User:سائغ/M6
Final CBS seasons[edit]
During the daytime drama's 57th season on television and 72nd overall season, the series had changed its look to a more realistic experience in an attempt to compete with the growing popularity of reality television. The new look of Guiding Light included free-hand camera work and less action shown on traditional studio sets. Producer Ellen Wheeler introduced a "shaky-cam" style, present in a number of movies, featuring extreme-closeups and frequent cuts, including those that "broke the axis" (which proved disorienting to viewers accustomed to shows with the traditional "soap opera look"). Also new was the filming of outdoor scenes in actual outdoor settings. Even many indoor scenes had more of an "on location" feel, repurposing real locations, such as Guiding Light's production offices, to be motel rooms, nail salons, quick-mart and other businesses or locations. Thereby, the series had numerous sets without the cost of numerous separate locations. CBS and the show's producers had hoped that the new look would increase ratings, but the plan was ultimately unsuccessful.
On April 1, 2009, CBS canceled Guiding Light after 72 years, with the series finale on the network airing on September 18, 2009, making it the second-to-last Procter & Gamble soap opera to end.
Production summary[edit]
| Start date | End date | Time slot (ET/CT) |
Run time (minutes) |
Network | Filming location |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 25, 1937 | October 13, 1939 | — | 15 | NBC Red Radio | Chicago | Canceled by Procter & Gamble, resulting in 75,000 protest letters.[1] |
| January 22, 1940 | March 15, 1942 | NBC Blue Radio | Sponsored by Procter & Gamble | |||
| March 16, 1942 | November 29, 1946 | NBC Red Radio | Canceled by General Mills.[1] | |||
| June 2, 1947 | 1949 | 12:45 pm/11:45 am | CBS Radio | Hollywood | Sponsored by Procter & Gamble | |
| 1949 | June 29, 1956 | CBS | New York City | |||
| July 2, 1956 | September 6, 1968 | CBS Television | ||||
| September 9, 1968 | September 1, 1972 | 2:30 pm/1:30 pm | 30 | — | ||
| September 4, 1972 | November 28, 1975 | 2:00 pm/1:00 pm | ||||
| December 1, 1975 | November 4, 1977 | 2:30 pm/1:30 pm | ||||
| November 7, 1977 | February 1, 1980 | 2:30 pm/1:30 pm | 60 | |||
| February 4, 1980 | September 18, 2009 | 3:00 pm/2:00 pm | As early as 1993, some affiliates began airing the show at 9:00 am, 10:00 am, or noon local time in favor of local programming airing at 3:00 pm on some CBS affiliates. |
The action has also been set in three different locales – it was based in the fictional towns of Five Points and Selby Flats before its final locale of Springfield.
Cast and characters[edit]
Broadcast history[edit]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2011) |
Unlike most popular radio serials transitioning to television, The Guiding Light had no difficulty holding onto its old listening audience and simultaneously earning a new television fanbase. For at the time The Guiding Light made its television debut, neither ABC nor NBC had broadcast programs on their respective networks at 2:30 p.m. Eastern/1:30 Central, where CBS first placed The Guiding Light. However, six months into the run, the network moved the serial to a timeslot that gave it great popularity with its housewife audience: 12:45 p.m./11:45 a.m. It kept the new timeslot for the next 19 years and eight months, sharing the half-hour with its sister Procter & Gamble-packaged soap opera, Search for Tomorrow.
The Guiding Light handled the competition breezily, even against otherwise-legendary shows such as Queen for a Day on ABC (briefly in 1960) and NBC's Truth or Consequences. Usually, The Guiding Light ranked second in the Nielsen ratings behind another serial, As the World Turns. 1968, however, saw changing viewership trends that prompted CBS to expand its last two 15-minute daytime dramas, disrupting long-standing viewing habits. Search for Tomorrow took over the entire 12:30–1/11:30–Noon period, with The Guiding Light returning to its first timeslot, 2:30/1:30, albeit in the now-standard half-hour format, on September 9. This twin bill of expansions also caused the dislocation of The Secret Storm and the beloved Art Linkletter's House Party, as well as the cancellation of the daytime To Tell the Truth. It also put the serial in direct competition with NBC's The Doctors, which was beginning to peak in its popularity. Thus, the early 1970s saw the popularity of The Guiding Light dip somewhat.
After four years of airing at 2:30/1:30, CBS acceded to a demand made by The Guiding Light producer Procter & Gamble and moved its sibling series, The Edge of Night, to the earlier hour from its previous home at 3:30/2:30. Moving back one half hour, The Guiding Light stayed steadily on course against NBC's Days of Our Lives and ABC's The Newlywed Game. In late 1974, ABC replaced The Newlywed Game with The $10,000 Pyramid, which went on to garner strong ratings, but not greatly at The Guiding Light's expense. In 1975, the show officially dropped the word "The" from its title, although it was still referred to as The Guiding Light on air for several years after.
As the year progressed, CBS was looking to expand one of its daytime soap operas. All of its serials were now thirty minutes in length and had been since Guiding Light and Search For Tomorrow made the move in 1968. NBC had found ratings success with expanding Another World, another Procter and Gamble production, earlier in 1975, and CBS thought it too could find success. The decision was made to expand As the World Turns, which was airing before Guiding Light at 1:30/12:30. Thus, in December, Guiding Light moved back to 2:30/1:30 in place of The Edge of Night, which switched networks and began airing on ABC. ABC had a short-lived hit the next year with an updated version of the game show Break the Bank. To complicate the picture further, ABC opted to make its first show expansions, that of One Life to Live and General Hospital, in July 1976; each of those shows occupied one-half of a 90-minute block until November 4, 1977.
With this in mind, ABC and CBS acted to give a contending chance to both General Hospital and Guiding Light by expanding them to an hour in length. CBS started first by expanding Guiding Light to an hour on November 7, 1977. This gained particular importance when ABC finally expanded both One Life to Live and General Hospital to an hour on January 16, 1978, so that Guiding Light straddled those two programs, as well as the first half of sister P&G show Another World on NBC. Despite that General Hospital surprising all observers by skyrocketing from near-cancellation to the top place in the ratings with the various storylines, Guiding Light held its own while in direct competition with General Hospital, still hit an upswing as the decade ended.
On February 4, 1980, CBS bumped Guiding Light down again, to 3pm/2c, and its sister P&G soap As The World Turns to 2pm/1c, in the midst of a major scheduling shuffle intended to give The Young and the Restless (itself now expanding to an hour length) a shot at beating ABC's All My Children. NBC did the same with its soap operas as well with all three networks now going head-head in every time slot. It remained in this time slot for the rest of its run in some markets, facing General Hospital and NBC entries such as Texas (a spin-off of Another World), The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour and Santa Barbara. None of these shows – not even General Hospital – had any significant impact on the ratings of Guiding Light at 3:00 pm during this period.
Overall, the first half of the 1980s saw a revival in Guiding Light's popularity, with a top-five placing achieved in most years and even a brief dethroning of then-powerhouse General Hospital from the #1 ratings spot for three consecutive weeks. However, as the decade progressed, the ratings slipped a bit, although it was still performing solidly. In 1995, beginning with CBS flagship station WCBS-TV in New York, Guiding Light began airing at 10 a.m. Eastern time in several markets. Its once-solid performance began to crumble by the mid-1990s, when its ratings sunk as low as ninth place out of ten.[2] However, during the controversial clone storyline in 1998, the ratings experienced a brief resurgence, moving up to fifth for many weeks that summer. Nielsen reported Guiding Light had 5 million viewers in 1999.
Up until its CBS finale in 2009, stations in a number of markets aired Guiding Light in the morning either at 9 or 10 a.m. local time: Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Dallas-Fort Worth, Orlando, Atlanta, Columbia, SC, Fort Wayne, IN, South Bend, IN, Portland, OR, Quad Cities, Buffalo, Reno, Portland, ME, Milwaukee, Albany, NY, and Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA. Guiding Light aired at 12 noon local time in Honolulu, Hawaii. In Savannah, GA, it aired at 4:00 pm local time.
Before 2004, stations that aired Guiding Light in the morning were always one episode behind those that aired the program at its official timeslot of 3:00 pm (ET). This changed in March 2004, during the first day of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, in which stations airing the show at 10:00 am were able catch up with stations that televised it at 3:00 pm. Starting in 2006, stations that televised Guiding Light at 9:00 am were also offered a same-day feed to catch up with the rest of the network. As a result of this, daily episodes for the remaining years of GL were the same on all stations regardless of timeslot.
Guiding Light maintained strong ratings in Pittsburgh, despite being moved to 10:00 am in 2006. According to a 2006 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dr. Phil had not been able to pull in the same numbers that Guiding Light did in that time slot a year prior, while Guiding Light was maintaining its audience share.[3]
One CBS affiliate that did not air the show was KOVR-TV in Sacramento, California, which had become a CBS affiliate in 1995. Before CBS affiliated with KOVR, it had been affiliated in Sacramento with KXTV, which had dropped Guiding Light from its schedule in 1992 and did not air it again. As such, the show was preempted in the Sacramento area from 1992 to the show's cancellation. WNEM-TV in Flint/Saginaw/Bay City, Michigan, which also became a CBS affiliate that year, initially ran the soap before dropping it in 1996 because of disappointing ratings. In the fall of 2006, WNEM began running Guiding Light on its digital channel My 5 at 10 am, airing there for the remainder of its run.
On September 18, 2009, Guiding Light aired its all new and final episode at 3:00 pm ET/2:00 pm CT on CBS in the same time as ABC's last soap opera General Hospital aired its all new episode. A game show Let's Make a Deal returned to CBS and took over the Guiding Light timeslot on October 5, 2009.
Broadcast history in Canada[edit]
In Canada, Guiding Light was available to viewers directly through CBS-TV network affiliates from border cities or cable TV feeds until the show's ending in 2009. In addition, Guiding Light was also aired on several Canadian television networks through the 1980s up until its last air date.
Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN) – a supplementary service to its ATV system of CTV affiliates exclusively for Atlantic Canada – aired the soap simultaneously with the CBS feed from 1983 to 1984; then, the broadcast was moved to 12 noon until 1985.
The show also aired in French in Quebec. TVA, a Quebec privately owned French-language television network, rebroadcast episodes in French translation, twelve months behind, for a short period in 1984.
In the late 1980s into the early 1990s, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) briefly aired the P&G serial nationally at 3:00 p.m. in each specific local Canadian time zone. The CBC Television broadcast of Guiding Light was also on its scheduled during the latter part of the 1960s during the serial 15-minute format. On both occasions, the daytime drama was only aired for a few seasons.
After a hiatus from Canadian television stations for many years, the series came back on CHCH-TV, exclusively for the Ontario market. In September 2007, Global picked up the show nationwide after CHCH-TV dropped it, claiming the Passions former time slot. Guiding Light returned to CHCH for the rest of its run when Global decided to air the 2008 TV series The Doctors.
Awards[edit]
Daytime Emmy Awards[edit]
Show[edit]
- 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 Outstanding Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts (Technical Direction/Electronic Camerawork)
- 1983 Outstanding Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts (Lighting Direction)
- 1984 Outstanding Achievement in Design Excellence for a Daytime Drama Series
- 1985 Outstanding 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 Fail"
- 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
Test[edit]
- 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
- 1998 Outstanding Original Song: "Hold Me"
- 2007 Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Drama Series
- 2007 Outstanding Daytime Drama Series (tie, with The Young and the Restless)
- 2007 Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
- 2008 Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series
- 2008 Outstanding Achievement in Live & Direct To Tape Sound Mixing for a Drama Series
- 2008 Outstanding Achievement in Multiple Camera Editing
Individuals[edit]
- 1983 Lifetime Achievement Award: Charita Bauer (Bert Bauer)
- 1984 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Judi Evans Luciano (Beth Raines)
- 1985 Distinguished Service to Daytime Television: Charita Bauer (Bert Bauer) [posthumous]
- 1985 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)
- 1985 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Larry Gates (H.B. Lewis)
- 1987 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)
- 1990 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)
- 1991 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Rick Hearst (Alan-Michael Spaulding)
- 1992 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Maeve Kinkead (Vanessa Chamberlain)
- 1993 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Ellen Parker (Maureen Reardon)
- 1993 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Monti Sharp (David Grant)
- 1994 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Michael Zaslow (Roger Thorpe)
- 1994 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Justin Deas (Buzz Cooper)
- 1994 Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series: Melissa Hayden (Bridget Reardon)
- 1995 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Justin Deas (Buzz Cooper)
- 1995 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jerry verDorn (Ross Marler)
- 1996 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jerry verDorn (Ross Marler)
- 1996 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Kevin Mambo (Marcus Williams)
- 1997 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Justin Deas (Buzz Cooper)
- 1997 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Kevin Mambo (Marcus Williams)
- 1998 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Cynthia Watros (Annie Dutton)
- 2002 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer)
- 2003 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Jordi Vilasuso (Tony Santos)
- 2006 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne)
- 2006 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jordan Clarke (Billy Lewis)
- 2006 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Gina Tognoni (Dinah Marler)
- 2006 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Tom Pelphrey (Jonathan Randall)
- 2008 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Gina Tognoni (Dinah Marler)
- 2008 Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series: Tom Pelphrey (Jonathan Randall)
- 2009 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jeff Branson (Shayne Lewis)
Other awards[edit]
- Writers Guild of America Award (1980, 1992, 2005)
- Directors Guild of America Award (2005)
Executive producers and head writers[edit]
Executive producers[edit]
| Name(s) | Duration |
|---|---|
| David Lesan, Joe Ainley and Carl Waster | 1937–1952[a] |
| David Lesan and Joe Ainley | 1952–1956[a] |
| Lucy Ferri Rittenberg | 1952–1976[a] |
| Allen M. Potter | 1976–1983 |
| Gail Kobe | 1983–1987 |
| Joe Willmore | 1987–1989 |
| Robert Calhoun | 1989–1991 |
| Jill Farren Phelps | 1991–1995 |
| Michael Laibson | 1995–1996 |
| Paul Rauch | 1996–2002 |
| John Conboy | 2002–2004 |
| Ellen Wheeler | 2004–2009 |
Head writers[edit]
| Name(s) | Duration |
|---|---|
| Irna Phillips | 1937–1958[b] |
| Agnes Nixon | 1958–1966 |
| David Lesan and Julian Funt | 1966 |
| Theodore and Mathilde Ferro, John Boruff, James Lipton, Gabrielle Upton and, Jane and Ira Avery | 1966–1968 |
| Irna Phillips | 1968 |
| Robert Soderberg and Edith Sommer | 1969–1973 |
| James Gentile, Robert Cenedella and James Lipton | 1973–1975 |
| Bridget and Jerome Dobson | 1975–1980 |
| Douglas Marland | 1980–1982 |
| Pat Falken Smith | 1982 |
| L. Virginia Browne and Gene Palumbo | 1982–1983 |
| Carolyn Culliton | 1983 |
| Richard Culliton and Pamela K. Long | 1983–1984 |
| Pamela K. Long and Jeff Ryder | 1984–1986 |
| Jeff Ryder | 1986 |
| Mary Ryan Munisteri and Ellen Barrett | 1986 |
| Joseph D. Manetta | 1986 |
| Joseph D. Manetta and Sheri Anderson | 1986–1987 |
| Pamela K. Long | 1987–1990 |
| Pamela K. Long and James E. Reilly | 1990 |
| Nancy Curlee, Stephen Demorest and James E. Reilly | 1990–1991 |
| Lorraine Broderick, Nancy Curlee, Stephen Demorest and James E. Reilly | 1991–1992 |
| Lorraine Broderick, Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest | 1992–1993 |
| Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest | 1993 |
| Patrick Mulcahey, Nancy Williams Watt, Stephen Demorest, Millee Taggart, Sheri Anderson and Peggy Sloan | 1994 |
| Stephen Demorest | 1994 |
| Douglas Anderson | 1994–1995 |
| Megan McTavish | 1995–1996 |
| Victor Miller, Michael Conforti and Nancy Williams Watt | 1996–1997[c] |
| James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten | 1997–1998 |
| James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten and, Michael Conforti | 1998–1999 |
| James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten | 1999–2000 |
| Claire Labine | 2000–2001 |
| Lloyd Gold | 2001 |
| Lloyd Gold and Christopher Dunn (co-head writer) | 2001–2002 |
| Milee Taggert and Lloyd Gold | 2002 |
| Ellen Weston and Carolyn Culliton (co-head writer) | 2003 |
| Ellen Weston and Donna M. Swajeski (co-head writer) | 2003–2004 |
| David Kreizman and Donna M. Swajeski (co-head writer) | 2004–2008[d] |
| Christopher Dunn, Lloyd Gold, Jill Lorie Hurst and David Kreizman | 2008–2009 |
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b c From 1937–1952, Guiding Light broadcast solely on radio. From 1952–1956, both radio and television broadcasts were simultaneously produced.
- ^ From 1952 to 1956, Phillips simultaneously wrote for both radio and television broadcasts of Guiding Light.
- ^ From 1996 to 1997, the credited head writers were interim-status.
- ^ In 2008, for one month's duration, no head writer was credited, due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.
Home media[edit]
On January 19, 2012, SoapClassics released a four-disc DVD collection of 20 selected episodes. The oldest episode on the collection dates from April 1, 1980, while the latest episode is from September 14, 2009, during the show's final broadcast week.[4]
The company has since released special collections celebrating Reva Shayne and Phillip Spaulding.
On May 23, 2012, SoapClassics released the final ten Guiding Light episodes on a two-disc DVD set.
Also beginning in June 2012, the series was released on DVD in Germany beginning with the episodes from 1979.
Note[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
old-timewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "July".
- ^ "TV Q&A with Rob Owen". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 27, 2006.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 22, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
