity and honor.

[EricMontreal22]

Well the Museum of TV and Radio be doing anything to commemorate this? it seems perfect for a series of rare episode showsings, a public forum and all that stuff they like to do.

Jim Tolkien--sorry I sounded harsh I don't feel that this cancelation won't affect the other soaps negatively. But I don't think it will directly, or quickly lead to much more than P&G wanting to get rid of ATWT sooner than they may have...

[SFK]

I was at the Emmys the year AW was canceled, and they did NOTHING special for them save for a few comments made off the cuff by Linda Dano. It was depressing and insulting.

GL was my grandmother's story, never mine, but I remember seeing Philip's face as a little kid after school, and I got into the show when I was in high school in the mid-late '90s. Very sad. I b!tch about my story AMC on a daily basis, but you best believe I would go all Baptist funeral if it were ever cancelled. My heart's with the GL fans! Hold on tight to your memories of The Light!™

[SFK]

That would be nice. I haven't been there since it was renamed The Paley Center, but I have spent many rainy afternoons there watching TV, classic soaps in particular. I went to a couple of events they had back in 97/98 when they did their big "Worlds Without End" exhibit/symposiums.

[Sylph]

[Cheap21]

How fitting that this happened on April Fools bc its been as if TIIC have been playing one big April Fools joke on the fans for a while

[quartermainefan]

I believe the death of one soap adversely impacts all soaps. Just ask anyone who watches more than one soap, there had to be that first soap that hooked them and through that exposed them to the next soap. It was through watching GH I eventually found AMC and OLTL and it was in a strange way my lack of satisfaction with GH that led me to DOOL. If you watch GL and you want something else, just being open to soap operas makes you more likely to turn on ATWT than say viewers of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC.

Where did all the kids who watched Passions go to? Nobody saw their demos rise at 1 pm; if anything they went down. It seems many who were watching Passions just stopped watching. Those were potential viewers of other soaps in the future gone. Creatively, the soaps now have to try and absorb these new GL actors on the market, and that means the eventual discarding of older actors from the other shows. Soaps do better when surrounded by other soaps. It's like talk shows, judge shows, sitcom blocs and all all the other blocs of shows. GL will be missed I think by daytime on many levels.

[MarkH]

Thank you for this article, Sylph...

... because it is one of the best mainstream articles I have seen on this topic in the last 48 hours.

IT'S THE DEMOGRAPHICS! Not Ellen Wheeler, not Paul Rauch, not MADD.

I'll try to provide some better evidence for that later today ...