Guiding Light (known as The Guiding Light prior to 1975) is an Americantelevision program credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the longest-running soap opera in production and the longest running drama in television history. The 15,000th televised episode of Guiding Light will air in September 2006.
The program was created by legendary soap writer Irna Phillips, and began as an NBC radio serial on January 25, 1937 before moving to CBS on June 30, 1952, as a televised serial.
Guiding Light has been broadcast from three locations: Chicago, Illinois from 1937 until 1946, Hollywood, California from 1947 until 1949, and New York City from 1949 until the present. It was moved from Chicago to Hollywood (despite objections of both Irna Phillips and Arthur Peterson) to take advantage of the talent pool. Production was subsequently moved to New York City, where it remains. It is currently filmed at the CBS studios in midtown Manhattan.
The fictional action has also been set in three different locales - it was based in the fictional towns of Selby Flats and Five Points before "moving" to its current day locale of Springfield, USA. (Past storylines and dialogue have occasionally suggested that Springfield is Springfield, Illinois.)
History, plot development, and cast
Due to the 6-decade run of Guiding Light as well as the complexity of the storylines, the show's history has been split up into separate entries.
The 1930s and 1940s
The series was created by Irna Phillips, who based it on personal experiences. After giving birth to a still-born baby at age 19, she found spiritual comfort listening to sermons by a preacher of a church centered on the brotherhood of man. It was these sermons that formed the nucleus of the creation of The Guiding Light, which began as a radio show.
The 1950s
In 1952, The Guiding Light began airing on CBStelevision. Episodes were 15 minutes long.
After Irna Phillips moved to As The World Turns in 1958, her protege Agnes Nixon became Head Writer of The Guiding Light.
With the transition to television the main characters became the Bauers, a lower-middle class German immigrant family.
The 1960s
Agnes Nixon reliquished her role as head writer in 1966. In 1967, the show was first broadcast in color. A year later, the show expanded from 15 to 30 minutes.
The 1960s saw the introduction of African-American characters, and the main focus of the show shifted to Bill and Bert's children, Mike and Ed.
The 1970s
Feeling pressure from newer, more youth-oriented soaps such as The Young and the Restless, Procter & Gamble hired headwriters Bridget Dobson and Jerome Dobson in 1975. The Dobsons introduced a more nuanced, psychologically layered writing style, and included timely storylines, including a complex love/hate relationship between estranged spouses Holly and Roger.
In the fall of 1975, the name was changed in show's opening and closing visuals from The Guiding Light to Guiding Light. On November 7, 1977, the show expanded to a full hour and aired from 2:30-3:30pm daily.
The show in the 1970s focused on the Bauers and the Spauldings. Several notable characters were introduced, including Rita Stapleton, a "vixen" brought in to add complexity to the plotline, and Ross Marler, a shady lawyer who was brought on to defend Roger Thorpe.
The 1980s
The expansion of The Young and the Restless to 60 minutes caused all the shows to move ahead a half hour, with Guiding Light now airing from 3pm-4pm.
In 1980, the Dobsons were moved to ATWT, and replaced by Douglas Marland. The show gained popularity during Marland's writing reign, with popular characters like vixen Nola Reardon. In May 1980, Guiding Light won its first Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Drama.
An ever more complicated storyline focused on the Bauers, the Spauldings, the Reardons and the Raines. Pam Long became head writer in 1984, and refocused the show around Rick Bauer, Phillip Spaulding, Mindy Lewis and Beth Raines. She also introduced powerhouse characters Alexandra Spaulding and Reva Shayne. The storyline of the "Four Musketeers" proved so popular that Guiding Light managed to dethrone then-powerhouse General Hospital from the top ratings spot. Long would return for a second stint from 1987 to 1990.
The 1990s
With the new decade, the show started to change from Long's homespun, earthy style to a more realistic style. The Bauers, Spauldings, Lewises, and the Coopers had been established as core families, and most major plot developments circled around them.
The show suffered major cast losses mid-decade, including the loss of tentpole characters Maureen Bauer and Alexandra Spaulding. As the decade progressed, the show began a series of outlandish plot twists to compete with popular Days of our Lives headwriter James Reilly, including a highly controversial story on cloning.
The 2000s
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The 2000s began with the splitting of the show into two locales: Springfield and the island nation of San Cristobel. In Springfield, the Santos mob dynasty created much of the drama. Meanwhile, the royal Winslow family had their own series of intrigues to deal with. In 2002, however, San Cristobel was written off the show and the mob's influence in the story was subsequently diminshed and, with the departure of character Danny Santos in 2005, eliminated althogether.
In 2005, former director and actress Ellen Wheeler (Emmy Award Winner, All My Children and Another World) took over as Executive Producer of Guiding Light. She and writer David Kreizman made numerous changes to the sets, stories, and the cast. Several veteran actors were dropped, mainly due to budget cuts. Due to the lack of veteran influence, Wheeler has refocused the show on the youth of Springfield, centering on the controversial pairing of half-cousins Jonathan and Tammy.
CBS now offers Guiding Light to affiliates from 10-11am EST and 3-4pm EST. Previously, affiliates airing the show in the mornings had to do it on a one day delay.
This article contains an up-to-date cast listing.
Ratings history
For much of the show's history, it was a consistent hit; in the 1950s and 1960s it was one of the highest-rated soaps on air, usually 2nd behind fellow CBS soap As The World Turns.
The 1970s saw its popularity dip somewhat but it still garnered decent ratings, and was on an upswing as the decade ended. The first half of the 1980s saw a revival in Guiding Light's popularity, with a top five placing achieved in most years, and although it slipped as the decade progressed it was still performing solidly.
This remained the case until the mid-1990s, when the show's ratings sunk as low as 8th (out of 11 soaps; it is currently 8th of 9). However, during the controversial clone storyline in 1998, ratings experienced a brief resurgence and for one week in 2001 it peaked at 4th place (with all four CBS soaps occupying the top four places that week).
As of 2006, the lack of significant improvement in the ratings (coupled with massive budget cuts) has intensified speculation about the show's long-term future. In fact, as of 2006, GL does not even air on the CBS affiliates in Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto and Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan markets, even though the former is now owned by the network outright. A number of affiliates have moved the show to the morning slot, including KDKA in Pittsburgh, long a market where GL was popular.
Awards
Daytime Emmy Awards
Show
1980 Outstanding Daytime Drama Series
1981 Outstanding Writing for a Daytime Drama Series
1982 Outstanding Daytime Drama Series
1982 Outstanding Writing for a Daytime Drama Series
1982 Oustanding Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts (Technical Direction/Electronic Camerawork)
1983 Oustanding Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts (Lighting Direction)
1984 Outstanding Achievement in Design Excellence for a Daytime Drama Series
1985 Oustanding Direction for a Drama Series
1985 Outstanding Achievement by a Drama Series Design Team - Ronald M. Kelson
1986 Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team
1986 Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Drama Series
1986 Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design for a Drama Series
1987 Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Drama Series
1987 Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Drama Series
1990 Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team
1991 Outstanding Original Song: "Love Like This"
1991 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
1992 Outstanding Original Song: "I Knew That I'd Fall"
1992 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
1992 Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Title Design
1993 Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team
1993 Outstanding Achievement in Multiple Camera Editing for a Drama Series
1994 Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team
1994 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
1995 Outstanding Lighting Direction for a Drama Series
1995 Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Drama Series
1996 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
1996 Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Drama Series
1996 Outstanding Live and Direct-to-Tape Sound Mixing for a Drama Series
1996 Outstanding Lighting Direction for a Drama Series
1998 Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
1998 Outstanding Lighting Direction for a Drama Series
Arthur Peterson, Jr., who played Reverend Dr. John Ruthledge from 1937 to 1946 on radio, would later play the memorable character of the Major on the ABC comedy show spoof of soap operas, Soap. Caroline McWilliams who would later play Janet Mason Norris from 1969 to 1975 also was on Soap playing Burt Campbell's secretary, Sally (who Burt thought he had an affair with; in reality he didn't), and later would appear on the Soap spinoff, Benson for several seasons.
Three times, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, NBC nearly canceled the radio version of The Guiding Light, but irate fans kept writing en masse, and NBC brought back the show. The final and fourth time NBC cancelled the show, CBS radio revived the show less than a year later.
This is actually the only show to be on all three major broadcasting networks. On radio, The Guiding Light appeared on NBC and Red and Blue networks—the latter of which became ABC—and also on CBS since 1947.
In real life, Theo Goetz, the actor who played Papa Bauer from 1949 to 1972, had escaped Nazi occupation in Austria.
Bert Bauer's first son, Mike, was named after actressCharita Bauer's real life son, Michael.
Barbara Berjer who played Barbara Norris Thorpe and Millette Alexander who played Dr. Sara McIntyre, had worked together on the short-lived soap opera, From These Roots. Alexander played a gun moll and Berjer played an alcoholic actress.
