Bauer Family (Guiding Light)

Bauer Family (Guiding Light)

The Bauer family was a fictional family on the CBS daytime drama Guiding Light. The Bauer family mainly resided in Springfield and is considered by many to be the anchor family and the moral compass to both the town and the show. The Bauers became central to the storyline in 1948, as the family dealt with the terminal illness of their mother, known as "Mama Bauer."

Because Guiding Light has changed locations three times, and the Bauer family has been a part of the show from near the beginning, they have, over the history of the show, resided in the fictional towns of Five Points, Selby Flats (a suburb of Los Angeles) and eventually Springfield.

With the transition to television the shows focus became the Bauer family, a working class, second generation German-American family. The television family was headed by a wise patriarch, Friedrich "Papa" Bauer, the father of three children, Bill, Meta, and Trudy. Papa Bauer, who immigrated to this country from Germany with little more than a dream, was a hard worker who was full of wisdom. He imparted his wisdom to his children in a folksy tone, commonly interweaving German words. Meta was a primary character on the radio version and at one point listeners got the chance to choose whether or not to find her guilty of murdering her husband Ted White, whom she blamed for letting their young son Chuckie die in a freak boxing accident. Meta's character faded into a supporting role within the first decade of the TV series.

The conflicts between the Bauer clan and Bill's headstrong wife Bert were an integral part of the plot in the television show's first decade. Although Bert and her sister-in-law Meta eventually became very close, initially there was a considerable amount of hostility between them. An additional plot-line in this period focused on Bill Bauer's alcoholism and his career difficulties, which were exacerbated by Bert's materialistic nature: she wanted to live much more extravagantly than Bill's salary would allow.

During the 1960s, Bill and Bert's sons, Mike and Ed became central characters of the show. Storylines largely focused on their romantic entanglements, as well as the then strained relationships each had with their parents. The character of Bert became very popular at this time with the viewers, who were largely housewives that could relate to her situation.

When the show expanded to an hour, the Bauers began to share the storyline with an expanded cast of characters. The family still remained essential to the story through the 1970s. As the 1980s progressed, the family members became increasingly irrelevant to the primary stories, and either fell into supporting roles, or were written out of the show altogether. The family did endure on the show until the end of its run though, and occasionally were given front burner material, if not on a regular basis.

The Annual Bauer family 4th of July barbecue was a recurring event on the show for several decades. Nearly all of the shows current characters would gather each year at Ed Bauer's house for this.