Why the show failed

I think it is because they had some really bad writers and other crew members. I really think that the show could of done a lot better then what it did. I could of thought of a lot more storylines for actors then what David Krizeman (or whatever his last name is) did. Then it was Ellen Wheeler who I think really killed the show.

The main thing with the show was the writing, the camera work, and the acting. It was like most of the times the actors were acting on next to nothing. Oh, and that pitiful rock music they used to play. The main focus of that was to attract in younger viewers. As a younger viewer: That music was awful. I watch old soaps that had been off for a long time some before I was born, and watching the episodes that led up to their conclusion was better written, and better acted. If other P&G soaps lasted until around the late 2000's like SFT,EON, or AW, they would all probably been as bad as GL was in it's last few years.

The show took a big risk in 2008 when it switched over to the new production format (hand-held cameras, more shots on location rather than on a set, etc...). I know the producers claimed this was done in order to give the show a more "real" quality and they were hoping it would "revolutionize" day-time soaps, but instead it turned out to be the straw that broke the camels back. The show was not only shot on a shoe-string budget the last two years, but it came across that way as well.

I think the title of this topic should be "Why these shows failed" because it wasn't just Guiding Light that failed, it was a lot of the others as well...and those that are still going are slowly dying.

I think these shows failed due to multiple reasons, not just one cause. First of all, the changing face of America and the American family. When these shows were at their height was probably the 70's to the mid 80's. At that time most mothers stayed at home during the day and were "stay at home moms". They were home and what did they have no television at that time? There were three major networks to choose from and that was it.

In the late 80's, mothers began to leave the house and go out and work as a necessity due to economic strains and the need for independence itself. So at that time, more and more families were gone during the day.

At this time, cable was exploding and this carried into the 90's. Look at daytime television now, there is are numerous networks and shows to choose. It's not just the big three any longer. This is another reason the ratings began to decline.

Finally, the shows themselves forgot who their audience was. And as many have said here they began trying to appeal too much to younger audiences and this was NEVER their audience. When is the last time you met a 16-18 year old worry about which laundry detergent to buy or which dish washing liquid was the best? If you find a kid that age worrying about that, I'll give you a million dollars. Yeah, young people may watch the shows, but they aren't the main audience and they never have been.

Again add poor and outlandish writing and not keeping up with the current situation of America and the world. It was just one recycled plot after another.

I know I was born gay because my first sentence was, 'Get those boobs outta my face!'

There are only a few soaps around today. The last several years that Guiding Light was around the writing was AWFUL. The writers destroyed several beloved characters, and had some really hideous, nonsensical plot lines. But in the end, what has done in all the soaps are a combination of financial concerns and changes in the American lifestyle.

It's a lot cheaper to produce talk shows or games shows than it is soaps.

Also, the primary audience for daytime soaps was always housewives (along with high school kids and college students.) Most women are employed outside the home these days, so the stalwart audience of steady viewers had dwindled considerably. FWIW, there seems to be an audience for night time soaps such as Revenge, Gossip Girl and a resurgent Dallas.

GL and a host of other soaps started in the era of devoted homemakers and during the 80's through 90's it appealed to younger viewers by exploring dramatic topics. The writing for this show also had some very "bizarre" twists with character resurrections and extending some characters beyond the natural life of its actor. Some characters had gone through three or four actors/actresses while others were written-off when actor/actress left.

Also, killing this daytime genre is emergence of reality tv and talk tv. Game shows and soaps which were the predominant fare leading into the 90's would be competing with cable tv movie channels, independent stations syndicating talk tv and reruns, and cable news. P&G and Colgate--the prime sponsors of daytime serials, at the time--also found additional media channels for product placement as the audience for serials took on daytime jobs and daytime activities away from television.

Some networks tried shifting daytime serials to prime time, but don't recall it having success against prime-time serials. Daytime serials generally had slowly evolving stories--plodding day by day, while prime-time shows were geared for weekly running with swiftly moving stories.

Yes, the inability to hold on to fan-favorite stars, and writing out classic characters, contributed greatly to Guiding Light's demise. But I think there are two other big factors that hastened that demise.

First, they got away from what made the show great in the first place. While GL had its share of impossibly rich and beautiful people behaving badly (like all soaps), its appeal was in the Midwestern setting, with characters that might remind you of yourself and your family. Once Reva and Cassie became queens and princesses of remote islands, viewers fled in droves.

Second, they reacted to the general decline in soap viewership in a fashion that was way too extreme. The hand-held, low-tech cameras and non-studio settings were supposed to serve the dual purpose of cutting the budget AND trying something new and innovative, which might have roped in some new viewers. Ultimately, these experiments were a disaster, resulting in a show that had a garish and unpleasant look. No other soap picked up these "innovations," and with good reason. Nobody liked it.

I miss GL a lot; it was always my favorite soap. But I slowly started to lose interest around the late '90s and early 2000s, and by the time it ended, it was a wreck that did not resemble the GL of old at all.

I think the show failed because of reality TV. What the 401K was to the defined benefit pension so the reality show became to the soap - a cheap yet overly hyped competitor that was actually a shoddy replacement. Networks wanted soaps to be cheaply produced just because of their reality TV competitors. Thus the sets began to look cheap and the production just got shoddy and rushed. This lost viewers and gave the networks what they wanted in the first place - a reason to boot the expensive soaps in favor of the very cheap reality shows. When soaps first came on the air up until the turn of the 21st century, you would HAVE to script this type of material, for it was considered shameful to behave such a way in public and talk about your behavior to total strangers to boot. Not so today. You've got people lined up around the block for their chance at their five minutes of fame even if that five minutes has them remembered for behaving like rutting pigs before a national audience.