CBS cancels Guiding Light

[LoyaltoAMC]

The problem was the demos. The HH ratings might have been inching up somewhat, but the demos were flat at best. They just weren't getting the 18-49s and 18-34s. They had something like a .9 in one of those key demos last week, which is horrendous. That's why they advertised the hell out of Otalia, hoping that they'd appeal to a younger crowd. They definitely generated some buzz and were probably responsible for the slight bump in HHs, but obviously that bump wasn't among the viewers CBS was trying to get.

[DRW50]

Yes. I'm hopeful GL will have a good ending, which I couldn't have said last year, or a few years ago. I was only saying that, while I understand Newcomb's point, I don't think this is the same type of peace fans of Paul Harvey or readers of Peanuts may have felt. I know I sound like I'm nitpicking, I just think fans are justified if they spend some time being ticked off about CBS' decision.

[alphanguy74]

I have NEVER seen anyone in the media address just WHY these young demos are SO coveted. To me, it just depends completey on who your sponsors are. Do the networks want shows that ONLY appeal to people under 40? And NOTHING else? I see commercials all over the networks for erectile dysfunction drugs, poli-grip, statin drugs, etc... is CBS gonna tell Eli-Lilly and Pfizer to go f&#k themselves, "WE don't want your products on our network"? I would just think that demos would be MEANINGLESS.... you bascially tailor the commercials to the SHOW, if it's a cartoon or children's show, you sell Toys and breakfast cereal. If it appeals to young women, you sell Birth control, diapers, and tampons. If it's seniors, you sell depends, poli-grip, and statin drugs. What's the damn difference?

[bellcurve]

Hey GL Fans....someone should send nasty hate posts to the writer of BuzzerBlog and his followers:

http://buzzerblog.flashgameshows.com/pyram...on-cbs-daytime/

CBS’s long-running soap opera Guiding Light is indeed canceled. But who really gives a crap. The main exciting part is CBS will be keeping the hour that the previous program, filled with the finest in bad acting and probably a plot line about a witch or some midget, occupied and putting something new there. What will be taking its place? TV Week is reporting CBS is looking at a revival of Pyramid, the also long-running game show hosted by Dick Clark to fill its gap.

[MarkH]

Yes, this is such a great perspective!

[kalbir]

CBS on the whole has always skewed older. I think the demos are also why The Price is Right has added alot of luxury designer goods, ie. Coach bags, Burberry coats, Louis Vuitton luggage, Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo shoes, as prizes. They want to attract the 18-49 female audience.

[Sylph]

Oh, do not kid yourself, perhaps it's slightly better than it used to be, but it is still in shameful state.

[JackPeyton]

theres a video interview with Marcy & Daniel at the link below. Couldnt get it to embed.

http://www.tvguide.com/Soaps/Guiding-Light...on-1004686.aspx

[jfung79]

Yes, but that was the lowest they had been since I believe January. Overall in March, there were two 1.7 weeks, one 1.6 (the most recent week), and one 1.5, if I recall correctly.

[jfung79]

Is this a sarcastic statement?

The genre has evolved multiple times before. It moved from radio to TV. Shows changed from 15 minutes to half an hour to an hour. It shifted from domestic life in its early days, to Young Love, to action/adventure in the 1980s -- along the way encompassing themed shows like "Dark Shadows" and "The Edge of Night" too.

GL started as a religious sermon!

Being on all year gives soaps the quickest opportunity to adapt to changes in real life events, and to explore relevant social issues.

[quartermainefan]

One criticism I think that is fair is the rigid adherence to the same themes over and over again, year after year, that all the soaps are guilty of. You mention EON and DS, and yet today there is no soap going its own way and when one tries to it gets smacked down by the fans. (Passions, Port Charles). GH I guess is on its own with the mob, but after 15 years that's about 14 years too much because daytime can never do that genre justice. Soaps have not evolved in the face of rising disinterest and indifference and still cling to all the things that were the hallmarks of GL. And GL got canceled and yet all the soaps still try to be GL. People cite the Reva clone story as being the absolute nadir for GL, and yet had that aired on OLTL or DOOL nobody would have given it a second thought. Meanwhile, somebody in the 1990s told all the soap writers they need to write every soap as if it was GL. Now they almost all look and sound alike, starring a merry go round of actors who hop from show to show, written by a small group of writers who just swap jobs.

I don't see the shows evolving or learning from this, or trying to figure out what would be of interest to audiences in 2009 and beyond. They will just continue to tell tales about babies and triangles and throw their hands up in the air saying "why isn't anyone watching this???"

[jfung79]

GL was constantly experimenting to see what clicked, and evolving, recently too -- with the "Inside the Light" episodes a couple years ago, podcasts, the location work and permanent sets of the new production model, and Otalia.

I have no idea what you mean by writing every soap to be like GL? I don't remember GL being about what you seem to think it was about. It's not a show about "babies and triangles" and I don't think it ever really was.

[quartermainefan]

Yup.

The writing is not to blame. Even when soaps were at the peak they tended to be pretty silly. Luke and Laura vs a weather machine on GH, Roman Brady on DOOL coming back as a priest only it turned out he wasn't really Roman, entire towns sleeping together and nobody thinks it is strange but then on christmas they all sit down and sing carols...you can cite so many ridiculous things about soaps, but a lot of that is what makes them fun. If soaps weren't silly there would have never been parodies like Carol Burnett doing "As The Stomach Turns" 35 years ago.

In primetime when a show is faltering on Wednesday you try Thursday. Or maybe you try a new time. GL and all the other shows have been failing for years and the networks refuse to move them elsewhere. There was a strike on last year, why didn't CBS air GL at night instead of America's Most Dangerous Nanny Swap? Nothing the writers of GL could ever put on paper would have saved the show. It isn't saving any of them really.

[quartermainefan]

I wasn't being literal there. I think if you go back to the glory days of high ratings, GH was the adventure soap, OLTL was the wacky soap, GL was the more serious relationship drama soap, B&B was the glamour soap, DOOL was the supercouple soap and they all had a slightly different bent. Most of them started to bleed together in the 1990s doing material that with a change of a name and a slight tweak might work on any of the soap (not JER DOOL or Passions). Maybe I am wrong.

[Paul Raven]

I remember when CBS owned stations first dropped GL from 3.00pm till 10.00 am.the replacement was' Day&Date'.That show was soon cancelled.

Obviously,the numbers and demos were no better than GL.

Look for history to repeat itself.

The odds of GL's replacement improving on it's ratings are slim to none.