I still think it's a shame they canceled it. I forget the exact number, but counting radio it had been on for something like 70 years.
The only phase I don't miss is when they first switched to location shooting instead of the studio sets.
They were using these shaky hand held shots. And would shoot from across the road as if the viewer was spying on the cast. At work we called it "Blair Witch Light". It made your head hurt to try and watch it.
"The Guiding Light" started on NBC radio in January of 1937. It had religious overtones, dealing with the wayward flock of the Rev. Ruthledge.
In 1948, the show moved to CBS radio, and the focus changed to the Bauer family, one of the congregation's families. Mama and Papa Bauer , German-American immigrants were the "guiding lights" for their three children, young Trudy; crazy, wild Meta, and their son Willie (Bill) who had recently married a spoiled young girl named Bertha Miller.
In 1952, the show moved to television. Like its radio counterpart, it was 15 minutes long. The radio and television versons were the same for the next four years. CBS cancelled the radio show in 1956.
Guiding Light would continue as a 15-minute show until 1968, when it went to 30 minutes. In 1977, it expanded to one hour.
The new taping concept, to give the show a more real life feeling started in 2008. It wasn't enough to save the show... Personally, I didn't care for it, but during the last months they used it to their advantage. The scene where Phillip finds his dead father sitting peacefully on a park bench was heartbreaking. The Jeffrey-Edmund fight scenes on a building roof were as good as what you see on prime time TV.
Guiding Light broadcasted on radio, television, (and internet too) from 1937-2009, more than 72 years. It remains the the longest continuous broadcast in history.
Until they bring back their storyline, I don't care for the show, anymore.
