The Guiding Light

The Guiding Light was a long-running soap opera heard on the radio from 1937 to 1949, when it transitioned to television and continued to air for another 60 years. It follows the experiences of several families and their friends in a fictional suburb of Chicago. Its title refers to the "guiding light" of a candle on the desk of the Reverend John Rutledge, one of the leading characters.

I came to understand the enduring appeal of soap operas many years ago, when I was dating a fan of television's The Young and the Restless; we would tape it and watch it in the evening. I realized that the stuff that happens to soap opera characters (with the exception of fits of amnesia, I guess) happens to real people in real life. The difference is that, in real life, it doesn't just happen to the same three people over and over again.

Soap operas also cleverly have several subplots going simultaneously, so that there are good odds members of the audience will get hooked on at least one of them. Another trick I noticed is that, as school summer vacation approaches, the stories involving younger members of the cast become more prominent, then fade back down as the new school year starts. The other oddity is that a day can take two weeks of episodes to play out, but Thanksgiving and Christmas always come on time.

Learn more at Wikipedia.

Oh yes, and speaking of The Young and the Restless, even though I haven't watched it for years, Victor is still my hero.

Series description provided by Frank Bell.