A piece of television history comes to an end today when Guiding Light airs its last episode. After 72 years, TV’s longest-running drama succumbed to declining ratings but it hasn’t dimmed the ardor of longtime fans who hoped that another network would air the show and who devoted pages to eulogizing the show in the countdown to the final episode. And they are not alone in their love. The show’s stars have been making their own peace with the end of GL. Here Kim Zimmer, Beth Chamberlain, and Grant Aleksander share some their favorite memories.
Kim Zimmer
“It wasn’t just a scene, it was the whole arc of the Josh and Reva first wedding. It was shot on location and the whole cast spent 3 glorious days together gathered for the events leading up to and including the ceremony. It really felt as if we were all family. Not just the cast but the crew as well. It was a beautiful bonding time for all of us.”
“The second one was a very long monologue I had in a scene with Chris Bernau. [My character] Reva had just been humiliated at a Country Club party and left in a heap by the Lewis men. And Alan Spaulding (town bad guy) picked Reva up and took her back home where Reva exposed her vulnerability by telling Alan about a time in her youth when she was so hungry as a child that she ate garbage. It was a tough scene for me because of the massive amount of dialogue and it was also the first time that Reva was weak on the show.”
Beth Chamberlin
“The two scenes I remember the most are both scenes that mark the end of something, one personal and the other professional. The first is a nothing scene I had in the Towers restaurant set with Brittany Snow and Anthony Addabbo. The scene was basically about my character’s ongoing attempt to get Brittany’s character to accept me as stepmother. Brittany was crying that day and was having a hard time because she had gone to the hair room for a trim and the hairdresser had cut off 4 inches of her gorgeous hair. I remember feeling so bad for her. But, it wasn’t what happened on the set that made that scene significant; it was that an hour or so later Paul Rauch, the executive producer came to get me and bring me to his office. I didn’t know it but my husband and brother-in-law were there waiting to tell me my father had died suddenly of a massive heart attack. I later realized that as I was on the set in New York, my father was dying in my mother’s arms in Vermont. I didn’t know it but my life was changing forever at that moment and in that space.
The other scene is a scene I had with the character of Phillip played by Grant Aleksander. The scene takes place following his father’s funeral. Beth (my character) is giving Phillip a journal and telling him to write down everything that happened, everything he is feeling. That is the final scene I shot on Guiding Light. It is not the last scene of mine that aired, but it is the last scene I shot. I remember just saying to myself, “Be present.” I knew my life was changing at this moment too. Not in the same devastating way as my father’s death, but in a significant way. I knew in a very real way life for me would never be quite the same. My Guiding Light family would exist no more.
I think that is what is significant about the show, that so many people working for and watching this show for it’s 70+ years have experienced life’s passages with it. Scenes and story lines have connected with the events of our lives marking births and deaths, marriages and divorces, beginnings and endings.”
Grant Aleksander
“I will never forget my first scene in 1982 where I entered the Spaulding Mansion to find it deserted. It was the beginning of a 27-year relationship with Guiding Light that has given me some of the best times of my life. And I’ll never forget the last scene I taped on Aug. 11th with Beth Chamberlin in the Spaulding dining room because it was the last.”
Tell us what are some of your favorite GL memories. Also, stop back and comment on the final episode. And check out our gallery of 12 Soaps We’ve Loved and Lost.
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I haven’t watched GL since I was in high school ( the mid 80s!!) But I absolutely LOVED the Nola Reardon/Quinton McCord storyline!!!
So many memories. But I guess my favorites were growing up with The Four Musketeers (Philip-Beth-Rick-Mindy), particularly when they ran away to New York and even when they moved on with their lives and loves. Even now, they still come back to each other and it feels like home.
It’s so sad…I can’t believe GL is going off the air!!!
http://1000worlds.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/the-end-and-the-beginning/
The end of GUIDING LIGHT is truly the end of an era. As the genre of daytime dramas “soap operas” continues to struggle, we will never see anything like it again … 70+ years of continuous storyline covering social issues, family struggles, and countless romances. Farewell, GL. You’ll be missed.
And for the record, my all-time favorite love story? Matt and Vanessa. My heart breaks a bit knowing they don’t end up together (that would be Billy and Vanessa) but their love story was beautiful: unconvential, deeply romantic, very refreshing,and smoking hot! Their meeting at Summit Lake (ironically, as Vanessa was trying to escape Billy’s latest screw up). Their secret romance that scandalized Springfield when it was revealed after the Fifth Street Fire. Their ongoing struggle with their differences both in age and social position. They survived Vanessa’s presumed death and several years living happily off the canvas (and off-screen) only to come back and go under after Matt’s character was compromised (more as a plot device than out of realism in my view) and Vanessa couldn’t get past his mistakes and forgive him. So Vanessa’s with Billy and Matt’s alone for now, but to “Mattessa” fans, they’ll live forever in our hearts.
Today i watched my favorite soap opera guiding light come to an end. I started watching the show since i was a little girl. I loved everyone on the show. My favorite people where reva and josh. Kim zimmer and robert newman. Good luck you 2 i will miss you always!
These incompetant nitwits running the show now, ruined a show that has been a staple of mine for over 25 years. Here’s hoping that Ellen Wheeler never works anywhere near a television show again. Thanks a lot for ruining it with your idiot writing staff and idiotic decision to move out of the stuidos in NYC. The death of “Guiding Light” can clearly be attributed to Ellen Wheeler and I hope it ruins her career.
llmmss – These dummies actually brought “Nola” back for the finale week and it only made me more disappointed remembering how good this show once was. Michelle Forbes and Cynthia Watros were two of my favorite characters, both phsychotically attracted and married to Robert Newman’s “Josh” back when Josh mattered as a character. If I’m not mistaken, this was Forbes first acting gig and she was great playing the twins “Sonni” and “Solita”, Watros was the awesome “Annie Dutton”. Loved the show, hate where it ended – in the garbage.
My favorite’s were anything with Roger, Ed and Holly. Also, Reva baptising herself “slut of Springfield”. I still can’t believe there was no big reunion for Josh and Reva. What a letdown.
I have been watching this show for over 30 years and I am really struggling with the end being today. I feel there are some things up in the air such as Edmond and Jeffrey. What happened to Rivas happiness? There was alot of closure this week and alot of good things happening and yet to come. I really wish the show could continue. I will greatly miss my days of coming home to watch the show.
Oh I haven’t actively watched GL since 90s but I remember rushing home from grade school to watch the Four Musketeers (Phillip/Beth/Rick/Mindy), Nola/Quint, Billy/Vanessa, and Reva/Josh. I remember when Beth fell for Lujack, Lujack’s death, the dreaming death, Harley giving birth to Daisy in the car, Ross and Blake hooking up during the blackout and then the classic Reva scene when she baptizes herself the slut of Springfield. I could name so many more GL’s last episode today is truly an end of an era.
This is a very sad day. I’ll miss the Bauers, Spauldings, Reardons, Chamberlains, Lewises, and everyone else so much. It’s really a shame that some other network (or perhaps an internet company) couldn’t find some way to continue the longest-running drama in the history of American media.
To bhm1304:
I’m shattered GL is going off the air. My favorite memory will probably be these last months after the news of the cancellation broke. The fans got together and stuck it through.
My favorite storyline is watching my two favorite characters, Bill and Lizzie, grow up on screen and then have them fall in love as grownups accompanied by a whole lot of angst.
Sad Day! I remember nursing my daughter and watching the show, 25 years ago!…Just recently, my schedule changed and I was able to watch the show. Wasn’t I surprised to see that some of the people were still the same…kind of made me laugh at some of it…especially with the Mindy and Rick thing….Yes! He finally got the girl! And I am with one of the comments above….What happened to Jeffrey? Riva’s son never told his mother he was still running around doing these corny action moves on roof tops? Now everytime I am in a city with high topped buildings I am going to be forever looking up to see if he’s still running around up there. I also got a kick out of Beth and Philip’s children with James constantly saying he wanted to be the hero of the day with his dad and his sister going everywhere (and I mean everywhere) with that gigantic bag! In the house, out of the house, eating in the house, comforting people…always had “THE BAG”! Yes, I know why! Thank God we resolved that at the end of the show! Oh well, as kooky as some of the endings were, they were warm and you could tell heart felt by all!
This was one of the first soaps that I watched–I remember sitting on the floor in front of my mom, watching and waiting for my older sister to come home from school. I haven’t watched any soaps for years, but I remembered to tune in yesterday. While some characters are strangers, many others are old, familiar friends. I remember the Roger/Rita/Ed triangle, Ben and Eve (one of my favorite soap couples,) Nola, Floyd, and the whole crew, the Beth/Rick/Mindy/Phillip quadrangle, Beth and Lujack’s story–I cried when Lujack died.
I am sad that GL is ending, and that I missed seeing some of the veterans over the past week. Best wishes to the actors and crew that they find another job as fulfilling to them and their audiences.
I will miss the Bauer bar-b-que every 4th of July. Watched it every year. It was a good chance to check up on the characters.
Started watching in the mid/late 70’s with my Grandma when I was on school breaks. After we got a VCR, faithfully watched until just after 2000. Lost interest for several yrs when older characters left and storylines dulled. Got back into it the last yr or so. Didn’t care for the look and they destroyed some good characters, knew they were in trouble. Been great seeing some of the old characters come back. Stories have also gotten interesting. Had weakened but is ending stronger. Too bad no one else picked it up. Was an impressive run and a fond memory.