When did Guiding Light premier?

The Guiding Light (known since 1975 as Guiding Light) was a long-running American television soap opera.
On June 30, 1952, "The Guiding Light" began airing on CBS television. From June 30, 1952 to June 29, 1956, "The Guiding Light" ran on both CBS television and radio, with the actors performing, the same scenes but for different audiences, live twice each weekday. The live television performances were in the morning, and then in the afternoon the actors read for the live radio show. On July 2, 1956, "The Guiding Light" became a CBS television show, only, and the show no longer was heard on radio. Episodes continued at 15 minutes in length.

Guiding Light (1950–59)

In 1953, CBS strongly persuaded Irna Phillips to let "The Guiding Light" experiment with television's first color broadcast. Phillips was not thrilled with the concept of color television, and thwarted the effort by CBS by having that day's episode take place entirely in a hospital setting with gray walls and white uniforms. "The Guiding Light" was broadcast in black and white for the remainder of the decade.

In 1956, Phillips created "As the World Turns", which first started airing on April 2, 1956 on CBS. When the workload of writing both that show and "The Guiding Light" became too much for her, Phillips handed the reins at "The Guiding Light" to her protégé Agnes Nixon. There is some indication that Procter & Gamble and CBS may have forced Phillips out of writing for "The Guiding Light" when on the March 31, 1958 episode, popular heroine Katherine "Kathy" Roberts Lang Grant Holden (played by the equally popular Susan Douglas Rubeš) was killed off in a Phillips-created story. Kathy, confined to a wheelchair, was killed after being struck by a car. CBS was deluged with protest letters.

Prior to the launches of the half-hour shows "As the World Turns", and "The Edge of Night" (both launched the same day), CBS and "Procter & Gamble" tried to convince Phillips to combine "The Guiding Light" and "Search for Tomorrow" into one single half hour show. Phillips declined.

Original television cast (starting June 30, 1952)Replaced original television cast membersOther charactersIn the late 1940s the show started focusing on the Bauer family, where it remained the main focus in the 1950s. The Bauers, living in the fictional suburb of Los Angeles, "Selby Flats", were headed by a wise patriarch, Friedrich "Papa" Bauer, the father of three children, William "Bill" Edward (originally a pharmacist), Meta, and Gertrude "Trudy". Papa Bauer, who immigrated to this country from Germany with little more than a dream, and was a hard worker who was full of wisdom. He imparted his wisdom to his children in a folksy tone, commonly interweaving German words. The original primary focus of the Bauer story line was on Meta, who at one point earlier in the 1940s had left the Bauer household to pursue a career in modeling under the alias Jan Carter Meta as Jan had gotten involved, romantically, with the British Theodore "Ted" White, who headed for his father the California advertising agency that handled Jan's modeling career. Jan found herself pregnant with Ted's child and decided to get her son up for adoption to Ray Brandon and his wife, the former, Charlotte Wilson. Around the time Jan found out that Ray and Charlotte were the adoptive parents of her son, Charles "Chuckie", Ted reentered her life and she got married to him, so she could sue Ray and Charlotte for custody, despite the advice of her friends, pediatrician and the married Dr. Ross Boling and Dr. Mary Leland (Ross' wife) not to do so. Jan and Ted did win custody of Chuckie, but at the time they did Mary told Jan (who revealed her true identity as Meta) that her mother "Mama" Bauer was ill with cancer and soon died and Papa was continuing to ask for her and to make amends to Meta for what had happened to drive Meta out of the household. Bill meanwhile had gotten married to a woman who was striving for material success and thought Bill should as well, Bertha "Bert" Miller, who convinced Bill to give up his job working at the pharmacy to go into the work he had trained for, advertising. Meta, still as Jan to him, convinced Ted to hire Bill at his father's advertising agency. Ted did so, but later got mad at Meta for covering up who she really was. Meta and Papa did make amends, although Trudy was jealous of her older sister and her lifestyle and was in love with the married Dr. Ross Boling. Ted then started turning violent to her and Chuckie, and Meta sued for divorce and then Ted and Meta ended up in a custody battle over Chuckie which Meta won, but Ted was granted some lenient time of visitation and to take Chuckie on outings of his own. That's when Ted left the now, five-year-old, Chuckie to die in a freak boxing accident. Meta then left her house and then the Bauers in a daze and ended up in front of Ted's house and shot him dead. In 1950, on the radio version at one point listeners got the chance to choose whether or not to find Meta guilty of murdering her ex-husband Ted White. Ray, on Charlotte's urging, who defended Meta despite the previous custody battle, must have been convincing because the radio audience had Meta acquitted due to temporary insanity. Ray and Charlotte Brandon and Dr. Ross Boling and Dr. Mary Leland faded into obscurity shortly after this, with the only mention of the Brandon's being with Bill and Bert bought their house in the Hollywood Hills. Meta and Trudy later became best friends, with Trudy later marrying the well-off Clyde Palmer and they moved to New York City.

The conflicts between the Bauer clan and Bill's headstrong wife Bert were an integral part of the plot in the television show's first decade. Although Bert and her sister-in-law Meta eventually became very close, initially there was a considerable amount of hostility between them. An additional plot-line in this period focused on Bill Bauer's alcoholism and his career difficulties, which were exacerbated by Bert's materialistic nature: she wanted to live much more extravagantly than Bill's salary allowed. Enter to all of this, in 1951, were two people who were going to cause this marriage much turmoil for the next four years of Bill and Bert's marriage. After Ted White's death, Bill had to seek employment with another advertising agency and worked with show business manager, Sid Harper, who was trying to get a singer named Gloria LaRue to sign with him and sought Bill's help. What neither one of the men knew was that Gloria was also an alcoholic and she and Bill started an affair. Gloria nearly had Bill divorce Bert, but Bert refused to let him go and then Bert discovered she was pregnant. When Bill discovered that Bert was pregnant, he agreed to stay with her. Gloria then fell off the wagon, and Sid offered her a new radio and television career which gave her the strength to get sober. Gloria and Sid then got married, and with Bill back with Bert and her expecting their first child, things seemed to stabilize for the Bauers. Bert gave birth to a boy named Michael (later named, "Mike", and named after Charita Bauer's first son who was also named Michael.) Later in 1952, Bill kept a secret from Bert when he was instrumental in signing Gloria LaRue Harper and new television contract. Soon both Bert and Sid had to watch in anger as Gloria became more emotionally dependent on Bill for her new career. However, Gloria developed vocal problems and had to abandon her new show and she and Sid moved to New York City. Things might have been fine after this, but in 1953, a new wrinkle was added to this problem via Meta's new stepdaughter and her former roommate.

During Meta's murder trial, she got a champion for her cause to be acquitted, via "City Times" newspaper reporter Joseph "Joe" Roberts, Sr. who wrote a series of articles that helped Meta get acquitted. They quickly fell in love and it was found out that Joe had two children from a previous marriage, Katherine "Kathy" Roberts, an older teenager who was the oldest, and Joseph "Joey" Roberts, Jr., who was a pre-teen. Kathy and Joey's mother, and Joe's first wife, had died a few years earlier. A nanny, who was also a nurse, named Peggy Ashley Regan had been hired to look after the family, and Kathy and Joey had become quite fond of Peggy. But then Meta started hanging around Joe and the household, as Joe started dating Meta, and Joey liked Meta, but Kathy "definitely" did not. That's how innocent the problems Kathy was about to face started, and was reminiscent to Meta in many ways to what she had just faced in going to trial for shooting and killing Ted White.

Joe wanted to marry Meta, but Meta kept putting him off, feeling that if both of his children were not comfortable with her being their new stepmother (i.e., Kathy), she was unwilling to proceed with a marriage. Meta even tried to escape to New York City and to her sister Trudy and her husband Clyde, to sort out her feelings, and she even started to become involved with one of Clyde's friends, Dr. Bruce Banning, who wanted to marry Meta. But Joe followed Meta there and wore down her defenses and finally she and Joe married, but they decided to keep the marriage a secret to everyone (Bill, Bert, Papa, Kathy and Joey) with only Trudy her bridesmaid and Clyde the best man knowing about this union. Meta, although thrilled to be married to Joe, who she truly loved, knew that they were in for some troubles with Kathy and Joe agreed that when they returned to "Selby Flats" that Meta was to live separately from Joe and his children, until they could win over Kathy. But once back in the Los Angeles area, Meta continued to struggle to get along with Kathy.

Unknown to everyone else, including Meta and Joe, Kathy was having her own romantic difficulties. Kathy first got involved with a garage automobile mechanic several years older than her named, Bob Lang. Bob Lang tried his best to take Kathy to bed with him, but the teenaged Kathy wisely continued to feel that might not be for the best, but Kathy's defenses were weakening where Bob was concerned. Then Kathy suffered an illness for a few days and was taken to Cedars Hospital and that's where she met the eligible bachelor and first cousin to Peggy Ashley Regan, Dr. Richard "Dick" Grant, Jr. who had just moved from San Francisco. (Peggy was the niece of Dick's mother, Laura Ashley Grant, who was married to Dick's father, Richard Grant, Sr.) Dick was everything Kathy dreamed about when it came to a man, but although Meta and Joe approved of Dick, and Richard approved Kathy, the rich snobby Laura did not. Dick even proposed marriage to Kathy, but seeing how Laura disapproved her, she turned him down. Meta and Joe were still not be forthcoming about their marriage, until Kathy overheard them talking one day and found out about the whole marriage. Kathy was livid that her father betrayed her and Joey and their feelings regarding Peggy and wound up moving out of Joe's house and getting an apartment with a model that worked for Bill's advertising agency, Alice Graham. Then Kathy decided to accept Bob Lang's marriage proposal only telling Alice and Dick that she was marrying the man. Dick was not thrilled about this union, and when Kathy ended up getting pregnant with Bob's child, neither was she. For Bob, in marriage, became abusive and Kathy was his #1 target for the abuse. Finally having enough of the abuse, in the spring of 1952, Kathy moved out of the house she shared with Bob, and moved back in with Alice, who wasn't too thrilled to have a mother-to-be, as her roommate. Dick tried to get Kathy to divorce Bob, but she refused. But unknown to Kathy, Joe found out about his daughter being pregnant and then got her and Bob's marriage annulled. But in the summer of 1952, Bob was very unhappy about the marriage being ended and tried to force Kathy back into their sham of a marriage, but Kathy refused. So Bob tried to woo her, by becoming as romantic as he could, but Kathy still didn't budge, but agreed to see Bob, even while she was dating Dick. Caught in the middle of all of this was both Alice Graham and Meta Bauer White Roberts. Alice was caught in the middle, because she was the only one who knew that the pregnant Kathy was seeing both Bob and Dick, and Meta was caught in the middle, because Meta could wisely see that Kathy's actions were a direct result of Meta and Joe's marriage, so Meta ran off again to New York City and Trudy and Clyde.

Then on September 12, 1952, a tragedy occurred that was to set the stage for Kathy to face a similar legal troubles as Meta had two years earlier. Kathy agreed to go for a driving date with Bob Lang, and during this date, Bob's car ended up having brake trouble. Bob got Kathy to leave the car shortly before it ended up going off a cliff near the Hollywood Hills, but Bob Lang ended up going, with the car, off the cliff to his death. Kathy was beside herself and had no idea what to do, but realized she needed to get away from the accident. Now a very much pregnant Kathy was not sure what to do or who to turn to. Dick, going against Laura's wishes, agreed to marry Kathy, not only for the sake of her unborn child, but also to keep her from possibly getting into legal trouble over Bob Lang's death. Kathy realized she left one of her gloves in the crime scene, Bob Lang's car, the night he went over the cliff and the police found it. Then to top it all off, Kathy's new uncle and aunt, by marriage, Bert and Bill Bauer were dragged into the whole mess, when Alice Graham (Kathy's now former roommate) ended up being in breach of contract when she signed a deal to do television commercials without telling Bill's advertising agency. Then when Bill tried to force Alice to do the right thing and disavow the commercials, which Alice was unwilling to do, Alice spilled all the beans to Bill as to what and how much trouble Kathy was in including about Bob Lang's death and she was going to the police with the information, which would make Bill an accomplice after-the-fact to Kathy's "crimes". Meta, reading all about this in New York City, agreed, it was time for her to come back home, but the first few months of 1953 were going to be anything but comfortable for the Bauers or the Roberts or even the Grants.

Kathy of course was put on trial for the murder of Bob Lang, with the District Attorney, Richard Hanley out for blood. The articles in the newspapers, both in the "City Times" (which had to be done, despite Joe pleading to his boss his editor not to do so) and the "Times" competition, had the effect of causing problems in the marriage of not only Joe and Meta (who finally had to reveal they were married to everyone), but also the marriage of Bill and Bert (with the latest episode with Alice Graham reminding Bert way too much of Bill's problems with Gloria La Rue Harper. Alice backed off her naming Bill as Kathy's accomplice, but she still testified at Kathy's trial and her testimony was nearly damaging enough to send a pregnant Kathy to prison), and the marriages of Kathy and Dick and Laura and Richard, with Richard trying to be lenient to the young couple, but Laura trying to take pound-of-flesh against Kathy at every chance she could. Bill also got fired from the advertising agency due to all of this, and had to deal with a demanding Bert trying to get him to get another job, soon. Kathy was acquitted, by the end of March 1953, when Joe discovered that another mechanic who had claimed he had repaired Bob Lang's car's brakes, had really not done so, so it wasn't actually Kathy who caused Bob's tragic and fatal car accident.
Shortly after this Meta, Joe and Joey faded into supporting roles, as Kathy and Dick's romantic difficulties started to take center stage on the show, with some story still given to Bill and Bert and their young child, Michael "Mike". However, Joe died in his sleep, peacefully, on Christmas Eve 1955, and she had to begin again. Joe's funeral was the last time that Joey Roberts appeared. Joey, who had never had problems with Meta and Joe's marriage, had since become a successful member of the Air Force had moved away to Arizona with his wife, Lois. Joe's death, finally showed Meta that she and Kathy were finally the mother-and-daughter team that Meta had hoped for from the beginning as both women consoled each other over the man both of them loved.

Bill soon got another job at an advertising agency, but it required many hours and days away from his family and "Selby Flats" (although Bert was thrilled when they were able to afford to buy the Hollywood Hills home formerly occupied by Ray and Charlotte Brandon, and Papa moved out of "Selby Flats" and in with them.) Bert started relying more on Papa's sage advice and actually started feeling as his daughter as Papa had said for years she was to him.
A young, slightly SORASed Michael though was another issue. With Bill spending so much time alone, Michael started feeling as though he was abandoned by his father. He even started telling Bert and Papa that he had no father and that he had died, which greatly hurt and confused the two of them. Bert took Michael to a child psychologist, despite Papa saying he had enough of advice to help, but the psychologist could do nothing but agree with Papa that Michael was headed for many problems down the road, "unless" Bill spent more time with him, soon. Bill finally on persuasion of Papa and Bert, took Michael on one of his advertising agency trips and in the hotel Bill made a game out of Michael trying to find his father, which Michael did and soon he and Bill bonded and became best of pals and Michael never spoke of his father being dead, again. (Well, at least not until the summer of 1969.) On New Year's Eve 1954, Bert gave birth to her and Bill's second son, named, William Edward or at the time "Billy" for short (later in the 1960s, when he got older, he'd refer to himself as Edward or "Ed" for short.) Coming from Arizona to help out was Bert's recently widowed mother, Elsie Miller, who Michael took an instant disliking too and acted up around, but Michael had every reason to do so, because Elsie herself started to turn the Bauer household upside down. Even Bill and Papa started to dislike her and her demands. And eventually even Bert became fed up with her own mother. Elsie was soon taken care of when the new man in her life, that she was actually escaping, Albert Franklin, came for a visit and quickly broke down her defenses and she and Albert soon married and left the Hollywood Hills home for Arizona. For a time, peace reigned in the Bauer household, but not for long, as Michael who was soon to go by the name of Mike was to face SORASing yet, again, and quickly become a teenager by the end of 1957.

Meanwhile, Kathy's marriage to Dr. Dick Grant took some rather interesting twist and turns. Kathy gave birth to Bob Lang's child, whom she named Robin, for the spring time that she was born into. It wasn't an easy childbirth, with Kathy needing to be hospitalized both before, during and afterwards. Dick agreed to adopt Robin, despite his mother's protest, but Kathy faced an internal infection that caused her to hallucinate that many people were out to get her, and actually one was out to get something of hers, her new second husband, Dr. Dick Grant. Hired by Laura to look after and care for Kathy, was private nurse Janet Johnson, who took an instant shine to Dick and she was encouraged to go after him and break up his marriage by Laura herself. And Dick, waiting for Kathy to get better, nearly succumbed to the charms of Janet Johnson. Kathy got better, and seemed things to be working themselves out in the marriage of Dick and Kathy Grant, that is until Dick faced personal and professional crises at work, where he was overworked at Cedars and had to face a father and son team of doctors, who didn't realize for a while were father and son, that caused Dick to want to give up both his marriage to Kathy and also his profession as a world class surgeon. Soon, Dick left Cedars (during a middle of an operation) and then left Los Angeles and moved to New York City, where for a while he lived under an assumed name and met a young woman who became his new love interest, artist Marie Wallace. Laura, finally agreeing Kathy was not as bad as she had once seemed, rallied with both Kathy and Richard to try and figure out a way to get Dick back home, but none of them knew where he was and eventually Kathy sought a divorce due to abandonment of affection from Dick. Soon after this, Laura and Richard Grant were not seen again, in storyline or on air.

Dick soon showed up in Los Angeles, and then Marie also did, and it was soon realized by all that they truly loved each other when Marie went temporarily blind, and Dick was the one who helped Marie regain her eyesight. By this time, it was 1957, and a new wrinkle entered the lives of the newlyweds Dick and Marie Grant. Cedars hired yet a new surgeon named, Dr. Paul Fletcher, and despite Dick and Marie's new marriage, Paul and Marie instantly hit it off, much to Dick's chagrin. Marie was also feeling less than a woman, when it was learned she couldn't get pregnant, and adoptions were not easy to move along enough to satisfy Marie's maternal instincts. Marie nearly had an affair with Dr. Paul Fletcher, but not all was as it seemed for his rival. Dr. Paul Fletcher was actually his assumed name that he adopted during the Korean War, based on what his mother Marion Winters Lipsey had told him about his biological father, Fred Fletcher, who had abandoned him and his mother many years earlier (or that's what he thought.) Paul had thought up to that point that the man who adopted him, his mom Marion Winters' husband, John Lipsey had done so because Fred had abandoned him and his mom, but as it turned out Marion left Fred. Paul did get to finally meet and forgive Fred a few short months before Fred died of cancer in April 1958, but for a time Paul felt he was less deserving of love than others. (Bert Bauer nicknamed Paul a "sour apple" due to Paul feeling this way during the first two years she knew him, 1956 to 1958.) Another woman soon entered Dr. Paul Fletcher's life, Anne Benedict from San Francisco, who soon became the love of his life and made him realize that he did deserve love. And the change in Paul even made Bert realize his personality wasn't bad as she first thought it was. Anne and Paul soon married, despite for a while Anne's rich father Henry disapproving. Anne Fletcher gave birth to Dr. Paul Fletcher's son, that they named Johnny, which sealed Henry, as well as his wife Helene approving of their daughter's marriage to Paul.
In 1959, Dick and Marie Grant got caught up in criminal Joe Turino's illegal adoption scam ring, although quite innocently for them. One of Dick's patients was a run away drug addict by the name of Amy Sinclair, who gave birth in the spring of 1959 to a daughter she named Nora. Feeling as though she couldn't raise Nora on her own, she agreed to let Dick and Marie Grant adopt little Nora who they renamed Marie, but this adoption was set up through Joe Turino's scam ring. In 1960, the district attorney's investigation into this scam led Dick and Marie Grant heartbroken, when they lost custody of Marie and she was returned to Amy. (Dick gave Amy money to hide from Joe Turino and skip town in the process.) Later in the fall of 1960, Dick and Marie Grant tried again to adopt, and succeeded, adopting a boy by the name of Phillip Collins. Dick and Marie Grant left town with their adopted son, Phillip Collins Grant, in 1962, and were not heard from again.

After Joe Robert's funeral, Meta, started seeing a man named Mark Holden, who was a rich well-off structural engineer friend of her brother-in-law, Clyde Palmer, hired at Cedars to do some work on the building. Bert tried to set up Meta with Mark, who took a shine to Meta's stepdaughter, Kathy. Meta agreed to step aside for Mark and Kathy, on the advice of Dr. Bruce Banning, who continued to have romantic feelings for Meta. Kathy soon married her third and final husband Mark Holden. It didn't take long for Kathy to find out that the old adage of "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" was very true when it came to her daughter with Bob Lang, Robin's personality, was concerned. By the time Kathy married Mark, Robin had also been SORASed into a pre-teen and she acted every bit the brat around Mark, at first. Kathy and Mark couldn't understand why, until she told him that she wanted Kathy to still be married to Dr. Dick Grant. That time, once both Meta and Dick had talk with the young girl, Robin turned around and agreed to accept Mark, just in time for Mark to agree to adopt Robin and Dick allowing that.

Meanwhile, Mark's younger sister, a rebellious 16-year-old, Alice Holden showed up in Selby Flats to live with Kathy, Mark and Robin. Right away it was clear that Alice and Robin mixed like water and oil, nearly not at all. Alice was resentful how spoiled Robin appeared to be, and Robin couldn't stand having the older more worldly-wise Alice living in the same household. Enter into all of this a just turned teenaged Mike Bauer, the "cousin" of Robin, who Robin had a crush on and Mike did allow her some flirtations. But for the 13-year-old Mike, his hormones made him fall under the spell of the older Alice. And Alice picked up on that. This stalemate of constant tension between Robin, Mike and Alice was going to soon lead to a tragedy that compounded for the helpless Kathy. And all of this started just as Kathy found out she was pregnant, again, this time with Mark's child. One day to get back at Robin and to treat her as the spoiled brat she was, Alice took a kitchen chair that Mike, being the young gentlemen he was, usually pulled out for Robin and decided to screw out some of the bolts used to hold the chair together, so it fell apart when Robin sat in it—so Robin would be embarrassed and perhaps keep her spoiled bratty mouth shut. At that exact time, a pregnant Kathy decided to use that chair to do some work in one of the kitchen cabinets and when Kathy stood on the chair, sure enough as Alice had intended (but for the wrong victim), the chair gave way and Kathy fell hard on to the kitchen floor. Kathy was taken to Cedars and it was clear the injury Kathy sustained was serious and she miscarried her and Mark's child. Kathy then developed another infection and soon found herself permanently restricted to a wheelchair as she developed paralysis. Alice was soon sent packing back to Mark's parents home, and then a year later to a school whose living arrangements were closer to where Mark lived with Robin. In March 1958, Kathy was killed when bicycling children accidentally pushed her wheelchair into oncoming traffic. Mark had to raise the now SORASed to a teenager Robin on his own.

Robin and Mike as teenagers soon became more seriously romantically involved. But Robin also became a terribly troublesome to Mark and Meta, trying to break up Meta's romance with Bruce and get her to marry Mark so Meta would become her stepmother. Robin also took an instant disliking to Mark's new romantic involvement with housekeeper Ruth Jannings, a widow herself. On New Year's Eve 1959, Robin found out very harshly she couldn't control everything when she came to Mark's hotel only to discover there was a new Mrs. Mark Holden, and they were on their honeymoon. It only got worse for Robin when she went to Mark's hotel room and when the door opened to the hotel room the new Mrs. Mark Holden answered and it was revealed to be the former Mrs. Ruth Jannings. But Robin was soon to cause more trouble, in the New Year and first year of the new decade, 1960, by getting involved romantically, more, with Mike Bauer, but also Ruth's son, Karl.

Guiding Light (known as The Guiding Light before 1975) is an American television soap opera. It is listed in "Guinness World Records" as the longest-running drama in television in American history, broadcast on CBS for 57 years from June 30, 1952, until September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio from 1937 to 1956. With it 72 years of radio and television runs, "Guiding Light" is the longest running soap opera before "General Hospital" and the fifth-longest running program in all of broadcast history; only the American country music radio program "Grand Ole Opry" (first broadcast in 1925), the BBC religious program "The Daily Service" (1928), the CBS religious program "Music and the Spoken Word" (1929), and the Norwegian children's radio program "Lørdagsbarnetimen" (1924-2010) have been on the air longer.

Guiding Light

"Guiding Light" was created by Irna Phillips, and began as an NBC Radio serial on January 25, 1937. On June 2, 1947, the series was transferred to CBS Radio, before starting on June 30, 1952, on CBS Television. It continued to be broadcast concomitantly on radio until June 29, 1956. The series was expanded from 15 minutes to a half-hour during 1968 (and also switched from broadcasting live to pre-taping around this same time), and then to a full hour on November 7, 1977. The series broadcast its 15,000th CBS episode on September 6, 2006.

On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that it canceled "Guiding Light" after a run of 72 years due to low ratings. The show taped its final scenes on August 11, 2009, and its final episode on the network aired on September 18, 2009. On October 5, 2009, CBS replaced "Guiding Light" with an hour-long revival of "Let's Make a Deal", hosted by Wayne Brady.

"Guiding Light" has had a number of plot sequences during the series' long history, on both radio and television. These plot sequences include complex storylines, and different writers and casting.

The series was created by Irna Phillips, who based it on personal experiences. After giving birth to a still-born baby at age 19, she found spiritual comfort listening to the radio sermons of Preston Bradley, a famous Chicago preacher and founder of the People's Church, a church which promoted the brotherhood of man. These sermons originated the idea of the creation of "The Guiding Light", which began as a radio series. The original radio series was first broadcast as 15-minute episodes on NBC Radio, starting on January 25, 1937. The series was transferred to CBS Radio during 1947.

"The Guiding Light" was broadcast first by CBS Television on June 30, 1952, replacing the canceled soap opera "The First Hundred Years". These episodes were also 15 minutes long. During the period from 1952 to 1956, "The Guiding Light" existed as both a radio and television serial, with actors recording their performances twice for each day that the shows were broadcast. The radio broadcast of "The Guiding Light" ceased production during 1956, ending this overlap.

With the transition to television, the main characters became the Bauers, a lower-middle class German immigrant family who were first introduced in the radio serial in 1948. Many storylines revolved around Bill Bauer (son of patriarch Friedrich "Papa" Bauer) and his new wife Bertha (nicknamed "Bert"). Papa Bauer, who came to the United States during World War I with just a few dollars in his pocket, was a salt of the earth character who succeeded in offering opportunities to his children by working hard, and he instilled that work ethic into his children. Bert had dreams of climbing the social ladder and keeping up appearances, and it was up to Bill (and sometimes Papa Bauer) to bring her down to earth.

"The Guiding Light" ranked as the number one-rated soap opera during both 1956 and 1957, before being replaced during 1958 by "As the World Turns". After Irna Phillips was transferred to "As the World Turns" during 1958, her protege Agnes Nixon became head writer of "The Guiding Light".

The first television producer of "The Guiding Light" was Luci Ferri Rittenberg, who produced the show over 20 years.

Agnes Nixon relinquished her role as chief writer during 1965 to work for the series "Another World". On March 13, 1967, "The Guiding Light" was first broadcast in color. On September 9, 1968, the program was expanded from 15 to 30 minutes.

The 1960s featured the introduction of African American characters, and the main emphasis of the series shifted to Bill and Bert's children, Mike and Ed; the character of Bill Bauer was written out in July 1969, presumed dead after a plane crash. The show also became a bit more topical during the 1960s, with such storylines as Bert Bauer's diagnosis of uterine cancer in 1962.

A number of new characters were introduced during the mid- to late 1960s, including Dr. Sara McIntyre, who remained a major character through the early 1980s.

Much of the story during the first half of the 1970s was dominated by Stanley Norris' November 1971 murder and the ensuing trial, as well as the exploits of villainesses Charlotte Waring and Kit Vested. Charlotte (at the time played by Melinda Fee) was murdered by Kit (Nancy Addison) on August 26, 1973, and then Kit herself was shot by Dr. Joe Werner (Anthony Call) in self-defense on April 24, 1974, after she had attempted to poison Dr. Sara McIntyre.

A pivotal character, off-and-on, until the spring of 1998, Roger Thorpe, was introduced on April 1, 1971. The role of Roger was originally proposed to be blonde, fair-skinned preppy type, a man who was dating his boss's daughter Holly. Ultimately, Michael Zaslow, a dark haired actor with a more ethnic appearance, was hired for the role instead by long-time casting director, Betty Rea. Zaslow portrayed Roger as a complicated and multifaceted villain.

Theo Goetz, the actor who played Papa Bauer since the first episode of "The Guiding Light", died in 1972. The decision was made to have Papa Bauer die in the storyline as well. The cast paid tribute to Goetz and Papa Bauer in a special memorial episode which aired on February 27, 1973.

Pressured by newer, more youth-oriented soap operas such as "All My Children", Procter & Gamble hired head writers Bridget and Jerome Dobson during 1975, who started writing in November 1975. The Dobsons introduced a more nuanced, psychologically layered writing style, and included timely story lines, including a complex love/hate relationship between estranged spouses/step-siblings Roger and Holly. They also created a number of well-remembered characters, including Rita Stapleton, whose complex relationships with Roger and Ed propelled much of the story for the remainder of the decade, Alan Spaulding, and Ross Marler, both of whom remained major characters into the 2000s.

The decision was made during the fall of 1977 to reintroduce the thought-dead character of Bill Bauer, in a major retcon. The other characters thought that he had died in an airplane crash in July 1969, but he was said to actually be alive. (Many viewers who had also paid attention to the show and story line back in September 1968, remembered that Bill was told he would only have nine more years to live.) One of the problems with this return is that the Dobsons seemed not quite sure what to do with his return. Although it was shocking, at first, to many of the characters, Bill himself ended up being charged for a murder of a man in Vancouver (Mike got his father off for the crime, proving that it was an accident, rather quickly and by April 1978 Bill had left town, again. Although Bill returned briefly in November 1978, April 1980, and then again in July 1983 and in flashbacks in November 1983.) Bill's return introduced the audience and the Bauers to another character that stayed on the show until September 1984, Hillary Kincaid, R. N. (Bauer), Bill's daughter (and thus Ed and Mike's half-sister; Bill had accidentally killed the man that Hillary originally thought was her father, but was actually her step-father) and she becomes a nurse at Cedars and a major character.

Surprising many viewers, Jerome and Bridget Dobson killed the show's young heroine, Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris Bauer, in June 1976. Lynne Adams was reported at the time to want to leave the role, and the Dobsons decided against recasting the part. Leslie was killed by a drunk driver. Her father, Dr. Steve Jackson, remained on the show for the remainder of the '70s, serving as a senior physician at Cedars, and as a friend and companion to Bert Bauer.

In November 1975, the name was changed in the show's opening and closing visuals from "The Guiding Light" to "Guiding Light". On November 7, 1977, the show expanded to a full hour and was broadcast from 2:30 to 3:30 pm daily.

The series during the 1970s emphasized the Bauers and the Spauldings. Several notable characters were introduced.

Bridget and Jerome Dobson assumed the head writing duties of "As the World Turns" in late 1979. Former actor Douglas Marland, assumed the head writing reins of "Guiding Light" in 1979. He introduced many new characters, including the Reardon family. During May 1980, "Guiding Light" won its first Outstanding Drama Series Daytime Emmy. One of Marland’s stories featured the character of Carrie Todd Marler, played by Jane Elliot. Carrie was diagnosed with multiple personalities. Marland had barely delved into her psychosis when Elliot's contract was abruptly terminated by Executive Producer Allen M. Potter in 1982. As a result, Marland resigned in protest.

During the early 1980s, the show began to emphasize younger characters more, as an attempt to compete with the younger-skewing ABC serials. A number of longtime characters were eliminated during this time, including Ben and Eve McFarren, Diane Ballard, Dr. Sara McIntyre, Adam Thorpe, Barbara Norris Thorpe, Justin Marler and Steve Jackson. Actress Lenore Kasdorf quit the show in 1981, and producers decided not to recast the role of Rita Stapleton Bauer, given how popular Kasdorf had been. The Bauer family matriarch, Bertha 'Bert' Bauer, died in March 1986, following the real-life death of Charita Bauer in 1985. During Guiding Light's 50th anniversary year in 1987, a commitment was pledged to showcase the Bauer family in primary roles as much as possible, after audience reaction to the Oklahoma-bred Lewis and Shayne families turned out to be mixed. As a result, the tradition of the Bauer July 4th family barbecue began that year, and continued until 2009, the serial's final year on CBS Television.

An ever more complicated storyline emphasized the Bauer, Spaulding, Reardon, and Raines families. Pam Long, actress and writer for NBC's "Texas" from 1981 to 1982, became head writer during 1983 and reemphasized the series on Freddy Bauer Phillip Spaulding, Mindy Lewis, and Beth Raines. She also introduced characters Alexandra Spaulding, performed by actress Beverlee McKinsey, of "Another World" and "Texas" fame; and Reva Shayne, played by Kim Zimmer. The ratings in the mid- to late 1980s were solid and healthy. Pamela K. Long returned for a second head writer stint from 1987 to 1990.

The characters of Roger Thorpe and Holly Norris returned to the series during the late 1980s. Maureen Garrett reprised her role of Holly #2 in 1988, followed by Michael Zaslow as Roger in 1989.

With the new decade, the series' storytelling transitioned from Long's homespun style to a more realistic style with a new group of chief writers. The Bauer, Spaulding, Lewis, and Cooper families had been established as core families, and most major plot developments concerned them. The show generally held on in the middle of the pack as far as ratings went throughout the decade.

The show suffered major character losses mid-decade, including the car accident death of Maureen Bauer and the exit of Alexandra Spaulding from the story. As the decade progressed, the program developed a series of outlandish plot twists seemingly to compete with the serials "Passions" and "Days of Our Lives".

In an attempt to revive the series, the character Reva Shayne was brought back to Springfield during April 1995. She'd been presumed dead for the previous five years, after having driven her car off of a bridge and into the water off the Florida Keys. Later that July, antiheroine Tangie Hill (played by Marcy Walker, who declined to renew her contract) was eliminated after nearly two years with the show in favor of the full-time return of fan favorite Nola Chamberlain, played by Lisa Brown.

During January 1996, soap opera veteran Mary Stuart joined the cast as Meta Bauer (though referred to many times over the years, the long-running character originally played by Ellen Demming had not been seen onscreen since 1974); the character remained on the show until Stuart's death during 2002.

January 1998, Bethany Joy Lenz came to the show as "Teenage Reva Clone". Producers were so impressed with her acting and attitude during her three-week role as "Teenage Reva Clone" on the show that she was re-hired later that year in the contract role of "Michelle Bauer Santos" on the daytime serial. From 1999-2000.

The 2000s began with the division of the show into two locales: Springfield and the fictional island nation of San Cristobel. In Springfield, the Santos mob dynasty created much of the drama. Meanwhile, the royal Winslow family had their own series of intrigues with which to deal. During 2002, however, San Cristobel was eliminated from the series and the mob's influence in the story was subsequently diminished and, with the departure of character Danny Santos during 2005, eliminated altogether. Also, "Guiding Light" celebrated its 50th Anniversary as a television show on June 30, 2002.

During 2004, former director and actress Ellen Wheeler (Emmy Award winner as an actress for the series "All My Children" and "Another World") took over as executive producer of "Guiding Light." She and writer David Kreizman made numerous changes to the sets, stories, and the cast. Several veteran actors were eliminated, mainly because of budget decreases. Because of the lack of veteran influence, Wheeler reemphasized the youth of Springfield, especially the controversial pairing of cousins Jonathan and Tammy.

During 2006, an episode featured character Harley Cooper gaining heroic abilities. The episode was semi-continued in an 8-page story in select Marvel Comics productions.

The series had its 70th broadcast anniversary during 2007. The anniversary was commemorated with the initiation of website FindYourLight.net and a program of outreach, representing Irna Phillips's original message. There was also a special episode during January 2007, with current cast members playing Phillips and some of the earlier cast members. The series also introduced special beginning credits commemorating the anniversary.

Despite low ratings, the show won 2007 Daytime Emmy Awards for Best Writing and Best Show (sharing Best Show with" The Young and the Restless").

On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that it would not renew "Guiding Light", and the last broadcast date would be September 18, 2009. Procter & Gamble initially announced that they would attempt to find another outlet to distribute the series, but later admitted that they had been unsuccessful in doing so, and that on September 18, 2009, after 57 years on television (preceded by 15 years on radio for a total broadcast history of 72 years), "Guiding Light" would end its broadcast history on CBS.

During the final weeks of the series, numerous characters from the series' past passed through Springfield one last time, culminating with Ed and Holly, who impulsively embarked on an unspecified journey together. Alan Spaulding suffered fatal heart failure during the final week, but not before resolving conflicts with many former adversaries, including Jonathan. Alan's death brought the characters together in a way that could not have happened while he was still alive. Alexandra is especially distraught about Alan's death, but was pleased when Fletcher Reade came to the Spaulding Mansion after Alan's service, and convinced her to accompany him to Europe. Beth and Phillip have grown closer and decided to remarry; Mindy Lewis returned to Springfield for good, and she and Rick also became fonder of each other. Reva and Josh had a discussion, and agreed that they each had their respective problems that they need to solve. Josh told Reva that he was leaving Springfield for a job for the next year, but proposes that he return one year from that date and, if by that time, she wants to reunite with him, she should meet him at the lighthouse and, if she is not there, he will assume she is not interested.

The final episode is pleasant, featuring many of the characters gathering in the park for a large picnic. Toward the end of the episode, it jumps forward one year, by which time, Phillip and Beth have reunited, as have Rick and Mindy. Olivia and Natalia, happy with their new baby, pick up Raphael as he returns from the army. The episode concludes with Josh arriving at the lighthouse, as promised, and finding Reva there. They declare their undying love. James, Ashlee, and Daisy leave Springfield and relocate to Santa Barbara, California. Josh asks if Reva is packed, to go on an adventure. The two grab the luggage, and with Reva's young son, they climb into Josh's pick-up truck. Josh says to Reva, "You ready?" She replies "Always." As the truck drives away with the lighthouse in the background, ""The End"" appears on the screen before a final fadeout. The song heard playing in the background during the final scene is "Together" by Michelle Branch.

The final episode also included the original tag line, with some revision, printed on the screen with the words "There is a destiny that makes us FAMILY" (replacing the word 'brothers'), as well as quick film clips of each of the show's title cards and announcers during the six decades it was on television, leading to the show's former long-time beginning announcement: "And now, "The Guiding Light"".

"Guiding Light" was broadcast from three locations: Chicago (where creator Irna Phillips resided), from 1937 until 1946; Hollywood, from 1947 until 1949; and New York City starting during 1949. It was relocated from Chicago to Hollywood (despite objections of both Phillips and Arthur Peterson) to take advantage of the talent pool. Production was subsequently relocated to New York City, where the majority of soap operas were produced during the 1950s, 1960s and much of the 1970s; it remained based in New York City until the show's conclusion. Its final taping location was the CBS studios in midtown Manhattan. From the 1970s to the 1990s it was filmed at the Chelsea Studios. From soon before February 29, 2008, outdoor scenes were filmed on location in Peapack, New Jersey. The location filming coincided with another significant production change, as the series became the first American weekday soap opera to be recorded digitally. The production team chose to film with Canon XH-G1 HDV camcorders.
Unlike the old production model with pedestal-style cameras and traditional three-sided sets, handheld cameras allowed producers to choose as many locations as they wished.

During the daytime drama's 57th season on television and 72nd overall season, the series had changed its look to a more realistic experience in an attempt to compete with the growing popularity of reality television. The new look of "Guiding Light" included free-hand camera work and less action shown on traditional studio sets. Producer Ellen Wheeler introduced a "shaky-cam" style, present in a number of movies, featuring extreme-closeups and frequent cuts, including those that "broke the axis" (which proved disorienting to viewers accustomed to shows with the traditional "soap opera look"). Also new was the filming of outdoor scenes in actual outdoor settings. Even many indoor scenes had more of an "on location" feel, repurposing real locations, such as "Guiding Light's" production offices, to be motel rooms, nail salons, quick-mart and other businesses or locations. Thereby, the series had numerous sets without the cost of numerous separate locations. CBS and the show's producers had hoped that the new look would increase ratings, but the plan was ultimately unsuccessful.

On April 1, 2009, CBS canceled the series after 72 years, with the series finale airing on September 18, 2009, making it the second-to-last Procter & Gamble soap opera to end.

The action has also been set in three different locales – it was based in the fictional towns of Five Points and Selby Flats before its final locale of Springfield.

Unlike most popular radio serials transitioning to television, "The Guiding Light" had no difficulty holding onto its old listening audience and simultaneously earning a new television fanbase. For at the time "The Guiding Light" made its television debut, neither ABC nor NBC had broadcast programs on their respective networks at 2:30 p.m. Eastern/1:30 Central, where CBS first placed "The Guiding Light". However, six months into the run, the network moved the serial to a timeslot that gave it great popularity with its housewife audience: 12:45 p.m./11:45 a.m. It kept the new timeslot for the next 19 years and eight months, sharing the half-hour with its sister Procter & Gamble-packaged soap opera, "Search for Tomorrow."

"The Guiding Light" handled the competition breezily, even against otherwise-legendary shows such as "Queen for a Day" on ABC (briefly in 1960) and NBC's "Truth or Consequences." Usually, "The Guiding Light" ranked second in the Nielsen ratings behind another serial, "As the World Turns." 1968, however, saw changing viewership trends that prompted CBS to expand its last two 15-minute daytime dramas, disrupting long-standing viewing habits. "Search for Tomorrow" took over the entire 12:30–1/11:30–Noon period, with "The Guiding Light" returning to its first timeslot, 2:30/1:30, albeit in the now-standard half-hour format, on September 9. This twin bill of expansions also caused the dislocation of "The Secret Storm" and the beloved "Art Linkletter's House Party," as well as the cancellation of the daytime "To Tell the Truth." The next 12 years brought several similar shifts around CBS' lineup.

The 1970s saw the popularity of "The Guiding Light" dip somewhat. The competition imposed upon "The Guiding Light" during this decade was from other serials such as "The Doctors" on NBC, but it still garnered decent ratings. After four years, CBS bumped its timeslot up by a half-hour to accommodate Procter & Gamble's demand that "The Edge of Night" move to 2:30/1:30, a move that led to the end of that show on CBS three years later. In the meantime, "The Guiding Light" stayed steadily on course against NBC's "Days of Our Lives" and ABC's "The Newlywed Game." In late 1974, ABC replaced "The Newlywed Game" with "The $10,000 Pyramid," which went on to garner strong ratings, but not greatly at "The Guiding Light's" expense. Meanwhile, by fall 1975 (at which point the show had officially dropped the word "The" from its title, although it was still referred to as "The Guiding Light" on air for several years after), the impending departure of "The Edge of Night" for ABC - to say nothing of CBS' planned expansion of some serials - affected "Guiding Light" by pushing it back to 2:30/1:30 once more in December. At that time, NBC still ran "The Doctors" in the 2:30 slot, and ABC had a short-lived hit the next year with an updated version of the game show "Break the Bank." To complicate the picture further, ABC opted to make its first show expansions, that of "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital," in July 1976; each of those shows occupied one-half of a 90-minute block until November 4, 1977.

With this in mind, ABC and CBS acted to give a contending chance to both "General Hospital" and "Guiding Light" by expanding them to an hour in length. CBS did so first by expanding "Guiding Light" on November 7, 1977. This gained particular importance when ABC finally added 15 minutes to both "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital" on January 16, 1978, so that "Guiding Light" straddled those two programs, as well as the first half of sister P&G show "Another World" on NBC. Despite that "General Hospital" surprising all observers by skyrocketing from near-cancellation to the top place in the ratings with the various storylines, "Guiding Light" held its own while in direct competition with "General Hospital", still hit an upswing as the decade ended.

On February 4, 1980, CBS bumped "Guiding Light" down again, to 3pm/2c, and its sister P&G soap "As The World Turns" to 2pm/1c, in the midst of a major scheduling shuffle intended to give "The Young and the Restless" (itself now expanding to an hour length) a shot at beating ABC's "All My Children. NBC did the same with its soap operas as well with all three networks now going head-head in every time slot." It remained in this time slot for the rest of its run in some markets, facing "General Hospital" and NBC entries such as "Texas" (a spin-off of "Another World"), "The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour" and "Santa Barbara." None of these shows - not even "General Hospital" - had any significant impact on the ratings of "Guiding Light" at 3:00 pm during this period.

Overall, the first half of the 1980s saw a revival in "Guiding Light's" popularity, with a top-five placing achieved in most years and even a brief dethroning of then-powerhouse "General Hospital" from the #1 ratings spot for three consecutive weeks. However, as the decade progressed, the ratings slipped a bit, although it was still performing solidly. In 1995, beginning with CBS flagship station WCBS-TV in New York, "Guiding Light" began airing at 10 a.m. Eastern time in several markets. Its once-solid performance began to crumble by the mid-1990s, when its ratings sunk as low as ninth place out of ten. However, during the controversial clone storyline in 1998, the ratings experienced a brief resurgence, moving up to fifth for many weeks that summer. Nielsen reported "Guiding Light" had 5 million viewers in 1999.

Up until its finale in 2009, stations in a number of markets aired "Guiding Light" in the morning either at 9 or 10 a.m. local time: Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Dallas-Fort Worth, Orlando, Atlanta, Columbia, SC, Fort Wayne, IN, South Bend, IN, Portland, OR, Quad Cities, Buffalo, Reno, Portland, ME, Milwaukee, Albany, NY, and Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA. "Guiding Light" aired at 12 noon local time in Honolulu, Hawaii. In Savannah, GA, it aired at 4:00 pm local time.

Before 2004, stations that aired "Guiding Light" in the morning were always one episode behind those that aired the program at its official timeslot of 3:00 pm (ET). This changed in March 2004, during the first day of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, in which stations airing the show at 10:00 am were able catch up with stations that televised it at 3:00 pm. Starting in 2006, stations that televised "Guiding Light" at 9:00 am were also offered a same-day feed to catch up with the rest of the network. As a result of this, daily episodes for the remaining years of "GL" were the same on all stations regardless of timeslot.

"Guiding Light" maintained strong ratings in Pittsburgh, despite being moved to 10:00 am in 2006. According to a 2006 article in the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette", "Dr. Phil" hadn't been able to pull in the same numbers that "Guiding Light" did in that time slot a year prior, while "Guiding Light" was maintaining its audience share.

One CBS affiliate that did not air the show was KOVR-TV in Sacramento, California, which had become a CBS affiliate in 1995. Before CBS affiliated with KOVR, it had been affiliated in Sacramento with KXTV, which had dropped "Guiding Light" from its schedule in 1992 and did not air it again. As such, the show was preempted in the Sacramento area from 1992 to the show's cancellation. WNEM-TV in Flint/Saginaw/Bay City, Michigan, which also became a CBS affiliate that year, initially ran the soap before dropping it in 1996 because of disappointing ratings. In the fall of 2006, WNEM began running "Guiding Light" on its digital channel My 5 at 10 am, airing there for the remainder of its run.

Internationally, "Guiding Light" currently airs in Iceland, Italy, Hungary and Serbia. It also aired September 3, 2007 to August 26, 2011 in the UK on Zone Romantica /CBS Drama, and was pulled at the point where the outside location filming was due to begin. The last screened scene of the show in the UK was Cassie hiding out with troubled son Will – just as the rest of the family were discovering that he had actually killed his uncle Alonzo.

Since it ended its CBS run on September 18, 2009, the reruns of "Guiding Light" currently air on Sky 1 since September 21, 2009.

In Canada, "Guiding Light" was available to viewers directly through CBS-TV network affiliates from border cities or cable TV feeds until the show's ending in 2009. In addition, "Guiding Light" also made it on several Canadian television networks through the 1980s up until its last air date.

Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN) – a supplementary service to its ATV system of CTV affiliates exclusively for Atlantic Canada – aired the soap simultaneously with the CBS feed from 1983 to 1984; then, the broadcast was moved to 12 noon until 1985.

The show also aired in French in Quebec. TVA, a Quebec privately owned French-language television network, rebroadcast episodes in French translation, twelve months behind, for a short period in 1984.

In the early 1990s, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) briefly aired the P&G serial nationally at 3:00 p.m. in each specific local Canadian time zone. The CBC Television broadcast of "Guiding Light" was also on its scheduled during the latter part of the 1960s during the serial 15-minute format. On both occasions, the daytime drama was only aired for a few seasons.

After a hiatus from Canadian television stations for many years, the series came back on CHCH-TV, exclusively for the Ontario market. In September 2007, Global picked up the show nationwide after CHCH-TV dropped it, claiming "Passions"’ former time slot. "Guiding Light" returned to CHCH for the rest of its run when Global decided to air the 2008 TV series "The Doctors".In January 2012, SoapClassics released a four-disc DVD collection of 20 selected episodes. The oldest episode on the collection dates from April 1, 1980, while the latest episode is from September 14, 2009, during the show's final broadcast week.

The company has since released special collections celebrating Reva Shayne and Phillip Spaulding.

In May 2012, SoapClassics released the final ten "Guiding Light" episodes on a two-disc DVD set.

Also beginning in June 2012 the series was later released on DVD in Germany beginning with the 1979 episodes.

"The Guiding Light" was broadcast first by CBS Television on June 30, 1952, replacing the canceled soap opera "The First Hundred Years". These episodes were also 15 minutes long. During the period from 1952 to 1956, "The Guiding Light" existed as both a radio and television serial, with actors recording their performances twice for each day that the shows were broadcast. The radio broadcast of "The Guiding Light" ceased production during 1956, ending this overlap.

Guiding Light

On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that it canceled "Guiding Light" after a run of 72 years due to low ratings. The show taped its final scenes on August 11, 2009, and its final episode on the network aired on September 18, 2009. On October 5, 2009, CBS replaced "Guiding Light" with an hour-long revival of "Let's Make a Deal", hosted by Wayne Brady.

"Guiding Light" has had a number of plot sequences during the series' long history, on both radio and television. These plot sequences include complex storylines, and different writers and casting.

"The Guiding Light" ranked as the number one-rated soap opera during both 1956 and 1957, before being replaced during 1958 by "As the World Turns". After Irna Phillips was transferred to "As the World Turns" during 1958, her protege Agnes Nixon became head writer of "The Guiding Light".

The first television producer of "The Guiding Light" was Luci Ferri Rittenberg, who produced the show over 20 years.

Agnes Nixon relinquished her role as chief writer during 1965 to work for the series "Another World". On March 13, 1967, "The Guiding Light" was first broadcast in color. On September 9, 1968, the program was expanded from 15 to 30 minutes.

The 1960s featured the introduction of African American characters, and the main emphasis of the series shifted to Bill and Bert's children, Mike and Ed; the character of Bill Bauer was written out in July 1969, presumed dead after a plane crash. The show also became a bit more topical during the 1960s, with such storylines as Bert Bauer's diagnosis of uterine cancer in 1962.

A number of new characters were introduced during the mid- to late 1960s, including Dr. Sara McIntyre, who remained a major character through the early 1980s.

Much of the story during the first half of the 1970s was dominated by Stanley Norris' November 1971 murder and the ensuing trial, as well as the exploits of villainesses Charlotte Waring and Kit Vested. Charlotte (at the time played by Melinda Fee) was murdered by Kit (Nancy Addison) on August 26, 1973, and then Kit herself was shot by Dr. Joe Werner (Anthony Call) in self-defense on April 24, 1974, after she had attempted to poison Dr. Sara McIntyre.

A pivotal character, off-and-on, until the spring of 1998, Roger Thorpe, was introduced on April 1, 1971. The role of Roger was originally proposed to be blonde, fair-skinned preppy type, a man who was dating his boss's daughter Holly. Ultimately, Michael Zaslow, a dark haired actor with a more ethnic appearance, was hired for the role instead by long-time casting director, Betty Rea. Zaslow portrayed Roger as a complicated and multifaceted villain.

Theo Goetz, the actor who played Papa Bauer since the first episode of "The Guiding Light", died in 1972. The decision was made to have Papa Bauer die in the storyline as well. The cast paid tribute to Goetz and Papa Bauer in a special memorial episode which aired on February 27, 1973.

Surprising many viewers, Jerome and Bridget Dobson killed the show's young heroine, Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris Bauer, in June 1976. Lynne Adams was reported at the time to want to leave the role, and the Dobsons decided against recasting the part. Leslie was killed by a drunk driver. Her father, Dr. Steve Jackson, remained on the show for the remainder of the '70s, serving as a senior physician at Cedars, and as a friend and companion to Bert Bauer.

In November 1975, the name was changed in the show's opening and closing visuals from "The Guiding Light" to "Guiding Light". On November 7, 1977, the show expanded to a full hour and was broadcast from 2:30 to 3:30 pm daily.

The series during the 1970s emphasized the Bauers and the Spauldings. Several notable characters were introduced.

The characters of Roger Thorpe and Holly Norris returned to the series during the late 1980s. Maureen Garrett reprised her role of Holly #2 in 1988, followed by Michael Zaslow as Roger in 1989.

With the new decade, the series' storytelling transitioned from Long's homespun style to a more realistic style with a new group of chief writers. The Bauer, Spaulding, Lewis, and Cooper families had been established as core families, and most major plot developments concerned them. The show generally held on in the middle of the pack as far as ratings went throughout the decade.

The show suffered major character losses mid-decade, including the car accident death of Maureen Bauer and the exit of Alexandra Spaulding from the story. As the decade progressed, the program developed a series of outlandish plot twists seemingly to compete with the serials "Passions" and "Days of Our Lives".

In an attempt to revive the series, the character Reva Shayne was brought back to Springfield during April 1995. She'd been presumed dead for the previous five years, after having driven her car off of a bridge and into the water off the Florida Keys. Later that July, antiheroine Tangie Hill (played by Marcy Walker, who declined to renew her contract) was eliminated after nearly two years with the show in favor of the full-time return of fan favorite Nola Chamberlain, played by Lisa Brown.

During January 1996, soap opera veteran Mary Stuart joined the cast as Meta Bauer (though referred to many times over the years, the long-running character originally played by Ellen Demming had not been seen onscreen since 1974); the character remained on the show until Stuart's death during 2002.

January 1998, Bethany Joy Lenz came to the show as "Teenage Reva Clone". Producers were so impressed with her acting and attitude during her three-week role as "Teenage Reva Clone" on the show that she was re-hired later that year in the contract role of "Michelle Bauer Santos" on the daytime serial. From 1999-2000.

During 2004, former director and actress Ellen Wheeler (Emmy Award winner as an actress for the series "All My Children" and "Another World") took over as executive producer of "Guiding Light." She and writer David Kreizman made numerous changes to the sets, stories, and the cast. Several veteran actors were eliminated, mainly because of budget decreases. Because of the lack of veteran influence, Wheeler reemphasized the youth of Springfield, especially the controversial pairing of cousins Jonathan and Tammy.

During 2006, an episode featured character Harley Cooper gaining heroic abilities. The episode was semi-continued in an 8-page story in select Marvel Comics productions.

The series had its 70th broadcast anniversary during 2007. The anniversary was commemorated with the initiation of website FindYourLight.net and a program of outreach, representing Irna Phillips's original message. There was also a special episode during January 2007, with current cast members playing Phillips and some of the earlier cast members. The series also introduced special beginning credits commemorating the anniversary.

Despite low ratings, the show won 2007 Daytime Emmy Awards for Best Writing and Best Show (sharing Best Show with" The Young and the Restless").

On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that it would not renew "Guiding Light", and the last broadcast date would be September 18, 2009. Procter & Gamble initially announced that they would attempt to find another outlet to distribute the series, but later admitted that they had been unsuccessful in doing so, and that on September 18, 2009, after 57 years on television (preceded by 15 years on radio for a total broadcast history of 72 years), "Guiding Light" would end its broadcast history on CBS.

The final episode also included the original tag line, with some revision, printed on the screen with the words "There is a destiny that makes us FAMILY" (replacing the word 'brothers'), as well as quick film clips of each of the show's title cards and announcers during the six decades it was on television, leading to the show's former long-time beginning announcement: "And now, "The Guiding Light"".

On April 1, 2009, CBS canceled the series after 72 years, with the series finale airing on September 18, 2009, making it the second-to-last Procter & Gamble soap opera to end.

The action has also been set in three different locales – it was based in the fictional towns of Five Points and Selby Flats before its final locale of Springfield.

"Guiding Light" maintained strong ratings in Pittsburgh, despite being moved to 10:00 am in 2006. According to a 2006 article in the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette", "Dr. Phil" hadn't been able to pull in the same numbers that "Guiding Light" did in that time slot a year prior, while "Guiding Light" was maintaining its audience share.

Internationally, "Guiding Light" currently airs in Iceland, Italy, Hungary and Serbia. It also aired September 3, 2007 to August 26, 2011 in the UK on Zone Romantica /CBS Drama, and was pulled at the point where the outside location filming was due to begin. The last screened scene of the show in the UK was Cassie hiding out with troubled son Will – just as the rest of the family were discovering that he had actually killed his uncle Alonzo.

Since it ended its CBS run on September 18, 2009, the reruns of "Guiding Light" currently air on Sky 1 since September 21, 2009.

In Canada, "Guiding Light" was available to viewers directly through CBS-TV network affiliates from border cities or cable TV feeds until the show's ending in 2009. In addition, "Guiding Light" also made it on several Canadian television networks through the 1980s up until its last air date.

Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN) – a supplementary service to its ATV system of CTV affiliates exclusively for Atlantic Canada – aired the soap simultaneously with the CBS feed from 1983 to 1984; then, the broadcast was moved to 12 noon until 1985.

The show also aired in French in Quebec. TVA, a Quebec privately owned French-language television network, rebroadcast episodes in French translation, twelve months behind, for a short period in 1984.

In the early 1990s, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) briefly aired the P&G serial nationally at 3:00 p.m. in each specific local Canadian time zone. The CBC Television broadcast of "Guiding Light" was also on its scheduled during the latter part of the 1960s during the serial 15-minute format. On both occasions, the daytime drama was only aired for a few seasons.

The company has since released special collections celebrating Reva Shayne and Phillip Spaulding.

In May 2012, SoapClassics released the final ten "Guiding Light" episodes on a two-disc DVD set.

Also beginning in June 2012 the series was later released on DVD in Germany beginning with the 1979 episodes.


Why is tar used to seal cracks?

Oakum is a preparation of tarred fibre used to seal gaps. Its main traditional applications were in shipbuilding, for caulking or packing the joints of timbers in wooden vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel ships; in plumbing, for sealing joints in cast iron pipe; and in log cabins for chinking. In ship caulking, it was forced between the seams using a hammer and a caulking iron, then sealed into place with hot pitch.

Oakum

The word oakum derives from Middle English ', from Old English ', from'(separative and perfective prefix) +'(akin to Old English "", 'comb')—literally 'off-combings'.

Oakum was at one time recycled from old tarry ropes and cordage, which were painstakingly unravelled and reduced to fibre. The task of picking and preparation was a common occupation in prisons and workhouses, where the young or the old and infirm were put to work unpicking oakum if they were unsuited for heavier labour. Sailors undergoing naval punishment were also frequently sentenced to unpick oakum, with each man made to unpick of oakum a day. The work was tedious, slow and taxing on the worker's thumbs and fingers. In 1862, girls under 16 at Tothill Fields Bridewell had to pick a day, and boys under 16 had to pick. Over the age of 16, girls and boys had to pick per day respectively. The oakum was sold for £4 10"s" ( in modern money) per hundredweight (). At Coldbath Fields Prison, the men's counterpart to Tothill Fields, prisoners had to pick per day unless sentenced to hard labour, in which case they had to pick between of oakum per day.

In modern times, the fibrous material used in oakum comes from virgin hemp or jute. In plumbing and marine applications, the fibers are impregnated with tar or a tar-like substance, traditionally pine tar (also called 'Stockholm tar'), an amber-coloured pitch made from pine sap. Tar-like petroleum by-products can also be used for modern oakum. "White oakum" is made from untarred material, and was chiefly used as packing between brick and masonry in pre-war home and building construction, as its breathability allows moisture to continue to wick and transfer.

Oakum can be used to seal cast iron pipe drains. After setting the pipes together, workers pack oakum into the joints, then pour molten lead into the joint to create a permanent seal. The oakum swells and seals the joint, the "tar" in the oakum prevents rot, and the lead keeps the joint physically tight.
Today, modern methods, such as rubber seals (for example, gaskets or o-rings) are more common.

In Herman Melville's novella "Benito Cereno", crew members of a slave ship spend their idle hours picking oakum.

Charles Dickens's novel "Oliver Twist" mentions the extraction of oakum by orphaned children in the workhouse. The oakum extracted was for use on navy ships, and the instructor said that they were serving the country.

"The Innocents Abroad", a travel book by Mark Twain, also mentions in chapter 37 a "Baker's Boy/Famine Breeder" who eats soap and oakum, but prefers oakum, which makes his breath foul and teeth stuck up with tar.

Oakum


Who sung "Sweet Home Alabama?"

Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote their song "Sweet Home Alabama" in response to "Southern Man" and "Alabama" from Young's 1972 album "Harvest". Young has said that he is a fan of both "Sweet Home Alabama" and Ronnie Van Zant, the lead vocalist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. "They play like they mean it," Young said in 1976. "I'm proud to have my name in a song like theirs." Young has also been known to play "Sweet Home Alabama" in concert occasionally. To demonstrate this camaraderie, Van Zant frequently wore a Neil Young "Tonight's the Night" T-shirt while performing "Sweet Home Alabama". Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot can often be seen reciprocating by wearing a Jack Daniel's-styled Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt (including at the "Live Rust" concert).

Southern Man (song)

"Southern Man" is a song by Neil Young from his album "After the Gold Rush". The album was released in 1970. An extended live version can be heard on the Crosby Stills Nash & Young album "4 Way Street".

The lyrics of "Southern Man" are vivid, describing the racism towards blacks in the American South. In the song, Young tells the story of a white man (symbolically the entire white South) and how he mistreated his slaves. Young pleadingly asks when the South will make amends for the fortunes built through slavery when he sings:

The song also mentions the practice of cross burning referencing the Ku Klux Klan.

Young was very sensitive about the song's message as anti-racism and anti-violence. During his 1973 tour, he canceled a show in Oakland, California because a fan was beaten and removed from the stage by a guard while the song was played.

In his book "", Young stated that Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote "Sweet Home Alabama" not in response to "Southern Man", but rather to Young's song "Alabama". Young noted that Lynyrd Skynyrd's implied criticism was deserved because Young's lyrics to Alabama were condescending and accusatory.

Merry Clayton's version of the song appeared on her self-titled 1971 album. She later performed backing vocals on "Sweet Home Alabama", after some personal conflict.

Sylvester and the Hot Band included a funk version of the song on their self-titled 1973 album.

"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd that first appeared in 1974 on their second album, "Second Helping".

Sweet Home Alabama

It reached number 8 on the US chart in 1974 and was the band's second hit single. The song was written in reply to "Southern Man" and "Alabama" by Neil Young; Young is name-checked in the song's lyrics.

None of the three writers of the song were from Alabama; Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington were both born in Jacksonville, Florida, while Ed King was from Glendale, California. In an interview with "Garden & Gun", Rossington explained the writing process. "I had this little riff," he said. "It’s the little picking part and I kept playing it over and over when we were waiting on everyone to arrive for rehearsal. Ronnie and I were sitting there, and he kept saying, 'play that again'. Then Ronnie wrote the lyrics and Ed and I wrote the music."

"Sweet Home Alabama" was a major chart hit for a band whose previous singles had "lazily sauntered out into release with no particular intent". The hit led to two TV rock show offers, which the band turned down. In addition to the original appearance on "Second Helping", the song has appeared on numerous Lynyrd Skynyrd collections and live albums.

"Sweet Home Alabama" was written as an answer to two songs, "Southern Man" and "Alabama" by Neil Young, which dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the American South. "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. The following excerpt shows the Neil Young mention in the song:
In his 2012 autobiography "Waging Heavy Peace", Young commented on his role in the song's creation, writing "My own song 'Alabama' richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don't like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue".

Van Zant's other response was also controversial, with references to the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace (a noted supporter of segregation) and the Watergate scandal:
It has been pointed out that the choice of Birmingham in connection with the governor (rather than the capital Montgomery) is significant for the controversy as "In 1963, the city was the site of massive civil rights activism, as thousands of demonstrators led by Martin Luther King, Jr. sought to desegregate downtown businesses... [and] was the scene of some of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Segregationist police chief Bull Connor unleashed attack dogs and high-pressure water cannons against peaceful marchers, including women and children; just weeks later, Ku Klux Klansmen bombed a black church, killing four little girls."
In 1975, Van Zant said: "The lyrics about the governor of Alabama were misunderstood. The general public didn't notice the words 'Boo! Boo! Boo!' after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor." "The line 'We all did what we could do' is sort of ambiguous," Al Kooper notes. "'We tried to get Wallace out of there' is how I always thought of it." Towards the end of the song, Van Zant adds "where the governor's true" to the chorus's "where the skies are so blue," a line rendered ironic by the previous booing of the governor. Journalist Al Swenson argues that the song is more complex than it is sometimes given credit for, suggesting that it only looks like an endorsement of Wallace. "Wallace and I have very little in common," Van Zant himself said, "I don't like what he says about colored people."

Music historians examining the juxtaposition of invoking Richard Nixon and Watergate after Wallace and Birmingham note that one reading of the lyrics is an "attack against the liberals who were so outraged at Nixon's conduct" while others interpret it regionally: "the band was speaking for the entire South, saying to northerners, we're not judging you as ordinary citizens for the failures of your leaders in Watergate; don't judge all of us as individuals for the racial problems of southern society".

It can further be added that Ronnie Van Zant wore a Neil Young t-shirt (with the image of Young's Tonight's The Night LP cover) at several occasions, for instance at the concert at Oakland Coliseum Stadium, California, 7.February 1977 and also on the Street Survivors LP cover..

One verse of the song includes the line, "Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers/And they've been known to pick a song or two." This refers to the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a popular location for recording popular music because of the "sound" crafted by local recording studios and back-up musicians. "The Swampers" referred to in the lyrics are the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. These musicians, who crafted the "Muscle Shoals Sound", were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1995 for a "Lifework Award for Non-Performing Achievement" and into the Musician's Hall Of Fame in 2008 (the performers inducted into the latter were the four founding Swampers—Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson—plus Pete Carr, Clayton Ivey, Randy McCormack, Will McFarlane, and Spooner Oldham). The nickname "The Swampers" was given to the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section by producer Denny Cordell during a recording session by singer/songwriter Leon Russell, in reference to their'swampy' sound.

Part of the reference comes from the 1971–1972 demo reels that Lynyrd Skynyrd had recorded in Muscle Shoals with Johnson as a producer/recording engineer. Johnson helped refine many of the songs first heard publicly on the "Pronounced" album, and it was Van Zant's "tip of the hat" to Johnson for helping out the band in the early years and essentially giving the band its first break.

Lynyrd Skynyrd remains connected to Muscle Shoals, having since recorded a number of works in the city and making it a regular stop on their concert tours.

The PBS show "Independent Lens" aired a documentary on Muscle Shoals and its place in music history in mid-April 2014.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Additional personnel

Kid Rock's 2008 song "All Summer Long" interpolates "Sweet Home Alabama" on the chorus and uses the guitar solo and piano outro, as well as the "turn it up" shout before the guitar solo; Billy Powell is featured on the track. "All Summer Long" also samples Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London", which has similar chord progression to "Sweet Home Alabama". Since Kid Rock's release, the original song has also charted at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart.

The song is credited to Matthew Shafer, Waddy Wachtel, R.J. Ritchie, Leroy Marinell, Warren Zevon, Edward King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant.

Zevon apparently hated "Sweet Home Alabama" and referred to it as "that dead band's song". He surmised that those who listen to it only do so because their own lives are miserable, and his views on the song are articulated in "Play It All Night Long", which appears on his 1980 album "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School".

Sweet Home Alabama

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Additional personnel

Sweet Home Alabama

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Additional personnel

Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant and starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey and Candice Bergen. The film was released by Touchstone Pictures on September 27, 2002. The film takes its title from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song of the same name.

Sweet Home Alabama (film)

On an Alabama beach, 10 year olds Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter inspect the result of sand struck by lightning. Jake asserts that they will be married one day.

In the present day, Melanie is a successful fashion designer. She has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots. Engaged to Andrew Hennings, Melanie goes alone to Alabama to tell her parents and to procure a divorce from her estranged husband Jake. Kate, Andrew's mother and the Mayor of New York, expresses doubt that Melanie is good enough for her son, whom she is grooming to run for President of the United States. Melanie asks Jake why he keeps returning the divorce papers unsigned. He orders her out of his house. Melanie announces her engagement.

Melanie empties out Jake's checking account, hoping to spur Jake to sign the papers. He says he will sign the papers in the morning. Melanie gets drunk and insults her childhood friends, and outs a mutual friend, Bobby Ray Bailey. The next morning the divorce papers are on her bed signed by Jake.

Melanie visits the Carmichael plantation to apologize to Bobby Ray, where she is cornered by the mayor's assistant sent to gather information on her background. Bobby Ray backs up her pretense that this is her childhood home. Melanie reconciles with her friends and learns that Jake followed her to New York to win her back but, intimidated by the city, returned home to make something of himself first. Jake finds Melanie in a graveyard and they have a heart to heart, and Melanie realizes why Jake never signed the divorce papers.

Andrew arrives to surprise Melanie, and Jake takes him to a Civil War reenactment where Melanie is with her father. Melanie tells Andrew that Jake is her former husband. Andrew realizes that Melanie has lied to him about who she really is and leaves, but soon appears at Melanie's parents' house admitting he still wants to marry her. Melanie's New York friends arrive for the wedding and browse at a glassblower whose work they have admired in New York, only to realize it is Jake.

Melanie's lawyer interrupts the wedding with the divorce papers that Melanie herself has not signed. Melanie hesitates, realizing her love for Jake. She wishes Andrew luck and he wishes her well in return. Andrew's mother berates him, verbally attacks Melanie and insults the town. She calls Melanie's mother trailer trash, for which Melanie punches her in the jaw, to the cheers of the crowd.

Melanie, in her wedding gown in the rain, finds Jake planting lightning rods in the beach to create more sand sculptures. She tells him they are still married, and as they kiss, sheriff Wade "arrests" them and takes them to Jake's mother's bar where their friends and family are waiting. They finally get their first dance as husband and wife, to the tune of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama." A mid-credits sequence shows that they have a daughter, Melanie continues to thrive as a designer and Jake opens a "Deep South Glass" franchise in New York. Andrew is engaged to marry a girl named Erin Vanderbilt.Although centered in a fictional version of the town of Pigeon Creek, near a fictional version of Greenville, Alabama, the film was mostly shot in Georgia. The Carmichael Plantation, which Melanie tells the reporter is her childhood home, is the Oak Hill Berry Museum, a historic landmark in Georgia which is on the campus of Berry College in Rome, Georgia.

The streets and storefronts of Crawfordville, Georgia were used as the backdrop for the Catfish Festival and other downtown scenes. The coonhound cemetery was on Moore Street in Crawfordville, and the bar was located at Heavy's Barbecue near the town. Glass that forms when lightning hits sand, as in the film, is called fulgurite.

Jake's glassblowing shop was filmed at an old mill, named Starr's Mill, in Fayette County, Georgia. Wynn's Pond in Sharpsburg, Georgia is the location where Jake lands his plane. The historic homes shown at Melanie's return to Pigeon Creek were shot in Eufaula, Alabama.

The film title and theme song lyrics are from the ""Sweet Home Alabama"" song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, that first appeared in 1974 on their second album, "Second Helping".

This film received mostly mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, 38% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 157 reviews. A critics consensus reads: "Reese Witherspoon is charming enough, but the road to Alabama is well-traveled."

Roger Ebert, critic for the "Chicago Sun Times," awarded it three-out-of-four stars, commenting, "It is a fantasy, a sweet, light-hearted fairy tale with Reese Witherspoon at its center. She is as lovable as Doris Day would have been in this role... So I enjoyed Witherspoon and the local color, but I am so very tired of the underlying premise."

Andrew Sarris, critic for the "New York Observer," said that the movie "Would be an unendurable viewing experience for this ultra-provincial New Yorker if 26-year-old Reese Witherspoon were not on hand to inject her pure fantasy character, Melanie Carmichael, with a massive infusion of old-fashioned Hollywood magic."

The film grossed over US$35 million in its first weekend. By the end of its run in the United States, "Sweet Home Alabama" grossed over US$130 million, and another US$53,399,006 internationally. With a reported budget of US$30 million, it was a box office hit, despite the mixed reviews.

The film won the following awards:
Sweet Home Alabama (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the film soundtrack, includes thirteen songs by different artists.

Sweet Home Alabama (film)

Sweet Home Alabama (film)