Connect with us

General Hospital

44

50 Classic Episodes Spanning 50 Years! SOAPnet Honors General Hospital With Super Marathon!

By Michael Fairman

Published

on

Courtesy/ABC

Courtesy/ABC

General Hospital fans lets all get our popcorn, our favorite beverage of choice, and our hankies, and plop down on the couch to watch the most amazing soap opera marathon of them all!  That’s when SOAPnet offers up it’s extra special 50 hours of General Hospital marathon with episodes from every single decade of the long running ABC series starting with the first one back in 1963!

The fun kicks-off on Friday, March 29th at 10 p.m. ET/PT and runs through Monday, April 1 at 12:00am ET/PT (Sunday night/Monday morning).

The marathon will cover favorite characters, couples and storylines with such themes as romance (Luke & Laura’s wedding, Frisco & Felicia’s wedding, Luke & Laura’s dance at Wyndham’s, Lucky & Liz’s first kiss), heartbreak (Stone dies, Sonny leaves Brenda at the altar, BJ dies/Maxie’s heart transplant), action-adventure (Ice Princess, the Hostage Crisis, the Hotel Fire,) and shocking bombshells (Elizabeth finds Carly in the panic room, AJ discovers he’s Michael’s father, Jason’s car accident) plus many more surprises and appearances by fan favorites (Elizabeth Taylor as Helena Cassadine, John Stamos as Blackie, Ricky Martin as Miguel, Rick Springfield as Noah). It is an extraordinary marathon, 50 years in the making.

So GH fans get ready! What episode are you most looking forward to seeing again? Or, what episode are you hoping is included in the marathon!  Let us know as we count down to the big event!

44 Comments

44 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

This is the one and only time I am unhappy that I do not have my satellite subscription only, but I will survive … somehow. 🙂

I only wish my local affiliates (ABC7) were as excited about GH’s 50th as everyone else. Since THE VIEW was interrupted by the news of the new Pope selection, they decided it was much more important to SCREW OVER the GH fans and put THE VIEW on instead.

That’s not accurate Christine. I’m assuming you’re on the West Coast. The episode was pre-empted on the east coast yesterday and was played in its entirety today. Since it was pre-empted in the east, it got pre-empted on the west. You’re not missing anything. They’ll just adjust the filming schedule. This is how they deal with pre-emptions nowadays. Much better than how they did it in the old days – just skipped over the episode.

Thanks, AJ, I am watching it now! I figured it out when it opened with Connie and Sonny (that it was where the last one left off). 🙂

But I am not sure ABC7, yes, west coast, has not reverted to “the old days” because a few weeks ago they had to take GH off the air because they were busy airing two funerals that day. I stated then that I thought having funerals, especially for a slain officer, to be kind of disgusting as it is a private thing. But they look for any excuse to not air GH these days.

oh and just one more fact. They used to at least air them over night in the early hours, but they can’t be bothered to do that anymore. And CBS was no better. They chose to air Dr. Oz instead of Y&R and B&B.

Christine,
ABC affiliates throughout the country will preempt for news or even worse here on the east coast weather. Here in Boston 3 times this winter they aired winter storm coverage instead of General Hospital. On one of those occasions they aired it in the wee hours of the morning but on other occasions the only option was online. It isn’t just ABC affiliates though all network affiliates are guilty of this. The networks need to crack down on these affiliates doing this but won’t. What always upsets me is they do this to daytime programming but rarely do it to prime time programming

David, I’m sorry to hear it happens to you too, but glad that I am not the only one. 🙁

I wish someone would crack down too. I don’t watch primetime anymore because the stupid networks always cancel the shows these days. I watch scripted shows on cable, but through DVD or Amazon or Netflix these days kind of like pay-per-view without all the hassle of Directv.

I kind of gave up going online to watch the episodes when I miss them because they make me watch like five cell phone commercials between 5 or 10-minute scenes. Sadly I have learned to live without them when that happens as I am sure I will learn to live without soaps when they are all online. I just don’t find it convenient for me, but maybe my feelings will change when my little ones get older.

Really wish my cable provider still carried Soapnet now. I love watching a lot of the classic episodes.

Is there a schedule of episodes and original air dates? I am keen to see some installments from the 1970s and 1980s. LOVED that when OLTL had a marathon on SOAPNET once upon a time.

I was wondering the same thing. There probably will be a schedule and hopefully it will get posted. Otherwise keep checking SoapNet to see what’s up 😉

I’m pissed that in Massachusetts we don’t have soapnet. Now I’m wishing that I was still in Florida.

I would love to see the first episode. I’ve seen pieces of it. I would love to see stone again.

i read today that they will be airing the very first episode…………

I’m sure most if not all of those episodes are still on youtube… and I’ve got more than 50 hours on VHS from late 80’s on…

Glad i still got soapnet but its ashame many soap pre 1975 episodes are no longer available. There were many great stuff from that time period we’ll never see again unless someone somehow has copies. I do like watching the little that survives pre 1975 that is shown on utube.

I agree. Somewhere, somehow, they should make those available!

I so hope we get to see Emily , Lucky and Sly and also Emily falling in love with Zander.

I would love to see some very early episodes featuring Steve (John Beradino) and Jessie (Emily McLaughlin), Audrey (Rachel Ames) and Phil Brewer (originally Roy Thinnes). They were the core characters when the show started.

Really great news – but I imagine, for those who can, there will be a lot of recording going on. I could not possibly stay up for 50 straight hours. And it’s really too bad for the folks who don’t get SoapNet. As much as ABC and Disney love money, maybe this is something someone should have thought about putting out on DVD. The way it is described up above, it doesn’t seem like the episodes will run sequentially which is too bad since I am especially interested in reliving the early years: 60s-80s.

only vhs and dvd’s I know of are weddings…. altho I ran across a VHS video my mom had n her things… All My Children, behind the scenes….

They’d make a lot of money if they’d put out old soaps on DVD… All ABC soaps for that matter! They’ve got tons of Dark Shadow DVDs, why not AMC, OLTL, GH, Ryan’s Hope, Loving, The City, PC, Nightshift, etc, and The Edge of Night… used to watch that one too.

reply to myself… I see Nightshift is available on DVD…. altho I see it got horrible reviews, but Amazon has it at a special price when you also get “the life of Damien Spinelli’ and ‘Love in Maine’ books. THey also have ‘Luke & Laura: Lovers on the Run’ video.

actually I’d prefer watching the Genie Francis, Marcy Walker and Leigh J. McCloskey “thriller” again… “Terror in the Night”. Or how about “Young Doctors in Love” that was fun too.

ABC should put all those episodes on ON Demand where we’d have a better chance to view all of them unless they couldnt do it with so many episodes at once .

I think a lot of these distributors are just sitting on goldmines. They don’t realize how there are those of us who would pay for these old shows.

I am sure it is just a matter of a [long] time. I see they continue to do seasons of old primetime soaps like FALCON CREST and wasn’t there a DVD for B&B recently or maybe it was another soap?

Too bad GH or ABC or Soapnet couldn’t put the episodes on a special 50th Anniversary YouTube site or on ABC.com or Hulu! I would love to watch all of them!

Michael… any chance you could ask someone if there is a chance they could put those episodes on line for those of us who do not have cable?

I think that would qualify as Copyright Infringement. 🙁

I thought more about this and feel that GH and ABC missed a huge opportunity! I am not a marketing person. One thing we hear over and over is the record breaking number of viewers who watched the Luke and Laura wedding episode. We also are bombarded every week with ratings for the soaps. GH missed an opportunity with the 50th Anniversary by not playing this differently especially with the new convergence of on-line soaps and PP and all.

They could have advertised more… when Genie came back 50 days before the anniversay they could have had one of these past 50 shows air each day at a minimum on ABC.com with a past cast member or current cast member introducing and speaking about memories or the episode. They could have let the episode also air on Hulu and HuluPlus. They could have started a GH 50th Anniversay YouTube site too and posted each days episode there. Include Soapnet each day too on cable and on-line. Of course finding a way to capture views on-line like YouTube does. Then have the 50 episodes plus the week or day of the current aniversary on DVD. This would insure numbers, views and increase the base to capture new viewers to insure that a build-up to the current annversary show could deliver ratings/views that would beat the Luke and Laura numbers and gain more invested viewers for years 51 and beyond… while also dabbling in multi-media (ex. regular ABC, cable and on-line, international, possibly individual pay per view per epi on Amazon, IMDB and DVD sales). It could have been even bigger and better. Capitalize on all of the actors and acctresses that made their start or just came to play over the 50 years! I truly believe with views on-line you could beat the number of people who have ever watched any soap!

And therein lies the REAL story of how ABC feels about the long-time future of GH on their network. That is why they do not do more to promote it.

My g’ma is sad lol she doesn’t pay for higher subscription cable and SoapNet is only available in the high cable/the expensive line-up not in the standard cable .
I always found that odd that Disney put SoapNet in the most expensive line up ..

They really do need to come up with an a la carte system. They keep telling us the times have changed, but yet they fail to give us what we want.

My soapnet is now Disney JR. Is there another way to watch these old episodes?

Michael Fairman-Surely you can get the scoop as to whether Denise Alexander is coming back for the 50th? And btw, thank you for this site. It is the best!

Yes, Micael, I hope you can relay the fact that you’ve probably had more comments about her return or lack of return than anything else (or at least as many) about the 50th to RC and FV and perhaps get some answers about that! I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt and hoping she is a super surprise but the clock is ticking…..

I think ABC should finally get smart and sell DVDs of the 50 episodes, or the nurses ball. I would buy them.

Really wish they wouldn’t start these episodes so late in the evening and start them midday maybe?? so I can catch them all.. for those that still don’t DVR 🙂

I agree. I wish they would at least air five episodes a day for ten days leading up to GHs 50th. That would be easier for a lot of us to see all of them and could be a ratings winner for soapnet. There is no way i could watch all 50 in a row without me missing something and id hate that. And im dumb when it comes to recording anything on my dvr. Wish theyd make it possible to watch it ON DEMAND where they could leave all those episodes for at least a month so we’d have a better chance to watch all of them.

I so agree with you! Wouldn’t that be nice if they were ON DEMAND? I don’t even have DVR. lol.. hell, can’t even figure out how to use my VCR anymore.. sad, I know.. would be nice to catch all the episodes. Guess I’ll try my best to catch as many as I can!

Oh you two really need a Tivo. That one piece of equipment has been a god-send, especially the ones that tape two channels at once. But I agree, they really need to offer it On Demand.

Very disappointed that here in Massachusetts we no longer get Soapnet so we do not get to see any of these episodes. Wish ABC would stream the marathon online or something since so few have Soapnet.

Some say ABC itself will be airing the first episode but would love to be able to see the 50 hour marathon Glad for the few that do have Soapnet still hope you enjoy it

Now would also be a good time for Soapnet to use that nightly (or rather, overnightly) 2-hour block of “Classic GH” to show episodes from earlier than 2009.

For example, the article lists the L&L “dance at Wyndham’s” episode. Soapnet’s shown it at least twice before (including last year), but they could use the overnight slots to perhaps run a week of shows following the Wyndham’s episode. I know I’ve never seen what happened next. Or they could show all of the Ice Princess episodes besides just the one that will be in the marathon.

Soapnet has the opportunity to show 10 old shows a week, and while 2009 had some good moments, I wish they’d take better advantage of the GH archive, esp. with this being the 50th anniversary year.

However, I still have Soapnet a year after some cable companies removed it. (My Comcast kept SN where it is and opened up a new channel number for Disney Jr.) So I can’t complain too much. Any chance to see even a few older shows now is still more than I would have expected this time last year when it seemed like SN was going away.

I live outside Boston, verizon still has soapnet.. Fifty episodes?? If they are not before Sonny and the mob ate the show. I don’t care. I do watch soap-net,Disney Jr is on a different channel. This is one of the reasons I kept Verizon when it expired.
I don’t want to watch the show with the mob,I shut the show off then because of it.
Guess you can’t please everybody all the time.?

Go buy the People Magazine Celebrates General Hospital Fifthy Years! A lot of good memories.. The cast of GH 1966!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And MORE!!!! I bought at Target today for $11.99…..It’s worth It !!!! Inside cover they have Port Charles map out . There’s the ELQ
building & more!!!!!!! Shawn & Tiffany!!!! Sonny & Brenda!!!!!! Jessie & Phil Brewer ….

I saw it! Unfortunately I don’t have $12 to give up at this time….I was grateful to be able to get the OLTL Tribute. I was born in 1963, and began watching GH in 1968 with my Grandma. If there’s any one family in Port Charles that takes the cake it’s the Quartermaines….that entire family is absolutely a trip! They are what the Buchanans are to Llanview, and what the Chandlers are to Pine Valley!

One of my very favorite episodes was in the early days when Laura found out that Nurse Amy Vining was her sister. I loved Rick & Lesley Webber. Also, I absolutely adored the time when Sean Donnely and Tiffany were together in the WSB…they had some amazing adventures. The other heartwarming episode was when Robert Scorpio found out he was a dad and we got to meet little Robin at just 7 years old…she was just so precious!

Its to bad that General Hospital Marathon is on SoapNet. I don’t get Soapnet and would love to watch it. Does anyone know of anyway to tape the 50 hour Marathon? Will it be for sale or would they be putting it on another channel where more people could watch it? I would love to see it, I been a GH fan since the early 70’s and when i first heard that they were going to show some scenes i got excited, then i heard it was on Soapnet which we don’t get, now i am feeling disappointed….

I want to buy a dvd of the 50 year marathon of General Hospital? Is one going to be available?

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL Preview: Carly and Lulu Make Plans to Rescue Their Children; Anna Looks Determined to Secure Her Freedom

Published

on

By

This week on all-new episodes of General Hospital, the race is on! Can Lulu (Alexa Havins) and Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) get to Rocco (Finn Carr) and Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) in time to ensure their safety from Cullum (Andrew Hawkes)? Can Carly (Laura Wright) with the help of her brother, Lucas (Van Hansis) rescue Josslyn (Eden McCoy) from captivity at Wyndemere? These questions may be answered, plus the return of the one and only Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) are on tap!

In the just released General Hospital spoilers video for the week of June 22-26, Lulu tells her mother, Laura (Genie Francis), “Dante and I have to get to Rocco before Cullum!” Meanwhile, Rocco (Finn Carr) looks angered and emotional as Britt walks through their cabin hideout. Does Rocco know his parents are on the way to find them, or has Cullum already tracked them down to the British Virgin Islands?

Back in Port Charles, Carly is informing Lucas that his niece, “is a WSB agent.” She knows Josslyn (Eden McCoy) is being held against her will at Wyndemere, and she has to find a way to get her out. Lucas agrees with Carly’s plan of, “We go in and we don’t leave without Josslyn!” Elsewhere, Josslyn is looking worried for her future as she is stuck in captivity thanks to Cassius, Cullum and Sidwell!

Courtesy/ABC

FINOLA HUGHES RETURNS

The final moments of the teaser promo reveal Anna in a psychiatric clinic in France. We have not seen her for months after Cullum, Sidwell and Pascal fed her hallucinogenics to make her believe her arch nemesis, Cesar Faison was alive!

Now, the doctors walk towards her hospital bed, where we see the super spy calmly knitting. Is Anna back to normal and playing everyone to get out of her predicament, or does she still remain deeply traumatized … or both?

Take a look at the rest of the official GH spoilers for the week below.

MONDAY, JUNE 22
Willow gets an unwelcome surprise. Trina sticks to her guns. “Nathan” wants reassurance. Ethan advises Ava. Brook Lynn receives an update.

TUESDAY, JUNE 23
Dante cautions Liz. Laura learns a secret. Brook Lynn confides in Michael. Sonny challenges Ava. Chase makes a decision.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24
Anna meets with her doctor. Carly makes a stunning confession. Britt extracts a promise. Cullum pulls a fast one. Gio and Emma hit the pool.

THURSDAY, JUNE 25
Josslyn clashes with Cassius. Lulu and Dante make a discovery. Chase receives a warning. Jordan seeks help. Alexis is summoned to the PCPD.

FRIDAY, JUNE 26
Anna takes a huge risk. Britt is in grave danger. Willow is in disbelief. Danny must act fast. Curtis jumps to the wrong conclusion.

Check out the latest General Hospital promo entitled, “Rescue Mission” below.

Now weigh-in: Do you think Anna is still mentally off-balance, or OK, and just pretending to be troubled to get out of France and get back to Port Charles? Will Josslyn finally be rescued, or will Carly and Lucas find themselves locked up with her? And, who will get to Britt and Rocco first? Cullum, or Dante and Lulu? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section below.

Continue Reading

General Hospital

Maurice Benard Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’ Writers; Teases Upcoming Sonny Scenes with Anna, Jason, Justine and Ric

Published

on

By

With the highly-anticipated returns of Finola Hughes (Anna Devane) on this week’s June 24 episode of General Hospital, Steve Burton’s (Jason Morgan) upcoming return on July 13, which also serves as the ABC daytime drama’s 16,000 episode, things are about to fire on all cylinders in the story, as noted today by series star, Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos).

On Father’s Day, the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning actor and mental health activist took to his Instagram and expressed in a video that he has some unbelievable upcoming senes with the aforementioned Burton and Hughes. Add to that Nazneen Contractor (Justine Turner) and Rick Hearst (Ric Lansing), where Benard gave credit where credit is due to the GH writing team, which is led by co-head writers, Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten..

In this video, Benard said, “I just want to get on here and say that I did some work with Steve Burton, Finola Hughes, Rick Hearst, Nazneen Contractor, and they’re all just fantastic. Truly fantastic. But, I want to say the writing was just exceptional. It truly was. It was exceptional. So, thankful for that kind of writing. I know writers don’t get the credit a lot, but I just want to say to the General Hospital writing team, keep rolling!”

GENERAL HOSPITAL PREVIEW

So now the question becomes, with a major tease like that, what is about to go down between Sonny, Anna, Jason, Justine and Ric? Will we finally get to the end of the line for Sidwell (Carlo Rota), as previously teased by the GH co-head writers? Will we learn what happened to Jason and Anna, fully? Will Justine and Sonny becomes closer or stop their liaisons? And what of Ric? Will he be true blue to his brother or double-cross him? There is a lot at stake as we move further into the summer and one that looks like it could be one of the more exciting ones in years!

FINOLA HUGHES CONFIRMED AMAZING SCENES WITH MAURICE BENARD

As a punctuation point to his video, Benard also shared this written message in the post: “I just did some wonderful scenes with Steve Burton, Rick Hearst, Finola Hughes and Nazneen Contractor and  and unbelievable writing, freaking amazing scenes that you will see in the near future on General Hospital.” In fact, Finola Hughes jumped in the post comment thread and responded, “I loved our scenes so much xxx”

Fans will most likely see all the scenes Benard referred to later in July, since GH tapes approximately six weeks ahead of air.

So, are you excited to see what Maurice is talking about? Are you hyped for what’s to come on GH? Any clue on what you think will go down between the main characters on the soap with the returns of Anna Devane and Jason Morgan to the mix? Weigh-in via the comment section below.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Maurice Benard (@mauricebenard)

Continue Reading

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Alum Chad Duell Announces Upcoming Release of His First Single, ‘If You Need Me’

Published

on

By

In a surprise move, Daytime Emmy winner, Chad Duell (ex-Michael Corinthos, GH) is getting ready to unveil a new chapter of his career in music.

The former GH star, where he played the son of Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) for 15 years, has announced his new single, “If You Need Me” will drop on Friday, June 26. The single is now available for pre-order on Spotify and major music streaming platforms and is distributed by DistroKid.

Taking to his Instagram story over the weekend, to announce the pre-save of his new single, Chad expressed, “I’ll make a full post about what I’ve been up to and my music once it goes live next week, but you can pre-save my first single so it goes straight to your Spotify once it drops next week.”

Photo: CDuellIG

SINCE LEAVING GENERAL HOSPITAL

Previously, since his departure from the ABC soap opera. Chad starred alongside Zach Mendez in the world premiere of of Yum Yum at Annapolis, a new play written by Bruce Reisman. Duell last appeared on General Hospital on the January 21, 2025 episode.

The part was recast with Rory Gibson who debuted as the new Michael in May of 2025 during the Nurses’ Ball episodes and who has remained in the role since that time.

In an interview earlier this year on The Able Show, Duell said on his decision to exit the soap opera, “I was blessed to be part of that (show) for as long as I have, but what happens sometimes is if you’re doing the same thing, especially in a creative field for such a long time, you can get a little burnt out in a way. It can make you a little depressed, so that’s kind of what happened. On top of that, I had other things going on in my life at the time. My father passed away recently and I just needed a reset. So, I stepped away. A lot of times you have to go through some stuff to really step into that next level. I needed to kind of feel uncomfortable.”

So, what type of musical genre will Chad’s new song be? Country? Pop? Rock? Dance/Club? Something else? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section below, and if you are eager to hear the new single next week via the comment section below.

Continue Reading

Video Du Jour

Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

Recent Comments

Power Performance

Finn Carr & Dominic Zamprogna as Rocco & Dante

General Hospital

Airdate: 5-14-2026

Popular

44
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x