In a major reshuffling of the executive infrastructure at Disney/ABC, several lay-offs were handed-down including to longtime ABC executive Vicki Dummer who most recently was Head of Current Series Programming, ABC Entertainment,

In her position, Dummer oversaw the creative aspects from the network level for General Hospital.  Vicki had been with the company for over 24 years and was a noted longtime fan of the show in interviews she had given during her tenure.

Courtesy/ABC

Back in September of 2018, William Burton was given the position of SVP and Head Of Daytime, Sports and Syndicated Development/Production for ABC Entertainment.  He had been in charge of the the business operations for General Hospital at a network level, while Dummer continued to handle the creative.  However today, Burton was also let-go.

The exits come as ABC and Hulu have consolidated original content under Craig Erwich, and 20th Television and Touchstone TV under Karey Burke.

The layoffs are believed to have effected 12 staff members mostly at the executive level.

Deadline broke the news and then updated their story later today.

Just who and what department in the new structuring will take over General Hospital remains to be seen.  We will keep you posted once any additional news or announcements are made.

So, what do you think of the exits of Vicki Dummer and William Burton? Comment below.

If you watched Tuesday’s episode of General Hospital, you witnessed an emotional and heartbreaking episode where friends, family, and loved ones had to say their goodbyes to Lulu Spencer (Emme Rylan) before she is transferred to a long-term care facility to be looked after following her brain injuries and surgery which left her in a coma.

This was to mark the last scenes of Emme Rylan who has exited the series after being let-go.  In story, viewers watched as Nikolas (Marcus Coloma), Maxie (Kirsten Storms), Dante (Dominic Zamprogna), Tracy (Jane Elliot) and a grief-stricken Laura (Genie Francis) sat by Lulu’s hospital bedside telling her they will be waiting for her to wake up, as the agonize over the gravity of the situation.

On Wednesday, Rylan took to social media to tell her fans how difficult it was for her to tape those scenes, when she expressed: “Laying there emotionless while my amazing costars cried over my comatose body was one of the hardest acting challenges EVER! They don’t exactly have you practice that in acting school (Thank u to everyone that noticed).”

In response former GH star Ryan Paevey (Ex-Nathan) who also went through a similar on-screen situation when his character was killed-off tweeted back to Em: “I 100% agree and understand, haha.”

The episode gave  Genie Francis a fantastic palette to play and reminded everyone why she is one of the greatest icons of the genre.

So, what did you think of Emme’s statement on trying to get through those difficult scenes as played by her co-stars?  Share your thoughts below.

With an uncertain situation of when live events can get back to normal, or as they have been in the past prior to the coronavirus pandemic, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announced today that it plans on keeping next year’s Daytime Emmys award show virtual, to allow for the 2022 awards cycle to stay on track.

In fact, all of NATAS’s award ceremonies including: the News and Documentary Emmys, Technology & Engineering Emmys and the Sports Emmys will also remain virtual next year.

The Daytime Emmys became the first major award show to air a virtual presentation that others followed back in late June of this year and aired on CBS.

In a statement, NATAS chairman and CEO Adam Sharp expressed on the organization’s decision:“The current timetables articulated by manufacturers project mass availability of vaccinations for the entire U.S. population by mid-summer 2021, potentially permitting a return to more traditional in-person ceremonies later in the fall. However, we have determined that delaying our 2021 events to possibly allow for a compressed calendar of in-person Emmy ceremonies late in the year would result in unacceptable delays to our awards cycle for 2022. Instead, we have decided to remain “virtual” in the format of our ceremonies for 2021 while relying on a substantially pre-COVID awards calendar. In so doing, we believe we will be best-positioned to return to a full, on-time, traditional schedule of in-person ceremonies in 2022.

The dates currently under consideration for the 48th annual Daytime Emmys which would be via two or three nights of presentations are: a combination of dates from Friday, June 25, Saturday, July 17 and/or Sunday, July 18.

For those entering the competition, the entry deadline is February, 17, 2021 with  the nominations not to come till May or June.

So, what do you think about the Daytime Emmys going virtual again for 2021? Comment below.