Some shows never feel like shows at all. They feel like rooms you used to walk into every afternoon, familiar faces waiting, stories unfolding at the pace of real life. Guiding Light was one of those places for me, and I didn’t even realize how much until years later.
I ran home from school so I wouldn’t miss a moment. The early eighties were the years that stayed with me. Beth, Phillip, Rick and Mindy finding their way. Lujack changing the air in every scene he touched. And Reva beginning her wild rise, impossible and unforgettable, the kind of presence that could tilt the whole town with a single choice. I still remember the day Lujack learned Alexandra Spaulding was his mother. Springfield felt different for a while after that. It was the kind of story that settles in and stays.
I miss that rhythm. I miss the feeling of checking in with a world that kept moving whether I was there or not. The pieces that survive online are scattered now. Whole episodes gone. Storylines broken. Sometimes I scroll through what’s left and feel the loss more than I expect.
Maybe that’s the point. Some stories stay with us even when the show is gone. Some lights don’t go out. They just move into memory and keep glowing there, quiet and steady.
Thank you for reading, liking, lurking, and commenting. You are important!
Featured image crafted with Copilot, supervised by cats.
↬ Copyright © 2026 | KL Hawke & booomcha.com | All Rights Reserved. ↫
27 comments
I can relate to this. When I was a young teen I used to watch Dallas. It is a good memory for me.
Dallas was great! I’m glad it’s a good memory.
[…] Leave a reply The Light that Stayed with Us […]
Thank you, Johnathan!
I didn’t watch it, I was more of a Days fan, racing home to watch it between school and basketball practice. 😊
I’ve heard Days was good, too. There was nothing like trying to get home in time to catch the drama!
And then talk about it that night, or the next day 😊
Right on! So true!
Although I haven’t heard of this one, I know what you mean. My biggest love is the TV series Beauty and the Beast staring Linda Hamilton. I like to go back and watch those. They are not scattered though and easily available to watch.
I am reading other people’s comments and goodness, I recognise some programmes that I forgot about that I have watched, like Dallas, and Knots Landing for example. I have not watched all the episodes with being very young at the time. But enough to remember. More so Dallas than Knots Landing for example. Falcon Crest. I forgot about that one. I know I would have seen some if that with remembering the name.
Beauty and the Beast was an awesome show, and you are not alone in your love for it.
I’m enjoying seeing what shows everyone feels this way about. It’s been fun.
I have enjoyed reading. 😊
I have to admit I have never heard of this show but I think it aired before I came to the US. It sounds like a really great show that you really loved.
It was. Thank you, Thomas.
I never watched The Guiding Light, but my aunt watched it and The Edge of Night every day. A fun memory.
Oh yeah, The Edge of Night was on in the mornings where we lived, I think. My mom watched that one, too.
My mother watched a lot of those shows when I was growing up. Her favorite, if memory serves me (and it frequently does not) was “As the World Turns.” When C and I were young and newlyweds, we recorded “All My Children” for a while and got caught up in that. There was another one I got caught up in for a while, too, but I can’t remember which one. And of course, I loved “Dark Shadows” when I was a teenager. I can still remember Quentin’s theme. 🥰
My mom watched As the World Turns along with Guiding Light. I remember that one well.
Dark Shadows was awesome! 💗🌺
Although I never watched any daytime soaps, I was hooked on a few nighttime ones, so I understand. You totally get drawn into that world! Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest were shows I never missed. To this day, people still talk about the “Who Shot JR?” episode.
I know! That is so true. I was 10 when JR got shot, and I remember being all about who done it. LOL
There are many shows that feel like little rooms in my world to me.
A shared love with my sister was the 1960s series the Avengers, we even went to a fancy dress party as Steed and Mrs Peel. Though this when she she was shy and refused to wear a catsuit…
But many of my shows are ones I watch alone; Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Blake’s 7, Adam Adamant.. but fictional worlds I love
Yes, you definitely get where I’m coming from. It’s amazing how those shows become little rooms we revisit, shared ones and solitary ones alike.
I still like to think Adamant & Georgie Jones are having adventures somewhere, the Boys from the Dwarf will get home etc
I know exactly what you mean. It’s easy to imagine them all still out there, carrying on with their stories. Those worlds never really close once we’ve lived in them a while.
Oh, man! Emma Peel! I had the biggest crush on her when I was a kid!!! And I was a fan of Diana Rigg until she died.
Diana Rigg was amazing!
I can’t add anything to this as I’ve never watched those programs, my equivalent would be science Fiction movies. 😊
Thank you, John. Science fiction movies are great. I love those, too.