Bauer family (Guiding Light)

The Bauer family is a fictional family on the CBS daytime drama "Guiding Light". The Bauer family currently resides 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.

Because "Guiding Light" has changed locations three times, and the Bauer family has been a part of the show from the beginning, they have, over the history of the show, resided in the towns of Five Points, Shelby Flats and eventually Springfield.

With the transition to television the main characters became the Bauers, a lower-middle class German immigrant 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 ex-husband Ted White, who had let 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.

The matriarch of the Bauer family was Bert Bauer, wife to alcoholic William "Bill" Bauer. She had two sons named Ed and Mike. (Charita Bauer, the actress who played Bert named her real life sons Ed and Mike to avoid saying the wrong name while she was on live radio.) Ed (who is a doctor) is the father to Dr. Rick Bauer who is on the show today.

The Annual Bauer Family 4th of July BBQ is a highly anticipated event in the town of Springfield, and no 4th of July would be complete without it.

Current status

In recent years, the Bauer family presence on the show has been somewhat lacking.

Dr. Frederick "Rick" Bauer, MD

Rick is the only adult Bauer currently featured. As such he is basically the current "head" of the family. His daughter was briefly on the show after being rapidly aged, but seems to have disappeared. He has a child with Harely Cooper Spaulding Aitoro as well. His cousin Alan-Michael returned to Springfield recently, but Alan-Michael identifies much more strongly as a Spaulding and also left town again in early 2007. (He certainly would never host the Bauer Barbecue.) His sister, Michelle, left town after reconciling with her husband Danny Santos. His father, Ed, was in town briefly a few years ago, but he's gone now as well.

Rick's soon to be ex-wife is a Boudreaux, which seems to be the family to "out-Bauer the Bouer family." They hold to high moral standards and are high achievers. Rick's wife, Mel, is both a practicing doctor and a practicing lawyer and her brother Remy is a police officer (currently suspended).

Rick is currently played by Michael O'Leary.

Born (on screen) August 18, 1970 (Revised to 1965 when he graduated high school in 1983, Due to the aging of Lizzie Spaulding, might have been revised to about 1961)

Members of the Bauer family

*Ed Bauer
*Michelle Bauer Santos
*Maureen Reardon Bauer(deceased)died in 1993
*Bill Bauer (deceased) died in 1983
*Bert Miller Bauer,(deceased) died in 1986
*"Papa" Friedrich Bauer(deceased)died in 1972
*"Mama" Bauer (deceased)
*Rick Bauer
*Jude Bauer
*Leah Bauer
*Mike Bauer
*Hillary Bauer(deceased)died in 1984
*Julie Conrad Bauer(deceased)
*Hope Bauer
*Alan-Michael Spaulding,Hope and Alan Spauldings son
*Meta Bauer Roberts
*Trudy Bauer Palmer
*Clyde Palmer(Trudy's husband)died in 1984
*Otto Bauer(deceased)
*Myra Bauer (deceased)
*Jack Bauer,Otto and Myra's son,lives in Portland with his children as of 1996
*Lanie Donovan Bauer(deceased) died in 1990
*Johnny Bauer,Jack and Lainie's son
*Lacey Bauer,Jack and Lainie's daughter
*Karl Bauer(deceased)
*Alice Bauer(deceased)
*Mary Bauer,Karl and Alice Bauer's daughter,(deceased)died in the 1940s
*Douglas Bauer(deceased)
*Ellen Bauer(deceased)
*Doug Bauer,Douglas and Ellen Bauer's son,(deceased).
*Kathleen Bauer,Doug's wife(deceased)
*Scott and David Bauer,Doug and Kathleen Bauer's two sons.