Will CBS Turn Off Wheeler's "Light" by April 2009?

This makes me so sad to read. I pray that it can be saved.

Yikes!

Well, according to all these new blogger reports, it seems as though Ellen Wheeler is fighting like hell to save this show.

My best thoughts are with her and all the cast, crew and staffers.

Honestly, is it even worth saving at this point?

I know we all love our pets, but eventually when they get old and sick, they're much better off being put to sleep.

Honestly, is it even worth saving at this point? I know we all love our pets, but eventually when they get old and sick, they're much better off being put to sleep.

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Alistair I had begun to feel the same way, until I heard about Grant's returns and saw the explosive chemistry between Jeff Branson and Gina Tognoni. It just BUGS me to no end that it took Ellen Wheeler this goddamn long to get over her freaking agendas and start putting out a halfway decent hour of television! Why did it have to come to this?

Okay, okay, I get they had to gut the production model to stay alive, but there was NO excuse for making Beth a psycho, bed-hopping maniac who trapped people in sheds and had children by her true love's father. There was no excuse for making Philip, a once-dashing, JFK-esque scion a bat shit crazy lunatic. There was no excuse for killing off Tammy, a character the show's young adult fans adored, or breaking up Gus and Harley, Cyrus and Marina,  Mallet and Dinah and trying to force new ridiculous stories down our throats. There was no excuse for pairing Josh with a horrible Cassie recast, making him a freaking PREACHER and having Reva get pregnant during her twilight years.

I am sorrow, but the croc tears and pleas for help are a bit too late. I want the show to survive, because if one soap goes, ESPECIALLY the oldest, all it will do is make the entire entertainment industry continue to write off soaps in general, but I am not trying to cut TPTB any slack. It did not have to come to this and hell, even if good stories alone wouldn't have raised ratings at LEAST the show could have gone out with DIGNITY! Ugh!

I used to watch. However, when they hooked up Josh and Cassie when Reva was battling cancer, I stopped. I won't be going back. It's a shame really. It was once a great show.

Its to bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GL was the cream of the crop!!! Now, its just I not sure what to say about the once best soap on the planet. I would like to think that gl STILL has a chance to get back want was lost. But, they took a core couple Josh and Reva and turned Reva into someone I no longer know. Josh who is returning to himself they made storylines that could just make you sick! The cousins falling "in love" please!!!!!!!!!!! If they could have just given the viewers a decent storyline that was interesting and not just for "shock value!" perhaps they would'nt be in this position in the first place! If you give the fans a storyline . . . . they WILL WATCH! But, not the stuff you have now!!

I hope it doesn't get cancelled, especially now with GA coming back. And if GL goes I'm sure ATWT won't be far behind.

The cousins falling "in love" please!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well, I've made no secret this was a major jump the shark for me, but a lot of fans loved them.

I am holding out hope that electricity will continue to pump into that lighthouse...

***///My life as a soap fan is on life support, waiting for a miracle...\\\***

Get out of the city! They are thinking about canceling the port a potty service in Peapack for good? Seriously though, Ellen had better bang on her BFF Babs Blooms door and the good people @ P&G for some money. Once she gets the lavish sets back and stop using those hand held cameras she can be back in business.

please jammy gave fans and when tammy died fan left. you cant dispute that. they use to be at a 2.6 then tammy died and we were at a 2.1

Agreed, and i am still going to sit here and say there is no reason to kill the oldest soap, i am sorry it cost money, deal with it, its a icon, what you DO is you actually care and put money into your dying show, don't tell me it can't be done, Exibit A. the Aussie soap Neighbours, they had worse ratings then Guiding light.

Quoting the Wiki post about Neighbours ( i know not best of sources but it will do)

A major revamp of Neighbours occurred in 2007. In Australia the show's viewing figures had in early 2007 dropped to fewer than 700,000 a night and the attitudes among long term fans of the show to storylines were negative.

The revamp included a switch to recording the show in HDTV video, introducing a new family of characters, the departure of several existing characters, a new version of the show's familiar theme song and a new style of opening titles. In addition the use of titles for individual episodes was abandoned after being the norm for the previous three years. Daniel Bennett, the new head of drama at Network Ten, announced that the crux of the Ramsay Street story would go "back to basics" and follow a less sensational path than of late with the emphasis on family relations and suburban reality. These changes came into effect over several months in 2007; 23 July 2007 saw the introduction of the new theme music and graphics. Ratings for that episode averaged 1.05 million viewers in the 18:30 slot. It was the first time the programme's viewing figures topped 1 million in 2007. Neighbours was also made available for viewers to watch online via Network Ten's website.

By the end of 2007 it was reported that producers had hoped the Neighbours revamp would push the ratings up to between 900,000 to 1 million an episode. It had, however, resulted in a more modest boost, with ratings hovering at about 800,000 a night. The same viewing period had shown an increase in ratings for Home and Away, which was now averaging 1.4 million viewers every night.

In February 2008, new executive producer, Susan Bower, announced that she would be implementing further changes to the programme in a bid to keep it competitive and make it a social talking point once again. The argument she cited was that the highly publicised 2007 revisions promised much, but ultimately did not present themselves as a significant enough change. Bower promises to retain the return to traditional Neighbours values but with an injection of drama that remains recognisable and relevant. Ratings boosted to almost 900,000 in mid-2008, but generally ratings begin to fall towards the end of each year, usually averaging around 700,000, and the end of 2008 ratings are currently reflecting that.

Wow, you mean that spending money, actually resulted in GAINING viewers/money???? *gasp* who knew you had to spend money to make it?.

I am sorry yea Ellen W is doing everything she can, and that is fine, I even like the new filming format, but what i don't like is the executive decisions she has made that have forced this show to be in a position where it mite possibly only have a few months left.

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A.K.A. ssjohn

This would be sad, but GL has been dead to me for a long time. I haven't been a regular viewer since they killed Maureen. If they had centered the show on Rick and Philip years ago they wouldn't be here now. Choosing Kim Zimmer over Beth Ehlers, and continuing to play Reva as the same character she was 20 years ago was the final nail in the coffin.

If this comes to life where GL is cancelled it will be not only a sad day in daytime but in television as a whole. Guiding Light is the longest running SHOW on television with it starting on the radio!! CBS needs to show it some respect and not let it have a budget of penny and dimes. The proper advertising and marketing for daytime should be used. Why not advertise during the primetime hours? I do not see the reason why the networks do not putting some promos on during the 8pm-11pm hours. During Grey's Anatomy why not show a weekly promo of General Hospital? The soap opera industry is dying because of the networks and their lack of respect for it. Its so sad.

I whine and complain about GL as much as anyone, but its only because I love the show SO much, and have watched it for over 20 years. I have been with it through the good, bad, and ugly, and it is a sad thought to know that GL could be gone for good as soon as next year. Which is why I am going to watch the show starting now every day. GL is like an American institution, if it goes, it spells doom pretty much for the rest of soaps, too. I sure hope this last ditch effort to save the show works. IT HAS TO!

The show started to go down hill when they used the Spauldings to prop up the Coopers,Jammy and every other character that they were propping. Eliminating the Bauer presence in Springfield so that she can prop the Coopers as the first family of Springfield. Also the pushing of disgusting couples like Josh/Cassie,Marina/Mallet,Jeffrey/Reva, and Alan and Beth also helped to run people away from the show.

If Wheeler really wants to save Guiding Light then she should start focusing the core families: Bauers(minus Leah),Spauldings,Lewis and the Coopers.

I'm right there with you, nathan77: GL is indeed an American institution and it seems that, however misguided she has seemed at times, Ellen Wheeler is freezing/sweating everyone's balls off in Peapack in order to save the show. The old production model is gone and it ain't coming back.

Laura Wright, Tom Pelphrey and Stephanie Gaschet all left of their own free will. Nicole Forrester took the job as Cassie 'cuz somebody was gonna take the job -- and killing off Tammy made good dramatic sense, as a recast would have been a disaster. And it seems now that Grant Alesander is coming back, Beth Ehlers is wishing she hung around Springfield a little longer.

The situation is what it is: if GL goes, then it is likely so will ATWT. Days is a goner, period -- we all know clearly read that writing on the wall. ABC still attracts quite a few viewers and the Bell soaps are too profitable here and abroad to be cancelled.

The problem with losing the P & G soaps is that there will be no new soaps to replace them. Instead we'll have an afternoon edition of the "Price is Right" and a rerun of "Ghost Whisperer."

And nobody wants that s**t, do they...? :?

What's sad is that it took this long for Ellen Wheeler to do something! I am still in awe that she still has a job. Guiding Light was the first soap I ever watched and I fell in love from the beginning! I have been trying to give it another chance ever since I heard about Phillip and Edmund coming back.

If and when Guiding Light gets cancelled, EW will forever be known as the person who killed the longest running show in television history! Let's see if anyone hires her again!

Oh i figure her next stop will be Y&R, why not? lol, actually i figure it mite be DAYS, it needs a 'new look' and there will be a opening in peapack if GL gets canned.

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A.K.A. ssjohn

Oh i figure her next stop will be Y&R, why not?
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Bite your tongue J! That's heresy. If she goes to Y&R, I'll quit watching that one too.

I knew it was going to happen, but it still hurts to lose it. I quit watching after 33 years a year ago because of the mess made. It's going back on my DVR now. Phillip may not save the show, but he damn sure will make it easier to watch to the end.

in 2009 when Phillip Edmund and who ever else comes back I wish that one day if only one day the ratings would sore just to show GL that we still do care and they have to give us what we want.

I think the ratings 'could' rise if the industry as a whole gave a crap.

If all the soap opera sites / magazines highly publicized the returns, and i mean Toss Philip on the COVER of SOD ((Sorry Victor you need a week off every now and again)), and if CBS promoted it right "The return of a legend" IN PRIMETIME, then there would be a shot, but the problem is we as internet fans know what's going on, but the average viewer who tuned out 10 years ago but still watches 'some' CBS programing doesn't, they don't know their favorites are returning, and that the show is getting better, they just know they tuned out.

Guiding light has a shot, when it is still pulling me in as a 'new' viewer, that must mean there is 'something' there, and something worth saving, yea it took EW a lonnnnng time to get it right, but at least she did, and the episodes for april start taping when? febuary?

@P-- I KNOW! i just picked the #1 rated show, it was a joke! BB do not hire EW to save your show -.-

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A.K.A. ssjohn

I haven't watched that show in years even though its one of the first ones I started on. I used to love it then. It'll be sad if its cancelled.

how about everyone turns on there tv, for gl even if your not watching? would that help. *this is me begging for ratings*

That would be sad.

If I had a Nelsen box i would in a heart beat, but really it doesn't matter if i turn it on or not, so what i do is watch online, at least they know i am watching, weather they care or not is another matter lol.

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A.K.A. ssjohn