Here are some of the news stories posted on soapcentral.com's Guiding Light section during the 2001 calendar year. To access articles from other years or to review articles with similar themes, please see the RELATED INFORMATION box directly below this text.

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Actress Joie Lenz (ex Michelle Bauer) may have moved on from her work on Guiding Light, but her fans still remember her. Lenz earned five nominations in this year's Dankies, including Outstanding Leading Actress and Most Missed Performer. Other one-time performers up for awards include Saundra Santiago (Carmen Santos), Patti D'Arbanville (Selena Davis) and Maeve Kinkead (Vanessa Reardon).

Guiding Light marks a major milestone on January 25th - the show turns 64 years old.

Though the Nielsen ratings may contradict it, Guiding Light fans have an awful lot to cheer about. The results of this year's GL Online Awards, known as The Dankies, showed that fans enjoy the work of an assortment of performers rather than just one or two "superstars."

The roller coaster relationship between Claire Labine, Procter & Gamble Productions and CBS' Guiding Light has taken yet another wild turn.

soapcentral.com has learned that Brittany Snow (Susan Lemay) will not be returning to Guiding Light as planned.

The past few years have not been the best of years for Guiding Light in terms of Emmy nominations. In the past two years, Guiding Light has received only 5 Emmy nominations, with none of them coming in the acting categories.

Guiding Light has added another new writer to its lineup. Christopher Dunn had been named co-head writer and will serve as second-in-command to recently appointed head writer Lloyd "Lucky" Gold.

It looks like another sign of a new writing team cleaning house. On the job just a little over a month, Lloyd "Lucky" Gold has apparently started work at deciding which characters he will keep and which he will cast aside.

Paula Garces (Pilar) and Ryan Brown (Billy) have been officially let go. Though the characters have not been seen on the show in recent months, there has apparently been some hope that both would return.

You've seen the famous Bauer Burgers on Guiding Light for many years -- but now you can have a taste of the famous food in your very own home.

On Monday, June 25, 2001, four fellow devoted GL'ers and I toured the GL studios on 44th Street. Since I couldn't take all of you along, I wanted to capture the events with words and pictures so you have a feel for what goes on "behind the scenes."

One of the side-effects of a new writing team taking over on a soap is the occasional need to "clean house." Since a new head writer will most likely want to develop their own new characters for a show, any characters created by the previous writing team are often discarded.

At 10:33am on July 16th, Beth Ehlers (Harley) and her husband, Matt, welcomed the arrival of a 7lb. 15oz. baby boy. The couple has named the baby Will, on July 16th at 10:33am.

Reports that Terrell Tilford (David) will leave Guiding Light when his contract expires are once again swilring. The rumor popped up earlier this year when sources claimed that both Tilford and Victoria G. Platt (Vicky) would be exiting the show when their contracts expired.

A Procter & Gamble spokesperson has confirmed to Soap Opera Central that Terrell Tilford (David) and Victoria G. Platt (Vicky) are no longer a part of Guiding Light.

For those of you wondering exactly how the Guiding Light scenic designers created the canyon scenes, here's a behind-the-scenes look.

At the close of last week, Guiding Light viewers saw Beth Raines washed away in a torrent of water. It was just the latest disaster to hit the show - coming only days after a major earthquake rocked San Cristobel and left Reva buried alive.

Felicia Boudreau is getting a family. The not-yet-debuted character to be played by All My Children alum Shari Headley (ex Mimi Reed, AMC) will have a husband and daughter.

Soap Opera Central is following up on reports that Nick Scotti (ex Tony Viscardi , The Young and the Restless) will be joining the cast of Guiding Light.

Springfield's newest family continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The Boudreau family, which was originally stated to be just a one-person unit, has now grown to four members.

According to Internet postings, Laura Bell Bundy (Marah Lewis) will be leaving Guiding Light later this month.

A Guiding Light spokesperson has now confirmed a report made by soapcentral.com earlier this week regarding the reported departure of Laura Bell Bundy (Marah Lewis). Bundy will, in fact, be vacating the role of Marah Lewis, a role she has played since 1999.

According to some new reports, Guiding Light is contemplating bringing Selena Davis back to the show. Before fans jump for joy, however, there is a word of warning.

As Lindsey McKeon assumed the role of Marah Lewis last week, the furor over the firing of the actress to have previously played the role continued to grow.

It was a casting call that had both fans of Guiding Light and As The World Turns in a buzz. Could Ben Warren be returning to Springfield? Well, Ben is making a return to town - but it's not the Ben that everyone had thought.

The Internet is abuzz with rumors regarding Guiding Light casting news. As with all Internet rumors, some pan out... and some, well, some appear to just be the fodder of active imaginations.

One cannot argue that Guiding Light must be doing something right. After all, the show has been on the air for nearly fifty years. If one were to argue that consistency equates to longevity, this year's GL edition of the Soap Opera Central Awards would provided excellent fodder for the argument. With the exception of two name, this year's Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Lead Actress nominations are the same as they were last year.