General Hospital
CONTROVERSY: GH's Lisa was set to inject Patrick with HIV + Blood-filled Syringe!
Courtesy/ABC
The Internet has been a buzz since last evening after long time General Hospital viewers witnessed the story point where a whack-job Lisa (Brianna Brown) had Patrick (Jason Thompson) and Robin (Kimberly McCullough) tied up inside a cabin on a boat as part of her twisted revenge plot. Then, in the unthinkable, Lisa turns the tables, and instead of injecting some drug concoction with her usual syringe happy habits, she instead draws blood out of the arm of Robin. Now as we all know, Robin has been HIV positive for many decades, and that the show has responsibly told the story of living with HIV.
However, in this beat of the story, Lisa’s new rationalization is that since she can’t have Patrick, and since he loves Robin so much, she will inject him with her blood, thus infecting him with the HIV virus. Now, of course, at the end of the episode there was a fight for the syringe. So we don’t know who is going to be injected; Lisa herself, Patrick, or perhaps a drunken Matt who is stumbling around the boat, or none of the above.
Whatever the case, many viewers have found this tasteless and cause for pause to use Robin’s HIV status and the issue of blood as a weapon against someone, namely the man she loves. So what are your thoughts on the story point? Let us know!
General Hospital
RATINGS: ‘General Hospital’ Shows Most Gains in Total Viewers Week-Over-Week and Up in Key Demo
The ratings are out for the week of August 24-28 for your favorite broadcast television soaps, and it was ABC’s General Hospital which added the most total viewers and planted itself firmly in third place in its battle with Beyond the Gates in the key demos of women 18-49 and 25-54.
According to Soap Opera Network, all daytime dramas were up year-over-year, and General Hospital was joined by The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful with gains in their total audience viewership, while Beyond the Gates was only slightly off pace for the ratings week.
Let’s take a look at what had viewers tuning-in, starting with General Hospital, who added +79,000 viewers. While still under the 2 million viewers mark (which they can hopefully return in the coming weeks) their overall tally was an average of 1, 935,000 tuning-in, while still up year-to-year +136,000.
GENERAL HOSPITAL
In addition, GH while actually down from the previous week in the 18-49 ratings share, they still out performed Beyond the Gates for third place. However, GH was firmly in third place for the 25-54 ratings share.
The stories that were featured for the week included: Anna’s (Finola Hughes) PTSD and struggle with painful memories tied to Cesar Faison, and her concocting a plan to get rid of Britt (Kelly Thiebaud), Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) recording Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna) threatening her, and later running into a severe threat from Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) regarding Kai (Jens Austin Astrup) and Drew’s (Cameron Mathison) shooting, and Drew enlisting Ava (Maura West) to gain leverage over Jack, which resulted in Ava drugging him, while Drew went snooping for the evidence Brennan had against him.
Photo: JPI
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
Y&R remained in the top spot amongst all the soaps once again with 3,062,000 tuning in, and up +35,000 for the week, while year-to-year still showing strong gains at +231,000 viewers. However, while Y&R remained #1 for the 25-54 ratings share, it fell to #2 in the 18-49 ratings share behind The Bold and the Beautiful.
In story for the week, Nick’s (Joshua Morrow) sobriety in rehab was a focus, as was Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) hitting the Jabot office couch and having sex for the first time, and Lily (Christel Khalil) and Billy (Jason Thompson) battling over control and ownership of Chancellor Industries.
Photo: JPI
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
B&B is continuing to be inch closer to Y&R for the top spot, separated by a little more than 300,000 viewers. For the ratings week, the series posted a total audience of 2,719,000 adding +31,000 eyeballs overall, and like Y&R, is up year-to-year in its performance.
The CBS soap now , now in its 40th season is +217,000 from the same time last year. In the key demos, The Bold and the Beautiful was in the top spot for the women 18-49 ratings share and number two for women 25-54.
In story, the major threat to Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Finn (Tanner Novlan) and Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) and Daphne’s (Murielle Hilaire) marriages continued as Steffy and Carter swore they would not tell their spouses that the two had a drunken hook-up. But as viewers know now, Steffy is pregnant!
Photo: CBS
BEYOND THE GATES
Beyond the Gates tallied an average of 1,611,000 total viewers for the week, up +72.000 year-over-year and down slightly in tune-in for the week losing just -36,000 viewers. The CBS soap came in fourth place in the key demos for the week behind General Hospital, with whom they are often trading places for the third spot.
In story, after Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett) was released from the hospital, Hayley (Marquita Goings) stuck to her plan, doubling down on poisoning him and even getting caught in a major lie or meeting with Randy (Maurice P. Kerry), as Vernon (Clifton Davis) may be on to her machinations.
The ratings report is generated from Nielsen (Live+Same Day Big Data + Panel) for the week of August 24-28, 2026
So, what did you think of the performance of General Hospital for the ratings period? Which daytime drama has you most likely to tune-in each day? Which has you tuning-out? Let us know what’s working, or not working for you in story, via the comment section below.
General Hospital
Kelly Sullivan Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’s’ Maura West Recalling When Ava Shot Connie (Exclusive)
It was just over 13 years ago on General Hospital when Ava Jerome (Maura West) shot and killed Kate Howard/Connie Falconeri (Kelly Sullivan) in an effort to keep her quiet from revealing that Derek Wells was actually Ava’s back-from-the-dead brother, Julian Jerome (William deVry). It’s a crime that somehow Ava never has quite paid for either.
The episode back aired on August 13, 2013 and viewers had to say goodbye to Kelly Sullivan who played Kate and her alter, Connie. In the story, just before she died, Kate/Connie scrawled the letters AJ in her own blood, initially making the PCPD and Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) think that it was AJ Quatermaine (Sean Kanan) who did the deed.
Now, Sullivan recalled sharing scenes with the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning West, during a live conversation on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel. Kelly was the special guest talking about her recent return to the soaps in her new role as The Bold and the Beautiful’s Darcy Dylan.
Photo: JPI
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF MAURA WEST
Speaking of her final GH scenes and working with Maura West, Sullivan gave her then GH co-star major props. “If you’re going to be shot by somebody (on the soaps), you want to be shot by Maura West, c’mon!”
Maura West debuted back in May 2013 as Ava, and Sullivan remembered when the As the World Turns favorite began on GH. “I remember when Maura West first arrived at GH. She walked in with this cute little bob (hairdo) and she’s just delicious,” shared Sullivan.
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Kelly revealed more about Maura, adding “I think she’s amazing! I remember right before I left the show, someone suggested, and I would still love to do this with her, if she ever want to, but someone suggested that they wanted to direct the stage play A Streetcar Named Desire with Maura and I, where I would play Stella and she would play Blanche! Wouldn’t that be great?”
Speaking of the Ava/Connie showdown scenes, Sullivan expressed, “On television and on General Hospital specifically, Maura West is able to play a character who does the most horrendous things and you still care about her and that’s the mark of a really great actor. In other words, you’re able to be liked in the midst of the most horrendous things, and as a performer not shying away from that, and to just have the courage to do what’s on the page (in the script).”
Photo: JPI
KELLY SULLIVAN PARTING THOUGHTS AS SHE LEFT GENERAL HOSPITAL
Kelly also shared her sentiments when she walked off the set of General Hospital after her run back in August of 2013. “I really was honored. Every day I would go to work and I would say a little prayer, which is I want to do justice for my character, explained Kelly. “It’s between me and my character. I get to walk this path with her and to leave the show on that note, which is, I left every out there. I just gave it my all and again what an honor it was to play Kate/Connie.”
You can catch the full conversation with Kelly where she talks about her time on General Hospital, The Young and the Restless where she played Sage Warner and now The Bold and the Beautiful below.
So, do you remember the Ava and Connie scenes where Ava shot and killed her? What did you think of Kelly Sullivan’s sentiments about Maura West? Share your thoughts via the comment section. But first, watch the reveal where Ava recalls murdering Connie below!
The question of will Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) stay awhile at General Hospital after his recent extended hiatus from the show earlier this year, has reportedly been answered.
TMZ via court documents obtained in Burton’s ongoing legal battle with his ex-wife Sheree Gustin, shared that Steve actually inked a new three year deal with the ABC soap opera back in June.
That is significant because it was June when Burton returned back to work as Jason. In addition, the court filing confirmed that Burton had already moved back to California from Tennessee.
Photo: ABC
STEVE’S HIATUS AND HIS RETURN TO PORT CHARLES
GH fans will recall, it was back in February of 2026, that Burton announced via his Instagram that he was stepping away from his role of Jason Morgan for short break and pointed to wanting to spend quality time with his new wife, Michelle Lundstrom Burton with whom he tied the knot back on May 17, 2025.
Steve expressed at that time, “I’m newly married and looking forward to spending some quality time with my family.” It was back on March 25 that viewers saw Jason carted away by the WSB after taking the fall for Rocco Falconeri (Finn Carr) who shot then WSB Director Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes).
Burton returned to work on June 1, and due to General Hospital taping roughly six weeks ahead of air, made his on-screen comeback on the July 13 episode.
GOING FOR GOLD AT THE UPCOMING DAYTIME EMMYS
Then, Steve and his enduring fans got an extra special treat on the same day, when it was revealed on Extra that he was nominated for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series category.
Steve previously won in the Supporting Actor category for his work as General Hospital’s Jason in 1998 and as The Young and the Restless’ Dylan McAvoy in 2018.
Now with Jason and Britt’s (Kelly Thiebaud) relationship seemingly hitting the skids, plus Jason’s commitment to staying out of mob life to focus on being present for his son Danny Morgan (Asher Antonyzyn), what does the future hold for the fan favorite character? Stay tuned.
So, happy to hear that Steve Burton signed a new three year deal with General Hospital? Knowing that, what storyline would you like to see Jason get involved and with who? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section.
RATINGS: ‘General Hospital’ Shows Most Gains in Total Viewers Week-Over-Week and Up in Key Demo
Kelly Sullivan Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’s’ Maura West Recalling When Ava Shot Connie (Exclusive)
Steve Burton Reportedly Signs Three-Year Contract with ‘General Hospital’
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Steffy Tells Carter She’s Pregnant, But He Has a Way ‘Out of This Situation For All of Us’
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Jason and Britt Reach an Impasse; Is This the End of Their Relationship?
‘General Hospital’ to Rebroadcast Special Episode in Tribute to Anthony Geary
Vivica A. Fox Exits ‘The Young and the Restless’ For Now to Film Netflix’s ‘Women Like Us’
Jess Walton Memoir ‘The Young and the Rest of Us’ Set for Release in 2027
‘General Hospital’s’ Braedyn Bruner Reveals Her Daytime Emmy-Nominated Scenes and How Emma is Getting Her ‘Edge’ Back
‘General Hospital’s’ Bluesy Burke Marks 1 Year as Charlotte Cassadine: ‘It’s The Best Gift I’ve Ever Received’
Kelly Sullivan Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’s’ Maura West Recalling When Ava Shot Connie (Exclusive)
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Steffy Tells Carter She’s Pregnant, But He Has a Way ‘Out of This Situation For All of Us’
‘Beyond the Gates’ vs. ‘The Young and the Restless’ in a Soap Opera Showdown on ‘Flip Side’ Season 3 Premiere
‘The Bold and the Beautiful’s’ Heather Tom Talks Daytime Emmy-Nominated Scenes and What’s Behind Katie’s Deep-Seated Issues with Dylan (Exclusive)
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Did Brook Lynn Deserve Chase Walking Out on Her?
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News1 week agoVivica A. Fox Exits ‘The Young and the Restless’ For Now to Film Netflix’s ‘Women Like Us’
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the plot here fits the psycho character. I see no problem. As if this is a worse fate than shooting and killing someone innocent, like Georgie? Seriously, this is a soap and the weirdness is exactly why I LOVE GH!
THANK YOU! Thank is EXACTLY what I think. I am sick to death of all the GH bashing. Its nice to hear from a like-minded person.
Omg, I forget, I don’t think she was shot but stabbed. Either way. Point made.
I didn’t mind it. It seemed like the kind of thing a deranged mind like Lisa would do.
To me it’s not a taste issue. It’s more of an issue of why bring back Lisa Niles at all. I hated her character from the getgo and her presence has not created the kind of drama deserving of such a great soap couple like Patrick and Robin. I think there is so much negativity against the Lisa character that it causes some fans to find fault with anything related to her and the story. But, there is also the fact that GH under Bob Guza has become a dark, sexist and tasteless show. So every time GH writes a story with such a dark component (like injecting someone with HIV blood), it puts some fans over the edge- understandably. I just want a great, emotional and textured story for Robin and Patrick that is worthy of the tremendous talents of Kim McCullough and Jason Thompson!
Honestly, as good an actress as the woman who portrays Lisa is, I just tired of her crazy antics. The whole idea of her continually coming back, is absurd. The idea of her trying to inject Patrick with HIV blood isn’t pleasant but it isn’t more upsetting to me than her taking Emma out for ice cream without her parents permission, in order to prove her ability to scare and manipulate and yet, at the time, have everyone else believe her. I am ffing through Lisa scenes now. If GH wants to bring back a good villain, resurrect Manny or Alcazar or anyone else.
Par for the course with GH. The same show where a man can get raped (Jax) and get yelled at by his wife for it. Or that chemotherapy is an evil option for cancer treatment. Or that you can have PPD and go through every cliche known to the illness, all while gaining knowledge of the illness from Brooke Shields’s book. They take promoting important issues in the most insensitive, disgusting and irresponsible way as possible to a whole new level. In their attempt to be “creative” and “original” with this so-called twist, they only really managed to demonstrate once again what a joke this show has become.
This portion of this storyline makes me seriously uncomfortable. To have a doctor, a nutcase, threaten to stick someone with HIV+ blood is unimaginative and stupid. The current writers are using one of the best storylines in GH history. I believe yesterday’s scenes were too little, too late. How dare GH attempt to use Robin’s blood as a weapon to stress how crazy PBL Niles has become. This was Labine’s original intent to Robin contracting HIV. The current storyline is a slap in the face of Claire Labine and her original intent for Robin becoming HIV+. I hated yesterday’s scenes because TPTB didn’t have to go this route to begin this murder mystery.
And you people want to know why they are canceling soaps left and right, I quit watching this one months ago and when I read this I am glad. Shame on you GH! First Guza kills an innocent child so he can prop up his couple and now this.
omg, it was tasteless, is bob guza secretely back?, maybe he’s a ghost wrtier for the show for all we know, or maybe he left his storyline book behind and wolf who really hasn’t been really original is copying and putting Guza’s work on the air.
Aria…Guza never left. He still has his hand in the writing.
I am so grateful I gave up watching GH decades ago. If this is what you people want to watch on a daily basis, you’re all demented. when GH is inevitably cancelled next year I will personally send a thank you card to Katie Couric.
Honestly I find this story stomach turning, grotesque, and completely tasteless. i know alot of people had problems with Guza’s writing and praised Garin Wolf when he became head writer but I was very apprehensive about him taking over, after all he was the writer who did all the outlines during the strike & who loved to prop Jiz and LOVES triangles, that enough was cause for concern. Yes Guza thought he was living in Soprano land but I have to admit I enjoyed the big sequences he did like The Trainwreck, The Metro Court Hostage Situation, Jasam rescuing Jake from The Russian, The Biotoxin Hospital Crisis, and much more. Garin Wolf can not write thee kind of action all encompassing stories, the lead up to this Lisa story has been boring as hell. For days we watched these people on a boat during nothing while Lisa lurked and then did it become exciting when she started? No, it became grotesque and sick. I found this whole story appalling & quite honestly I ended up fastforwarding through alot of the Robin/Lisa/Patrick scenes because I couldn’t stomach it anymore. And on top of that we’ve all heard the rumors about the Franco/Sam story, that she’s most likely going to be raped on the heels of Lisa injecting people with HIV infected blood. Quite honestly I find it disgusting, and if this is GW’s brand of entertainment he’s sicker & more twisted than Guza ever hoped to be.
Excellent post…I am going to forward it to Frons & Sweeney. Not that it will help.
I also agree that GW has burned this show much worse than Guza did. Excellent post!
I thought it was gross….but fit the character. Then again i sat thru Mitch giving his daughter electro shock and plan to rape her to have his baby. Nothing is too shocking anymore
I find it simply silly. With the medicines out now, HIV is not the death sentence it was when the character of Robin first contracted it. I’ve heard it’s not fun being on all the drugs but it’s not a death sentence so to inject him doesn’t have the gravitas it would have if the storyline had been done 15 years ago so why bother?
I agree it fit with Lisa’s psycoh behaviour and it was indeed a sickening twist, which is what made it good. What really bothered me was Patrick saying that he wasn’t afraod of a virus. Yes, progress has been made in meds, but they are horrific side effects and they eventually stop working. The mosguided idea that HIV/AIDS isn’t so bad is the reason people don’t protect themselves and infection rates are on the rise after decades of declining. Those scenes reinforced a really scary step backward in HIV/AIDS prevention
I think Patrick didn’t want to show fear because he didn’t want to play into Lisa’s game. Additionally, he knew that there are also precautions that he can do to maybe prevent becoming infected such as going for an intensive one month prophylactic HIV Meds regimen. IMO, Patrick freaking out would make no sense. He’s a doctor and he lives with HIV everyday through his wife.
Brianna Brown is an excellent actor…. she was compelling to watch prior to her final exit scenes…. we all knew she wasn’t going to split robin and patrick…. i thought she had great chemistry with johnny. Hot “love” scenes. i was hoping GH would pair them together…. she was a believeable “villian”. it’s not often we get to watch a 3rd person, if you will, interACT with a supercouple. ie: compelling drama…. i’ll miss her on GH… the story with the dirty needle was unneccessary. didn’t leave the door open for a possible return back to gh for Brianna brown. I AM GOING TO MISS ROBIN.
Where is Wendy Riche??????? She is about the only person who can save GH now. Between Frons, ABC, Jill Farren Phelps, Guza and now Garin Wolf, I think their sole purpose was to KILL off GH. I loved GH when Riche was EP. She brought heart, humor, family, action and romance. Phelps brought her death cloud (from the other poor soaps she helmed prior) and managed to make me not care about the shows future anymore. My GH “died” when Phelps officially took over. I think this woman hates love in the afternoon. Its been all doom & gloom with writing to make one wince. The Q’s were allowed to kill killed off and the mob was allowed to flourish. Robin & Patrick were the only saving graces at the but now this latest plot twist is just $$#$%! Technology and OJ didn’t kill off soaps…morons like Phelps with big assists by Guza and Frons are the ones who killed off any love one had for GH. I suggest to the cast of GH, bail out now. Wendy Riche….Please know how much I loved your vision of GH….Karen/Jagger/Brenda, Brenda/Sonny/Jax, Emily & Zander, Lucy & Kevin, The Nurses Ball, Alan Q, etc. YOUR legacy will never be forgotten, but this current #$@, you betcha!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WR is rolling in her grave right now.
Wendy Riche is not dead.
I got confused with Gloria Monty…….thanks.
So get Riche back then…….
Lisa should have been KILLED OFF a long time ago!! NOBODY gets away with what this character has!!!! Same goes for Anthony!!! KILL HIM OFF!!!
I think they have overkilled the story of luny lisa enough is enough.
Proof that ABC is wanting to drive viewers away like they did with All My Children so they can replace it.
I had no problem with this storyline. BB is a magnetic actor, she seems to just always pull your eyes to her. She performed the hell out of this last bit and I am really enjoying the storyline. Villains go too far, that’s that the whole point of being a villain. Take something sacred or Out of Bounds and then go there. That’s what they had Lisa do. Watching Patrick not even flinch, watching Robin silently cry begging Lisa not to do it. Watching Robin fight with all her power to stop Lisa – all if it was great IMO. Lisa went too far, of course she did – she’s a cray cray villain!
Totally agree with you…. BB is magnetic and compelling to watch…. she stole her scenes….. and that’s saying something…. robin and patrick in my opinion are GH’s top super”couple”. BB acted with the best of them…. reason i tuned in to gh in the first place… wouldn’t lisa have been hot with johnny?
I hated this particular plot point. There was really no need to go there. I have no idea why there was a need to even bring Lisa back, there is no point to it. The thing that bothered me even more than Lisa using Robin’s blood was having Robin trying to inject Lisa with the HIV-infected blood. Robin would never have done that, it makes no sense. I could see her trying to kill Lisa before infecting her with HIV. And why didn’t we see Robin get the upper hand on her and just beat the living crap out of her? Why can’t the writers remember that she is Anna Devane’s daughter?? She has been trained in martial arts, she can fire a gun and can handle knives. Lisa would be no match for her. Why did we constantly see Lisa able to overpower her? Makes no sense. Robin wouldn’t have even needed the needle.
Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thompson were great, but the story itself is not worthy IMO of their considerable talents. I still can’t believe that this is what the writers came up with for them. There is a ton of history between those characters and they deserve to have a story that doesn’t include Lisa at this point.
Once again, here is GH problem. The writers don’t value the history of its characters. Who cares about Lisa and her deranged pyschotic mindset. Just set her fire already.