I am not a fan of daytime television. When I received the press release for an event called “So Long Springfield,” I assumed it was either a Rick Springfield memorial concert or something related to The Simpsons. Apparently, Springfield is also the setting for Guiding Light. The drama began on the radio in 1937, moved to TV and concluded in September 2009, making it the longest-running soap in radio/television history.

Curious, I decided to attend “So Long Springfield” to see what seven decades of fuss were all about. Here are five things that surprised me:

5. GL has embraced the internet.

I consider soap operas woefully behind the times, but Guiding Light made the jump into the digital age. Many of the soap’s actors have embraced microblogging via Twitter, and several fans at the Q&A session noted their Twitter account names before asking their questions. Meanwhile, because U.K. television’s “new” episodes are years behind original American ones, many fans have surpassed them via YouTube. Finally, although the characters belong to Proctor & Gamble, some of the show’s actors have created a Web series called Venice, which includes GL-like storylines. Nothing archaic about any of that.

Pick me! Pick me! Photo by: April Corbin

4. No bon-bon stand

However, the cash bar had at least 50 people in it.

3. It’s a family affair.

For many fans, GL served as a meeting point for mothers and daughters. Leslie Postoian says she began watching when she was in high school and now watches the show with her 12-year-old daughter, Brittney. When I ask the elder Postoian how long ago she began watching the show, Brittney interjects, “Didn’t you start when it was on the radio.” Leslie is only slightly amused, replying, “No, I wasn’t born then.”

2. Fans hate those stupid storylines, too

One of my biggest gripes with soap operas is the ridiculous plotlines involving evil twins, clones and amnesia, lots and lots of amnesia. Apparently, Gina Tognori (who played Dinah on GL) agrees. When the actress asked the crowd whether they hated unrealistic plotlines just as much as she did, an uproar of applause and cheers followed.

Actors Jessica Leccia and Crystal Chappell lock lips during a reenactment of a scene of Guiding Light. Photo by: April Corbin

1. It really does mean something

During the Q&A session, a woman from St. Louis admitted that the first episode she ever watched was on June 12, 2009 – months after the show had announced it would be going off the air. She was drawn in by the plotline of Natalia and Olivia (known as Otalia to diehard fans), a pair of women who were once enemies but now lovers. The show, she told the crowd and panel of actors, helped her come out as a lesbian. “I’m now out and proud, and I have an ‘Emma’ that loves her two mommies,” she said, referencing a plotline with Otalia’s daughter, Emma, who wrote an essay for her elementary school about having lesbian mothers. The crowd cheered in support.