Guiding Light
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 (1980–89)
Before Allen Potter was forced out as Executive Producer, in the middle of 1983, and replaced by Gail Kobe, the characters of Rick Bauer (Ed and Leslie Jackson Bauer's son) and Phillip Spaulding were SORASed, reintroduced as older teenagers, and brought on were the character of Beth Raines and a more prominent role for the Lewises. The decision to feature the Lewises came as a result of the prime-time series, "Dallas" and the cancellation of "Procter & Gamble"'s soap, "Texas" The show introduced Billy's vivacious daughter, Melinda Sue "Mindy" Lewis. Beth was living in an abusive situation with her stepfather, Bradley Raines and with her mother Cedars nurse, Lillian Raines. Phillip, Rick, Mindy and Beth would go through high school together, and then college. They would affectionately be known as the Four Musketeers. Bradley though, with Mindy's unwitting help, would find out the truth about Phillip's birth and tell him before Alan and Justin had a chance too, and for a while Phillip refused to accept both men back in his life. He'd forgive Justin before the end of 1983, but not Alan. Beth would also be raped by Bradley, which would halt the romance building between Phillip and Beth.