Guiding Light (2000-present)

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The Guiding Light (GL) is the longest-running American soap opera.

[edit] Show development

Much-acclaimed writer Claire Labine took over as head writer in 2000, but her stories focused on character development and clashed with Rauch's plot-heavy style. Labine's team lasted barely a year amidst rumors that she was being sabotaged backstage. She was replaced briefly by Lucky Gold.

Millee Taggart took the writing reins in 2002, and Taggart's run had some critical acclaim, breaking away from the organized crime and royalty which had dominated Guiding Light over the past few years. Taggart tried to focus on more traditional story lines, including Reva pulling the plug on a critically injured Richard. During this time, Guiding Light also tried to reinvigorate the role of Alexandra Spaulding by casting Dynasty star Joan Collins in the role.

Not all of Taggart's stories were a hit; she also wrote a sequence in which Marah Lewis (Lindsey McKeon), reacting to a rape attempt from boyfriend Tony Santos (Jordi Vilasuso), stripped to her underwear and taunted him to force himself on her.

In early 2003, veteran producer John Conboy and Ellen Weston took charge of the show. Weston had acted on Guiding Light as a teenager, and was a writer with several prime-time movie credits as well as a brief writing stint on Capitol (TV series), but had never been a head writer for a soap. Conboy's first move was to relegate several veteran performers to recurring status, including Maureen Garrett, Beth Chamberlin and Elizabeth Keifer.

As a result of many missteps in the show's production and writing, Conboy and Weston were eventually fired after only a year. Ellen Wheeler of Another World and All My Children fame became executive producer in the spring of 2004. Her regime addressed unresolved plots. Wheeler and writer David Kreizman won much critical praise, and Guiding Light was named Best Soap by many, including TV Guide. David Kreizman won the Writers Guild of America Award for best written daytime serial in 2005 and the show was the only one nominated. But the show still seemed unfocused at times, ratings continued to stagnate and in early 2005, it was revealed that Procter & Gamble had ordered Guiding Light to take a large budget cut. The actors themselves would also see a reduction in salary, and long-time stars Michael O'Leary, Jerry ver Dorn, and Marj Dusay were taken off contract. Actors including Nancy St. Alban, Doug Hutchinson, Paul Anthony Stewart and David Andrew MacDonald were fired as a result of the budget cuts. Stephen Martines asked for and was granted a release from his contract and Daniel Cosgrove, who played Bill Lewis since 2002 opted not to renew his contract and also left the show. As a result of being dropped to recurring, Jerry ver Dorn, the longest running actor and character (Ross Marler) on the show, quit and joined ABC's One Life To Live. The show also learned that it would be moving to the old As The World Turns studios on the West Side of Manhattan (as opposed to their more lavish current studio on the East Side of the city).

On November 14, 2005, Guiding Light had a show "make-over". In the new opening sequence, the first few scenes are presented in widescreen and then followed by a new opening theme song with new video clips, a new logo, and a new musical tune. Also, the show has gone into the 21st century by being downloadable at CBS.com later in the day as a podcast that can be listened to on iPods and other (portable) media players. This feature was promoted at the end of each show by various cast members who urge viewers to "take the Light" with them. Around this time, Guiding Light's sets also changed considerably. Longtime sets such as Company, Josh and Reva Lewis's House, and Cedars Hospital received makeovers, and the Beacon Hotel lobby set was scrapped. Characters also started to live in the Beacon Hotel, rather than houses or apartments, even though they have been on the show for some time. In addition, Guiding Light also debuted new sets as well. The show added a new "Main Street" set which features an outdoor coffee bar (CO2 or Company 2) and a new theater. The Main Street set is being used quite frequently. Guiding Light also made over the Cross Creek cabin set and moved the cabin to Springfield for Josh and Reva.

In March 2006, the producers had attempted to get Michael O'Leary, Beth Chamberlin, and Elizabeth Keifer to return to contract status. All three turned the offer down, after they were only guaranteed one appearance each week. In June 2006, following his Emmy win, Jordan Clarke was upgraded to contract status. Around this same time, Michael O'Leary ended up changing his mind and signed his own new contract with the show.

In 2007, the show celebrated its 70th anniversary with two special episodes. The first episode aired on January 25, depicting the actors portraying many of the actors from the radio show and the early years of the television show. The second appeared on February 14, depicting the actor's trip to Biloxi, Mississippi to aid in rebuilding three homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The theme for the 70th anniversary is "Find Your Light" and will help to return the show to its roots of giving back to the community.

[edit] Major characters

The Coopers

The Spauldings

The Lewises/Shaynes

The Marlers/Reardons

The Bauers

The Boudreaus

The Spencers

Other characters

[edit] Plot development

At the turn of the century, a large segment of the show revolved around San Cristobel, as Cassie married Richard and Richard's evil brother Edmund plotted to keep them apart. Richard abdicated his throne after discovering that he was illegitimate. Democratic elections held a few weeks later to decide San Cristobel's political fate were halted in a coup by Edmund, who had himself crowned prince and ruler. After his coronation, he married Springfielder Beth Raines. Edmund was later deposed by Richard using an army of mercenaries paid for by Beth's ex-husband, Phillip Spaulding. Edmund escaped the island to avoid a trial and the island eventually became a democracy with Richard as the elected president. Another election was held less than a year later after a heretofore unknown Winslow son, Prince William aka Alonzo Baptiste, was discovered. This time the people voted to have the monarchy restored under Alonzo.

The second plot line focused on the Santoses and the Mob, specifically Michelle Bauer's mobster husband Danny, his sister Pilar and cousin Tony, and his sociopathic mother, Carmen. Much of Danny and Michelle's story was fighting against the evil Carmen, and this story repeated several times until the character of Carmen was injured during a fight with Michelle in 2002, and went into a coma. Most of the veteran characters, save Reva, had few if any story lines, and ratings went on a gentle decline.

Other developments included: Beth developing a split personality, Lorelei Hills, after she narrowly survived being kidnapped by her estranged husband, Edmund Winslow, while she was in Mexico attempting to procure a divorce.

Harley Cooper becoming partners, first professional and then personal, with former FBI agent Gus Aitoro, who was later revealed to be Alan Spaulding's son. Gus' biological mother turned out to be Phillip's former nanny, Lucia Rinaldi, with whom Alan had had an affair before he arrived in Springfield. (Many longtime fans had been hoping Gus' mother would be turn out to be Rita Bauer, thus ending decades of speculation as to whether Rita had been pregnant when she left Springfield in 1981.)

Reva became embroiled in a story that involved her traveling through time via a painting of her ex-husband Josh's new wife Olivia dressed as a Civil War era southern belle, Regina Robechaux. Her first stop was an upscale Civil War era home in New Orleans where she was presumed to be the new nurse for the master of the house, Jack Robechaux, who'd been wounded fighting for the Confederacy. Jack was the spitting image of her beloved Josh and she seemed to connect with "Jack". Next, she "visited" Edwardian England as a governess where she again saw "Josh". This time he was in the guise of farmhand John MacGregor. Finally Reva ended up in World War II Paris, this time meeting up with the real Josh who went through the painting himself. The overall story proved unpopular with many viewers even though longtime "supercouple" Josh and Reva reconciled as a direct result of it.

A 2002 Soap Opera Digest cover, featuring popular tortured couples Gus and Harley (Ricky Paull Goldin and Beth Ehlers), Olivia and Phillip (Crystal Chappell and Grant Aleksander), and Danny and Michelle (Paul Anthony Stewart and Nancy St. Alban).

In 2002 Hawk Shayne would return for Reva and Josh's third wedding mentioning that Roxie and Johhny were no longer together. Roxie was still improved health wise and Johnny(having by then lost both parents)went to live with his sister Lacey in Portland Oregon. Meta Bauer would also depart because of her portrayer Mary Stuart's real life death. Meta was to have broken a hip in Nova Scotia staying there until an undetermined amount of time eventually later to recover and move to New York City with her younger sister Trudy Bauer Palmer.

In 2003, history was re-written when the characters of Billy, Josh, Ed, Alan, and Buzz were revealed to have been the cause of the death of a young girl, Maryanne Caruthers, when they were young men in 1977. The story line was roundly criticized for its plot-holes, such as the fact that only two of the characters (Ed and Alan) were even on the show in 1977 (and they were so involved with their own respective story lines at that time, that it's unlikely they would have had the time to become involved with Maryanne Caruthers, and Alan wasn't even introduced until November 1977, the main plot of the story line supposedly took place in October 1977); the plot wildly contradicted existing character histories. The story line was also substantially similar to the 1983 Annabelle Sim's story line, which featured H.B. Lewis (father of Billy and Josh), Bill Bauer (father of Ed), and Brandon Spaulding (father of Alan) in a murder mystery similar to the one their sons were involved in, which was also met with some backlash due to rewriting character histories. The goings-on so annoyed longtime actor Peter Simon (who played Ed Bauer for much of the 80s, left in 1996 and returned in 2002) that he quit the show and refused to return. Other stories featured during the "WesCon" regime included Cassie falling in love with a "reformed" Edmund, Reva discovering her psychic abilities, and her daughter Marah falling in love with Sandy, a loner who talked to a sock puppet, who was initially thought to be Reva's son and Marah's half-brother. A particularly unpopular story featured the return of the now-20-something Ben Reade (Matthew Bomer) (last seen as a teenager in 1997).A brief mention of Ben's grandmother Julia Stoddard who died offscreen and then Ben eventually being revealed as a serial killer (of non-contract, incidental players on the show) and victim of child molestation. This contrived story culminated with Ben committing suicide, a frustrating ending for previously well-liked character who was essentially assassinated for the sake of the overall plot. Also absence from this plot was Ben's adopted father Flecther Reade who never returned to town for Ben's funeral. Other than propelling Ben's insta-girlfiend, Marina Cooper (then played by Aubrey Dollar) toward her next boyfriend, Shayne Lewis, this WesCon plot had no lasting repercussions. The show lost around over a half-million viewers at this time.

[edit] Guiding Light ratings: 2000-present

1999-2000 Season (HH Ratings)

• 1. The Young And The Restless (**6.8)
• 8. Guiding Light

2000-2001 Season

• 1. The Young And The Restless (**6.7**)
• 8. Guiding Light

2001-2002 Season

• 1. The Young And The Restless (**6.3**)
• 8. Guiding Light

2002-2003 Season

• 1. The Young And The Restless
• 8. Guiding Light

2003-2004 Season

• 1. The Young And The Restless
• 8. Guiding Light

2004-2005 Season

• 1. The Young and the Restless
• 8. Guiding Light

2005-2006 Season HH Ratings

• 1. The Young And The Restless
• 8. Guiding Light

Week of October 23-October 27, 2006 (total viewers - millions)

• 1. The Young And The Restless - 5.752
• 8. Guiding Light - 2.984