Guiding Light
Guiding Light (before 1975, known as The Guiding Light,
or alternatively, GL) is the longest-running soap opera. It
spanned both radio and television eras, lasting from 1937
to 2009 (57 years). It was first broadcast five days after
Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in as president for the second
time. The show aired on radio from January 25, 1937 to June
29, 1956, and it ran on CBS for fifty-seven years starting
on June 30, 1952. GL got its start as a fifteen-minute show,
expanding to a half-hour in 1968 and to a full hour in November
1977.
GL was created by famed soap writer Irna Phillips, and the
show got its name as a reference to a lamp in original character
John Ruthledge’s study. According to Ruthledge, family and
friends could take the lighted lamp as a sign to follow when
they needed guidance. On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that
it was canceling the show because of poor ratings. The final
episodes were shot on August 11, 2009 and aired on September
18. Starting on October 5, CBS replaced GL with a remake of
the 70s-era game show Let’s Make a Deal.
Guiding Light was broadcast from multiple locations- Chicago
(where Irna Phillips lived) from 1937-1946, Hollywood from
1947-1949, and New York since 1949. It moved from Chicago
to Hollywood to take advantage of all the acting talent out
there, and moved to NYC and remained there until the end of
the show. In 2008, producers started shooting exterior scenes
in New Jersey. GL was the first American soap to be recorded
digitally, allowing producers to shoot from multiple locations.
The new filming style made the show look more realistic,
and both interior and exterior shots had more of an authentic
feel because real locations such as the show’s production
offices were turned into stores, nail salons, and motel rooms.
This repurposing allowed the show to have a lot of sets without
going to the expense of renting out separate locations. The
network and the production team hoped that the new filming
style would boost ratings, but the plan failed. However, GL
has inspired other CBS soaps such as ATWT and Y&R to adopt
a more natural filming style.
|
