Is there hope for a new season or a reboot of the Emmy winning soap opera, ‘Guiding Light’?
Set in the fictional town of Springfield, Illinois, ‘Guiding Light’ debuted in January 1937 on the radio. The soap opera was initially about a minister and his family. After its switch to television, the story revolved around three families. One of the longest-running soap operas in history, broadcasting on both radio and television, ‘Guiding Light’ aired its last episode on television in September 2009. After more than a decade, will ‘Guiding Light’ come back with new a season?
HIGHLIGHTS —
- Hope for more soap opera classics?
- Why was ‘Guiding Light’ cancelled?
- Will there be a ‘Guiding Light’ reboot?
Hope for more soap opera classics?
The only good thing to come out of these past few months is the rediscovery of soaps by the audience. High interest in bringing popular soap operas back is continuously shared online on various social media networking sites.
Karey Burke, the president of ABC Entertainment, has continuously been pestered by fans about whether or not the network had plans to reboot former popular soap operas, ‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life to Live’, that aired back in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Burke had always maintained that there might be some conversation about the prospect. In May, she shared it with media outlets and audiences that there have been more discussions, but she did not reveal more than that. A few months ago, the ABC network announced a two-hour primetime special ‘The Story of Soaps’.
Produced by PEOPLE magazine, ‘The Story of Soaps’ was a two-hour primetime special that revolved around the journey of female creators who made a shift from radio to television and how they became a force in daytime television for more than three decades. The special dwelled more on how their legacy is alive even today and over prime time and reality, and what thrusts modern television. It also covered the history of the genre and how reality shows have taken over a lot of space that was earlier enjoyed by soap operas. Since the time the special aired, fans have continuously been wishing for new seasons or reboots of these classics like ‘Guiding Light’, ‘All My Children’, and many more.
‘The Story of Soaps’ featured interviews with many daytime veterans, such as Alec Baldwin, Bryan Cranston, Carol Burnett, Vivica A. Fox, Jon Hamm, Denise Richards, John Stamos, Chandra Wilson, Susan Lucci, and countless many other iconic soap opera performers, writers, producers, primetime stars, and reality TV personalities.
Why was ‘Guiding Light’ cancelled?
As of 2020, ‘Guiding Light’ holds the record for the most episodes aired for an American Television series. Since its debut on television in June 1952 to its conclusion on September 18, 2009, the soap opera successfully broadcasted 15,762 episodes. Longest-running American soap opera in production, ‘General Hospital’ is expected to hit the 15,000-episode mark by 2022. ‘General Hospital’ has managed to last for more than 56 years and is still on the air.
The decision to cancel ‘Guiding Light’ was quite shocking as it was the longest-running soap opera in history. Created by Irna Phillips, the soap opera first released as a radio program in 1937. In its milestone run, ‘Guiding Light’ won three Daytime Emmys for Best Drama Series too. Unfortunately, ‘Guiding Lights’ could not survive the rating race. Finally, after 72 years, ‘Guiding Light’ bid adieu to its audience with its main characters Josh and Reva agreeing to get married.
Will there be a ‘Guiding Light’ reboot?
Earlier in 2000, SOAPnet owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group, was responsible for airing the reruns of ABC soaps such as ‘All My Children‘, ‘One Life to Live‘, ‘General Hospital‘, and ‘Port Charles‘. Unfortunately, the channel went off the air in 2014.
Currently, it is the perfect time for a reboot or new season of soap-opera-like ‘Guiding Light’, as the audience is more engaged than ever. Classics like ‘The Young and the Restless’ is currently getting a viewership of around 1.6 million viewers. Another advantage of airing soap opera is that the audience gets way more involved in it as many share a sense of nostalgia with most of these classics.
Tell us what you feel about a ‘Guiding Light’ reboot and which other classic soap opera should be revived again?
