CBS cancels Guiding Light

[jfung79]

GL's ratings were back on the upswing.

Also, in a broader view, for a network struggling to hold on to viewers in competition with cable, it is a huge mistake. Way to alienate some of your most loyal viewers, CBS, way to alienate!

[Rakesh]

Obama was speaking today and CBS was the ONLY local channel that kept their soaps going. This is the first time I've ever seen this done by CBS. Are they trying to lure soap viewers to their soaps? Trying to keep them? hm...

[Rakesh]

[MarkH]

I know Oprah is declining. I'd assume all of daytime is declining because all of BROADCAST is declining. There is NOTHING SPECIAL about the decline of daytime, at least in the last decade:

No, they were not on an upswing, not in ANY meaningful sense, sadly.

[jfung79]

1.4 in November to 1.7 in March. Not "meaningful" but still over 20%.

[baller]

didn't they have a 1.5 last week?

[Gray Bunny]

Very true. Yeah, bad writing doesn't help, but at the same time consistently good or decent writing didn't keep any soap from dropping through the years. Remember back in 2000 when people were all scared because The Young & the Restless fell below a 6.0 for the first time? Did Y&R suddenly lose its quality writing that year or was it just a sign of the times and a continuing downward trend for all daytime network programs?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Kim Zimmer issued a statement on GL's passing:

http://www.mlive.com/tv/index.ssf/2009/04/...est_michig.html

[MarkH]

Bingo!

[Sylph]

The problem is... People forget: writing started sucking from the very beginning. And it started sucking slowly and as slowly as it started sucking, the ratings started falling. Get that? No one here says: The writing is the only thing to blame.

The writing didn't evolve, it actually took a step in the opposite evolutionary direction. And here we are today.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't know how a genre that's existed over 50 years that airs episodes 5 days a week can seriously evolve anyway.

[rangethatrover]

I do not think GL will be rising in the ratings unfortunately, I actually think the show will end up around 1.5 until a slight resurgence at the end.. If memory serves, when a soap is announced as being cancelled the ratings start to drop soon after. I hope that this "end of ATWT in 2010" doesn't start gathering momentum because I think ATWT will drop permanently into the 1.8 zone.

[MarkH]

Well, I'd like to take on your point about not "evolving".

Roger Newcomb posted this lovely bit from David Hinckley of the New York Daily News. I just love his language, and his implication that GL is where it is--quite naturally--because it has come to the end of its lifespan. There is a cycle of things...nothing lives forever. Why protest the ending of something that gave so much pleasure to so many for so long. They have almost 6 months to pen a satisfying conclusion.

[DRW50]

"Peanuts" ended with the passing of Charles Schultz. Paul Harvey's show ended with his passing. GL has lived for over 35 years after the passing of Irna Phillips.

I see what they're saying, but since GL was ended against its will, and when some thought the show was improving, I think some fans are more upset than they would have been if the show had ended by its own choice.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

But isn't it satisfying knowing the show is ending when its finally found some of its groove again? I know we all claim it's easier to let go when we feel our shows are lost and beyond repair, but I think there's some peace in knowing the show ended with the best possible quality it could have ended with. Who knows how things would have been a year from now? nothing is ever consistent in soap-land. GL fans have redemption in knowing the show didn't limp to its death creatively, but it was a respectful passing that left fans proud to be, well, fans.