Guiding Light

The Guiding Light (known as Guiding Light since 1975) is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the longest soap opera ever told, as well as the longest running drama in broadcast history (its 15,000th televised episode is slated to air in the autumn of 2005). The program began as an NBC radio serial on January 25, 1937 before moving to CBS on June 30, 1952, as a televised serial.

2000 to present

At the turn of the century, a large segment of the show revolved around San Cristobel, as Cassie married Richard and Richard's evil brother Edmund (David Andrew Macdonald) plotted to keep them apart (the island became a democracy with Richard as president, was then overthrown in a coup by Edmund, and finally Richard gave the monarchy to his heretofore unknown brother Alonzo (Jim Davidson). The other segment focused on the Santoses and the Mob, specifically Michelle Bauer's mobster husband Danny (Paul Anthony Stewart), his sister Pilar and cousin Tony, and his sociopathic mother, Carmen (Saundra Santiago). Much of Danny and Michelle's story was fighting against the evil Carmen, and this story repeated several times until the character of Carmen was injured during a fight with Michelle in 2002, and went into a coma. Most of the veteran characters, save Reva, had few if any storylines, and ratings went on a gentle decline. Much-acclaimed writer Claire Labine took over as headwriter in 2000, but her stories focused on character development and clashed with Rauch's plot-heavy style. Labine's team lasted barely a year amidst rumors that she was being sabotaged backstage. She was replaced briefly by Lucky Gold (who created a split personality for Beth and started the road to a romance between Harley and Labine's creation, sexist FBI agent Gus). Reva went on a time-travel misadventure, proving unpopular with viewers.

Related Topics:
David Andrew Macdonald - Jim Davidson - Paul Anthony Stewart - Saundra Santiago - 2002 - Claire Labine - 2000 - Lucky Gold - FBI - Time-travel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Millee Taggart took the writing reins in 2002, and Taggart's run had some critical acclaim, breaking away from the organized crime and royalty which had dominated GL over the past few years. Taggart tried to focus on more traditional storylines, including Reva pulling the plug on a critically injured Richard. During this time, GL also tried to reinvigorate the role of Alexandra Spaulding by casting "Dynasty" star Joan Collins in the role.

Related Topics:
Millee Taggart - 2002 - Dynasty - Joan Collins

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Not all of Taggart's stories were a hit; she was also remembered for an unfortunate sequence in which Marah (Lindsey McKeon), reacting to a rape attempt from boyfriend Tony Santos, stripped to her underwear and taunted him to force himself on her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2003, veteran producer John Conboy and Ellen Weston took charge of the show. Weston had acted on GL as a teenager, and was a writer with several prime-time movie credits as well as a brief writing stint on "Capitol", but had never been a headwriter for a soap. Conboy's first move was to relegate several veteran performers to recurring status, including Maureen Garrett, Beth Chamberlin and Elizabeth Keifer. History was re-written when the characters Billy, Josh, Ed, Alan, and Buzz were revealed to have been the cause of the death of a young girl when they were young men in 1977. The storyline was roundly criticized for its plot-holes, such as the fact that only two of the characters (Ed and Alan) were even on the show in 1977; the plot wildly contradicted existing character histories. The storyline was also substantially similar to the 1983 Annabelle Sims storyline, which featured H.B. Lewis (father of Billy and Josh), Bill Bauer (father of Ed), and Brandon Spaulding (father of Alan) in a murder mystery similar to the one their sons were involved in, which was met with some backlash due to rewriting character histories. The goings-on so annoyed longtime actor Peter Simon (who played Ed Bauer for much of the 80's, left in 1996 and returned in 2002) that he quit the show and refused all offers to return. Other stories featured during the "Wescon" regime included Cassie falling in love with a "reformed" Edmund, Reva discovering her psychic abilities, and her daughter Marah fell in love with Sandy, a loner who talked to a sock puppet who was initially thought to be Reva's son and Marah's half-brother. A particularly unpopular story featured longtime character Ben Reade (Matt Bomer), being revealed out of nowhere as a serial killer and victim of child molestation. The story culminated with Ben committing suicide. The show lost around over a half-million viewers at this time.

Related Topics:
2003 - John Conboy - Ellen Weston - Capitol - Maureen Garrett - Beth Chamberlin - Elizabeth Keifer - 1977 - 1983 - Peter Simon - 1996 - 2002 - Sock puppet - Matt Bomer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Conboy and Weston were in turn, fired. Ellen Wheeler of Another World fame became executive producer in the spring of 2004. Her regime addressed unresolved plots including that of the characters of Roger and Dinah (Gina Tognoni), revealed Sandy was posing as Reva's son (her real son, Jonathan Tom Pelphrey, was a more toxic and dangerous version of a young Reva - he deflowered his own cousin Tammy out of pure spite) and had a protracted "who killed Phillip?" mystery. Wheeler and writer David Kreizman won much critical praise, and GL was named Best Soap by many, including TV Guide. David Kreizman won the Writers Guild of America Award for best written daytime serial in 2005 and the show was the only one nominated. But the show still seemed unfocused at times, ratings continued to stagnate and in early 2005, it was revealed that Procter & Gamble had ordered GL to take a large budget cut. The actors themselves would also see a reduction in salary, and long-time stars Michael O'Leary, and Marj Dusay were taken off contract. The show also learned that it would be moving to the old ATWT studios on the West Side of Manhattan (as opposed to their more lavish current studio on the East Side of the city).

Related Topics:
Ellen Wheeler - Another World - 2004 - Gina Tognoni - Tom Pelphrey - David Kreizman - TV Guide - 2005 - Michael O'Leary - Marj Dusay - Manhattan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By 2005, the show fired some of its popular actors including Stephen Martines (Tony Santos), Doug Hutchison (Sebastian Hulce), Daniel Cosgrove (Bill Lewis III), Paul Anthony Stewart (Danny Santos), Nancy St. Alban (Michelle Bauer Santos), Laura Wright (Cassie Layne Winslow), David Andrew Macdonald (Edmund Winslow) and longtime veteran Jerry verDorn (Ross Marler). Both Wright and verDorn jumped into different soaps in the fall with Wright joining rival soap General Hospital and verDorn joining One Life to Live. Cosgrove later jumped into primetime in a new series midseason and Stewart and St. Alban asked not to renew their contracts to move to California in order to do other projects.

Related Topics:
2005 - Stephen Martines - Doug Hutchison - Daniel Cosgrove - Paul Anthony Stewart - Nancy St. Alban - Laura Wright - David Andrew Macdonald - Jerry verDorn - General Hospital - One Life to Live - California

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~