A soap opera that began alllll the way back in 1937 on the radio, then hit television in 1952, aired it's series finale on Friday, September 18, 2009. I can't even comprehend a show running this long. It's not even a weekly show either. This is Mondy trhough Friday for over 70 years, although I can't exactly say with certainty that this is the format it took for its entire run. Regardless, while it was on TV, it had quite a few decades of 52 weeks, 5 days a week air time.
Over the years the cast included some celebs that went on to bigger and better things such as Kevin Bacon, JoBeth Williams, James Earl Jones, Allison Janney, Brittany Snow, Hayden Panettiere and Melina Kanakaredes. Many of which probably have their wrought iron candle sconces plugged with their favorite scented candles to mourn the death of this piece of Americana.
The final episode was I guess an upbeat one that showed this soap opera's version of the man and woman who are soul mates in Reva and Josh getting together for the final time.
They rendezvoused, according to plan (This must be something known to fans), at the local lighthouse and declared their undying love. Then these soul mates climbed into Josh's pickup truck.
"You ready?" asked Josh.
"Always," Reva said.
And they drove away, as the words "The End" flashed on the screen before a final fade-out.
"Guiding Light" now becomes the latest victim of the ratings collapse afflicting the entire soap-opera world. With an average 2.1 million viewers, it was the least-watched of all the network soaps, which after today (and some 15,700 past weekdays for "Light") will total only seven.
On Oct. 5, CBS will fill the slot "Guiding Light" is vacating with a new edition of the game show "Let's Make a Deal."
