Guiding Light tapes last episode

[ShawnHill1]

A little tidbit I found, and I'm not sure if this was mentioned here...but Let's Make a Deal will its shows in Las Vegas, at the Tropicana Hotel. I was thinking (and I'm sure many of you were too) that the show would tape at either of CBS' Los Angeles studios (Television City and the Studio Center in the San Fernando Valley). Episodes started taping this week.

http://www.cbs.com/daytime/lets_make_a_deal/

 

[easttxtv]

On CBS' Early Show this morning, there was a short segment about GL, with clips, a taped interview with Lynn Leahey (Soap Opera Digest editor), followed by an in-studio interview with Tina Sloan (Lillian) and Ron Raines (Alan):

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5319694n

 

[easttxtv]

The end of an era, as Irna Phillips' Light shines once more...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL2LBre80ag (includes most--not all--of the GL logos)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI_VVTHKRRU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmuS5Ww04CE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd9f6nxCID0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnPKCgx1kBc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg_v-hg6Xzs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=307s1yFYwq8 (this last one YT didn't like with the original song so the poster substituted a longer version of the last GL theme; as for the conversation in the pickup...

S

p

o

i

l

e

r

!
!
!

Josh: "Are you ready?"
Reva: "Always."

A CBS version should be available later with the original song and voices.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There is a destiny that makes us brothers
None goes his way alone
All that we send into the lives of others
Comes back into our own.

 

[bpatrick]

I think Katie's going to have something about the last episode
tonight (BTW, CBS is discontinuing its 3:58 PM "Newsbreak"
as of today).

I saw the last show and am not too disappointed. Things ended
on a relatively up note (they did leave the Jeffrey-Edmund confrontation
hanging), and it was nice to see the Four Musketeers finally paired off
(Rick with Mindy, Phillip with Beth). (Spoiler for the West Coast: Josh
and Reva don't get married but they do get back together.)

What I hope will be my final thought on this subject: I'm hearing a lot
of talk that the end of GL presages the end of soap operas. I remember
when "The Price Is Right" became the last remaining network daytime game
show, the so-called experts were proclaiming the death of that genre, but
what's replacing GL? A game show! And if the new "Let's Make A Deal"
should click (and diehard GL fans probably hope it falls flat on its you-know-
what), there'll be more games. So don't count the soaps out; as they say,
what goes around, comes around. Thanks to everyone, living and gone, who
worked on GL for 72 memorable years and a record run that will never be
duplicated by any scripted entertainment show.

 

[ShawnHill1]

Add KCBS in Los Angeles as among those that will carry LMAD in the mornings. Rachael Ray, which regularly airs at 9am, will move to 2pm starting this Monday, while the temporary Price is Right episodes will air at 9 until LMAD debuts.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

BTW, CBS is discontinuing its 3:58 PM "Newsbreak" as of today.

1) Who has been anchoring it?

2) Was CBS also doing a newsbreak after the 9 AM and 10 AM ET feeds
of GL and who anchored it?

 

[bpatrick]

1) Katie

2) No. I get WCBS on DirecTV and there was
never a "Newsbreak" at 10:58 AM.

 

[brian4]

I saw the last show and am not too disappointed. Things ended
on a relatively up note (they did leave the Jeffrey-Edmund confrontation
hanging), and it was nice to see the Four Musketeers finally paired off
(Rick with Mindy, Phillip with Beth).

I also watched the last show. Overall, I felt the same way: not too disappointed. I think the one-year-later could have been the end of Thursday and all day Friday episodes.

Some notes: So was Jeffrey still pursuing Edmund a year later? Alex and Fletcher are still gone? Same with Ed and Holly? Speaking of Fletcher, excellent short conversation between him and Bill regarding Ben. I would have like some more clarification about did Phillip/Beth, Shayne/Marina or Frank/Blake get married? Good that they showed Mallet and Dinah, who couldn't be there for Vanessa's wedding.

I'll miss the citizens of Springfield.

 

[bpatrick]

Head writer Jill Lorie Hurst deliberately left some things
hanging; the way she put it, maybe we won't be able to
tune in every day but "life in Springfield goes on."

I'd like to know what the "adventure" was that Josh was
talking about. (Sorry, folks, I know I said I hoped I was
posting my final thoughts, and I'm not going to get philosophical
now, but I thought brian's post deserved an answer.)

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I think the newsbreak was an affiliate optional. WISH-TV never aired it to my knowledge.

I would have liked to hear the "My Guiding Light" theme playing while Josh & Reva were at the lighthouse reconciling.

Seemed odd having so many Springfield residents going in and out in the space of one episode, but I guess they wanted to tie as many things up as possible.

EDIT: I thought that Philip Spaulding was terminally ill a few weeks ago when I last watched an episode. Not true?

 

[bpatrick]

Alan donated some of his bone marrow to save Phillip.
He probably had no business at Billy and Vanessa's wedding,
since he hadn't completely recovered from the surgery, but he
went and died from what was ruled a heart attack. We're left
to believe Phillip and Beth will live happily ever after. I'm seeing
on GL discussion boards that viewers are happy that Alan did
something decent before his death.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I didn't think I'd remember to watch the finale, but I did. Most of it, anyway, since I listen to Mike Huckabee's radio show.

When that was over, I walked in and saw Philip with Lillian. Two familiar characters.

Wait, that's not Lillian. He kissed her. Oh, I know. They found an actres to play Beth who looked like Lillian.

I did like seeing Philip and Beth and Rick and Mindy. They still looked like teenagers. Or at least acted like them. I guess that says a lot about the actors who play teens on most shows.

I didn't like all that music. Okay, one song was good. Toward the end.

I didn't like Josh and Reva, but Josh's truck looked great. I wonder if it was a '37?

I didn't recognize hardly anyone, but by following Nancy Reichardt's syndicated column over the years, I had at least some idea who was who. I immediately realized there was a lesbian couple and I knew who they were. Sorry, that still makes me uncomfortable.

I did like them ending with the lighthouse. "The" guiding light.

I've heard people say they objected to so much outdoors stuff, but it was kind of nice. Lots of pretty scenery.

There was one girl I liked. They called her Maureen and her father was Mr. Reardon? Oh, brother. How many Reardons are there? Obviously named for Ed's wife.

Company looked nice on the outside. I remember when it was a bar in the Reardon huse run by Tony which was called Tony and Company.

 

[bpatrick]

I haven't been a regular viewer in years; I came back only because
I consider the last week to be a piece of history, and because a couple
of my old favorites--Holly and Fletcher--were on. When I heard "Maureen,"
I didn't know who they were talking about, since I started to lose it for this
show when Maureen Bauer was killed off. Now I find out that this Maureen is
the daughter of Vanessa and one of the Reardon men.

There's a man in my hometown who drives an old Ford pickup that looks a
lot like Josh's; it's a '41, and I figured that Josh's truck might be from the
same year.

 

[vchimpanzee]

There's a man in my hometown who drives an old Ford pickup that looks a
lot like Josh's; it's a '41, and I figured that Josh's truck might be from the
same year.

Although it would be hard to find one that runs and looks that good, or could look that good, from a precise year, I was thinking it would be a '37 for the year the show started.

 

[bpatrick]

Your guess is as good as mine; either way the truck was
from that era. Whoever had the truck did indeed keep it
looking good and running smoothly. I'm not sure if somebody
on the show said it, or I read it, but the truck (in the story)
belonged to H.B., Josh and Billy's dad. I wish I knew who
really owned it, since it's a good-looking vintage piece.

 

[brian4]

...I walked in and saw Philip with Lillian. Two familiar characters.

Wait, that's not Lillian. He kissed her. Oh, I know. They found an actress to play Beth who looked like Lillian.

The "actress" who "played Beth" is Beth Chamberlin. She has played Beth Raines (more on than off) since 1989. Chamberlin looks similar to Lillian and Judi Evans, who originated the role.

I did like seeing Philip and Beth and Rick and Mindy. They still looked like teenagers. Or at least acted like them. I guess that says a lot about the actors who play teens on most shows.

I'm sure the long-time viewers loved seeing the 4 Musketeers together for the last time. Plus they've all slept with each other!

I did like them ending with the lighthouse. "The" guiding light.

Yeah, I thought that was cool too.

There was one girl I liked. They called her Maureen and her father was Mr. Reardon? Oh, brother. How many Reardons are there? Obviously named for Ed's wife.

The little girl Maureen Reardon is Vanessa Chamberlain Lewis and Matt Reardon's daughter. I think Matt was the son of one of the Reardon kids. Not Nola, Tony, James, Maureen or Chelsea. Matt's dad was never shown on camera.

Company looked nice on the outside. I remember when it was a bar in the Reardon house run by Tony which was called Tony and Company.

The original Tony and Company was a house that literally ran into the old Reardon boarding house when the semi towing it had an accident. Tony changed it to a bar/disco and finally restaurant.

 

[stdjsb25]

I caught the show on my DVR Friday after I got home from work....I was rather disappointed that they chose not to pay any good homages to the past and the show's legacy.

 

[bpatrick]

Whatever y'all thought of the last episode it pulled some of GL's best ratings in years. Overnights for Sept. 18-19 showed it to be the third-highest-rated soap on Sept. 18, with about three million viewers as opposed to the normal two million and change, and apparently even a lot of 25-54-year-olds, who had been sorely lacking in GL's audience makeup in recent years, came back for one last look (and, as I said on an earlier thread, this was a loss of a piece of Americana).

It appears now that Les Moonves, and not Barbara Bloom, made the call to cancel GL. I've been hearing a joke all week that he did so because Julie Chen wasn't watching.

 

[vchimpanzee]

...I walked in and saw Philip with Lillian. Two familiar characters.

Wait, that's not Lillian. He kissed her. Oh, I know. They found an actress to play Beth who looked like Lillian.

The "actress" who "played Beth" is Beth Chamberlin. She has played Beth Raines (more on than off) since 1989. Chamberlin looks similar to Lillian and Judi Evans, who originated the role.

I did like seeing Philip and Beth and Rick and Mindy. They still looked like teenagers. Or at least acted like them. I guess that says a lot about the actors who play teens on most shows.

I'm sure the long-time viewers loved seeing the 4 Musketeers together for the last time. Plus they've all slept with each other!

I'm going to assume none of the characters are AC/DC.

I did like them ending with the lighthouse. "The" guiding light.

Yeah, I thought that was cool too.

There was one girl I liked. They called her Maureen and her father was Mr. Reardon? Oh, brother. How many Reardons are there? Obviously named for Ed's wife.

The little girl Maureen Reardon is Vanessa Chamberlain Lewis and Matt Reardon's daughter. I think Matt was the son of one of the Reardon kids. Not Nola, Tony, James, Maureen or Chelsea. Matt's dad was never shown on camera.

Company looked nice on the outside. I remember when it was a bar in the Reardon house run by Tony which was called Tony and Company.

The original Tony and Company was a house that literally ran into the old Reardon boarding house when the semi towing it had an accident. Tony changed it to a bar/disco and finally restaurant.

Oh, yeah, I remember that now.

 

[bpatrick]

I know there are people out there who wonder why
none of the cast members thanked the audience for
its support over the years; I remember Mary Stuart
and Larry Haines doing just that on the last episode
of "Search For Tomorrow," and James Pritchett did
the same thing on the last episode of "The Doctors."
But then again, while I liked the upbeat tone of the show's
ending, I don't feel the show--or CBS--did a very good
job of acknowledging its longevity. The best tribute I
saw was Morley Safer's piece on "60 Minutes."