After 72 Years, CBS Axes Guiding Light

Working women, reality TV, and 24-hour news, among other things

(NEWSER) - With the Sept. 17 finale of As the World Turns looming—and View clone The Talk ready to replace it—only six soap operas are still on the air. The genre is weak and possibly headed for extinction, largely because ad spending is in freefall. Advertising Age tries to figure out why and comes up with three theories:

• Women have other things to do: The target audience for daytime drama is women, who are increasingly employed outside the home and often outearning their spouses.

Soap ends 54-year run in September

(NEWSER) - CBS is canceling As the World Turns, ending a soap saga that has run for more than half a century. The last episode will air in September. The network's move, coming 3 months after the cancellation of Guiding Light, will leave just six soap operas on the air—and ABC's One Life to Live is rumored to be next, Entertainment Weekly reports. More»

James Franco's guest stint highlights shows thuggery

(NEWSER) - Sure, it’s weird that James Franco is guest starring on General Hospital—but what’s weirder is that the soap is one of the small screen’s most violent creations, even by daytime television’s dubious standards. It stopped being a show about a hospital long ago, writes Willa Paskin for DoubleX , and now focuses on thugs—of whom Franco will be the latest—and their murders, rapes, and love affairs. More»

Yes, viewers at home, he does take off his shirt

(NEWSER) - Anderson Cooper, who has braved angry mobs in Egypt, faced potential radiation poisoning in Japan, and rescued a bloodied child in Haiti, shows a decidedly less hard-hitting side on his new daytime show . Case in point: On the second episode of Anderson yesterday, Coop went for a spray tan with—who else?—Jersey Shore star Snooki. (Lest you forget, AC has mocked Snooks more than once on his primetime show.) Both New York and Gawker seemed to take away one major thing from the segment: Cooper took off his shirt! More»

Fishburne out as chief of Las Vegas crew

(NEWSER) - Ted Danson's new role won't involve as many hijinks as Cheers, but there'll still be plenty of late nights. The actor is joining CSI next season as the graveyard shift supervisor at the Las Vegas crime lab. Laurence Fishburne is leaving the show and CBS had considered actors including Tony Shaloub, Robin Williams, and John Lithgow for the role before settling on Danson, sources tell Entertainment Weekly . More»