News

Guiding Light: Rumors of the Future. Thursday, May 07 2009

Since Guiding Light's cancellation was announced on April 1, both the print and online press have been swarming with rumors about whether the series will be picked up by another network. So far, Oxygen, Lifetime and a few other networks have been mentioned but nothing concrete has happened. It's worth recalling that these, and other networks, were also rumored to be the second home for Passions after it was canceled. In that case, it turned out not to be so. The show did, however, end up with a few months of respite when DirecTV stepped in. Since that wasn't much of a commercial success, even given the fact that Passions had a far more desirable market demographic than GL does, many in the industry still expect the series not to be picked up by another network. This doesn't mean that it may not be re-purposed into some other format, online or otherwise, and it doesn't mean that a surprise could occur.

However, Brain T. Cahill, Senior Vice President of TeleNext Media, recently issued this cautious statement to help quell the rumor mill, "We continue to explore all our options to find a new home for Guiding Light. At this point, we are not able to comment or speculate about any potential partnerships. Our conversations are ongoing and, in the interest of keeping them moving forward, we cannot offer any additional perspective. We will certainly communicate broadly if and when a decision is made about the future of the show. We thank all our loyal fans for their continued outpouring of support."

An answer as to whether the series has a future, and what that may consist of, is generally expected within the month. In the meantime, CBS is already pursuing ideas of what will fill the series' time slot, the likely contenders being revamped game shows. Soaps.com will keep you informed of any future developments.