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General Hospital

RATINGS: GH hits new lows, while OLTL holds strong again at #3!

Courtesy/ABC

The ratings are out for the week of  May 30th-June 3rd, and it was an abysmal week for General Hospital! The only ABC soap that will remain in the ABC Daytime line-up come 2012, hit rock bottom of all the soaps and landed in 6th place.  Several things are most concerning for this legacy soap with the ratings stats: 1) It hit a new all time low in total viewers 2) It hit new lows in key female demographic age groups.

Obviously, the powers-that-be at GH and ABC have felt for awhile that the show was needing somewhat of a creative redirect and thus named Garin Wolf to head write the show, and are bringing in to the fold just announced OLTL headwriter, Ron Carlivati come next year.  On the converse, the canceled OLTL remains again firmly at number #3, and has been consistently performing well, even through the decision of its axing from the ABC Daytime lineup.

So this begs the question that soapers have been pondering, did ABC cancel the wrong soap? And, coudn’t the network have allowed just one soap to be canceled ( if there had to be one)  to see if one of their new reality shows would fly instead of decimating the line-up?

Check out the numbers courtesy of Soap Opera Network and the total viewership ratings after the jump!

Ratings Report for the Week of May 30 – June 3, 2011

(Compared to Last Week/Compared to Last Year)

Total Viewers
1. Y&R 4,696,000 (+49,000/-276,000)
2. B&B 2,778,000 (-54,000/-202,000)
3. OLTL 2,456,000 (-44,000/+68,000)
4. AMC 2,344,000 (-59,000/-15,000)
5. DAYS 2,340,000 (-1,000/-210,000)
6. GH 2,252,000 (-196,000/-160,000) <—- new low *

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OLTL is the only show up from last year…..the rest are declining. The ratings are still not great, but it shows where there is at least interest. I am loving the tale of the 2 Todds. I can’t wait to see how it plays out. Also, the Clint/Matthew storyline is giving Hillary B Smith some great material. I’m so happy the show is going to go out stronger than ever, but it will make it all the harder to take. Congrats to RC for getting hired at GH. OLTL is the best show in daytime and finally someone is recognizing that.

whose rc?

It seems that ABC has cut of it’s nose to spite it’s face as the old saying goes–OLTL is doing very well and for a good reason someone there knows how to write and how to integrate a cast.
If TPTB at Gh can’t tell that what they are doing right now–pushing the mob and Michael 24/7 –isn’t working then they will continue to see those types of ratings. I’ll withhold a total judgment until I see how GW writes the current cast if he continues shoving the mob in our face the ratings will stay the same–it is boring and repetitive. Sonny, jm, carly, michael–all non-starters currently and they brought that lovely 1.6 in the last batch of ratings. Get over them they aren’t working.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Brian Frons used these ratings as a reason to dump GH too!

These ratings just further prove that ABC made the right decision in dumping Guza.

I wonder how much the Casey Anthony trial is affecting GH’s ratings? Some stations are bumping GH til the wee hours of the morning, and airing the trial when GH shoud be on in the afternoon.

I’m not surprised by the low ratings, the story lines are horrible, same old crap. Why in the heck would michael want to be part of the mob when he has seen the results it causes? He’s not a freakin tough guy! Pairing him with an older woman was also a big mistake, it didn’t make him seem more mature to me. Now they are doing the same thing with Kristina and pairing her with Ethan, that just screams disgust! she’s a good actress but there’s zero chemistry because she looks like she 12 years old.

I disagree about Kristina and Ethan. They remind me of Luke and Laura of many years ago.

Um, lets not forget luke raped laura many years ago and now she’s in a mental institution.

I agree. GH is giving off a pedophile vibe that I find truly disgusting. K looks like a tarted up prepubescent glomming on to her oldest brother’s OLDEST friend. It’s ICKY. They creep me out in the worst way not to mention they have no chemistry at all. It makes Ethan creepy rather than sexy or hot. I tune out the show if I know that they are on it. Michael and the stripper leave me with a similar feeling. They remind me of the news stories about the teachers having ‘relations’ with their students. I keep waiting to see Chris Hansen from Dateline. It’s one of the reasons that I’ve tuned out.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I think ABC did indeed cancel the wrong show. One Life to Live is superior to GH in almost every way. OLTL can be over the top sometimes, but it is pure soapy melodramatic fun. Also, it is character based, so I buy into the sometimes outrageous stories. The characters and their plots collide in such a way that mixes everyone and everything up, no matter how old or what color; and character interactions and reactions are, for the most part, based in history and have a broader context. With GH, everything seems so plot driven and mob-hero-centric. I even feel like they killed off Jake and had a subsequent transplant story just for the sake of it. Meanwhile, One Life to Live looks like it is going in a similar direction of sacrificing one character to give Clint a new heart, BUT this story makes sense as there has been a well-constructed cross-layering of plots to build up to this point, so it is more believable, and I actually care about every character involved (even Clint). Just look at the stories going on with both shows right now, and the clear quality winner is One Life to Live. GH just doesn’t have it anymore. My suggestion: when Ron Carlivati takes over GH, Franco should kill off every character; meanwhile, a natural disaster in Llanview will force everyone in Llanview to relocate to Port Charles, and we can continue enjoying the best cast and most enjoyable characters on daytime.

Why are fans fighting each other? We should support ALL three soaps to the bitter end.

You do have a point, Brooke, but it’s just so hard to know we have to say goodbye to OLTL come next January. I may tune back in to GH once Ron Carlivati is writing for it.

I’m not fighting with other fans. I’m a fan of One Life to Live, so I watch and support One Life to Live. That’s because I watch and support television programming that I personally deem quality entertainment, and I vote with my remote and my cable box. I simply do not like GH, and I feel that I have given that show too much of my valuable time, hoping that it would improve, so I tuned out. Therefore, I’m not going to support GH or ABC after OLTL goes off the air. It would literally take the producers turning GH into One Life to LIve in virtually every way before I would even entertain the idea of tuning in again. That is my freedom, and that is my choice, as an American with my own personal, individual tastes.

GH biggest problem was Bob Guza jr, and now he’s gone, He was simply allowed to live in this bubble he created for far to long, he was completely oblivious to how bad he had turned GH into. I also feel like Jill phelps bares the other half of the blame along w/ BRIAN FRONS. You take them out of the equation and put anyone w/ common sense and GH can completely be saved. First of all if you put GH 40 PLUS year history next to any other soap, theres simply no comparison. I hate that both amc and oltl got cancelled, i believe abc will live to regret that, but honestly not to be mean, no network executive on any network would have picked amc or oltl over gh. Just look at GH rich history, 10 emmy as best show, more then any other soap, its record breaking luke and laura wedding (30 million)that no other show has broken. its much duplicated bj and maxie heart transplant story, duplicated but not even close to equaled, its outstanding cast, and yes other shows have great cast too, but still, its bittersweet that oltl is doing good now yet in the long run i don’t feel it can beat GH at anything, sorry but thats the truth, it will never match
gh rich history, its record emmy’s or its PORTFOLIO. So, heres what i’m hoping, i’m hoping that mr. carlivati doesn’t turned gh to cartoonish, or to soapoperish, what made gh stand out from other soaps to begin with was that it didn’ have that awful organ piano like music like YR does, or overkill on plots like oltl, example, how many people from the same family can one hospital admitt, natalie,clint, and mathew. and yet barely any family members visit, or every ford brother taking turns being naked, can you say cheeeeeeeese, and now two todds, and not one crazy, jessa, or two, moma vicki an their alter egos, but 3 with marty. and i could go on but then that would be overkill on my part.

OLTL zannieness is a big part of its appeal.

The various comments on this soap board just show that GH either cancelled the wrong soap or cancelled one too many soaps. It’s interesting how people see things so differently, which goes to show you that different people enjoy different things and different kinds of entertainment, because our brains are wired so differently, and THAT is OKAY! 🙂 The people who vote on Emmy winners obviously felt 10 times that GH’s singular good episode submissions each year entitled that show to its Emmy wins. I personally feel Y&R and OLTL were robbed many times, due to stunt episodes submitted by GH. I think most people understand the Emmy process to be a joke, but I digress. It is a shame this is happening, and I empathize with those stalwart GH fans who want their show saved. Hopefully, Ron Carlivati can make something of that show again, and it can be saved for a couple or few more years. I just won’t be watching.

OLTL is a great soap. If I catch any of the three soaps it’s OLTL. OLTL has excellent actors and great storylines.

Yes they canceled the wrong soap GH sucks in my book…

GH is absolutely horrible but it looks good…delve deeper in the story you will see misogyny personified…personally I’ve pretty much dumped this show. I’m willing to try it again under the new head writer hopefully he will be “allowed to do his job” without interference from the meddlers…clearly the vision that Guza (along with Frons he is as much to blame) is EPIC fail.

I tune in sparingly how can you have a storyline where in a previous eppy Diane said point blank that Morgan’s adoption went through; Jax application was not denied then because (I guess Ingo is leaving) they backtracked yesterday. Because its a soap is no longer an excuse for sloppy storytelling. How can you have a father lose one son he totally ignored and gave away who was recently killed be the so heavily involved in the story (the mother should have been driving it but oh.well) and to compound the horribleness have him on the screen all giddy about having another baby and the storyline runs at the same time? What kind of mess is this? They change “what has already taken place) to accommodate an agenda weekly its a whole website dedicated to sloppy storytelling.

Meanwhile, Oprah Winfrey Network crashes and burns. Ratings not great? Can’t get more than 300,000 viewers in prime time? People have had enough of reality shows about people and their problems and that’s all OWN offers. OWN should have picked up One Life to Live and it would have at least 2 million viewers for one hour. Viewers of OWN are complaining about repeats. With OLTL everyday there is a new episode–that’s what keeps people watching and coming back. It’s been working and making money for over 40 years. I would subscribe to OWN if it had OLTL, but it doesn’t and I won’t.

Yes they did indeed cancel the wrong soap. GH has absolutely abysmal writing and has been that way for many years with the focus being on characters who haven’t even been on canvas half the time of the people they’ve replaced. I haven’t enjoyed Sonny or Jason since they were involved in storylines with Robin, and Carly can just go die any day now.

She sucks in every way imaginable (the character, not Laura Wright who is the only factor making Carly bearable.) GH is notorious for completely eradicating its history in order to fit in with the writer/EPs vision of what the show should be now, even if it means directly contradicting itself and things we’ve come to accept as truth over the years. OLTL while there have been times over the years where they beat a subject to death and drag out storylines too long, I love the fact that they respect the history and showcase it when it would have impact. If I have something to do that means missing one of my soaps that day I always go with skipping GH. I wouldn’t dream of missing OLTL right now!

General Hospital

Nancy Lee Grahn’s Star-Studded ALS Fundraiser Reveals “I’ll Be There” Video Featuring Soap Opera Notables

Talk about your impressive line-up! It’s a soap fans dream and for a great cause. General Hospital’s Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis) is prepping her one-night only ALS fundraiser which will feature many of her friends and co-stars.

The benefit is set for May 4th in Glendale, California. Slated to participate are Genie Francis, Jane Elliot, Peter Bergman, Maurice Benard, Eileen Davidson, Thorsten Kaye, Michelle Stafford, Stephen Nichols, Rena Sofer, Jason Thompson, Kelly Monaco, Melissa Claire Egan, Maura West, Kristina Wagner, Gregory Harrison, Trevor St. John, Kate Mansi, Kirsten Storms, Cynthia Watros, and many others.

On Wednesday, Grahn took to her social media and released an “I’ll be there” video shout-out featuring, Monaco, Elliot, Bergman, Bernard, West, Harrison, St. John and more. In a touching and important moment in the new video, Michelle Strogny, who is battling ALS, is featured.

Photo: ABC

Previously, in speaking with Soap Opera Digest on the impetus of the event, Grahn recalled, “I was actually doing Zoom events during Covid and I met this woman that I just fell in love with, Michelle Strojny. At the time, Michelle had been living with ALS for four years. Now, it’s five years. She is a mom of a teenage son, she has the most wonderful husband, and she has been dealing with this [disease] for quite a while. And obviously, there isn’t a cure yet. It’s not survivable yet. But as she says, it’s not incurable. Nothing is; it’s underfunded. But anyway, I just really dug this woman. She is so grounded and filled with grace, and she spends all of her time working to raise money for the cause. We did a fundraiser for her last year and then I thought, ‘You know what? The soaps don’t ever get together to do something for charity.’ Collectively, we have this amazing community and we don’t collectively use it for a good cause, and I think it’s such an easy thing for us to do and we could potentially really make a difference.”

As GH viewers know, Gregory Harrison is playing the character of Gregory Chase, who is also battling ALS in a touching storyline that is currently playing out shedding a light on this disease.

For information on Nancy’s event, including the stars who are s scheduled to participate click here. To purchase tickets to the event click here.

Check out the video featuring Nancy’s friends and co-stars below.  Now let us know, your thought son the line-up for the benefit and helping raise awareness and funds for ALS research via the comment section.

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General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Writer Shannon Peace Let Go, and Shares on Sprina: “One of My Only Regrets is to Not Have the Opportunity to Develop That ‘Ship’ Further”

As General Hospital’s new head writing team of Elizabeth Korte and Patrick Mulcahy gets off the ground and running, there are still changes a foot on the writing team.

Now comes word via breakdown writer Shannon Peace that she is no longer on contract with the long-running ABC soap heading into its 61st season. Peace shared a heartfelt message on her Instagram, thanking the fans, and the show for the opportunity and the importance of diversity in the writers room.

Peace began, “After almost 3 years on staff and 106 episodes penned, I am no longer on contract with General Hospital. Writing for this country’s longest running television serial drama has been an education of epic proportions; I will forever be grateful that I earned my WGA card on a daytime fixture that holds memories for so many.” (Peace pictured below with GH EP Frank Valentini and script writer, Charlotte Gibson from about ten months ago).

Photo: SPeaceIG

Shannon added “Even more importantly, as the sole Black breakdown writer (and only POC in the writers room) during my tenure, I pushed for vital interactions and discussions that prioritized inclusion, visibility, and representation”

The writer pointed to the example of vital interaction when in story, “Stella and Portia’s frank July 2022 conversation about the role race played in Esme’s framing of Trina is just one example of the impact I’m gratified to have had.”

Acknowledging former GH co-head writers was also part of Peace’s farewell expressing, “Appreciation to my former bosses, Chris Van Etten and Dan O’Connor – not only taking a chance on me, but for valuing my opinion and championing my voice.”

Courtesy/ABC

Many GH fans know that Peace was key to the development of the love story between Trina Robinson and Spencer Cassadine as played by Tabyana Ali and Nicholas Chavez. Shannon gave a special shout-out to ‘Sprina’ fans, “I also want to thank fans who were supportive of my work, especially the recognition of my love for ‘Sprina’. One of my only regrets is not having to develop that ‘ship’ further.”

She concludes her statement with,”In the aftermath of a historic writer’s strike that shed new light on the troubling ways writers are regarded in daytime, my sincere hope is that General Hospital recommits to valuing staff writer efforts and input, with a more intentional focus on diverse viewpoints — and thrives for another 60 years.”

Accompanying her post, Shannon added, “Thank you all for the love and support these last few years. I hope GH fans get all they hope for and more!”

So, what do you think about GH not renewing Shannon’s contract? Will there be more continued changes afoot? What do you think is the future of ‘Sprina’ anyway at this point as viewers wait to see if Nicholas Chavez officially returns to the show?  Comment below.

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Jason Learns Britt Died and Tells Anna He Has Been Working For Cates Since November 2021

On the Tuesday, March 26th of General Hospital, Anna (Finola Hughes) and the viewers learn about where Jason (Steve Burton) has been for over two and half years. However, Jason gets some news of his own.

Anna is visiting Jason at the PCPD interrogation room. She asks him if he shot Dante (Dominic Zamprogna), which he flatly denies. Anna believes him, but she tells Jason it doesn’t matter, because video footage shows him on the roof at the time of the shooting

When talk turns to Jason not willing to speak without his lawyer present, Anna can’t grasp why Jason would instead spend an hour alone talking with John Cates (Adam J. Harrington).

Photo: ABC

It is then that Anna brings up that John went by “Jagger” and that the two of them knew each other in high school. Jason doesn’t recall much of his time in high school following his brain injury, but then he gets furious realizing John knew about “Jason’s” past. That is when Jason slams the table and tells Anna, “I’ve been working for John Cates since November 2021.”

Next, Jason explains further that he has been working as an informant for the FBI. Anna wants to know how this came about and he tells her that after the tunnel collapsed, and he couldn’t make it to Britt (Kelly Thiebaud)… all of a sudden he sees Anna’s face drop.  Anna is the first person to tell him that Britt died and was murdered. She tells Jason the killer is in custody, but he continues to be shocked, overwhelmed with tears welling up in his eyes. Realizing he has to pivot to save his life, Jason continues telling Anna how he wound up working with John.

Jason explains that after the tunnel collapse in Greece, FBI agents grabbed him and placed him under arrest and took him to Quantico where he met John. At Quantico, John played a recording of RICO violations and offered Jason a deal if he agreed to be an informant against Pikeman, the illegal arms dealer.

Anna hears from Jason that he thinks Pikeman is selling illegal arms to anyone flagged by the NSA but has ties to the WSB which they needed a civilian to infiltrate their organization as a military soldier, a mercenary.

Jason tells Anna he was a part of the team brought into eliminate Sonny (Maurice Benard). Every time an attempt was made on Sonny’s life over the last two years, a different team was sent to do the job. Anna gets furious when she learns that John told Jason his job was to kill Sonny and she was with John at the warehouse that night. Jason ensured the sniper missed Sonny and left the rifle behind. However, they were supposed to meet an extraction team. Before he was shot, Dante saw it was Jason on the roof and when he turned around with his hands over his head, Dante was shot by the other guy. Jason says if Dante dies, he’ll be charged with capital murder and then will be useless to the FBI.

Photo: ABC

Meanwhile, John visits Bobbie’s and runs into Carly (Laura Wright). She learns Jason is in custody and is going to head to the PCPD. Before she does, Carly has some words with Cates when she learns not only does John have a vendetta against Sonny, but Jason too.  Carly tells John he should recuse himself from the case.

So, what did you think about the moment when Jason learned Britt died? What do you think of Jason’s return storyline thus far and what we learned about Jagger/Jason and more? Comment below. But first, check out a moment from today’s GH with Jason and Anna.

 

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