CBS Has Cancelled The Guiding Light After 72 Years

[sandik]

I'm of two minds, dirac, as to why the level of creative talent behind the cameras disappeared.

My first thought is that, with the advent of cable television in the 1980s, more and more opportunites became available to talented writers and producers to work on scripted shows; thereby diluting the talent pool that had existed up to that time. Furthermore, the advent of more channels and scripted shows meant that writers could find work which didn't carry the "stigma" of a "women's genre" (sort of like the "stigma" which applied to the "women's pictures" of the 1950s.) (Curiously, as the major networks move further and further away from scripted shows in favor of reality shows, game shows and variety shows, you would think that enterprising agents in New York and Hollywood would try to find work for unemployed and underemployed writing clients with the soaps. Talk about a win-win situation -- the soaps get new blood and the writers get employment!)

I think you've put your finger on a big element in this development -- scripted drama is on the wane everywhere, it seems, as our attention is diverted by other electronic media, and television is increasingly full of semi-reality programming. On the one hand, media is becoming increasingly specialized, with women's channels, men's channels, children's channels, etc, but the whole paradigm for drama is undergoing a sea change, not unlike the shift from radio to television mentioned above -- I'm still wondering how it will play out over the next several years.

And yes, Gunsmoke is an excellent example of that kind of change. My father had been a faithful listener of the radio show, but never adjusted to the television program. "They looked all wrong."

[Helene]

And yes, Gunsmoke is an excellent example of that kind of change. My father had been a faithful listener of the radio show, but never adjusted to the television program. "They looked all wrong."

It's like watching the animated version of comic strips or the film/TV/theater version of books: they rarely sound or look like the characters in your head. (Snoopy does not sound like that.)

I spent most weekends with my maternal grandparents until I was about 12. When I was 4, my grandfather bought a store that was open until 10pm. By the time he locked up, and we drove to their apartment, it was time for the 10:30pm commercials. I spend nearly every Saturday night of my childhood watching the second half of "Gunsmoke". (I don't know when I had time to follow all of those soaps!).

[dirac]

One running gag of the Jack Benny radio show was his receding hairline. Then the move to television and everyone could see that Jack’s hair was in pretty good shape, so that was the end of that joke.

scripted drama is on the wane everywhere, it seems, as our attention is diverted by other electronic media, and television is increasingly full of semi-reality programming.

I”m not sure I’d say that scripted drama is on the wane, exactly. It’s moved around. The networks have more or less given up on made for TV films, miniseries, and the kind of serious drama traditionally reserved for the 10:00 pm slot (NBC moving Leno to that slot is a sign of the times, I think). But more and more of it has been relegated to cable – HBO, smaller outfits such as Showtime, and other cable networks produce their own dramatic series and movies.

Just as, say, Balanchine's heirs and successors continue to make inferior and watered-down copies of the master's originals, so too do the current crop of soap writers and producers churn out inferior riffs on prior work done by such masters as Agnes Nixon, Doug Marland and Pam Long.

Makes you wonder what might happen if a talented young writer/producer turned up with some new ideas - could s/he defy trends and market forces?

[carbro]

And yes, Gunsmoke is an excellent example of that kind of change. My father had been a faithful listener of the radio show, but never adjusted to the television program. "They looked all wrong."

It's like watching the animated version of comic strips or the film/TV/theater version of books: they rarely sound or look like the characters in your head. (Snoopy does not sound like that.)

Exactly -- well, almost exactly -- the example that sprang to my mind when I read sandik's Gunsmoke reference. Just that Lucy didn't sound like that. The tv Peanuts specials were very uncomfortable for me, because they turned familiar characters into aliens, just by giving them voices.

Kristin Chenoweth brought the perfect Lucy voice to You're a Good Man Charlie Brown on Broadway in 1998. Too bad she played Sally.