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General Hospital

Could General Hospital end up as a primetime Summer Series?

By Michael Fairman

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Courtesy/ABC

Courtesy/ABC

There is a report out this evening from TV Guide,  that is saying that while General Hospital may get the ax later this year in the daytime to make room for Katie Couric’s new syndicated talk show that the alphabet network may be looking into other scenarios to keep the show on the air in primetime!

According to TVG, “One scenario being discussed has the drama continuing as a short-run prime-time summer series, similar to Spanish-language networks’ telenovelas. Even if the cost of production doubled over the typical soap budget (around $200,000 per episode), a nighttime version of GH would still be inexpensive for an original scripted show.”

Perhaps, what they really should be doing is keeping GH on the air in the daytime and doing a summer series to bring more eyeballs to it in the daytime, so the soap doesn’t go away all together?  Whatever the case, new creative heads, Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati are plotting big returns for GH with Robert, Anna and Holly and bringing John McBain and the Mannings over from OLTL,  be it long or short term to try and drive up the ratings and invigorate the ailing lone ABC soap.

What do you think about a primetime GH telenovela style arc? Let us know!

 

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Don’t like it. I want for General Hospital to remain on abc Daytime. Waiting an entire year for a short Summer prime time version doesn’t do much for me.

Although OLTL was by far my favorite soap on ABC, it is now a thing of the past. But GH isn’t and it’s not too late to save it. It’s time for OLTL and GH fans to put their differences aside and to join forces to save General Hospital.

I’m calling out all OLTL fans, GH fans as well as Y&R/B&B/DAYS fans to boycott The Revolution like the plague and to support General Hospital by watching it live on ABC as much as possible (if possible, avoid the DVD or online thing). I know that General Hospital isn’t exactly the best soap right now, but it needs our help and it’s time to save it and prevent this cancellation trend that has completely wiped out the NY soaps to infiltrate itself on the LA soaps.

Because if General Hospital gets canceled, you can be sure that these anti-soap executives won’t stop it there and will go after the three remaining soaps until they have succeeded in fully killing a genre that has existed since the 1930s .

So let us, ALL soap opera fans, join force to save General Hospital and
show these bigwig network executives that soap operas are still a viable business in 2012.

I am with you but HOW does anyone know if we watch live on ABC or on DVR, DVD, VCR or online? HOW DOES ANYONE KNOW THAT? I will gladly watch it live if I know how this matters & will help things! Thanks

unless you are a Neilson home, watching it live means nothing. The best thing right now, as per Raven Beauty’s blog, is to watch it at abc.com on your pc or mibile device. She has heard from a reliable source that abc is monitoring online viewing of GH right now. For what purpose? nobody knows but still-anything to help. DVD watching only counts if the info is requested from the cable company (which it rarely is and still only for a week after airing) I dont know anyone who has a Neilson monitoring system, so I will dvr it as I normally so and also watch online at night, even if it’s just in the background, while I check e-mails.

Heather: This is a wonderful post but you have to continue to keep posting THIS POST. Because people dont get it. If they don’t stop with which show is better and which should be cancelled, there will be no more GH., period. Please continue to POST this same post. Save it and copy past t in your email so that U can go back to it and re-post it. Hopefully, your post will take fire and people will see that we need to rally together. Continue to fight for the genre by saving GH., at the same time we must still do all the things we were doing before OLTL got cancelled (sending soap, petitions on Facebook, boycotte cable get a Dish, call /write Disney and abc) in hopes of getting it restored elsewhere.

Absolutely! I couldn’t agree more. I am also not watching ANY ABC shows, except for GH. In the morning, I now watch the Today show on NBC instead of GMA that I watched for years. The afternoons I turn to CBS, as they still have two soaps Y&R, BB, then turn to ABC for GH. I autotune my satellite, so the channels will change even if I’m not at home ( I keep the tv on for my cats when not at home). I’m only watching shows on networks that still run soaps in the daytime. I think we soap fans need to give our support to the remaining soaps on the air even if we never watched those soaps before. That’s what I’m doing even though I never watched BB or Days before now. I too urge you all to do the same if you can.

I’d prefer it to stay in the daytime as is, but at this point, I’ll take my stories any way I can get them.

That’s true, I’d rather have it part time than never.

Why did not think of this for AMC and OLTL?!!!

For me, GH was the targeted soap to save in the first place and the save AMC & OLTL was a smoke screen and slap in the face to fans who participated.

same here-better some of the time, than not at all!

Why not bring OLTL back as a primetime summer run show while they’re at it.

I wish they would just leave our soaps alone, they have done more than enough damage! Let us recover from our latest losses…seriously!!!

So after all the whining about how expensive Soaps are and that is the reason they have to go – now they say Soaps are cheap compared to Prime Time shows? I always thought the expense excuse was a lot of bunk.

Yes, but will there be as many Virgin Marys hanging on the wall? I like my novellas authentic.

Right now I need the patience to wait for Frank & Ron to work some magic. Today’s GH was awful !
It has gotten so bad that when the scene was going on with Tracey & Anthony I was gringing at his voice & demeanor…. Hate this. Hurry up and dump these awful storylines. Then advertise on prime time who’s back, especially on Wednesday & Thursday nites with their best lineups. I cannot believe not having
One life today I turned off GH. Do we really need to deal with a new messed up kid thrown into the mix……really?

Oh how I agree. Every day I turn GH on & TRY to watch, every day I turn it off in disgust. I cannot stand Anthony & Tracy, I mean really. And I when I saw the new angry kid, I turned it off then.

Another example-Friday, I think it was, I turned it on at 2:00-first thing was Ethan kissing that girl, I turned it off-it is hard to invest in a story when you know the character is leaving.

At 2:30 I checked again-there is Sam with big tears in her eyes & Jason looking sick-what’s new here-turned it off.

At the end of the show checked again & there is Sonny getting either shot or blown up AGAIN. Turned it off. I am trying but this poor show needs a total overhaul-I mean clean house & start over, it is so bad. And to think OLTL is gone.

I would rather for The Revolution to tank so that GH takes its timeslot in September.

Although OLTL was by far my favorite soap on ABC, it is now a thing of the past. But GH isn’t and it’s not too late to save it. It’s time for OLTL and GH fans to put their differences aside and to join forces to save General Hospital.

I’m calling out all OLTL fans, GH fans as well as Y&R/B&B/DAYS fans to boycott The Revolution like the plague and to support General Hospital by watching it live on ABC as much as possible (if possible, avoid the DVD or online thing). I know that General Hospital isn’t exactly the best soap right now, but it needs our help and it’s time to save it and prevent this cancellation trend that has completely wiped out the NY soaps to infiltrate itself on the LA soaps.

Because if General Hospital gets canceled, you can be sure that these anti-soap executives won’t stop it there and will go after the three remaining soaps until they have succeeded in fully killing a genre that has existed since the 1930s .

So let us, ALL soap opera fans, join force to save General Hospital and
show these bigwig network executives that soap operas are still a viable business in 2012.

A primetime summer series? Sounds to me like an even easier way to get rid of GH once and for all. I can see it now. Well we took it from daytime and put it on primetime, but the ratings were not what we would like. Might as well cancel it in favor of another reality show … after only a handful of episodes. That is what ABC does.

What GH, and while we are at it, OLTL, AMC, GL, ATWT, PC, Loving/The City, etc., all the cancelled shows and those remaining need is to go to their OWN network, like the CW, or even HULU – they just started their own original programming. I would be willing to pay a subscription fee to watch QUALITY television again.

What sort of damage control is this? We can all see through this. The show is getting cancelled, one way or another.

As soon as Ron’s material starts airing, I’ll be watching GH. Not before.

how would it work? i just can’t see it.

I’m almost done with GH, so boring lately, how dumb is this ghostly gal running around, to broad of storylines, get back to the main players and thier issues, the more you add the less focus. I would rather read this then watch GH now.

ABC needs to STOP with the insanity!!!! Enough is enough, leave GH alone and get rid of these stupid live talk shows that air on every channel everyday all day. Cheap Cheap Cheap is what ABC has become and I’m ready to boycott all together. They can afford the one last soap on the network and put alot into it to make it successful. Kaitie Couric wasn’t successful as a primetime news anchor and she won’t do any better as a talk show host. Wake Up ABC before you lose all of your remaining viewers to other networks.

Amen! KC is not the deal!!
I’m being driven to whatever it is that my mother watches on TNT all day.

Ron should hit the ground running. Entice the OLTL viewers to want to give GH a try. He is already alienating the Jolie fanbase by ignoring Melissa Archer going over with Michael Easton to GH. Wouldn’t take much for die hard fans to follow. Instead of treating GH’s cancellation as a done deal, do what it takes to save it!

They tried this format (televovelas) with Port Charles. 13 week story arcs. So where is Port Charles now?

Exactly! Why would they do this, when they’ve tried it before? And why wasn’t this an option that was even considered for OLTL……which is my opinion was the best soap on tv, and deserved to be saved. Although, putting a daytime soap in the primetime line-up is a sure fire way to make sure it gets cancelled. If the 2.5 – 3 million viewers isn’t enough in daytime, then why would it be enough for primetime? Not to mention, as of March 2012, Soapnet will be a thing of the past. Running the soaps exclusively on Soapnet would have been better than canceling all of the soaps. Hell, the network is called Soapnet, so why not just feature AMC, OLTL & GH on that network? That way the fans get to see their shows, and the network can run their lousy talk shows during the day on the regular network channel. Soapnet should have been a ground-breaking network that featured all the shows that we love, and also could have been the forum to start up new original soap series. Instead of running repeats of O.C, Beverly Hills 90210 & Gilmore Girls. Ryan’s Hope, Generations, Another World, As The World Turns, Santa Barbara, Guiding Light, Sunset Beach…..I mean, it’s not like they didn’t have a bevy of shows to run on the network. We soap fans our fanatical about our shows, and I know that if they were to run all of the programs that I listed above, they would surely have an audience to tune in. I for one, miss Generations & Sunset Beach….and they haven’t been on for years.

Seems to me, they don’t have the right people in charge….cause the people in charge don’t know how to think outside of the box.

I am confused. Should the ratings jump for GH, and they will, why move it anywhere? Is Katie, Revolution, Chew that high in ratings??
If the show is good, bringing in viewers, can’t another network pick it up?

I am not a telenovela fan. I like daytime drama and its legacy characters and histories. Seems as though B&B is that sort of telenovela with its stop-and-start plotting and character assassinations. Just not my thing.

Would love the focus to be on daytime and keeping that genre special and unique. Moving GH to summer primetime does not solve a problem. The strongest primetime offerings seems to languish during summer months so I would expect GH to do the same.

One day someone decided daytime drama was beginning to fail and ignored warning signs or failed to do right the ship. As a result, we have lost so much wonderful entertainment in favor of glossy personalities who offer self-improvement hints my parents and vets like Heloise have shared for years.

That someone was Brian Frons. Several actors have spoken of his dislike of the genre and how it’s fans meant nothing to him. So he is leaving abc come the end of January. Big deal. The damage has been done. He is also responisble for the mess SoapNet has become. Before his reign SoapNet had great original programming; like Soap Talk, One Day With in addition to running old soaps like Another World, Ryans Hope, Dallas, Dynasty etc. etc… He took over and gave us The OC twice a day, 90210 three times a day and Gilmore Girls. The same stuff over and over. But that seems to be the way Disney does things as anyone who has kids will tell you. (How many times have you seen the same episodes of Good Luck Charlie or Wizards of Waverly Place?) It was the fans of abc daytime who pushed Oprah to the top. She ran after GH and I for one as I know many others would not have watched her had she not had a great lead in like GH. (I have a few choice words for her as well but that is for another time.) OLTL is gone and tha’s it. GH is on it’s way and there is no one who can convince me otherwise. Katie Couric is washed up. No one wants to see her yet again. You know TNT is doing a reboot of Dallas. If that fares well in the ratings then maybe some cable channel may step up and buy the rights to OLTL.

Why not bring back OLTL in that form?

Don’t like it at all… unless it is all we get! Let’s keep GH on daytime in whatever slot it is in… frankly it could be the morning as long as it is on and we can get it on abc.com or hulu or wherever. There is one nice aspect to primetime and that is increased viewers. I like the idea of doing it with OLTL and if the viewers like it someone thinks about spinning off a new network for OLTL and GH if it has to move and then eventually B&B, Y&R and DOOL all go there too. I still like the notion of an all soaps network with maybe some shows or movies that use the soap actors for fun new ways to use their talent. Sort of like one big rep group with any type of vehicle (plays, movies, shows, musical concerts, talk shows with the stars with Michael hosting and interviewing and etc.)

I would rather see the genre evolve than go away. If done the right way I think it could work. Let’s give it a shot.

put it on anytime, any place but it has to be on 5 days a week and 52 weeks a year. I need my GH fix daily, not just for the summer.

Bringing it to prime time is another way to let it die. If it doesn’t attract more than it’s current viewers it will be cancelled after one season, and a summer series is what, 8-12 episodes? No, we need to get the ratings up and keep it online.

what is a primetime all? I love My GH

Honestly, I’ll watch whenever it’s on. Daytime, primetime, online, infomercial-only-time, makes no difference to me. What I will not watch, ever, never in a million years, is Katie Couric talking about anything.
Zzzzzzzz
Gimme a break already!

Still do not understand why ABC is wasting money on Katie Couric. Does anyone remember that, a former “The Today Show” co-host, Jane Pauley had a talk show? Will anyone want to watch Katie Couric listening to herself babble on and on?

I love GH!! If it is taken off, I might as well sell my TV….

I am soooo tired of all this drama about GH, I WANT GH TO STAY WHERE IT IS FOREVER! If ABCD wants to commit suicide so be it. Right now GH is the only show I watch on ABCD, so if they cancel it, this lady is off to CBS. ABCD is a lot like FB as far as I am concerned all FLUFF and NO STUFF…most of their programming stinks anyway and I am tired of people (ABCD) deciding for me what I watch.

General Hospital

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

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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.

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General Hospital

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

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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.

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General Hospital

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

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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.

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

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