World’s Longest TV Drama Canceled after 72 Years

I’ve never seen the daytime soap opera Guiding Light, but I’ve always known about it.  What I didn’t know is that the Guinness Book of World Records lists it as the longest-running television drama.  According to CNN, the series is finally going to shut down after 72 years.

I thought it was a misprint when I first saw that it was 72 years old; after all, television itself is barely 72 years old.  However, Guiding Light actually first started as a radio show in 1937 and then later moved to TV in 1952.  One could say that it needed a new medium to take it to the next level.  Even that timeline is long–if it’s radio life was a continuous run, it had 15 years of life on radio alone.  That radio time alone would probably make it older than most TV shows.

Talk about old.  I have a lot of respect for people who stay in the game for that long, but as we’ve been discussing with regards to the 44s, sometimes it’s best to leave with a bang and a legacy.