Tina Sloan, Guiding Light
After 72 years on radio and television, Guiding Light is going dim.
Veteran cast member Tina Sloan sympathizes with viewers she expects to be devastated by the show's airing of its final episode Friday. But she thinks fans will share her thrill about how the show told its final stories.
Check out photos of the Guiding Light cast
"I think the fans are going to be ecstatic," Sloan tells TVGuide.com. Sloan uses the same word to describe her feelings about the marriage of her character, Lillian Raines, who somehow remained single for nearly all of her 26 years on the show.
"She fell in love with Buzz (Justin Deas) two years ago and started having fun," Sloan says. "It was a different note for her; she's always been the caregiver, the generous nurse, the loving mother and grandmother. When she met Buzz, he just made her laugh, and there was a different note in her personality. And she embraced it, and I think they celebrated that in the wedding.
"These marriages were just lovely," she continues. "We're all having these happily-ever-after, Cinderella endings, which is a real treat for everybody, including the actors. We're all going off happy to be happy, and I would hate to go off not happy."
Head writer Jill Lorie Hurst says the writing staff's major goal was to wrap up the show's immense history in a way that gave closure, but not too much...
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Eric Roberts
Crash
10/9c Starz!
The second season gets underway with a compelling and involving episode that introduces new characters and catches up with some from Season 1. Front and center is the riveting Dennis Hopper as former entertainment mogul Ben Cendars, who's back in L.A. after months in rehab. He's on a driven mission to find out who killed his youngest daughter. Among the new faces, Eric Roberts stands out as visionary tycoon Seth Blanchard, who's bound and determined to bring an NFL franchise to the city.
Read on for previews of Guiding Light, the 2009 ALMA Awards, Eureka, Monk and Dog Whisperer.
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Vanessa Williams
Forget Ellen and Tyra — Guiding Light and a bunch of Muppets are set to take center stage at Sunday's 36th Daytime Emmy Awards.
Hosted by Vanessa Williams, the show will honor two daytime staples during the broadcast — one of which is bidding farewell. Light, which ends its run on ...
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Wayne Brady
As one piece of television history dies, another is being revived: CBS will replace Guiding Light, television's longest-running drama, with a revamped version of the classic game show Let's Make a Deal, the network announced Monday.
Watch free, full episodes of Guiding Light online
The new game show will be hosted by comedian/actor ...
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Daniel Cosgrove and Marcy Rylan
Barely a day after CBS announced a Sept. 18 series finale for Guiding Light, there is talk that the long-running daytime drama might find a way to run a bit longer, somewhere else. Get the latest word from Marcy Rylan (Lizzie) and Daniel Cosgrove (Bill), after the jump.
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Kim Zimmer and Robert Newman
Capping years of speculation about Guiding Light's livelihood and amid new rumors of its imminent cancellation, CBS has announced a Sept. 18, 2009, end date for the long-running serial.
Come that fateful Friday, GL will have spanned 72 years and delivered more than 15,700 episodes on television and radio.
What might replace the Light? And which sudser is next in line to be worried about? Make the jump for the full story.
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Daniel Cosgrove and Marcy Rylan
Hoping to escape from the familial oppression that comes part and parcel with being in Springfield, Guiding Light's Bill and Lizzie will make a break for it and head south for some fun in the sun at Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of Adventure and Universal CityWalk.
The scenes, to be taped on location the week of March 16, will air over multiple episodes in mid- to late April.
Alas, being a sudser, the young'uns won't be alone for long as they attempt to rekindle their love. Ultimately following them to the Sunshine State and cramping their style will be Phillip, Shayne, Beth, Alan, Remy and Dinah, to name just a few interlopers.
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Springfield's "prodigal son" returns when Guiding Light vet Grant Aleksander steps back into the role of Phillip Spaulding on Monday, Feb. 9. But why now, after staying away for several years?
"He finally feels like he's healthy and stable enough," Aleksander says in this video Q&A. "he may have issues to deal with [but] he's here to make amends."
Watch and discuss our full interview with Aleksander and leading lady Beth Chamberllin, after the jump.
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In this special video made available to TVGuide.com, Guiding Light vet Ron Raines, who plays Alan Spaulding, shares his thoughts on Grant Aleksander's Feb. 9 return to the show as Phillip Spaulding. Phillip, Alan's son, died in November 2004, only to have it be revealed not long after that he was, in fact, alive ... somewhere.
"I am absolutely thrilled to have my friend Grant Aleksander back in Springfield," Raines says. "I think the story is going to be terrific and very exciting for the fans. There are a lot of surprises — even some that I don't know!"
But will Alan share his portrayer's enthusiasm? "Is Alan to happy to have Phillip back? That's another story," Raines teases. "He doesn't know if his son is going to be an ally ... or an obstacle."
Watch the whole video after the jump.
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Jeff Branson — whom you likely know as All My Children's Jonathan Lavery, but who also guested on CBS' Guiding Light a few years back as a "young" Alan Spaulding — is back on GL, this time inhabiting the role of Shayne Lewis. The thing is, thus far Shayne is going by another name over in Germany, effectively eluding Dinah's radar.
Why the chicanery? Get the inside scoop on that and Shayne's plans to confront ex-girlfriend Marina, in the video after the jump.
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