Guiding Light Series end

[JaneAusten]

Seeing the promotion for AMC ending I am trying to remember if GL got the same thing. I remember the magazines special editions, the articles, the special segment on 60 minutes even with some of the cast. And I know the early show had a series of excerpts on their final week on the air if I recall. Trying to remember if it was the same or smaller than AMC's sendoff. I know it was a bigger deal than ATWT which is not a surprise.

[DRW50]

There weren't all that much in the way of special editions for GL - I did get a Weekly, which I could have used for toilet paper if it were softer material. It had a horribly ugly cover and 2-3 pages if that of material that was warmed over.

It did get the 60 Minutes segment, and another on CBS' Sunday morning show.

Some have said that SOD/SPW probably ended up kicking themselves for not doing a special issue, which is why ATWT got one.

[Max]

In addition to not getting a cover on SOD, that magazine only devoted six pages to GL on the inside. I can't wait until that biased company goes out of business.

Sadly, I doubt that they had any regret for the way they treated GL. Yet, I must say I was surprised that ATWT actually got a special tribute issue (which I was unable to find on sale in any store). Of course, ATWT should have also gotten a cover on the "regular" issue of SOD (like AMC did) in addition to the special tribute issue.

[DRW50]

It used to burn me up, but over time I stopped caring because I realized they were a business, and I lost interest in more recent soap magazines anyway. But they WOULD have made a decent profit on a big GL book, which they only belatedly realized, in time for the very nice ATWT book, which I did buy.

[Max]

I have a very unrealistic view of journalism, and wish that all reporting (whether in the mainstream media or the soap media) would be objective (despite the fact that--sadly--profit comes first). I've said this before, but I believe the main reason why the soap press has been so "gung-ho" about saving AMC and OLTL (and have given PP very favorable press) is because their survival is on the line: the soap magazines will likely go out of business if only four soaps are left. But, in my view, even the very real prospect of these journalists losing their jobs is no reason for them to throw objectivity out the window. In my own case, I became unemployed when the company I worked for essentially went out of business and was gobbled up by a much larger competitor; however--as an accountant--I would never cook the books in order to save my former company and my job. (Note that if you are in an overhead position--such as accounting/finance--and your company gets acquired, you are scrwed; that's because the acquiring company already has people doing the overhead activities in their corporate headquarters, and they see no reason to keep you on in a duplicate role.)

[KMan101]

I heard SOD/SPW did the ATWT tribute magazine because of backlash for not doing one for GL and/or they did feel bad they didn't do one for GL.

[P.J.]

It has to be more than GL's sendoff. The attention GL got for getting cancelled was more about the industry dying than looking at it as some iconic institution.

The way LaLucci's every word is hung on, you'd think television itself was in danger of dying; not just one program.

[Max]

This is so true, P.J. While I really can't blame AMC fans (because they by definiton will be biased), the media has no excuse not to be more objective.

[~bl~]

SOW had two issues with the end of GL. SID did a better job, but there was no magazine unfortunately. I was shocked SOD/SOW didn't do something special on their website. They have archives loads of stuff they could have posted just cause. Back in the 90s during the 60th anniversary SOD did something on AOL section. They had electronic files of all the covers along with new interviews.

What was weird though is there was supposed to be ATWT fan events (like GL's So Long Springfield and the AMC thing that will be in NYC area in late October whose name I'm blanking on)..and they didn't get that. But they got a magazine.

I think AMC got a lot more attention than GL did, and perhaps even more than GL and ATWT combined.

[P.J.]

No, I don't blame their fans or mean to sound like I begrudge them the attention. The "media" only care about personalities, which IMO, is why everything seems to be focused on LaLucci's impending unemployment. The only mainstream attention ATWT got in the last fifteen years was for Hogan. I don't even count the Nuke-frenzy, which was more issue-oriented and generated by a handful of people who happened to watch ATWT.

[JaneAusten]

If AMC did not have Susan Lucci no way would they be getting this level of attention.

[Saving ATWT]

Why did the end of the WORLD go out with a wimper? People always say that ATWT was stronger than GL; however, GL had a great couple of final weeks even though it was basically filmed with an iPhone. ATWT got some critaical praise for the heart transplant story but I'm sort of convinced that a lot of people were over the show long before the end.