GL Cancellation On Front Page of L.A. Times

Meg James of the Los Angeles Times has written a front page story on the cancellation of GUIDING LIGHT by CBS. She has a few new tidbits of information and a couple of interesting quotes.

On how the audience has changed.

The target audience of soaps -- stay-at-home moms busy with the ironing and other chores -- has eroded as more women have joined the workforce. About 60% of women age 20 and older -- nearly 68 million women -- have jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fifty years ago, 63% stayed at home. And when they are home, most women are tuning in elsewhere.

Sally Sussman Morina, a former head writer on DAYS OF OUR LIVES and creator of GENERATIONS, comments on where daytime went wrong.

The real shift in daytime drama came in the 1990s. Daytime dramas used to be ahead of their time by tackling important social issues as part of their stories. But then all of these other shows came along, JERRY SPRING, and OPRAH, and all the reality shows, and suddenly they were interviewing your next-door neighbor who was a transvestite sleeping with his sister. Cutting edge got away from us."

The GL staff of about 100 learned their show was being canceled Wednesday morning when they showed up for work. For the show's cast and crew who deal with fictional deaths and trauma on a daily basis, the sense of loss was suddenly real.

Ellen Wheeler explained.

This show has been here since before World War II. It has gone through wars and tragedies and triumphs -- man walking on the moon, and the dawn of the computer age. This show chronicled all these changes in society. It has been our mirror on society for generations, and when you lose something that is part of the fabric of society you lose something precious.