The Light Has Gone Out

The longest running scripted show in broadcast history aired it's last episode on Friday 18th September 2009. It's hard to think that something has lasted for the amount of time that this show has clocked up. 72 years, which includes its birth on radio.

Let's start with CBS pimping out their new daytime schedule without Guiding Light straight after airing As The World Turns. I found it in poor taste to do it before the final nail was even on the casket.
They didn't even show a full set of credits, seeing as it was the last broadcast. To fully list those that worked on the show would have been great.

Lots of people have commented on it was great that certain characters got to have their happy ending but I'm going to comment a couple of things that really got to me. Did there have to be so many weddings in such a short space of time?

Though I think Remy and Christina are cute, but why did they have to waste precious time with them having to get married for the third (fourth, I've lost count) time in less than a year. This time could could have been used to develop/finish other story lines. With scenes being short they seriously didn't need to add in this extra element to the couple. They should have just had them announce their pregnancy to Mel and be done. It perplexed me even more when having read the preview of an episode from CBS' site that there was to be a Doris and Olivia scene, I tuned in to see that the scene wasn't even aired.

Another point was why did everything seem so rushed in the last couple of weeks. The cancellation news came on April 1st and according to an interview with Jordan Clarke (Billy Lewis) they were told in May that there was a 1% chance of the show being picked up by another network and filming ended in August. I'm not a maths genius but there was a little bit of time to sort some stories out properly. This then moves to my next point.

What the hell was with the Jeffrey and Edmund storyline and are they still playing a game of cat and mouse in the one year jump. What was the point of this storyline again other than to keep Jeffrey away from Reva and Dinah away from Shayne. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Jeffrey or Reva fan but I did liked Dinah and Shayne. Plus didn't the scene with Shayne and Marina in the jump scream awkward.

The next thing I'm only gonna touch on briefly, the non Otalia kiss. Yes they should have kissed when everybody else was doing it but this is the thing that bugged me even more. Olivia was allowed to give Doris and Reva a platonic kiss on the cheek but two scenes of Olivia kissing Natalia on the cheek were cut. CBS and P&G have allowed Luke and Noah to kiss on As The World Turns (apparently there was a kissing ban but I won't comment on as I don't know the facts). So why wasn't Otalia allowed - something doesn't quite add up.

I don't know the full Guiding Light history or even past the last few years but it would have been great to see some of the historic characters coming back a little earlier and have more than a couple of minutes on the canvass.

I'm not normally a fan of soaps but this year I became a fan of this show. There was something different about this over the other US soaps that are currently airing. Maybe because it felt more like the soaps produced in the UK or maybe it was the build up of certain story lines and characters (loved Bill, Lizzie and Phillip). It was definitely a sad day for this historic soap and I felt it was fitting for the scene involving Reva and Josh did feature a lighthouse in the background.

So long and farewell. It's a good thing some episodes are online to relive.