Keeping up with the Guiding Light Alumni

This blog will now aim to keep you up-to-date on what is going on with the former GL cast members as they explore new horizons. Many of the stars you loved are involved in new projects, some in the genre, some on stage, while others have ventured on to something completely different! This blog is written and maintained by Tracey and Mike. If you have information you wish to submit for publication please contact one of us and we will consider your request!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Cast Tells Pittsburgh "Keep Fingers Crossed"

ENCOURAGING NEWS!
On Sunday, April 26, 2009 several Guiding Light cast members attended the Young Women's Breast Cancer Research Foundation Gala in Pittsburgh. I have learned from a local resident who attended the event that the cast announced "keep your fingers crossed, there is something in the works!"

Keep those cards and letters going! Keep making those phone calls! Support PGP in its efforts to Keep the Light Shining!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Keep Sending Postcards and Emails

I know it has been quiet out there folks, but do not lose heart. Keep on making those phone calls, sending those postcards and writing those emails. I can assure you that the cast and crew know we are out here, and they know we are doing whatever we can in order to be heard.

I am well aware of the many rumors posted all over the Internet about who is interested, who is not, etc., but at this point that is what they are, rumors.

I will continue to do my best to keep you updated as "new" information comes my way. At this time, I will say that I am being told that P & G are working hard to find us a new home in some form. I have no specifics, no details, no names of potential networks, only the reassurance that P & G is not giving up.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

ON LINE VIEWING CAMPAIGN and Demographic Survey

DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY TO BE SENT TO TPTB

Please take a moment to complete this brief survey. I have asked to be the liaison between the person collecting the data and the studio. We would like to be able to gather as much data as we can to provide PGP/Telenext with information in support of Keeping the Light Shining!

Make Your Viewing Count

As the end of April approaches, and May begins, let's join together and watch Guiding Light online this week! I am not going to specify a time, just suggest that we all tune in online all week in order to be counted. Let's show CBS that we are out here and we do count!

My apologies to my friends abroad and in Canada, I know you cannot participate, but I know you will be with us all in spirit!




KEEP THE LIGHT SHINING ON FACEBOOK

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Saving Our Shows...are we taking the wrong approach?

While surfing the net today I came across this rather interesting article which provides food for thought. We all know that the TV industry makes decisions--on what shows live and die using the antiquated Nielsen Ratings System, and most of us who watch do not count, not really anyway.

If you heard my rantings during my interview on BuzzWorthy Radio a few weeks back, you heard me say that younger people no longer watch television the way we did, in fact many do not watch television at all; they view their shows online at their convenience, not during a scheduled time slot. This is only one gripe I have about the industry still basing decisions on the Nielsen's. Online viewing isn't considered in the Nielsen system, which in my opinion means that the Nielsen system is far from accurate.

Take a look at what this journalist has to say.


Perhaps we all need to tune in to Guiding Light Online!

Don't Give Up Hope

Dear Friends,

I know the past few weeks have been very frustrating. First the announcement that CBS would not be renewing Guiding Light, then the waiting and wondering in hopes that PGP-Telenext can find GL a suitable new home.

I urge you to continue contacting Lifetime, as well as other cable networks such as: Oxygen, WE, USA, etc.

Daytime Confidential is reporting that GL is still in talks with Lifetime, but if they are neither PGP or Lifetime are commenting at this time. They are also reporting that there are other networks on the list who have been showing interest in saving the 72 year old icon.

Keep sending off those postcards, emails and letters. Keep making phone calls if that is what it takes, just keep on being heard. That is what we can do right now, and that is what we need to continue to do until we hear something more definite.

Keep the LIGHT Shining!
TLS

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Write in GL on USA TODAY Save Our Shows Poll

Let USA TODAY know that we want to see Guiding Light saved by writing in GL on their Save Our Shows Poll!!!!!!! Be sure to explain why you want to see GL remain on the air!

Could WE be interested in GL? Some seem to beleive that the Women's Entertainment Network could be on PGP's list of possible new homes for the show. Let WE know how much you would love to see GL picked up! Email them. Send them postcards. It can't hurt!

WE tv
11 Penn Plaza, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10001

CONTACTWE@wetv.com

There is currently a poll on the Lifetime boards. Although Lifetime is insisting that they are not interested in soaps at this time, participating in the poll cannot hurt. The more noise we make, the more we get noticed.

If you read my entry last night (see below) I am a little upset with the two print publications that cover the soaps for what I see as a mistreatment of GL over the past year or so. I encourage everyone to let them know that we the fans still love and believe in GL! I know there was a time they were claiming that the fans were not writing to them in support of the show, but I believe that was an excuse used to cover the fact that they were not publishing letters in praise of the show, only those that supported their opinion.

* SOD Sound Off:
sodsound@sourceinterlink.com

sodopinion@aol.com

* SOW Public Opinion:
spwpubop@sourceinterlink.com

tellus@primedia.com

Keep the LIGHT Shining!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Good-Bye SOD and SOW

This past fall I decided I was not renewing Soap Opera Weekly, or Soap Opera Digest. The main reason, I got tired of being able to stand in line at the local store and read them several days before they arrived in my mailbox.

Today however, I have decided that I will no longer be purchasing either SOD or SOW weekly at the supermarket or newsstand any loner either. Why? Because of the continuous trashing of Guiding Light at every turn. You would think that a publication that is dedicated to the genre would want as many daytime shows to survive as possible considering that it is their bread and butter. Yet both of these publications have done nothing but ignore or trash GL for quite a while now.

Ironically, one medium that is beginning to die off faster than the daytime drama is the print magazine. Some in the industry are predicting that the daytime drama will be gone within as little as five years. So I ask you SOW and SOD, "where is your paycheck going to be coming from when you have effectively helped kill off the genre that supported you for all these years?" I'll bet you think there will be some other publication just waiting to hire you right? Wrong. Publishers are pulling the plug on magazines left and right. Newspapers are shutting down at a rapid rate.

Many tears have been shed since the announcement of CBS's decision not to renew GL, but I can assure you, no one will so much as blink and eye when SOD and SOW are no longer on the rack in the checkout isle.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Beth Chamberlin Interview on DC

Beth Chamberlin talks about the announcement of CBS's decision to cancel GL, what she and other cast members hope the future may hold and her Kettlebell workouts in this hour long interview with Daytime Confidential.
For more information on Beth's DVDs visit Beacon-Fitness.
Don't forget to sign the petition to save Guiding Light. It not contains nearly 11 000 signatures!
Keep the LIGHT Shining!

Friday, April 10, 2009

10 000 plus signatures

Just before 8:00 PM Eastern the petition to save Guiding Light went over the 10 000 signature mark! Keep on signing to show we want the Keep the LIGHT Shining!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

BuzzWorthy Radio: The Campaign to Save Guiding Light

Sign the Online Petition!

Listen to BuzzWorthy Radio to hear the show on the Keep the Light Shining Campaign. The show was broadcast on Wednesday, April 8, 2009.

The Keep the Light Shining Campaign began months before the news came on April 1st, 2009 that CBS was not renewing the show. It was a postcard campaign stemming from a group of fans suggesting that we send a Duracell battery to the studios. When questions began arising about what they would do with all of those batteries at the studio, someone came up with the idea of creating a postcard that incorporated the battery idea and the GL Theme. The next thing you knew fans were creating postcards using many different Proctor and Gamble products and slogans to get their message across..."Keep the Light Shining"!

Above is an example of one such postcard and even baby "Peyton Raines-Spaulding" was not left out.

KEEP WRITING IN SUPPORT OF GL

Join the KEEP THE LIGHT ON CAMPAIGN!
Sign the ONLINE PETITION!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keep-guiding-light-on-air

Guiding Light c/o CBS-TV
51 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019
Print your name, address and phone # on the back of a post card card! We want to flood the studio with our POSITIVE support! Feel free to print the two post card images here!

The phone numbers are:

GL Phone Number :
Register your support by calling the GL Hotline! They are tallying numbers! 1-866-695-1859

CBS Studios in NY 212-975-4321. Please contact lets flood them with messages about GL.

PG and Telenext Media :

P&G Number: P&G 1-513-983-1100

A rep will pick up the phone and will direct you to a message that is played on GL Hotline number for now. Continue listening and press 1 in support of the show, you can also speak to a rep but, that will not talley so call back to speak to a rep.

Proctor and Gamble

Alan Lafley
CEO, Proctor and Gamble
1 P&G Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45201

Greg Ross
Vice President, Media and Programming
Procter & Gamble
One Procter & Gamble Plaza
PO Box 599
Cincinnati, Ohio 45201-0599

Telenext Media

Brian T. Cahill, Sr. V.P., Managing Director for TeleVest Daytime Programs
Procter & Gamble Productions c/o Televest
World Wide Plaza
825 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10019

Ph : 212-474-5888

newbusiness@telenextmedia.
com

http://telenextmedia.com/#/contact/

Alan Locher Sr. Publicist
alan.locher@telenextmedia.com
Ph : 212-474-5815

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Beth Chamberlin Invites Fans to Write Letters in Support of GL and PGP!


Beth Chamberlin's Letter Writing Campaign and News from Peapack

This message was copied with permission from Beth Chamberlin OFC:
http://bethchamberlinunplugged.yuku.com/topic/1364
===============================================================
Since this message concerns letters to help save Guiding Light, if you would like to copy it to other messages boards, please feel free to do so.
===============================================================

Beth Chamberlin has advised her Fan Club that she and some of the other actors have been very moved by the heartfelt letters and emails received from their fans concerning the cancellation of Guiding Light.
They plan to print these messages about the show, the characters and what Guiding Light means to the viewers and deliver them to Ellen Wheeler and P&G. The Fan letters can be a way of giving fuel to the fight to save the show.
If you would like to participate in this effort please email your thoughts and comments about Guiding Light to Beth at BethChamberlinOFC@yahoo.com as soon as possible and her fan club presidents will forward those emails to her.
This way you can be sure your letters will be hand delivered to Ellen Wheeler and Procter & Gamble.
Diane and Laura

Another sign that PGP is NOT Ready to Give Up
Click Here

Monday, April 6, 2009

BuzzWorthy Radio

Listen and call into BuzzWorthy Radio this Wednesday night at 10:30 PM Eastern as I join Na'Vell J. Lee to talk about the fan efforts to Keep the Light Shining!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/buzzworthyradio

Friday, April 3, 2009

CALL THE GL HOTLINE!

CALL THE SHOW AND REGISTER YOUR SUPPORT!1-866-695-1859-Listen to the menu options!


P&G is rumored to be talking to Soapnet. Contact Soapnet and ask them to keep Guiding Light on the air!Contact InformationSOAPnet, LLC500 S. Buena Vista St.Burbank, CA 91521-6078CA Tel. 818-560-1000Fax 818-560-1930They have also posted an article on their site about it where you can post comments. You have to register to post.

http://soapnet.go.com/soapnet/article/path-articleNum_22464/category_shows/subcategory_guidinglight

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Write and Call PGP!

I have been told that Proctor and Gamble wants to hear from us! Write them and call them!
The information was posted in yesterday's entry!

I received this note from Alan Locher today:

Tracey -
Thanks so much for all the support. It's a difficult time for all of us together (fans, cast, crew - all of us).
I appreciate all the work.
Alan

Here is another creative way to support and show the love for GL!
Kudos for this one!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

CBS Cancels Guiding Light-Fans Unite

I know our hearts are all feeling a bit low this evening upon hearing the news we did not want to hear, that CBS would not be renewing Guiding Light.

Please feel free to post comments. I will post more later, but my inbox has been going non-stop since word broke!


Here is the contact info for TeleNext and Proctor and Gamble. They are shopping for a new home for GL. Let them know that we want GL on the air. Make sure you let CBS know how disappointed you are in their decision, as well.

Please Sign the Online Petition!

The Procter & Gamble Company
1 or 2, Procter & Gamble Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45201
Phone: 1-513-983-1100

Alan Lafley
CEO, Proctor and Gamble
1 P&G Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45201

Brian T. Cahill, Sr. V.P., Managing Director for TeleVest Daytime Programs
Procter & Gamble Productions c/o Televest
World Wide Plaza
825 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10019
newbusiness@telenextmedia.com

Meredith Eden Ring, Publicity Coordinator
Guiding Light
Televest Daytime
World Wide Plaza
825 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10019

Greg Ross
Vice President, Media and Programming
Procter & Gamble
One Procter & Gamble Plaza
PO Box 599
Cincinnati, Ohio 45201-0599

PGP e-mail: comments.im@pg.com

Telenext : 212-474-5888