Guiding Light Cancelled (Apr 2, 2009)

After a 72 year run that originated on radio, CBS says that the final episode will air on September 18.

The Guinness Book of World Records has cited it as the longest-running television drama. It began as a 15-minute serial on NBC Radio on Jan. 25, 1937, and debuted on CBS TV in June 1952, focusing on the fictional town of Springfield and the Spaulding, Lewis and Cooper families.

It expanded from 15 to 30 minutes when the show was produced in 1967. The soap aired its first hour-long episode in November 1977.

Procter & Gamble Productions, which makes the show, isn't giving up on the soap, and will explore different ways to keep it going after September, a spokeswoman said.

Soap operas like other broadcast television programs have been declining in popularity with more women the shows are aimed at are instead in the workforce. There are now hundreds of cable channels to choose from for people who work at night or are unemployed.

"Guiding Light" had the lowest ratings of the eight daytime dramas on the air. When it leaves after September 18, CBS and ABC will have three weekday soap operas, with NBC having one.

Many successful actors got their start on "Guiding Light," including James Earl Jones, Calista Flockhart, Hayden Panettiere, Kevin Bacon and Taye Diggs.

What might replace the 3-4pm ET (2-3pm PT) time slot for "GL" could be a talk or a game show, but rumors are going around that it could be a revival of "Pyramid", or maybe something else like "Tyra", which is scheduled to be on the CW this fall in its own daytime lineup. The CW programs a daytime block from 3-5pm ET/PT.

Another possibility is to expand "Bold and the Beautiful" to an hour, and to give up a half an hour to local affilliates. It's possible for CBS to have a three-hour block of soaps from 12-3pm PT with "Y&R", "B&B", and "As the World Turns", with the last one be the one fighting "General Hospital" on ABC. A one-hour 11am-12pm PT slot would be used for local news or other programming like what ABC has today. Affilliates can and often run network shows out of pattern and may tape delay it to run in an earlier slot the next day.

As far as I know, CBS never had fewer than three hours of its daytime schedule devoted to soap operas since 1967 when it cancelled "Password" hosted by Allen Ludden to have three-hours slotted for soaps.

Back in 1982, NBC peaked with four hours for soaps when CBS's "Search For Tomorrow" moved there. In 1969, CBS peaked with four hours for soaps cancelling a rerun to make room for another one. In 1983, ABC peaked with four and a half hours for soaps. The baby boomer college audience of the 70s and 80s slowly transformed the daytime landscape as game shows fell by the wayside. Today, with many cable channels to choose from, the broadcast daytime landscape is vastly different than it was back in the 60s and 70s when the networks once ran game shows, reruns, local noon news, soaps, an afternoon movie, and some late afternoon children's shows.

In 1984, all three networks had three and a half hours blocks of soaps opposite each other from 12:30-4pm ET. ABC's ran from 12pm-4:30pm ET in 1984.

In a shift of modern times, we're seeing more shows in the genre of variety (Ellen, Bonnie Hunt, Regis and Kelly), information (Rachael Rae), shock (Jerry Springer), talk (Dr. Phil, Oprah), courtroom (Judge whatever), local midday newscasts, in order to get some of the viewers who are home in the daytime for the purpose of selling advertising.

Soaps were rarely pre-empted by the affilliates compared to game shows in the 80s and 90s when local stations ran more lucrative syndicated fare and local programming.

"Pyramid" to CBS Daytime? (April 2, 2009)

The revival would likely be an hour to fill the timeslot. Another alternative is to pair it up as a half-hour with another half-hour game show.

CBS is also considering other contenders including talk shows.

Dick Clark-hosted "$10,000 Pyramid" bowed on CBS daytime in the Spring of 1973. It moved to ABC in 1974, as well as syndication, and then returned to CBS in the 1980s, running until 1988. It was revived briefly in 2002 in syndication.

My opinion for "Pyramid": it would work as long as they return to the original Dick Clark hosted format that ran on CBS and ABC in the 1970s. Rules should follow that of "The $100,000 Pyramid."

Rules: 30 seconds- seven subject- six rounds, 2 games per show, first time in the winners circle $10,000, win or lose the $10k second time $25,000. Top three times go to monthly $100K tourney.

The set should also resemble the '70s Dick Clark version. None of this 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' dizzy spell. After "Millionaire" began airing in 1999, all game shows after it ('The Weakest Link') copied that lame COLD 23rd Century space look.