CBS says "Guiding Light" will end in September after 72 years on air. The end of the show is just one example of soap operas' steady decline in popularity.
No networks have yet agreed to broadcast this year's Daytime Emmy Awards, which are also not as widely watched as they once were.
The Associated Press reported:
"Soap operas have been in a long, slow decline in popularity, primarily because many of the women who made up their loyal audiences are no longer at home at that hour. They're working, and can find the communal experience that their favorite soaps once gave them elsewhere.
"'Guiding Light' had the lowest ratings of the eight daytime dramas on the air. When it leaves, CBS and ABC will have three weekday soap operas, with NBC having one.
"'The numbers are really tough for all of these old dramas,' said Ron Raines, the actor who portrayed the villain Alan Spaulding in 'Guiding Light.'"
"Guiding Light" online forums feature several comments from upset fans:
"'Please CBS do not cancel GL!! This program is so important to me and many people. My grandmother has watched this show, her mother, me and now my daughters. I don't know of any other program that has such a following. Perhaps if you would return the time to 3pm instead of 10am you would not loose viewers.'"
Some fans have even started online petitions on Facebook.
CBS provided some information about the show's history:
"Created by Irna Phillips, the show debuted on NBC radio on Jan. 25, 1937 as the 15-minute radio serial 'The Guiding Light.' It made the switch to 15-minute episodes on CBS Television on June 30, 1952, although it continued to air concurrently on radio with the actors playing parts on both shows until 1956, when the radio show ended. In 1967, the series first started being broadcast in color, and a year later, the show expanded from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. In November 1977, the show expanded to a full hour."
Portfolio.com offered additional
background on "Guiding Light" and other soaps, saying:
"The soap format peaked at the 1981 wedding of Luke and Laura on 'General Hospital,' with an estimated 30 million viewers tuning in. The show's popularity inspired a Top 30 song called 'General Hospi-tale.' ('I just can't cope/Without my soap') and the movies 'Tootsie' and 'Soap Dish.'
"In recent years, market leader "The Young and the Restless" (Y&R) has seen its audience shrink precipitously, to an average of 5 million total viewers in 2008. In the old days, soaps were generational -- your grandmother got your mother hooked, and she, in turn, got you hooked.
"Today the median age of viewers is rising, but older viewers are dying off (literally) and are not being replaced by younger ones. (The median age for Y&R is nearly 60.) If interested, younger viewers can watch soaps in less time on the official network Web sites and, commercial-free, on YouTube."
The Huffington Post reported on
why soaps aren't as popular as they once were:
"A drop in advertising revenue during the economic crisis has worsened a plight daytime dramas have faced for more than a decade: audience erosion. After being pre-empted for much of 1995 while networks carried coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, soaps never regained their former loyalty from viewers."
