TV Article 'Guiding Light': By the numbers A statistical analysis of the landmark soap opera's 72 years, just in time for the series finale By Tanner Stransky Tanner Stransky Tanner Stransky is a former staff editor at Entertainment Weekly. He left EW in 2013. EW's editorial guidelines Published on September 11, 2009 04:00AM EDT Television’s longest-running daytime drama airs its final episode Sept. 18. During its 72 years on radio and TV, the CBS show logged a staggering 15,762 episodes. That’s an impressive number, to be sure. But it’s not nearly as shocking (or silly) as the stats we’ve compiled below. 1:4Ratio of planned nuptials that were interrupted before the ”I do’s.” 7Characters who were paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair, then miraculously recovered. 3The highest number of marriages and divorces by a single couple on the soap. The dubious distinction belongs to fan faves Reva and Josh (Kim Zimmer and Robert Newman). 15Killed-off characters who returned from the dead. (That’s also how many long-lost children suddenly reappeared.) 10Characters who have been ”involved” with a father and son, or a mother and daughter.