It's with a big sigh of relief that I report that Michael Logan at TV Guide has confirmed that CBS has booked Guiding Light for one more year. That'll make it 72 years of continuous broadcasting -- radio and television. No program can match Guiding Light's longevity, and I would hate to see CBS cancel a show with this kind of legacy.

That said, Guiding Light needs to have a better year going forth than they've had looking back. In fact, since tying with The Young and the Restless last June as Outstanding Daytime Drama at the Emmys, the show has been going through major transitions. The new style of filming, shooting on locations in a New Jersey town that's being used as the fictional Springfield, began on February 29, and it hasn't been welcomed by the critics or viewers.

The waiting goes on. Kind of like that spinning planet that symbolizes As the World Turns. TV Squad reported recently that many fans of the soap are anxious to see the two gay lovers, Noah (Jake Silbermann) and Luke (Van Hansis), smooch on screen. There are web sites with a clock ticking, waiting for the next on screen kiss from the fellas. Now comes news that TV Guide's Michael Logan questioned Barbara Bloom, head of CBS Daytime, to find out if the show, the sponsor or the network is afraid to depict a homosexual teen love story in the same way they do a heterosexual one?