It's kinda ridiculous, because even if the replaced soaps with game shows, they would still be losing money and nobody would be watching it anyway... so why not sontinue airing GL? if not they should just shut down CBS daytime completely
These were truly the best years for GL. By the way, does anyone have a recording of the orginal version of this opening, the one with the flute solo? That one was even prettier. I would also love to see the bumpers, which featured a fabulous harp solo.
@Reemii I love you for this! When WORLD TURNS changed to this style of show around 1999, I could no longer watch it and I was a huge fan from 1978. I still miss that perfectly written, wonderfully acted, multi-generational themed show. It COMPLETELY held my attention for 21 years, and I mourned the "death' of it which actually occured 12 years before it went off the air in 2010.
Kim Zimmer should be forced by a Presidential Executive Order to surrender her 5 Emmy's....2 for Beverlee McKinsey, and 1 for each of these: Maureen Garret, Charita Bauer, and Ellen Parker.
This was my favorite theme too. It was so pretty and peaceful and I hated when they switched to the disco theme with all the drama going on by the actors.
They took a soap that was more dramatic than anything (even today) in prime-time, and turned it into a kid's show, for a generation that thinks the universe began the day they were born.
I had no tears for the cancellation of this show, which in the late 70s and early 80s reached such heights. Lack of talet reaps what it sows. The "cancellation" was burning a long-dead husk.
Good gosh, you've got it nailed. I recently watched an extended "unaired" tribute to GL during some award ceremony. In a four minute retrospective, a grand total of 8 SECONDS of the 70s was used. That's 3 percent. The very best decade of GL got a grand total of 3 percent representation. It's not because the footage is unavailable...a quick browse through YouTube shows it exists.
i am 41 and when GL was cancelled,i was trying to think of how long i have watched it and it hit me when i heard this theme.i have been watching GL since the 70's.i can remember it as though it was yesterday.wow.i remember seeing at my gramps house when he would watch me until my parents got off of work.memories.
@RYELLOWFAST2010 . . . I don't think that life was so simple back then. I think that we didn't have all of the current media hype crammed down our throats like we do today. We didn't have the pressure to be perfect and 25 years old and skinny, or to be over competitive. Now, everything is so transient, and everything has to be an immediate hit, and popular. I miss this period of 'GL' from 1975-1981 when it was really good.
@softwater88 It really was good during that period wasn't it? I loved Elizabeth and Mike and Jackie; rotten Roger harassing Rita and Holly; Lucille Wexler dominating her daughter Amanda, and then the arrival of her "real" mother who was Jennifer I believe. Shows back then had a "family" feel to them vs. a "bar/pub" theme today.
@TimsDale4ever I agree with you 110 percent here. Weren't those great stories? I remember all of them. This is right around the time the Spauldings were introduced.
Probably the most beautiful and haunting of all GL themes, this one is truly my favorite. I loved the earliest version of this theme the best, with the flute solo in the opening, and female vocals in the closing. The visuals match the title vividly -- more than any of the other GL visuals, including the lighthouse, which I love, too!
@soap1919jt . . . I agree whole-heartedly with you. I cried when this theme was changed to that god-awful disco-theme in 1981. Hated, hated, hated it. I was so heart-broken. I think that's when I stopped caring. I'm a Taurus and we hate change. I personally don't mind change, as long as it's change for the better.
@jess4metoo . . . I agree with you totally. I stopped watching 'GL" in 1981 when Procter & Gamble re-did their soaps and tried to make everything like ABC's hugely popular General Hospital, and All My Children. I just dabbled in the soaps after. Everything is now reality-show themed. Usually with people who aren't even interesting enough to make me sick ! ! There aren't even any made-for-TV movies anymore. For TV I just watch the news, and PBS.
This is how I remembered the Guiding Light when I was a young kid. My mom watched GL and ATWT each weekday. When you only had ONE TV in the house, you got to watch what was on, even if you didn't like it :) My mom (passed away in 2000) would be upset that GL is gone and ATWT will be gone. Very sad.
my mom passed in 1997. I grew up on Y&R, ATWT, and GL. She used to watch Love of Life and Search for Tommorow in the early 70's too.
She would have been sad to see GL and ATWT go. I wish she was alive to see these youtube episodes though. It would make her feel sentimental as it does me.
@dmine45 . . . I feel exactly as you do. My mother passed in 1992. I grew up on Guiding Light. My earliest memory is of the orange light house theme that was changed to Ritournelle in 1975. Charita Bauer has been gone 25 years as of Feb 28, 2010. I stopped watching 'GL' in 1981 when my sweet Ritournelle was changed, and all of those new characters were brought in. I absolutely-stinkin'-hated Reva ! Ugh !
@softwater88 Did you watch it then? It was everyday The REVA Show, REVA REVA REVA! I think Kim Zimmer went into that writers room every day and told them what SHE wanted Reva to do. If they didn't do it HER way then she took a walk, TWICE she quit, her ass went right back when she couldn't find work anywhere else. PLUS she tried California and guess what happened! The BIGGEST earthquake since San Francisco her ass high tailed it right back to NEW YORK!
@Sheri451 Yes, I watched "GL" in the mid 1970's. Even before the "Ritournelle" theme was changed in 1981 to that God-Awful disco theme! ! I totally agree with you about the "Reva" character. That's why I stopped watching, and there was a high turn-over of characters also around the time Reva came on board. I never liked her at all!! I really don't have anything too nice too say about Pamela (K.) Long who was the head writer of 'GL' at time either.
@softwater88 Once Pamela Long took over headwriting duties, a whole slew of fine, established characters (with deep roots to the show's core) flew out the door in alarming fashion. Gone were Jennifer, Amanda, Mike, Kelly & Morgan, Hillary, Justin, Sara, etc. A "new" GL was ushered in. It was hard to get used to, and although I still followed the show, it wasn't "must see TV" like it used to be. :(
It's interesting seeing this as an adult, because when I was a kid, I didn't know what was being shown on the screen. I always remembered it some sort of random abstract art thing, more like a psychedelic light show than anything. Now I see it's just a shot of the sun, as seen through the branches of a tree!
I was 5 years old when this ran and I remember it vividly. Lovely music, and the soft focus shot through the trees---they both combine for a dream-like, semiconscious state...well suited to a name like Guiding Light.
The is the Guiding Light theme that I remember the most. A few summer and winter vacations. I missed this theme when it was discontinued in late 1981. Hard to believe that it was almost 30 years ago. . . Too bad. Love viewing this over and over and over. Too lovely, and kind of sad, especially when the flute comes in.
Man...this is a tragedy...the FIRST soap EVER...I have old VHS tapes...an autographed postcard from Melissa Hayden (Bridgette Reardon)....and the book....I'm a 38 year old male & loved the soap all my life...from Kyle Sampson to Roxie Shayne...lol..dang..it's so messed up....I miss Chris Berneau (Alan Spaulding)....what a mess..first soap ever on radio/tv...gone...so sad. I'll miss it forever..I'm just grateful that I can find some old clips on YouTube...I hope it will continue.
This is my first memory of GL. I would catch the tail end of the credits right before they would air Match Game on CBS (on most of these CBS staions), but didn't know what soaps were, I didn't really start watching all the soaps (and, I mean all and all networks) till 1978.
I can remember watching the soaps on CBS at 4 years old because I remember when Search For Tomorrow followed ATWT in 1981 before Capitol replaced it and I was 4 in 1981. I remember the SFT logo on the screen. The GL theme I remember best was the one used in 1983.
I'm curious if anyone has any footage of Bill Bauer's return in 1977 where his double life with Simone Kincaid was revealed and Hillary learned she was a Bauer.
It may survive somewhere. When GL did the 50th anniversary week in 1987, they showed a clip of Bert learning that Bill was alive and their reunion in Bert's living room.
I could deal with dropping part of the name; It's dropping ""THE SHOW"" that's killing me, I have watched it since 16 yrs old, I'm 44...even during the GH "Luke & Laura "(craze) I watched GL. Till the end. TOO BAD WE THE FANS THAT LOVED IT COULDN'T SAVE IT, that shows me TV doesn't care about who watches WHAT!!
I agree! I have been watching this show since I was a child and my grandmother watched it back in the early 50's. Over the years I have been a faithful fan except for a few years while traveling abroad. It really irks me that this show is ending, it is like a death in the family. I love this show and
will watch it on the last day, to the bitter end and I an 66 years old! I will not watch any show that replaces it. I can't believe they are doing this to us, the faithful fans of GL. So sad!
Guiding Light - May It Rest in Peace! Its days were number when the worthless writers wrote out numerous leading characters- Blake, Ross, Ed, Vanessa, Nola, and many others for the the Bill, Grady, Rafe', Lizzy, Dasisy. The show demise was caused by nothing other than WORTHLESS writer.
I put a lot of the blame on the writers BUT their scripts require approval and I believe that approval falls into the hands of the head producer. The head writer team controls the flow of the storylines and which characters get the most screen time but the producer, I assume, has final say.
the thing that irks me, though, is why in the world did the show have to push off all of the well-established characters? when they dropped actors and actresses left and right you're bound to create a hostile fan base and I don't understand why none of that sunk in with the people in charge?
Also...can anyone explain why the Ed Bauer character, starting with Robert Gentry returning in 1997, in addition to Peter Simon's 2002-2004 return, why was the character written in a somewhat lackluster way?
If anything, when the character made his return in the form of Robert Gentry and then when Peter Simon returned, the character should have been given a lot of impact-worthy story lines since the character had such history on the show. The character got the "golden oldie" treatment, I think
By golden oldie I mean it appeared as if Ed was brought back just to have someone written into the show to make it appear the writer's were honoring the show's history. once the character made his return, lack of focus soon followed and he was pushed into the background...usually always featured in social scenes at parties or at Cedars chit-chatting with Rick or Lillian, using medical jargon...no real story line to speak of.
I think this is one of the many reasons why the show is no longer on the air. I don't know why they felt like they had to mess up what they had. When you have a formula that works, stick with that.
I agree. I feel that it was a mistake to let Grant go the last time. It was a mistake to let go of Beth Ehlers & Ricky, as well. However, I don't know that GL had much of a choice. They almost lost Zimmer a couple of years ago-the vets of any show demand & deserve higher pay. Younger, new actors are, simply put, cheaper. Since it's all about money, GL was forced to let go of a lot: Some great actors, their sets, great lighting..the wardrobe dept. took a huge hit and so much more. =(
You just said a mouthful, and you're absolutely right! All the out-door scenes to save money, and way off characters. Geese, no wonder the show lost ratings, they should have left a good thing alone and got some new writers who knew what the story was about. After all the years of airing one would think twice about that. It was like they were trying to draw in the younger generation viewers. Totally disgusted that this show is being pulled off the air!
This would be on when I got home from school and there was really nothing else to watch in that time slot so I would watch this. I remember Alan Spaulding and Ed & Mike Bower and Rita & Eve and Justin & Ross Marler and Ben & Amanda and Roger Thorpe & Holly--haha! I remember Kevin Bacon got his start on this show. I think his name was Tim. Good, soapy theme music. They ruined it in the 80s but I was in the service then so it didn't matter. The B-52s also appeared on this show back then.
We must be about the same age because I also used to come home from high school and watch The Guiding Light. I remember CBS used to show reruns of "All in the Family" immediately after GL in the mid-70s, which I used to watch with my father, and we used to catch the last few minutes of GL when we tuned in, and that's how I got hooked. (It was during Rita's murder trial.)
yup. it still sounds contemporary. you're right, why did they go to "Edge of Night"? Most people remember it as "The EDDDGGE of Night". Although, in the final ep of EDGE, the credits were "Happy Holidays and a fond farewell from the cast and crew of "The Edge of Night". Should have left the skyline too.
@kxx46 "The" was offically dropped from the title in 1977, two year after this opening was introduced. This is also the same year that the Spaulding Family was introduced.
it was announced on April Fool's Day of all days...but I have this feeling that the show will continue somehow...if not on CBS, on another network that perhaps will gladly take credit for saving the longest running episodic program in broadcast history...I just can't picture a program that's been around 72 years...57 of those years on TV...to just vanish just like that without an enormous fight to keep it going no matter what critics or even the fans may say about the current story-lines.
I'll always recall these segues from my kid-hood, getting home on early dismissal days from school in time to catch "All In The Family", which followed
lol...this is weird how I remember this theme at the age of 5...I can remember being at my grandma's after coming home from kindergarden class...she used to always watch ATWT & GL...lol..that's how I got hooked on GL...lol
I was a big fan of GL during the 1977 season. I was pregnant with my first child at the time and I named her Holly after Maureen Garrett's character Holly on the show. :)
this is my favorite opening. i watched the show from the summer of '79 - either late '86 or early '87. it in the early 80's it was my all time favorite soap. lots of great characters + spooky scenes.
GL sure picked this one right here! I was like, maybe 14 in 1975(in the hospital because of my foot surgery)when it came out! Is it much better than the 2008 opening today?
For one thing, this wonderful Internet (which enables folks such as you and I to commisserate about our mutual nostalgia for things like old soap operas) wasn't around in the "old days," unless you mean the "old days" of 1995.
Also, DVR systems, that allow us to record television and films, so we may do other things and watch the video later, is an improvement over the "old days."
@wtf66611 Another, probably the most important improvement over the "old days," is that medicine has advanced enough (through medications, transplants & treatments) so many people may live longer with diseases (including some cancers) that would have taken their lives far earlier in the "old days."
My mother, today, could have had a liver transplant, that might have allowed her to see my sister and I graduate high school, which she never got to do, having died at 55 years old in 1970
My mother could possibly have lived long enough to have seen the final episode of "Guiding Light," instead of having died before a "Spaulding" showed up in "Spriingfield," or even before getting to see "Leslie Jackson Bauer" become "Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris" and finally marry her true love, "Michael Bauer," thus becoming "Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris Bauer."
@wtf66611 For the record, though, my mom did get to see the blossoming of that romance between "Mike" & "Leslie,' and that suspenseful murder trial where "Mike" defended nurse "Peggy Scott Fletcher Dillman (later "Fletcher" again, then "Thorpe") in the killing of "Marty Dillman," revealed to have been "Marty's" gang cohort "Flip Malone."
But somehow, even had she lived, knowing my mom, I think she'd have given up on soaps by the time they started to go downhill in the 1990s, as did I.
Very lovely music and imagery. I use to turn over to channel 7 sometimes just to catch it. Wish there was a longer version without any talking over top.
Agreed completely with your description. In my opinion this was the era when Guiding Light was at its peak, not to be reached again (no cloned Revas to be found anywhere), and appropriately they also had the best opening and closing titles.
Note that announcer Alan Berns still referred to the show as "The Guiding Light" even though the graphics chopped off "the." The original title would be voiced over the air and often used in show literature until the advent of the "disco ball" intro in 1981.
I used to love the show during this time. Rewatching the clips from this period on YouTube, I'm struck by how sophisticated, nuanced and "adult" the stories were...which is sort of ironic in my case because I loved it back then, and I was teenager. But the whole Rita/Ed/Holly/Roger story, which was really the central story in those days, was very subtle and well crafted. Nothing to hit viewers over the head, like nowadays, just great, nuanced, adult drama
Again, this is absolutely beautiful including the opening scene. I loove it because it's incredibly original and just so classic. The harp and violas are wonderfully blended.
I remember seeing this from when I was a kid watching the show. Thank you for bringing back wonderful memories :)
It was also cost-effective. Nowadays they have to have vanity shots of all the actors, which means they need to redo the opening every time someone leaves the show. But this simple opening with just sunlight and leaves remained unchanged for over six years, despite however many cast changes during all that time.
I love all of GL's titles and themes from the first one in the 1950s through the 1991-2002 opening all the openings from the 2002-2003 to present openings are boring out of the show's style
Why do I remember that one too? Freaky -- I wasn't even 10 and obviously didn't watch the show, but I do remember seeing this as a "stay tuned for GL" sort of thing. Spooky..
Yes, I read that even though GL had switched to taping their shows (they'd broadcast live until the late '60s), they apparently used to just recycle the tapes, recording right over old shows to save money, so very little exists from then. I guess back then no one could imagine there'd be such a huge demand for this older material thirty-odd years later.
@classicGL Odds are the tapes used were mostly wiped. That's probably why Joan Crawford's performance on the Secret Storm back in 1968 hasn't surfaced. It too was likely taped over.
is the "emmy" closing credits on youtube?
ncjuppiter 2 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
That vibraphone sound in the background is so beautiful.
lakebay972 7 months ago
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lakebay972 7 months ago
It's kinda ridiculous, because even if the replaced soaps with game shows, they would still be losing money and nobody would be watching it anyway... so why not sontinue airing GL? if not they should just shut down CBS daytime completely
BestFilmExpert 8 months ago
These were truly the best years for GL. By the way, does anyone have a recording of the orginal version of this opening, the one with the flute solo? That one was even prettier. I would also love to see the bumpers, which featured a fabulous harp solo.
soap1919jt 11 months ago
@Reemii u so right ididnt get GL bak in 1975 thur 77 i was in prison in Mississippi their only one tv station bak in those days
out Greenville, if we were lucky we could catch a station of Memphis and soul train after midnight when distant station signal were stronger
gell7 1 year ago
@Reemii I love you for this! When WORLD TURNS changed to this style of show around 1999, I could no longer watch it and I was a huge fan from 1978. I still miss that perfectly written, wonderfully acted, multi-generational themed show. It COMPLETELY held my attention for 21 years, and I mourned the "death' of it which actually occured 12 years before it went off the air in 2010.
TimsDale4ever 1 year ago
@Reemii
Kim Zimmer should be forced by a Presidential Executive Order to surrender her 5 Emmy's....2 for Beverlee McKinsey, and 1 for each of these: Maureen Garret, Charita Bauer, and Ellen Parker.
LOL
DarthSnoopy96 1 year ago
@DarthSnoopy96 WHAT?
WVU1981 1 year ago
This theme makes me want to lay down in the dandelion patch and sleep for about twenty years with a smile on my face.
zzz007zzz 1 year ago
Yup, I love the version the best "Hold onto Love" is a close #2.
east215 1 year ago
Passions was one of those really 'not good' soaps.
jiveturkey25 1 year ago
This was the best GL theme, and it was during the show's best years.
susannreno 1 year ago
This was my favorite theme too. It was so pretty and peaceful and I hated when they switched to the disco theme with all the drama going on by the actors.
IndyJDguy 1 year ago
THis reminds me of being home sick on the couch...It's actually a beautiful title sequence, and sort of contemporary, hard to tell when it was made.
allanfisch 1 year ago
@buccaneer43207, Agreed!
DarmokandJiladLLP 1 year ago
So dreamy and tranquil yet all I can ever think of is Roger the Rapist !,,,,lol
PupuTheClown 1 year ago
I remember this opening very well. I remember it from 1980, when I was 10 years old. I thought it was beautiful then, and I still do.
brooke050870 1 year ago
@Reemii
(2 of 2)
They took a soap that was more dramatic than anything (even today) in prime-time, and turned it into a kid's show, for a generation that thinks the universe began the day they were born.
60sThru80s 1 year ago
I had no tears for the cancellation of this show, which in the late 70s and early 80s reached such heights. Lack of talet reaps what it sows. The "cancellation" was burning a long-dead husk.
60sThru80s 1 year ago
@Reemii
Good gosh, you've got it nailed. I recently watched an extended "unaired" tribute to GL during some award ceremony. In a four minute retrospective, a grand total of 8 SECONDS of the 70s was used. That's 3 percent. The very best decade of GL got a grand total of 3 percent representation. It's not because the footage is unavailable...a quick browse through YouTube shows it exists.
60sThru80s 1 year ago
This lush, languorous, impressionistic opening reflects the dignity and tastefulness that characterized GL during the Dobson era (late seventies).
en9nui 1 year ago
i am 41 and when GL was cancelled,i was trying to think of how long i have watched it and it hit me when i heard this theme.i have been watching GL since the 70's.i can remember it as though it was yesterday.wow.i remember seeing at my gramps house when he would watch me until my parents got off of work.memories.
WIZZINGSHIRE 1 year ago
life was so simple back then..i miss my mom...r.i.p
RYELLOWFAST2010 2 years ago 2
@RYELLOWFAST2010 . . . I don't think that life was so simple back then. I think that we didn't have all of the current media hype crammed down our throats like we do today. We didn't have the pressure to be perfect and 25 years old and skinny, or to be over competitive. Now, everything is so transient, and everything has to be an immediate hit, and popular. I miss this period of 'GL' from 1975-1981 when it was really good.
softwater88 2 years ago
@softwater88 It really was good during that period wasn't it? I loved Elizabeth and Mike and Jackie; rotten Roger harassing Rita and Holly; Lucille Wexler dominating her daughter Amanda, and then the arrival of her "real" mother who was Jennifer I believe. Shows back then had a "family" feel to them vs. a "bar/pub" theme today.
TimsDale4ever 1 year ago
@TimsDale4ever I agree with you 110 percent here. Weren't those great stories? I remember all of them. This is right around the time the Spauldings were introduced.
soap1919jt 11 months ago
Probably the most beautiful and haunting of all GL themes, this one is truly my favorite. I loved the earliest version of this theme the best, with the flute solo in the opening, and female vocals in the closing. The visuals match the title vividly -- more than any of the other GL visuals, including the lighthouse, which I love, too!
soap1919jt 2 years ago
@soap1919jt . . . I agree whole-heartedly with you. I cried when this theme was changed to that god-awful disco-theme in 1981. Hated, hated, hated it. I was so heart-broken. I think that's when I stopped caring. I'm a Taurus and we hate change. I personally don't mind change, as long as it's change for the better.
softwater88 2 years ago
Comment removed
jess4metoo 2 years ago
@jess4metoo . . . I agree with you totally. I stopped watching 'GL" in 1981 when Procter & Gamble re-did their soaps and tried to make everything like ABC's hugely popular General Hospital, and All My Children. I just dabbled in the soaps after. Everything is now reality-show themed. Usually with people who aren't even interesting enough to make me sick ! ! There aren't even any made-for-TV movies anymore. For TV I just watch the news, and PBS.
softwater88 2 years ago 4
This is how I remembered the Guiding Light when I was a young kid. My mom watched GL and ATWT each weekday. When you only had ONE TV in the house, you got to watch what was on, even if you didn't like it :) My mom (passed away in 2000) would be upset that GL is gone and ATWT will be gone. Very sad.
dmine45 2 years ago 3
my mom passed in 1997. I grew up on Y&R, ATWT, and GL. She used to watch Love of Life and Search for Tommorow in the early 70's too.
She would have been sad to see GL and ATWT go. I wish she was alive to see these youtube episodes though. It would make her feel sentimental as it does me.
rdiaz921 2 years ago 3
@dmine45 . . . I feel exactly as you do. My mother passed in 1992. I grew up on Guiding Light. My earliest memory is of the orange light house theme that was changed to Ritournelle in 1975. Charita Bauer has been gone 25 years as of Feb 28, 2010. I stopped watching 'GL' in 1981 when my sweet Ritournelle was changed, and all of those new characters were brought in. I absolutely-stinkin'-hated Reva ! Ugh !
softwater88 2 years ago
@softwater88 Did you watch it then? It was everyday The REVA Show, REVA REVA REVA! I think Kim Zimmer went into that writers room every day and told them what SHE wanted Reva to do. If they didn't do it HER way then she took a walk, TWICE she quit, her ass went right back when she couldn't find work anywhere else. PLUS she tried California and guess what happened! The BIGGEST earthquake since San Francisco her ass high tailed it right back to NEW YORK!
Sheri451 1 year ago
@Sheri451 Yes, I watched "GL" in the mid 1970's. Even before the "Ritournelle" theme was changed in 1981 to that God-Awful disco theme! ! I totally agree with you about the "Reva" character. That's why I stopped watching, and there was a high turn-over of characters also around the time Reva came on board. I never liked her at all!! I really don't have anything too nice too say about Pamela (K.) Long who was the head writer of 'GL' at time either.
softwater88 1 year ago
@softwater88 Once Pamela Long took over headwriting duties, a whole slew of fine, established characters (with deep roots to the show's core) flew out the door in alarming fashion. Gone were Jennifer, Amanda, Mike, Kelly & Morgan, Hillary, Justin, Sara, etc. A "new" GL was ushered in. It was hard to get used to, and although I still followed the show, it wasn't "must see TV" like it used to be. :(
coffeegulper905 1 year ago
It's interesting seeing this as an adult, because when I was a kid, I didn't know what was being shown on the screen. I always remembered it some sort of random abstract art thing, more like a psychedelic light show than anything. Now I see it's just a shot of the sun, as seen through the branches of a tree!
Kohntarkosz 2 years ago 3
@Kohntarkosz ..Beautiful! Isn't it?
jess4metoo 2 years ago 2
I was 5 years old when this ran and I remember it vividly. Lovely music, and the soft focus shot through the trees---they both combine for a dream-like, semiconscious state...well suited to a name like Guiding Light.
StormsongK 2 years ago 3
The is the Guiding Light theme that I remember the most. A few summer and winter vacations. I missed this theme when it was discontinued in late 1981. Hard to believe that it was almost 30 years ago. . . Too bad. Love viewing this over and over and over. Too lovely, and kind of sad, especially when the flute comes in.
softwater88 2 years ago
Man...this is a tragedy...the FIRST soap EVER...I have old VHS tapes...an autographed postcard from Melissa Hayden (Bridgette Reardon)....and the book....I'm a 38 year old male & loved the soap all my life...from Kyle Sampson to Roxie Shayne...lol..dang..it's so messed up....I miss Chris Berneau (Alan Spaulding)....what a mess..first soap ever on radio/tv...gone...so sad. I'll miss it forever..I'm just grateful that I can find some old clips on YouTube...I hope it will continue.
shydmples 2 years ago
The Guiding Light was not the first, Clara, Lu, and Em was The very first soap opera on radio.
IchigoMontgomery 2 years ago
I shed a tear for this soap..will never see anything like it again..the guiding light is out for good...
skingerskanger 2 years ago 2
This is my first memory of GL. I would catch the tail end of the credits right before they would air Match Game on CBS (on most of these CBS staions), but didn't know what soaps were, I didn't really start watching all the soaps (and, I mean all and all networks) till 1978.
jad8123 2 years ago
I can remember watching the soaps on CBS at 4 years old because I remember when Search For Tomorrow followed ATWT in 1981 before Capitol replaced it and I was 4 in 1981. I remember the SFT logo on the screen. The GL theme I remember best was the one used in 1983.
jmsweat 2 years ago
I'm curious if anyone has any footage of Bill Bauer's return in 1977 where his double life with Simone Kincaid was revealed and Hillary learned she was a Bauer.
ACcountryFan 2 years ago
It may survive somewhere. When GL did the 50th anniversary week in 1987, they showed a clip of Bert learning that Bill was alive and their reunion in Bert's living room.
staytunedfor 2 years ago
If love can save the world, whey couldn't love save Guiding Light?
earlzagurl4u 2 years ago 16
I could deal with dropping part of the name; It's dropping ""THE SHOW"" that's killing me, I have watched it since 16 yrs old, I'm 44...even during the GH "Luke & Laura "(craze) I watched GL. Till the end. TOO BAD WE THE FANS THAT LOVED IT COULDN'T SAVE IT, that shows me TV doesn't care about who watches WHAT!!
jowant2join 2 years ago 3
I agree! I have been watching this show since I was a child and my grandmother watched it back in the early 50's. Over the years I have been a faithful fan except for a few years while traveling abroad. It really irks me that this show is ending, it is like a death in the family. I love this show and
will watch it on the last day, to the bitter end and I an 66 years old! I will not watch any show that replaces it. I can't believe they are doing this to us, the faithful fans of GL. So sad!
1
SoBelleofTN 2 years ago 2
Daytime is really falling off before our eyes....Guiding Light is gone after this yr and before u know it we will lose more
debfan74 2 years ago 2
Guiding Light - May It Rest in Peace! Its days were number when the worthless writers wrote out numerous leading characters- Blake, Ross, Ed, Vanessa, Nola, and many others for the the Bill, Grady, Rafe', Lizzy, Dasisy. The show demise was caused by nothing other than WORTHLESS writer.
schs1977 2 years ago
I put a lot of the blame on the writers BUT their scripts require approval and I believe that approval falls into the hands of the head producer. The head writer team controls the flow of the storylines and which characters get the most screen time but the producer, I assume, has final say.
ACcountryFan 2 years ago
the thing that irks me, though, is why in the world did the show have to push off all of the well-established characters? when they dropped actors and actresses left and right you're bound to create a hostile fan base and I don't understand why none of that sunk in with the people in charge?
ACcountryFan 2 years ago
Also...can anyone explain why the Ed Bauer character, starting with Robert Gentry returning in 1997, in addition to Peter Simon's 2002-2004 return, why was the character written in a somewhat lackluster way?
If anything, when the character made his return in the form of Robert Gentry and then when Peter Simon returned, the character should have been given a lot of impact-worthy story lines since the character had such history on the show. The character got the "golden oldie" treatment, I think
ACcountryFan 2 years ago
By golden oldie I mean it appeared as if Ed was brought back just to have someone written into the show to make it appear the writer's were honoring the show's history. once the character made his return, lack of focus soon followed and he was pushed into the background...usually always featured in social scenes at parties or at Cedars chit-chatting with Rick or Lillian, using medical jargon...no real story line to speak of.
I liked Ed for those who can't tell :D
ACcountryFan 2 years ago 2
I think this is one of the many reasons why the show is no longer on the air. I don't know why they felt like they had to mess up what they had. When you have a formula that works, stick with that.
firmingitup 2 years ago
I agree. I feel that it was a mistake to let Grant go the last time. It was a mistake to let go of Beth Ehlers & Ricky, as well. However, I don't know that GL had much of a choice. They almost lost Zimmer a couple of years ago-the vets of any show demand & deserve higher pay. Younger, new actors are, simply put, cheaper. Since it's all about money, GL was forced to let go of a lot: Some great actors, their sets, great lighting..the wardrobe dept. took a huge hit and so much more. =(
iamcasihart 2 years ago
You just said a mouthful, and you're absolutely right! All the out-door scenes to save money, and way off characters. Geese, no wonder the show lost ratings, they should have left a good thing alone and got some new writers who knew what the story was about. After all the years of airing one would think twice about that. It was like they were trying to draw in the younger generation viewers. Totally disgusted that this show is being pulled off the air!
SoBelleofTN 2 years ago
Do you miss GL?
Chicago10281 2 years ago
This would be on when I got home from school and there was really nothing else to watch in that time slot so I would watch this. I remember Alan Spaulding and Ed & Mike Bower and Rita & Eve and Justin & Ross Marler and Ben & Amanda and Roger Thorpe & Holly--haha! I remember Kevin Bacon got his start on this show. I think his name was Tim. Good, soapy theme music. They ruined it in the 80s but I was in the service then so it didn't matter. The B-52s also appeared on this show back then.
Kirke182 2 years ago 2
We must be about the same age because I also used to come home from high school and watch The Guiding Light. I remember CBS used to show reruns of "All in the Family" immediately after GL in the mid-70s, which I used to watch with my father, and we used to catch the last few minutes of GL when we tuned in, and that's how I got hooked. (It was during Rita's murder trial.)
mthivier 2 years ago
The producers did the same thing for "The Edge of Night" during its final two years on ABC..it just became "Edge Of Night"
skingerskanger 2 years ago
yup. it still sounds contemporary. you're right, why did they go to "Edge of Night"? Most people remember it as "The EDDDGGE of Night". Although, in the final ep of EDGE, the credits were "Happy Holidays and a fond farewell from the cast and crew of "The Edge of Night". Should have left the skyline too.
east215 2 years ago
DAMN! They should have kept that opening! IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FUCKING FIX IT, goddammit!
wildmanchris200 2 years ago
I remember this, when I was a child, the music could always make me cry.
wildmanchris200 2 years ago 2
Notice the announcer says "The" Guiding
Light.
The show dropped "The" from the title for some reason long before this.
kxx46 2 years ago
@kxx46 "The" was offically dropped from the title in 1977, two year after this opening was introduced. This is also the same year that the Spaulding Family was introduced.
soap1919jt 3 months ago
i forgot all about this i remember this when i was a kid.
jazzyfayy1983 2 years ago
Did you hear the news? Guiding Light is history in September 2009 after 72 years!
Chicago10281 2 years ago
it was announced on April Fool's Day of all days...but I have this feeling that the show will continue somehow...if not on CBS, on another network that perhaps will gladly take credit for saving the longest running episodic program in broadcast history...I just can't picture a program that's been around 72 years...57 of those years on TV...to just vanish just like that without an enormous fight to keep it going no matter what critics or even the fans may say about the current story-lines.
ACcountryFan 2 years ago
How sad. From January 25, 1937 to the last airing on September 18, 2009.
reneecalling 2 years ago
I miss 70's theme music like this.
bigbigfanmj 2 years ago 3
The Best That GL Has Ever, Ever Made!
Chicago10281 2 years ago
Yea, true! I remember this version from 1979 in New Orleans on WWL. Right after that, at 2:30... the "Joker's Wild!"
StukInBuf 2 years ago
I'll always recall these segues from my kid-hood, getting home on early dismissal days from school in time to catch "All In The Family", which followed
at 3pm.
noahf67 3 years ago
"I guess back then no one could imagine there'd be such a huge demand for this older material thirty-odd years later."
The true tragedy of that is that the writing and the drama was much MUCH better 20-30 years ago.
60sThru80s 3 years ago 4
You're so correct.
Now all tv has are crappy reality shows !
kxx46 2 years ago 2
lol...this is weird how I remember this theme at the age of 5...I can remember being at my grandma's after coming home from kindergarden class...she used to always watch ATWT & GL...lol..that's how I got hooked on GL...lol
shydmples 3 years ago
I was a big fan of GL during the 1977 season. I was pregnant with my first child at the time and I named her Holly after Maureen Garrett's character Holly on the show. :)
callye 3 years ago 2
this is my favorite opening. i watched the show from the summer of '79 - either late '86 or early '87. it in the early 80's it was my all time favorite soap. lots of great characters + spooky scenes.
jhrunion 3 years ago
Love it! Thanks for posting!
Harlowfan2008 3 years ago
Yes and it counts!
Chicago10281 3 years ago
You can see why GL dropped the "The" in its name!
Chicago10281 3 years ago
It's strange that they dropped the "The" in the opening graphics, but the announcer still says "THE Guiding Light"
east215 3 years ago
GL sure picked this one right here! I was like, maybe 14 in 1975(in the hospital because of my foot surgery)when it came out! Is it much better than the 2008 opening today?
Chicago10281 3 years ago 6
I think it's a lot better than the current opening. This is my favorite GL opening ever.
classicGL 3 years ago 10
@classicGL Everything was better back in the old days.
wtf66611 4 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@wtf66611 @wtf66611 Not "everything," but certainly many things.
For one thing, this wonderful Internet (which enables folks such as you and I to commisserate about our mutual nostalgia for things like old soap operas) wasn't around in the "old days," unless you mean the "old days" of 1995.
Also, DVR systems, that allow us to record television and films, so we may do other things and watch the video later, is an improvement over the "old days."
gymnastix 3 months ago in playlist Guiding Light Openings 1952-2008
@wtf66611 Another, probably the most important improvement over the "old days," is that medicine has advanced enough (through medications, transplants & treatments) so many people may live longer with diseases (including some cancers) that would have taken their lives far earlier in the "old days."
My mother, today, could have had a liver transplant, that might have allowed her to see my sister and I graduate high school, which she never got to do, having died at 55 years old in 1970
gymnastix 3 months ago in playlist Guiding Light Openings 1952-2008
My mother could possibly have lived long enough to have seen the final episode of "Guiding Light," instead of having died before a "Spaulding" showed up in "Spriingfield," or even before getting to see "Leslie Jackson Bauer" become "Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris" and finally marry her true love, "Michael Bauer," thus becoming "Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris Bauer."
gymnastix 3 months ago in playlist Guiding Light Openings 1952-2008
@wtf66611 For the record, though, my mom did get to see the blossoming of that romance between "Mike" & "Leslie,' and that suspenseful murder trial where "Mike" defended nurse "Peggy Scott Fletcher Dillman (later "Fletcher" again, then "Thorpe") in the killing of "Marty Dillman," revealed to have been "Marty's" gang cohort "Flip Malone."
But somehow, even had she lived, knowing my mom, I think she'd have given up on soaps by the time they started to go downhill in the 1990s, as did I.
gymnastix 3 months ago in playlist Guiding Light Openings 1952-2008
The 2008 opening of Guiding Light looked like the opening to Joel Osteen's program on TV.
jiveturkey25 1 year ago
Me too....I used to switch over from ABC just to see the Guiding Light's opening theme song, and this one in particular. So soothing!
maxineweiss 3 years ago
What is the image on the opening is it trees reflecting on water or just trees going out of focus?? Just curious
YRfreak101 3 years ago
Very lovely music and imagery. I use to turn over to channel 7 sometimes just to catch it. Wish there was a longer version without any talking over top.
marmas58ink 3 years ago
does anybody have the 1974 gl opening?
mybrown31 3 years ago
this is the best GL opening along with the disco version!
KuyaMo27 3 years ago
The best GL opening by a metric ton....
ratesforless 3 years ago
Indeed. Ive never seen these until now. The combo of the imagery and the music is magic! Thanks to the poster!
brettsomers 3 years ago
I've searched a LONG time for this one GL---thanks!
Gazerbeam04 3 years ago
Agreed completely with your description. In my opinion this was the era when Guiding Light was at its peak, not to be reached again (no cloned Revas to be found anywhere), and appropriately they also had the best opening and closing titles.
60sThru80s 3 years ago
Note that announcer Alan Berns still referred to the show as "The Guiding Light" even though the graphics chopped off "the." The original title would be voiced over the air and often used in show literature until the advent of the "disco ball" intro in 1981.
davemock 3 years ago
Oops. I said basically the same thing
you did. I didn't scroll down far enough.
kxx46 2 years ago
I used to love the show during this time. Rewatching the clips from this period on YouTube, I'm struck by how sophisticated, nuanced and "adult" the stories were...which is sort of ironic in my case because I loved it back then, and I was teenager. But the whole Rita/Ed/Holly/Roger story, which was really the central story in those days, was very subtle and well crafted. Nothing to hit viewers over the head, like nowadays, just great, nuanced, adult drama
mthivier 2 years ago
Have you also checked out GL's new 2008 opening?
Chicago10281 3 years ago
Again, this is absolutely beautiful including the opening scene. I loove it because it's incredibly original and just so classic. The harp and violas are wonderfully blended.
I remember seeing this from when I was a kid watching the show. Thank you for bringing back wonderful memories :)
banalust 4 years ago
It was also cost-effective. Nowadays they have to have vanity shots of all the actors, which means they need to redo the opening every time someone leaves the show. But this simple opening with just sunlight and leaves remained unchanged for over six years, despite however many cast changes during all that time.
mthivier 2 years ago
make me feel warm and cuddly---cuddle up under a blanky on a cold day an chill
70's mellow --Toke up man
pekoe 4 years ago
lust in the afternoon?
bigroy38 3 years ago
i like abc, but i remember this from the 70's. brings back memories, coming home from school, but gh was my show. saw this at other people's houses.
marcussn 4 years ago
yep me to the mellow 70's--afternnon rain coming downn curling up under an afghan..wow--
memeories
pekoe 4 years ago
I love all of GL's titles and themes from the first one in the 1950s through the 1991-2002 opening all the openings from the 2002-2003 to present openings are boring out of the show's style
Bluebirdsims 4 years ago
how about the blue version from the late 60's-early 1970's,with the lighthouse?that one is truly rare.
holden76 4 years ago
Why do I remember that one too? Freaky -- I wasn't even 10 and obviously didn't watch the show, but I do remember seeing this as a "stay tuned for GL" sort of thing. Spooky..
TimsDale4ever 2 years ago
Do you have the 1975 version? I'd really like to see it b/c I wasn't born until 1986, and therefore I never saw it when it was on.
mbsjrcc06 4 years ago
I don't have it. It's pretty much impossible to find material from 1967 to 1978. Next to nothing is available... yet.
classicGL 4 years ago
Yes, I read that even though GL had switched to taping their shows (they'd broadcast live until the late '60s), they apparently used to just recycle the tapes, recording right over old shows to save money, so very little exists from then. I guess back then no one could imagine there'd be such a huge demand for this older material thirty-odd years later.
mthivier 3 years ago
@classicGL Odds are the tapes used were mostly wiped. That's probably why Joan Crawford's performance on the Secret Storm back in 1968 hasn't surfaced. It too was likely taped over.
TimothySEnglish 1 year ago