Oldest TV Show In History Gets Canceled

Television's oldest show, soap opera Guiding Light, which has existed since before the invention of television, has been canceled by CBS. It ends its 72-year run in September.

This is the latest casualty in an increasingly shaky soap opera field. Last year, Passions ended its nine-year run after a brief run as a DirecTV-only show. Days of Our Lives faced extinction after 43 years before receiving an 11th hour reprieve. Now a soap opera that got its start in radio has been shown the door. And I don't think it will be the last one.

I don't understand what people want from a soap opera. Producers give them the things they've come to expect from soap operas (adultery, villainy, children growing to adulthood in three years) and fans aren't happy. They give them unexpected things (demonic possessions, transsexual serial killers, witchcraft) and fans still aren't happy. Dark Shadows, the first soap to break the mold in soap opera strangeness, was wildly popular when it first debuted, even spawning two successful theatrical movies. But it only lasted for five years. And even more "normal" soaps have been shown the door over the years.

So, what is that that people want? Is it that, as the WW2 generation that is the prime fan base for soaps dies off, they're not being replaced by the Gen X demographic? Or is it that soaps are just so fucking boring? The only soap I've ever watched with any regularity is Days of Our Lives, and I can miss a year's worth of shows and still pick up the plot in one episode. The fact that you don't have to watch every episode is a death sentence for an episodic show.

And Guiding Light is no different. Watch it once a month, and you get the gist of what's going on. And apparently so many people do this that there's no reason for it to be on the air on a daily basis.

I guess Grandma will just have to find something else to watch. Or, based upon this cancellation, she already has.