General Hospital
Anne Schoettle Joins the General Hospital Writing Team
Soap opera veteran writer, Anne Schoettle, is the newest member of the recently retooled writing team of General Hospital. Schoettle’s name was revealed during the Thursday, September 5th episode of the ABC daytime drama series.
Anne is married to David Shaughnessy (who has directed episodse of Days of our Lives, General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful) and brother to actor Charles Shaughnessy (ex-Shane/Drew, Days of our Lives and ex-Victor Cassadine, General Hospital).
Confirming her position with the GH writing staff was her daughter, Amy Shaughnessy. Taking to X, Amy expressed: “Look out #SoapTwitter, Anne Schoettle is BACK! #GeneralHospital #ScriptEditor.”

Photo: JPI
Schoettle joins GH co-head writers Chris Van Etten and Elizabeth Korte as the script editor along with associate head writer, Cathy LePard as key members of the team.
Previously, in her soap opera career, Anne has been the head writer at Days of our Lives (1990-1991), and part of the writing regimes at Port Charles, Sunset Beach, The Young and the Restless, Guiding Light, and The Bold and the Beautiful.

Photo: ABC
For her work on The Young and the Restless, Anne has received three Daytime Emmy Awards and two WGA Awards.
What do you think of the current GH writing regime with Chris Van Etten back as co-head writer, alongside GH mainstay Elizabeth Korte and the recent promotion of Cathy LePard and now Anne Schoettle joining as the script editor? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
So far, it’s looking like Sonny will get away with murder yet again so I don’t see any difference with this new writing team and the others before.
Hope thar means GH/ABC is bringing back Kelly aka Sam; because Sam has way more story with lots of ties in Port Charles. I stand with Kelly Monaco, my favorite.
Youre riding for a disappointment. Writers dont hire actors. They just write story. Frank Valentini and the Disney execs fired Kelly Monaco. Only they could save her job. The writers have to write for the actors hired and placed under contract. They can only kill off characters when the Producers and Network Execs fire them. Kelly is done.
And Jacquelyn Grace Lopez as Blaze!’n
Blaze is inconsequential as she was only on GH for about 2 minutes. Kelly is a vet. No comparison.
So far so good.
Hope she makes a positive impact. I have not been able to watch GH because of the contract negotiation stalemate that is transpiring between Disney and Direct TV. Honestly, if I do not hear that things have drastically improved, I won’t go back when ABC becomes accessible for me again. Yes. I know I can figure out a way to watch GH on YouTube but I can’t muster up the energy/ enthusiasm it would garner for me to find a way to watch after a hard day at work. Right now, GH is like that gym that’s too far away from my home and work place. I need it to easily and effortlessly accessible. Disney allowing its contract with Direct TV to expire may have been the push I needed to break a life long addiction.
Hope she brings Sam Kelly Monaco back
I hope she can make GH watchable again. When they brought Van Etten back GH has gone downhill.
I could not agree more about GH and Van Etten. I may be in the minority here but I thought that when Patrick Mulcahey was co-head writer, the s/l’s and dialogue was on fire.
It won’t be General Hospital until Kelly is reinstated.
too many stories and not enough focus
like Harrington said, 3 group of writer changes while he played Cates. All went in a different direction.
Having been attuned to soap news/social media when Becky and Genie were originally let go, this time seems different. While I applaud soap fans for sticking up for their favorite performers, the decision to let Monaco go does not seem likely to be reversed.
The writing has been horrendous for a while now and Frank should rehire Ron! I’m sick of lame dialogue and I have been opting to watch on Hulu so I can skip over the ridiculous and nonsensical scenes and ludicrous entanglements.
okay I was feeling you till I got to the part where u said to rehire Ron, I’ll take any writing team over Ron, so please do not put that out in the universe.
Have you seen the absolutely appalling dragonshit that has been airing on Days of Our Lives lately?? First the dumbest serial killer story ever, and now an absolutely mindless “soap within a soap” story which ate up two full days of airtime this week? Because Days tapes 9 months ahead, ReRon is already gone, but we’re stuck with this garbage anyway.
It’s highly likely these stories got him fired from Days, just like the Fluke story and the absolutely moronic “exit story” he wrote for the iconic Luke Spencer got him fired from GH. And though OLTL never aired in Hell, I’m willing to bet any number of souls that his writing played a big part in that show getting cancelled.
Days makes so much sense compared to GH, why? GH always seems like they are making things up as they go along! And keep changing it and confusing as heck! No sospiness, no drama, no affairs, triangles! Ugh
Hey Potato Chip! I like your name.
does it really matter?, its like no matter what combo of writers they get together they’ll all make a mess, I mean I don’t even know who to blame for some of the current mess or who to give credit to when the show has been good. I don’t know if I’m paying more attention this year but the show has been a mess an yet its had some outstanding moments that kind that earn you the Emmy for best show, I feel like I’ve been on a roller coaster ride, But like I always say, this is my show, my ride or die, But its hard to give credit to a lot of the mess the show is airing right now. I’m not looking forward to a lot of what’s airing right now, I mean, we know they are getting rid of sam(unless the listen to fan outrage) replacing Lulu with a new actor, we know sonny is gonna get away with murder, they ruined the jagger character, Kristina is now acting like Sonny with a skirt, can someone tell me what’s to like here?
The role of Lulu Spencer Facolnari is now being played by Jennifer Landon. 🙂
Michael Landons daughter? If that’s her, she was great in the last show I watched her in , but was cancelled.
.
Actually the last thing she was in was “Yellowstone”. Which apparently has NOT been cancelled. There was a ridiculous delay in production of season 5b which will finally be seen in November. And latest word here in Hell is that the show will continue on with Season 6, even though the “star” of the show, Kevin Costner will not be involved.
Good luck to Anne bring any sense of coherence or watchability to a Stacy Pulwer “script.” Her writing, if one can charitably call it that, is so appalling it boggles the mind that no one in the production team hierarchy has noticed, let alone intervened or removed her. I skip any episode in its entirety as soon as she is revealed as its dialoguist, because I know the hour will be inevitably insufferable.
Maybe Anne Schoettle can help get GH refocused with Van Etten and Korte back at the helm. Need to work fast as GH has fell to 1.8M viewers.
General Hospital
‘General Hospital’ Alum Kelly Monaco Reveals She’s Six Months Sober

Longtime General Hospital favorite, Kelly Monaco (ex-Sam McCall), took to her Instagram on Tuesday, September 15 and shared that she is six months, seven days sober from alcohol. Monaco played Sam for 21 years on the ABC soap opera.
Accompanied by a screenshot from the I Am Sober app that tracks the progress of anyone struggling with or trying to not drink, Monaco wrote, “Now the whole 6/7 thing makes sense! #duces.”
Monaco has kept a very low profile since her final episode on General Hospital aired back on October 30, 2024, when Sam had a shocking heart attack and died. It was later revealed that Daytime Emmy nominee, Jeff Kober (ex-Cyrus Renault) injected Sam’s IV with a fatal dose of digitalis.

Photo: JPI
KELLY MONACO HAS KEPT MORE TO HERSELF SINCE LEAVING GH
This year, Kelly has posted on her Instagram account a total of four times, most recently to celebrate her mother, Carmina’s birthday, who turned 70 just four days ago.
Jumping into the comment thread on Kelly announcing her sobriety were several of her former GH co-stars including Brandon Barash (ex-Johnny, GH) who shared, “Love this. Congrats! 👏👏👏,” Ingo Rademacher (ex-Jax, GH) who just posted the hands up and heart emojis, and Lexi Ainsworth (ex-Kristina, GH) who wrote, “So proud of you 👏 badass.”

Photo: ABC
DANCING WITH THE STARS BEGINS NEW SEASON; KELLY WAS THE SEASON ONE CHAMP
With this season’s Dancing with the Stars about to kick-off tonight, in which Kelly was the first-ever celebrity winner in season one and returned for an All-Star version, might we hear from her on her picks or thoughts on this year’s batch of contestants?
One thing has remained a constant with Kelly’s unwavering fan base, they want her back on General Hospital, because as we know in the soaps, many characters somehow come back from the dead, so why couldn’t Sam?
Share your thoughts for Kelly and her six months of sobriety via the comment section below and if you would still like to see her back on General Hospital or even another soap opera within the next few years.
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Breaking News
Soap Alums Remembered During In Memoriam Segment at 78th Emmy Awards; Patrick Muldoon Omitted

During last night’s 78th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, as it does every year, the television academy paid tribute to those in the industry that they’ve lost over the last year; since the previous Emmys held each year in September.
Starting with an emotional tribute to the late Catherine O’Hara by three of her co-stars, Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy and Dan Levy and Home Alone’s Macaulay Culkin, the segment then dovetailed into Noah Kahan performing “Bridge over Troubled Water” as the faces and the names of those being remembered were shown on the screen.
Daytime soap alums, who either stayed in the genre for the majority of their career, or went on to primetime success as well, were honored including: Anthony Geary (Luke, GH), Hayden Panettiere (Sarah, OLTL, Lizzie, GL, Juliette, Nashville), James Van Der Beek, (Dawson, Dawson’s Creek, and Stephen, ATWT), Gil Gerard (Alan, The Doctors), June Lockhart (Mariah, GH), Patricia Crowley (Mary, Port Charles and GH), Randolph Mantooth (Clay/Alex, Loving and The City, and Richard, GH) and Jon Cypher (Alex, ATWT and Arthur, Santa Barbara).

Photo: TVAcademy
THOSE HONORED AND THOSE WHO WERE NOT
However, in a glaring omission, the producers of the In Memoriam failed to include Days of our Lives beloved star, Patrick Muldoon who played the OG Austin Reed and also Richard Hart on Melrose Place. Muldoon passed away in April of this year at 57.
After Kahan concluded his performance, a special tribute to Rob Reiner began with Jamie Lee Curtis taking to the stage to share some warm words about her late friend.
In a ironic and sad twist, Curtis shared ,“Last week, Robbie won an Emmy for guest actor in a comedy series for his beautiful work on The Bear, and he now holds the record of 48 years for the longest gap between acting Emmys, which was previously held by his father Carl Reiner, at 37 years.”
Reiner, who along with his wife, Michele Reiner were killed by their son, Nick Reiner, is currently awaiting a decision if he will stand trial. Prosecutors on Tuesday, shared they will not seek the death penalty if he is convicted at trial, but instead life in prison. Curtis said of Rob, “He was generous and kind and funny as hell, and a friend to all. We all miss Rob and Michele and all those we lost this year.” The Emmys then faded to black and went to commercial break.
So, were you happy to see those who you know from their work in soap operas included in the 2026 In Memoriam tribute at the Primetime Emmys? Share your thoughts in the comment section. But first, in case you missed it, you can watch it below.
General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Jason and Britt Break Up After Realizing They Can’t Trust Each Other

Trust issues were cited as the reason for the break-up of Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) and Dr. Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) on the Monday, September 14 episode of General Hospital, ending the their complicated romance once and for all.
The episode began with the pick-up of Jason and Britt’s argument over Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) at the Quartermaine boathouse. Britt is in disbelief that Jason continues to take Anna’s side, and that he will not back her up as her witness, as she wants to report Anna’s attempted murder of her to the PCPD.
Jason tells Britt that Anna had been pushed to the brink through the mental torture she’d endured while held captive at Wyndemere, and accused Britt of doing nothing to save her, when she knew exactly what was going on as she was at Wyndemere as well. Britt told Jason that she’d been a victim of Sidwell and Cullum too, and by the time she figured out what was happening to Anna, they had moved her somewhere else.

Courtesy/ABC
BELIEF SYSTEM BROKEN
Then, Jason clearly lets Britt know he doesn’t believe her version of what transpired. An enraged Britt fires back at Jason in disbelief, that he is siding with Anna instead of her, when he was on Mount Emerson and saw for himself how Anna was planning to kill her. Suddenly, Britt wants to know if Jason would have helped Anna cover her tracks, if Anna had killed her.
Next, Jason argued that Britt seemingly needs to believe Anna would have killed her when he knows deep down Anna would never have murdered her. Jason thinks Britt is trying to absolve herself of her own guilt and complicity in keeping Anna locked up.
Britt shouts “You need to believe that! Otherwise, you’d have to admit that your friend is unhinged and dangerous. And she would have killed someone you say you love!” Now at a complete impasse, Britt walks out on Jason realizing they don’t trust each other and calls it quits.

Courtesy/ABC
PICKING UP THE PIECES
Later, Jason finds Carly (Laura Wright) at the Metro Court, and while in an elevator fills her in that he doesn’t trust Britt, and that as much as he loves her, he doesn’t trust her like he does Carly. Britt is back at the hospital.
A concerned Tristan (Dean Geyer) tries to talk to her about what transpired with Anna. However, Britt clams up and walks away from any discussion.
Now in the General Hospital teaser video for the action on Tuesday, September 15, Jason ask Carly (over beers and a game of pool) “When you lie for a living, how long before you start lying to yourself? Take a look at that below.
Let us know, are you glad that Jason and Britt finally called it quits? What about the reason that the couple broke-up, over Britt knowing about Anna being locked-up at Wyndemere and Jason not willing to back Britt about Anna trying to kill her? Is Tristan the next man for Britt? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section.
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