Week of April 24: Guiding Light and a look at Eight Is Enough

Here's hoping that some way can be found to save "Guiding Light," the longest-running soap opera. Since it started on radio in 1937 and has continued on television, the Internet should be the next logical spot for it.

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The death of Thomas Braden, distinguished columnist and political commentator, puts renewed focus on his best-known book: "Eight Is Enough," on which the long-running television series was based.

The series, which ran on ABC from 1976 to 1982 and starred Dick Van Patten, has not yet been released on DVD.

The lead character was named Thomas Bradford, and he was a columnist in Sacramento. The names of the children (David, Mary, Joannie, Susan, Nancy, Elizabeth, Tommy and Nicholas) stayed the same from the book.

In real life, Braden's wife, Joan, actually died just a few years ago. During the series, Diana Hyland was hired to play Joan Bradford, but died of cancer not long after the show began. Betty Buckley, who has since made it big on Broadway, was hired to play Tom Bradford's second wife, Abby.

Here's a link to the original opening theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOtgG-VpXfo

And here's hoping the series gets released on DVD soon.

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!