CBS Pulls the Plug on ‘Guiding Light’
Come September 18, 2009, the longest running scripted show in broadcast history will go off the air. After 72 years, more than 15,700 episodes on radio and TV, and 69 Daytime Emmy Awards, the CBS soap Guiding Light is being canceled.
Created by Irna Phillips, the show began as a 15-minute radio serial, airing it’s first installment on NBC Radio on Jan. 25, 1937. In June 1952, CBS television began showing the series simultaneously with the radio program. It expanded to 30 minutes when the show gained color in 1967. The soap aired its first hour-long episode in November 1977.
The show has served as a launch pad for many stars including James Earl Jones, Calista Flockhart, Allison Janney, Mira Sorvino, Kevin Bacon, Peter Gallagher, Christopher Walken, Brittany Snow and Hayden Panettiere.
"Guiding Light has achieved a piece of television history that will never be matched; it has crossed mediums, adapted its stories to decades of social change and woven its way through generations of audiences like no other," Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, said in a statement. "While its presence will be missed, its contributions will always be celebrated and never forgotten."
TV by the Numbers reports that the network is considering a new version of The $25,000 Pyramid as a replacement for the soap. Neither Sony nor CBS would officially comment.
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