General Hospital
Ian Buchanan Guests On Michelle Stafford's Single Mom A Go Go!
Courtesy/SingleMomAGoGo
Michelle Stafford (Nina, GH) has released her latest installment of her vodcast, Single Mom A Go Go! This week her guest is none other than General Hospital favorite Ian Buchanan (Ex-Duke Lavery).
During the episode, Ian and Michelle discuss their enduring 20 year friendship. In addition topics range from: Ian’s motion picture, stage, and TV career, the life and times of Duke Lavery and working with Finola Hughes (Anna, GH), playing a ghost, Uber, love scenes, and more are bantered about.
Many GH fans miss Ian and wish he were back on the canvas. Can Anna ever have another love and bond as strong as she had with Duke? Let us know your thoughts on that, but now watch the latest Single Mom A Go Go after the jump.
The latest ratings are out for the week of October 26-30, 2026 and the big takeaways include: that CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates was separated by only 23,000 viewers behind third place (of the soaps) General Hospital! For the last several weeks, Beyond the Gates has been closing the gap on this year’s winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and continuing to best GH in the key demos.
According to the latest Nielsen ratings breakdown from Soap Opera Network, the final week of October brought Beyond the Gates 1.790 million on average tuning-in and the show set a season high in total viewers. Meanwhile, General Hospital hit a new season low! The long-running ABC soap had 1.813 million for the week, and once again the series did not go over the 2 million mark.
Meanwhile, in the key Women 18-49 demo, Beyond the Gates was firmly ahead of GH with a rating share of 0.21, while General Hospital had 0.17 rating share.Then, in the key Women 25-54 demo, Beyond the Gates was once again ahead of the ABC soap with a ratings share for that demo at 0.30 while GH came in with 0.26.
Photo: CBS
MORE BY THE NUMBERS
In addition and comparatively, Beyond the Gates +22,000 viewers week-to-week, and had the largest gains in viewership year-to-year in daytime TV with +267,000 from this in 2025.. However, General Hospital seems to be going in reverse. The show was down -56,000 viewers week-over-week and down -22,000 year-over-year .
BEYOND THE GATES
Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that had people tuning-in to Beyond the Gates during the ratings week:
Hayley (Marquita Goings) attempted a massive shocker regarding her pregnancy and tried to use it to extract money from Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett). Although, Bill saw right through her game, he demanded a paternity test, and made it clear he has no intention of raising the child—planning instead to pay her off to take the baby and leave. Meanwhile, Hayley confided her plan to her cousin Randy (Maurice P. Kerry).
Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit) clashed over Jacob’s ongoing investigation into The Impaler, causing significant strain in their marriage. At the same time, Smitty (Mike Manning) considered taking matters into his own hands—including potentially heading to Mexico for evidence—while Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) worried about what comes next.
Photo: ABC
GENERAL HOSPITAL
Over at General Hospital for the ratings period, the story served up included:
Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) teamed up to investigate what really happened to Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Later, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) leads them to Jack’s dead body.
Jude (Wil Traval) dropped a bombshell claim to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn); that he is Phoebe’s father, while Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase (Josh Swickard) signed their divorce papers.
Then, Danny caught Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) sharing a kiss, plus the shocking return of Heather Webber (Alley Mills) capped the week.
Now the questions become; without having much promotional synergy in the ABC day-part to draw more eyeballs it is not helping but hurting General Hospital. It seems Beyond the Gates is also a benefactor of a one-two-three punch of CBS soaps (Y&R, B&B and BTG) and promotion.
However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that Beyond the Gates is close to besting GH in all ratings category as they go head-to-head in some markets across the country.
So, are you excited to see Beyond the Gates climb in the ratings? Are you concerned for General Hospital? Do you think they can stave off Beyond the Gates in total viewers or will the upstart soap overtake them in the next ratings report? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Antonio Sabáto Jr., the former Jagger Cates of General Hospital and GH: Night Shift, and the former Dante Damiano of The Bold and the Beautiful has issued his first public statement since the incident involving his son, Jack’s arrest in Alaska for a fatal hit-and-run.
Jack is the son of Sabáto Jr. and Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, and according to court documents obtained by KTUU Jack, was allegedly driving a white Chevy Tahoe when he hit and killed Carl Simmonds, 42, near an intersection in Anchorage around 5:35 a.m. on Monday, November 9.
The reports indicated that Jack fled the scene — but later decided to called the cops to say he hit “something” that “suddenly appeared in the road” while he was “doing late-night DoorDashing.”
Photo: NBC
Now, Antonio has taken to his Instagram breaking his silence on the situation, sharing, “At this time, my family and I are navigating an extremely sensitive and deeply personal matter.”
He added, “As a father, my love for my children remains unconditional, and my priority is the well-being of my family. We ask that the public and members of the media honor our privacy during this difficult time and keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.”
The soap alum concluded, “I also wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of the gentleman who tragically lost his life. My thoughts and prayers are with them as well. We sincerely appreciate your compassion, understanding, and respect for the privacy of everyone affected.”
Jack Sabáto was arraigned in court on Tuesday, November 10 with bail set at $5,000, and a no-driving order and the potential of $5,000 penalty fees if he fails to attend future court appearances.
Antonio is the father to Jack, 34, daughter, Mina Sabato, 24 and son, Antonio Sabáto III, 15.
This is a developing story. You can check out Antonio’s official statement below.
So, let us know your thoughts on this tragic hit-and-run, which claimed the life of another man, and Antonio’s statement, via the comment section below.
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Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Ava’s (Maura West) daughter Avery looks quite different, starting on today’s November 9 episode of General Hospital. That’s because GH has made Avery into a full-blown teenager and the role is now being played by actress Alya Bullington.
In her debut, the Tennessee native was thrown into the deep soap waters with Daytime Emmy winners, Maurice Benard and Eden McCoy (Josslyn). Bullington weighed-in to TV Insider about her first scene which featured Avery overhearing a fight between Sonny and Josslyn.
She explained “It was something I have never done before, I did not have a lot of experience with the screaming and the crying stuff, but I got my first script, and I was like, ‘OK, this is a huge opportunity to learn so much about how that stuff works and to become this character that I have never even tried playing before.’”
Photo: ABC
THE TEENAGED VERSION OF AVERY WILL HAVE A LOT TO CONTEND WITH
Speaking of working with McCoy, Bullington shared, “She’s incredible. I remember her just laughing and making jokes on set, and then the minute that they started taping, she just locked in and she cried immediately, and my first thought was, ‘I want to be able to do that.’
The soap opera newcomer added, “I think she just inspired me so much because she is so great and she can just lock into whatever character she wants to in the moment.”
The character of Avery was born back in 2014, but as recently as the October 8 episode of General Hospital, the character was suddenly referred to as a teenager. This is the second young female character in recent months to be aged up following the casting of Kayden Brenna Tokarski as Scout Cain.
As for her take on Avery and what’s ahead, Alya said,“She’s emotional, and she’s curious, and she’s a really fun person to play because so much stuff is happening in her life. I think she’s kind of confused about what’s happening and what to believe.”
So, what do you think about General Hospital making Avery a teenager? Are you excited to see the conflict between Sonny, Ava and Avery now that they have aged up the character? Share your thoughts and welcome Alya to GH via the comment section below.
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I gotta say yes, Not a Robert/Anna shipper but didn’t Anna have a deep bond and love with Robert when Duke was alive and definitely after he died..Why act like Robert/Anna never happened or that we never seen Anna moved on from Duke..Yes, she can find love again if they just move her on and stopped acting like Duke was the only guy she ever loved.
Mysty…I agree It’s possible for Anna to have another “great love,” but he’s going to have to be one heck of a character and actor to follow Robert and Duke. No milk toast for her or Finola. Here’s hoping.
Ian is so classy and wonderful. Can we get him back on GH please? Right the terrible wrong that Ron Carlivati, the cartoon writer, committed in killing off a beloved legacy character like Duke Lavery. Even if Ian asked off the show at that time, there was no reason to kill off the character. They could have had Duke leave town. It was a stupid storyline and Julian still hasn’t paid for ordering the hit on Duke.
There are a countless number of characters running around Port Charles that no one cares about or has any connection to these days, how about bringing back a character that has connections and that people actually like? They brought back the actor that played Carlos and gave him another character, they’ve brought Michael Easton back how many times, no reason we can’t have Ian back.
It would be very easy to write. Duke didn’t die when we thought he did, he faked his death and went into hiding to protect Anna and avoid a mob war. Simple as that, took 5 seconds to write. Come on Frank and the powers that be, let’s get this done!
Dan…As many have said, it’s a soap and anything is possible, and more long term…not the drop in for five seconds when Vincent came back to play Carlos brother, Joe. Beside seeing Duke/Ian back for Anna it would be interesting to see him meet his son, Griffin.
Of course Anna will never have a bond with a romantic interest as strong as the one with Duke Lavery. They were a SuperCouple!! The fact of the matter is that Ian would have loved to stay, and they killed Duke off “to give Anna story.” And that didn’t turn into any kind of great story, because they’re too cowardly to make Julian pay any consequences AND the story viewers want to see is with Duke and Anna. So until they are willing to write a proper Duke & Anna Reunion, which RC never did, give them decent airtime with a story and make the Jeromes face consequences instead of treating them like they are some kind of Classic GH family (instead of the great nemesis of a Classic GH family), there is no point in bringing Ian back on the show. His being a ghost serves no one except to spike ratings for the short term. Why disappoint viewers again and cause even further erosion of viewer morale? Morale that has eroded incredibly during the Guza years and during the RC years. They brought him back as an apparition last May and a few viewers that weren’t 100% chased away by the previous actions tuned in and won’t fall for that again. It’s outrageous. None of the other soaps have refused to keep on any and all of the lead male characters from their highest rated era. With Tony Geary gone, there are no 80s male leads on the show to draw viewers in and no SuperCouples. I’m sure the producers of Days, Y&R and B&B, all must think FV is mediocre at his job.
This was my first time seeing and watching an episode of Michelle Stafford’s show, “Single Mom A Go-Go”, and my gosh… it was amazing. Love the friendship bond that Ian Buchanan and Michelle Stafford, herself, seem to have… it shows on this show too.
A couple of parts of this really stuck out to me;
First part: I agree with Michelle wholeheartedly when she brought up the fact that she doesn’t like that Duke Lavery was killed off of “General Hospital”. For one, because Ian is a really great actor and I as many others as well miss seeing him on daytime TV screens every weekday. But also, Michelle Stafford had breached into the part of the subject where… killing off legacy characters of an important television show, and those-said characters have been on the show for years on end, it is truly a dis-service to not just us fans and the actors and actresses themselves… but also it is a TRUE and UTTER dis-service to the HEART of a show that so many have invested their time in… It may prove that the “higher-ups” might not have as much of an investment as previous regimes have had that made the shows great and wonderful. I mean, really, they are always great and wonderful because really when it comes down to it all… no matter what happens on the soaps… that won’t push me to stop watching. Because it is called staying faithful to something that I know that I love, through better and / or for worse. I know that a lot of negative drama can be portrayed onto soap operas and TV Shows in general… but that’s what the heart of soap opera’s are. There is a good side and a bad side to all things in both REALITY LAND and REEL-ALITY LAND, and I have learned so much watching my favourite shows of all time.
I say bring Duke back in some way, shape, form. It IS doable. As we know, pretty much anything is possible in soap opera land. And keep him on for a good while (whatever contract negotiations would have to be planned and worked out and whatnot)… And just because if Duke were “to come back from the dead”, that does not necessarily mean that the character’s destiny is Anna’s character. Duke and Anna love each other, yes. But, I truly think that Anna’s one true and one great love… is Robert Scorpio. Home is where the heart is… and Anna’s heart, I feel, belongs to Robert. Anna would always carry a piece of Duke’s heart in her heart, for sure. But destiny for Anna is Robert. Duke could try and maybe get together with Bobbie maybe? That might be a good pairing… I’m almost positive neither character is biologically related. lol.