No more light to guide

Well, I knew this day would happen eventually. They're pulling the plug on "The Guiding Light." After 72 years, a run that predates television, CBS is canceling the longest-running television drama in history.

The final episode is set for Sept. 18. It began as a 15-minute serial on NBC Radio on Jan. 25, 1937, and debuted on CBS TV in 1952, focusing on the fictional town of Springfield and the Spaulding, Lewis and Cooper families.

“Guiding Light” had the lowest ratings of the eight daytime dramas on the air. When it leaves, CBS and ABC will have three weekday soap operas, with NBC having one.

We all have skeletons in our closet, and here's one I'm shaking out. I used to watch a couple of them, but never "Guiding Light." During the summer of my college days when I'd come home from work at the farm after 12 p.m. for lunch, I started watching "One Life to Live."

Then, oh, about 15 years or so when I was working a lot of nights in sports, somehow, and I don't know how, I started watching "The Young and the Restless" at 11 a.m. I haven't see either show in years, but I bet if I did, it would be like I hadn't missed a thing.

Of course, this is just between us. If anyone blabs about this, I'll deny it.