‘Guiding Light’: Some sudsy trivia
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GUIDING LIGHT FINALE The longest-running soap opera is signing off, but you can catch up on the history, watch clips and share memories online. MORE • 'Guiding Light' says goodbye -- will more soaps follow? • Some familiar faces have graced 'Guiding Light' • Personal feelings on 'Guiding Light' • 'Guiding Light': Some sudsy trivia |
Fun facts
"Soap operas" were called such because the early dramas that aired on radio had soap manufacturers as sponsors. Procter & Gamble still owns "Guiding Light."The show has some Richmond connections. In the early '00s, Monacan High School graduate Richard J. Mensing Jr. was named vice president of daytime programs for CBS Entertainment and specifically monitored "Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns." (Barbara Bloom now holds the position.)
On a June weekend in 2006, stars from "GL" -- including Kim Zimmer (Reva Shayne Lewis), Robert Newman (Josh Lewis) and Bradley Cole (Jeffrey O'Neill) -- appeared at Kings Dominion for CBS' "Superstar Weekend."
And in September 1981, stars Jerry ver Dorn (Ross Marler) and Elvera Roussel (Hope Spaulding) made three stops in the Richmond area.
"Guiding Light" is history's longest-running soap opera, with "As the World Turns," which debuted in 1956, taking that title Friday. The shortest-lived show? NBC's "These Are My Children," which lasted 24 days in 1949.
Actresses Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer) and Jessica Leccia (Natalia Rivera) play the resident same-sex couple on "Guiding Light." The characters are so popular among younger viewers that Chappell wanted "GL" execs to move them to "As the World Turns." They refused, so now, Chappell will debut a Web series in November called "Venice," in which she'll play a single, gay career woman. (The "GL" characters are copyrighted and cannot be used.)
-- Melissa Ruggieri
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