Sonny Corinthos

The Associated Press
(AP) — The soap opera "Guiding Light" is switching off after a 72-year run that predates television.

CBS says the show will have its final episode in September. Like most daytime dramas, "Guiding Light" has suffered from declining ratings and CBS is looking for a lower-cost alternative to the hour of programming.

The Guinness Book of World Records has cited it as the longest-running television drama.

It began as a 15-minute serial on NBC Radio in January 1937 and debuted on CBS television in 1952, focusing on the Bauer family of Springfield.

It's sad to see such a long running show end after all these years. I watch GL one summer back in 1990 when General Hospital was in a rut. It was ok, but I switched back to GH in the fall of that year.

Red Dog

This is the one soap opera I ever watched on a regular basis - for about 2 years in the early 90s.

philo

I remember watching it with my sister after school in the early 80's. It was really exciting with the whole evil Roger Thorpe storyline and I think someone was kidnapped and there was a chase to a tropical locale. I guess they'll put on another judge show or some Maury Jerry clone in its place.

GenPion

Is this an April Fools joke? I didn't know the Associated Press did that sort of thing.

bigjim25

Damn shame. That girl from Bring It On: All or Nothing is hot but I never watch it, I watch GH.

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

This is odd, especially after a big ad campaign recently. Not sure I believe it. Oh well, I only watch Y&R anyway.

Double_Oh_7

Watched the show off and on for about ten years in the mid 80s/90s. The longest running show in broadcast history... nothing will ever come close to it.

bootsy

I hope it's true. This is one less soap opera that my wife records on our DVR. Please be true.

GoldenJCJ

I actually read an article not too long ago about how daytime soap operas were slowing dying. It's figured that there just aren't as many stay at home women to watch the shows on a daily basis. I suppose it's true, minus DVRs how many people really have the time to stay home 5 days a week to watch every episode?

mhg83

I really dont get the whole daytime soap thing. How can someone watch that stuff? It doesn't seem like a show that has been on for 72 years could still have good stories. I mean there has to be a point in a shows run where the story lines start repeating themselves. What makes the show so good that its lasted this long? I love 24 but i cant see myself watching it for 72 seasons.

Timber

I'm going to admit that I'm a on again off again Y&R watcher. They do recycle stories but the characters change so much that it doesn't even really matter. It's sort of interesting watching characters grow and evolve and devolve on a daily basis.

calhoun07

This has got to be an April Fool's, right?

Scott27

No April Fool's joke. There were reports earlier in the week that CBS was looking around for possible replacements, which led to speculation of the cancellation (which apparently was confirmed today).

An updated version of $25,000 Pyramid is reportedly one of the replacement candidates.

bigjim25

That would be cool if they bring some game shows back to daytime. Let Donny Osmond host Pyramid again. I've been watching reruns on GSN and always thought he did a pretty good job hosting.

Timber

They need to cut down on some of the court shows and bring back some of the morning game shows. They used to be one of the highlights of being home from school.

NitroJMS

It'll be sad to see it go. Like someone else mentioned, it's the only soap I ever watched as my grandma and mom are both avid viewers for literally their whole lives and I watched with them in the late 80's/early 90's if I happened to be around.

calhoun07

The thing that bothers me most about this (and I truly don't care about the show itself...I never watched it) is how not just on TV, but in just about every aspect of society, sweeping changes that cannot be reversed are being made just because of the down turn in the economy. I mean, seriously, you do this to a 72 year old show because the economy is in the toilet? Instead of working with it and getting the ratings back up? This is just one more example of how crazy people are over this down turn in the economy. It's just madness.

And I realize that the AP article doesn't specify the economy as the reason, but that's what I read when I see "lower-cost alternative to the hour of programming."

If you were a marketing director of CBS and you couldn't generate more interest in a 72 year old show, and you were working on the 72 year old show and couldn't figure out how to make it work better, you should be out of jobs. The show should stay on the air.

WallyOPD

The downturn of the television industry predates the downturn of the economy. While the current economy might have sped up the cancellation, this was probably inevitable.

Gunde

Maybe it has run it's course. It's fucking 72 years old!

Sonny Corinthos

GL bites the dust

The Cow

Is this the one that had the Luke/Laura headlines in the early 80s? That was the last time (only time) I've ever watched a daytime soap.

Edit: Never mind, looks like that was General Hospital, and it appears that is still on. Dr Noah Drake for the win

Burgundy LaRue

GL has been on the chopping block for years. The writing has been awful and they resorted to shooting the show outside of traditional studios a couple of years ago that still looks weird to me. Bringing back Philip Spaulding a few weeks ago was a last-ditch effort to save the show, but it obviously didn't work.

Daytime drama has been dying a slow death for years. Most soaps have large casts with veteran actors who make more money than many realize. Throw in day players, wardrobe/makeup costs, writers, union fees, and the sweeps storyline where half the cast goes to some exotic locale, and it's a lot of money being spent.

I heard As the World Turns almost got canceled but CBS decided to give that show a one-year contract to see if they can get back on track. NBC is just waiting for DAYS' contract to expire; I doubt they'll renew. All My Children supposedly almost got canned. In 2-3 years, there will likely only be 4 soaps: Y&R, B&B, OLTL, and GH. They're the only ones that make money for the networks and their writing is much better than the others.

Sean O'Hara

If the networks were smart, they'd put the shows on Hulu.

I've always wondered why soaps are never released on DVD -- I'm sure a lot of people would be curious about early episodes of General Hospital and Guiding Light.

Timber

What would they release monthly sets? That would be so expensive to produce and collect that I doubt there would be much demand.

Double_Oh_7

DVD sets would be so cost-prohibitive based on the number of episodes/years the shows run.