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Guiding Light Discussion Group
My name is Amy. I'm the one who made the 9-part tribute video series to GL at YouTube.
SoapNet is a lost cause. They no longer show classic soaps, and haven't for two going on three years.
But we do have another option, I believe.
I'm also a fan of Another World, and I and many, many others were devastated when SoapNet yanked the show away from us two years ago with no warning--we only knew they were taking it off because they started showing promos for The OC, which they replaced it with, and because when checking the schedule online, we discovered that Another World wasn't on it anywhere. We decided that we weren't going to take it lying down, so we launched a campaign to get our show back. SoapNet ignored us completely, except to say that they were sure we would grow to love The OC once we started watching that. (Yeah, right! I personally know 6 people, plus myself, who canceled their subscriptions to SoapNet when it became apparent they were going to disregard us completely.) But P&G--now TeleNext Media--did not ignore us at all!
When we first contacted TeleNext (I'm just going to call them that because that's what they are now) the week AW stopped airing on SoapNet, they were very understanding and very cooperative. They told us that it was not their decision to pull the show, but SoapNet's. We were polite, firm, and specific: please find a way to give us back Another World, and pick up right where SoapNet left off so we don't miss anything. We did a postcard and e-mail campaign to all the bigwigs at both TeleNext and P&G's corporate headquarters in Cincinnati.
And it worked! It took several months, but in the end, it was completely worth the wait, because TeleNext, in association with Hulu.com, gave us back Another World, AND they picked up right where SoapNet left off! In fact, they started with the last episode SoapNet aired--May 10, 1991--and they have continued going on, adding episodes one to three at a time every week (sometimes every two weeks because of holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas). They're still adding episodes. As of this week, we are up to the February 20, 1992 episode. Each episode is approximately 43 minutes in length, with a few scattered commercial breaks throughout.
Best of all, Hulu is a free service! It doesn't cost you anything to go there and watch the episodes, and you can even have an account there if you want to, although you don't have to.
http://www.hulu.com/another-world is the home page for the Another World episodes.
Now, Hulu is only available in the United States BUT the good news is, for those who live in Canada, Australia, or other points outside the U.S., TeleNext also posts the episodes at YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/user/TeleNextMedia
Now, getting to Guiding Light, the real point here...TeleNext is already posting episodes of GL at Hulu and YouTube BUT they're episodes from 2007-2008. Given the choice, we would rather go back a lot further than that. And because of Another World, there IS a precedent set. But we lobbied for it. We let TeleNext and P&G know that we didn't want to lose our show permanently again, AND we specified where we wanted them to pick it back up: right where SoapNet was leaving off.
There was an all-too-brief time that AOL hosted classic episodes of long-cancelled P&G soaps The Edge of Night, Search for Tomorrow, Texas, and Another World from the early '80s back in 2008. Those episodes spanned a time frame from 1981 (Another World) to 1984 (Search for Tomorrow). Going by that, it is safe and logical to operate under the thesis that P&G and TeleNext have from at least mid-1981 onward in their vaults AND have the capability of putting it online. Also, there were no missing episodes in there, and we were told that the reason they had started where they did with Another World, Edge of Night, and Search for Tomorrow is because that was where they could start and not have anything missing. It's important not to have any missing episodes, especially in the '80s.
So much happened in 1983 that that seemed to me to be the earliest, most major starting point with the greatest likelihood of no missing episodes, which is why I suggested it. Once they start, they can just keep right on going, as they do with 1991 and now 1992 Another World. It's important that we all specify that we want the same starting point, because that's what worked with regard to getting Another World back.
In 1983, all of the following happened in Springfield:
--Maureen Reardon and Ed Bauer got married.
--Nola Reardon and Quinton Chamberlain got married.
--Phillip, Beth, Mindy, and Rick became the Four Musketeers, went to the prom, and by the end of the year were in New York City running from Bradley Raines.
--Reva Shayne arrived in town.
--Phillip learned that Justin and Jackie Marler were his biological parents.
--Prior to Nola and Quint's wedding, Nola and Vanessa had their Scarlett O'Hara dress catfight at Nola and Quint's engagement party.
--The Bauers, the Reardons, the Spauldings, the Lewises, and the Chamberlains were all major presences and involved in frontburner stories.
And of course, as with Another World 1991 going into 1992 when they got to the end of the year, when they got to the end of 1983, they would keep going with 1984, the year in which Alexandra Spaulding arrived, Alan Spaulding was presumed dead in San Rios, Billy and Vanessa got married for the first time, Josh and Reva had their first go-round, Reva married H.B., Josh crashed his car and was temporarily paralyzed and got the "Life itself is a miracle" pep talk from Bert in physical therapy, Bert lost part of her leg and got a prosthesis she named Edith, Phillip had to marry Mindy because he got her pregnant, Lujack and Beth got together, and Reva baptized herself the Slut of Springfield in the country club fountain in front of Josh.
And on and on and on, right through the rest of the '80s and into the early '90s, if we can prove that there is an audience there that really wants this era of the show back and that we will lobby for it, like the Another World fans lobbied to get their show back.
I was heavily involved in the Another World campaign, and I would like to launch a campaign to get classic Guiding Light online, starting with January 1983. But the more fans who participate, the better the odds that we will get what we want eventually. Since it took several months for them to get Another World from 1991 online, I'm sure it would take at least that long for Guiding Light, but maybe by next April or May, we could be in Bert's living room watching Ed and Maureen say "I do," or at the prom with the Four Musketeers. What do you say? Is there enough interest to get up a campaign to let TeleNext Media know that the audience and the interest are there, and we want classic GL from the '80s onward online at Hulu and YouTube?
Here's the Hulu Guiding Light page, if anyone wants to check it out: http://www.hulu.com/guiding-light
And http://www.youtube.com/user/TeleNextMedia is the place to go at YouTube for the 2007-08 episodes of Guiding Light, as well as 1991-92 Another World, and also 2007-08 episodes of As the World Turns, which are also at Hulu.
The precedent is there because of Another World.
The audience and the interest are here.
Now we have to make the audience and the interest work to get TeleNext to honor the precedent and put classic Guiding Light online as they are doing with classic Another World.
Is anyone here interested in participating in a campaign to let TeleNext, P&G, and Hulu know that we want classic episodes of Guiding Light online, and is January 1983 an agreeable starting point to specify when writing them? The Another World fans did it, and I have to believe that we Guiding Light fans have a chance of doing it too. We'll certainly never have a chance if we don't at least try.
Wonderful, TributeMaker. Thanks for the ongoing Herculean effort. Greatly appreciated.
As is the trend, I also think 1978 is the place to start if we can pull that off. 1978-1980 are critical Guiding Light years relative to continuity, content and overall excellence. 1980 was truly a banner year for the show - rather incredible at times. The sincerity of Guiding Light back then would stun some modern day viewers. That in itself would fascinate.
So all that said, if 1978 proves too early, then I say let's push for January, 1980.
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I must commend you for all your efforts and for all the time and thought you have put into this. I certainly would like to paticipate in any petition of yours.
I was thinking about the TV channel that has all old, (old? ancient!), TV shows. I forget the name of it, but we see old Andy Griffith shows, etc. on it over and over for forever and forever. Too bad they can't show soaps.
Another comment: Look at "Mad Men". If that isn't a soap, I'll eat it. And look at the awards it has received. It just hows that the concept is not dead. And with good writing it would survive.
Just some thoughts of mine, an old timer, a day late and a dollar short, but mourning GL.
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First we need to decide on an alternative date. 1978 is, going by the responses already received, the first choice for a starting era/year. Are we going with January 1978, or some other month? And if there are missing episodes/breaks in continuity, what is everyone's choice for an alternative starting month/year?
Once we decide that, we have three avenues to pursue: Hulu; TeleNext Media; and P&G Corporate in Cincinnati. For the Another World campaign, we both sent postcards and wrote e-mails. I'm in the process of tracking down both e-mail and snail mail addresses for all three, although right now I only have an e-mail address for Hulu, but I think it's a very important e-mail address, as it's the e-mail address of the content acquisition team, which, Hulu's website very clearly states, is the place to write to request additional programming. Also, if anyone has a YouTube account, you can send private messages via YouTube directly to TeleNext Media requesting episodes of GL that go way further back than 2007, which is where they started.
Also, we need as many people involved as possible if we're going to successfully pull this off. They have to know that the audience is out there, and that we want this, and that we will watch at Hulu, or at YouTube if you live outside the United States. One thing I think we do have in our favor is that channels are already established at both Hulu and YouTube for full episodes of Guiding Light. Our objective is to get them to post episodes from a much earlier era than the ones they're posting currently. Again, there's sort of a precedent, because while they have made no moves in that direction as of yet, there have been a couple of people (literally two, at last count, though I admit, I wasn't one of them, since my first choice is the era currently being shown) at the Another World Hulu board that have requested early '80s episodes, so it's not totally unheard of over there, at least.
First things first: is January 1978 first choice? And what is the runner-up choice?
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Tributemaker, you are great! Wonderful ideas.
And congrats to you for proving rosebud wrong when she always claims that P&G/Telenext wants nothing to do with distributing old soaps. P&G has certainly proven that they are willing to try it, especially on Hulu and the P&G soaps channel that they had until recently. And yes, it was Soapnet that pulled AW off their schedule and P&G couldn't do anything about it.