Under Soderberg and Sommer's leadership, several memorable storylines concluded, including the gaslighting of Dr. Sara McIntyre by her first husband, Lee Gantry, and his housekeeper Miss Mildred Foss.
Longtime cast member Theo Goetz, who played Papa Bauer on The Guiding Light, passed away on December 29, 1972 at the age of 78.
In 1975, Procter & Gamble hired head writers Bridget and Jerome Dobson due to pressure from newer, more youth-oriented serials.
The Dobsons took over from Gentile, Cenedella and Lipton, and focused on core characters, giving Bert her first real storyline in years when her husband Bill returned from the dead.
The Dobsons introduced characters like Ross Marler in March 1979 and Alan Spaulding in November 1977, who remained part of the show's canvas until its end, albeit with two major recasts.
Under The Dobsons, the longest-running recurring character, Cedars Hospital's OB-GYN Dr. Margaret Sedwick, first appeared in September 1979, helping many women through pregnancies and miscarriages over the years and playing a significant role in Lillian Raines' breast cancer diagnosis and recovery.
This storyline was controversial and thought-provoking, leading to a major trial where attorney Ross Marler defended Roger, followed by Holly shooting him three times in the chest in June 1979.
Similarly, the decision to bring back Bill Bauer from the "dead" in the fall of 1977 was met with backlash from long-time viewers who remembered his supposed death in 1969.
The opening and closing themes, "La Lumière," were re-scored in an orchestral version by composer Charles Paul and the billboards and titles were also updated.
The show began remote location shooting in the late 1970s, with Nassau, Bahamas and Santo Domingo being the first places visited in June and July to September 1978.
The band Television paid tribute to the show by including a song entitled "Guiding Light" on their debut album Marquee Moon in 1977.
Despite the District Attorney's ruling, Lee Gantry continues to gaslight Sara for her money, and she briefly stays in the mental ward at Cedars.
However, when Ellen has an alcoholic relapse, Ken catches Janet and Ed talking and becomes even more jealous, stopping his medication and faking blindness after crashing the car.
Elizabeth falls in love with Mike but can't marry him because Phillip blames him for his parents' breakup, thanks to Alan's manipulation.
In 1975-76, Hope returns to Springfield as a naive college student, having had a relationship with her married professor, Alex McDaniels, in Bay City.
Mike is angry and confronts McDaniels in San Francisco, causing Hope to move out and get a job at Roger Thorpe's night club, The Metro.
During her trial for the murder of Cyrus Granger, an elderly wealthy rancher from Waco, Texas, whom she works as a private duty nurse for a year earlier, and his son Malcolm Granger, who follows her to Springfield and dies under mysterious circumstances at Cedars after a heart attack, it is discovered that Rita is in a sexual relationship with Roger at the time of Cyrus's murder, providing her with a solid alibi.
Although Rita was cleared of all charges, her relationship with Ed suffered due to his hatred for Roger, who had an affair with Holly during their short marriage.
Peggy marries Roger in 1976 but eventually leaves him after he becomes verbally abusive and their one-night stand is revealed during Rita Stapleton's trial.
Rita, afraid to tell Ed for fear that he wouldn't believe her (given her and Roger's history), remained silent and they were married in November 1978.
The Dobsons crafted a full-fledged marital rape (at the time this was not considered a crime) in a March 1979 episode involving Roger and Holly who had married in January 1979.
This rape scene was a counterattack against rival network NBC's soap opera Another World, whose much ballyhooed expansion to 90-minute telecasts (complete with the death of a major character) happened that same day.
Afraid that he would be acquitted and terrified that he would take their daughter Christina out of the country, and also flashing back to the rape, Holly shot Roger three times!
Then in February 1980, Roger attempted to abduct Christina from a charity carnival for Cedars at a nearby park, but instead, in an Emmy-winning sequence (the second set of scenes submitted), circumstances led to his chasing a pregnant Rita through a hall-of-mirrors as the Donna Summer/Barbra Streisand hit "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" played in the background.
Renee in her short time in Springfield developed romantic feelings for Mike Bauer (he did as well back), but one evening Roger entered her hotel room and shocked her.
The Bauers' and the Spauldings' lives grew ever-more complicated as Alan married Mike's daughter Hope, against the wishes of her father.
Lainie briefly worked for Mike and another attorney, Derek Colby introduced in 1980, after Ann Jeffers left for another job offer.
Mike proved that Clara had not shot her husband, but that he was killed by drug dealers with whom he had gotten involved (the same ones that had driven the van that hit Lainie Marler.)
Unfortunately, as she left town, Eve caught sight of Ben kissing Hope (not realizing they were saying goodbye), and ran out in the pouring rain, tripped and fell.
At the same time Ben got Amanda to put away her dolls and stop acting like a child, and restart her dream of becoming a concert pianist.