With the exception of As the World Turns, which debuted in 1956, the others have been on the air since the early sixties and seventies. Guiding Light is the oldest of this aging pack, while the relatively nubile Bold and the Beautiful (22) is the youngest. Currently, eight soaps air on the big three American networks: Days of Our Lives (NBC), The Young and the Restless (CBS), General Hospital (ABC), Bold and the Beautiful (CBS), All My Children (ABC), One Life to Live (ABC), Guiding Light (CBS) and As the World Turns (CBS). The series began as a 15-minute radio drama in the 1930s, and made the leap to TV in the 1950s. Guiding Light can trace its origins back to the very inception of the soap opera.

But news of the show's demise offers an opportunity to take stock of the soap opera as a cultural form. Forced retirement isn't the worst thing for a 72-year-old, especially one with more than 15,000 episodes under her belt.

In March, CBS announced it's cancelling the 72-year-old soap, and will air its final episode on Sept. Springfield, the faux midwestern town that serves as backdrop to CBS's Guiding Light, is one of TV's oldest hometowns - but not for long. Often considered an arcane form of entertainment for the vanishing species known as the 'housewife,' the soap opera has always engaged with the outside world.

My mother has watched Days of Our Lives for over three decades now, which means I've been a viewer from conception. Genoa City, Salem, Pine Valley - do any of these towns sound familiar? They're the settings for the soap operas The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives and All My Children, respectively, and these vibrantly populated pockets of drama, romance and absurdity are second homes to many viewers. The 72-year-old program will air its final episode on Sept. A scene from the afternoon soap opera Guiding Light.

Guiding light soap opera news