This week, Guiding Light, television's longest running serial program, turns the page to a new chapter in its history: The 53-year old soap will unveil a new opening for the show, a new theme song and a new show logo.The new opening, which debuted on Monday, November 14th, strays slightly from the recent trend of featuring photos of actors accompanied by their names or their character names. Instead, the new opening montage features select Guiding Light characters in a variety of sets, situations and couplings.Guiding Light's executive producer, Ellen Wheeler, directed the series of vignettes, urging her actors to think of them as "in character acting exercises" showing off different moods and aspects of their characters. Actors were given the chance to improvise bits of business ranging from the dramatic - Gus and Harley enjoying a romantic champagne toast, to the comedic - Dinah and Mallet offering their version of "Taming of the Shrew" to the sexy - Tammy and Jonathan losing their inhibitions. The show's new theme, meanwhile, was written by Ron Kome.
