General Hospital
KATIE Shifting To Live Format In Final Six Months Of Its Run! Talker Has To Tighten Budget!

Courtesy/ABC
Last week, we brought you the news that the axe had finally fallen on Katie Couric’s Disney/ABC syndication afternoon talk show, Katie! The show will end after only two seasons, but now in the final six months of production, January to through June, due to budget issues the talker will shift to a mostly live format!
A representative for the series told The Hollywood Reporter, “The content of Katie will mostly be produced live on four out of five days. In order to keep the production schedule to four days a week, the fifth show will be taped but is expected to be limited to the one-hour time allotted (less commercial time).” They added that the reason to switch to the mostly live format was in the works prior to the news of the officially cancellation.
THR revealed that originally: “Couric’s tapings ran longer than the allotted time because she wanted to keep going to get as much good content as possible. In some cases, shows were running twice the scheduled time. A source close to the show insists Couric’s decision to run longer was made jointly with Rachel Miskowiec, who was brought in last May as executive producer for the show’s second season. The result was that producers and editors often racked up overtime to cut the content to fit the one-hour format, triggering significant budget overruns. Katie was already one of the more expensive daily talk shows ever produced, in part because it had more field producers and news staff than most.”
So, Katie was clearly an over-budget talk show that was made room for in the ABC line-up for affiliates in the original timeslot of General Hospital! And everyone was complaining how over budget soap productions are! Well, it looks like it happens in talk shows too! What do you think of the switch of Katie to a mostly live format, and the troubles the show has had? Weigh-in!
You know, an awful lot of unexpected surprises can happen when you air live….like a guest suddenly making a speech to ABC to bring back the soaps…or a large portion of the studio audience breaking out into a We Want the Soaps chant….
Oh, I’d love to see that happen.
SO happy ABC FINALLY CANCELLED HER SHOW!!! I ONLY WATCHED HER SHOW IELLSB WHEN SHE DID THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY FOR GENERAL HOSPITAL & WHEN RICK SPRINGFIELD WAS ON!! I’M A HUGE ELLEN FAN!!!
They can always use reruns of OLTL in place of Katie until they figure out what their going to do. That will save on a lot of money and I bet it gets better ratings.
Honestly, I don’t know what to say about ABC Daytime and their budget problems. But one possible suggestion is that they may want to get out of producing original content, and just become a giant billboard like AOL. Hey, it could be groundbreaking! Just think about it… an all infomercial major network! LOL. ABCommercial! 😉
Good riddance !!!Now please bring back OLTL and AMC !!!!!
That will never happen mike, OLTL and AMC will never come back on abc. Time to move on, I’m over it now. i enjoy watching general hospital and days of our lives.
So true..
I can not understand how some think ABC will air the 2 soaps, again..
It will never ever happen, they are over/done/gone the same as the canceled soaps before them..
Unless! PP by way of a miracle gets them up and running, again, and that is not probable..
The 2 soaps are no longer in ABC’s hands and when or if ABC gets them back they will collect dust on a shelf, forever archived..
I have an idea on how they could save even more money-just stop producing the Katie show right now. Then they could broadcast repeats of the last 6 months of OLTL, bring OLTL back into production and give us new episodes after 6 months.
I guess that would be a longshot! A guy can dream, can’t he?
I am happy about anything that shows just how stupid ABC is. It is so sad that our wonderful soaps are being replaced with these awful talk shows. Bring back AMC! Bring back all the soaps!
Why bother? Get out now!
Funny, talk was cheap(cheaper than soaps) but in this case it wasnt and the show gets cancelled…but 4 those who dislike Katie…well, she still has her fans and we havent heard the last from her…i wish daytime would experiment with a new soap…it could air for 6 months and repeat 6 months to help keep costs down…also in place advertising would be another way to earn extra money to pay for these shows…maybe a character could be shown ordering and drinking a pepsi or another character is shown buying a Ford truck…it would also add a little realism too…just saying! But i doubt they’d try another soap…the last 4 is it i feel so we should support them while we can…even Y&R!
I MO the budgets were just an excuse. Wonder what they will do now. If it isn’t our cancelled soaps I will not watch. I am looking forward to Tainted Dreams ABC can’t touch that
Here an idea – lets bring back soaps in a LIVE format.
See what rating the Sound of Music got.. people love LIVE (ex. Kelly and Michael)
Everything in TV is cyclical… every ‘genre’ always comes back.. but changes slightly.
What better way to create a buzz … bring back LIVE soaps… you can bet ABC would have an audience increase..
Oh did I mention bring back OLTL…
These budget and over run issues make me laugh… I’m quite sure that OLTL was giving ABC more value for less money.
maybe they can barrow Frank Valentini to get them under budget. lol!
WHO CARES, I DON’T , SHE IS AS BORING AS WET DISH RAG THAT FELL ON THE FLOOR, HOPEFULLY WHO EVER GETS HER PLACE DOESN’T DO WELL EITHER, I WOULD SAY PUT THE SOAPS BACK, BUT ABC/ DISNEY DOESN’T CARE AND WON’T ADMIT DEFEAT, BUT AT LEAST IF THEY DID THEY WOULDN’T HAVE TO REPLACE THEIR DUMB TALK AND FOOD SHOWS WITH ANOTHER FAILURE.
Her contract was too expansive for what the ratings were getting which is what led to her downfall. No surprise here, this woman has always been money hungry since her NBC days.
Despite that, her failure will not bring back AMC and OLTL. Katie’s ratings weren’t stellar but they weren’t The Revolution’s numbers either. ABC will just produce another talk show but this time with an host that ask less money than Katie did. And if that talk show with the other host gets ratings similar to what Katie was getting, ABC will keep it. Sad but true. ABC absolutely wants nothing to do with daytime soaps except for GH.
Nothing against Katie or her show (don’t watch it, don’t know), but the fact that the network allowed the show to continually run over budget after what they learned about “inflated” soap star salaries and show production costs, really pisses me off. Soap stars supposedly make less than primetime stars; yet at one time, the soaps were the “cash cows” for the network. Still, the networks have treated their soaps/stars badly with very little support while they paid gross sums of money to their night time stars and promoted the heck out of them. Soaps started being cancelled and network execs said that one of the reasons was because the shows were too expensive to produce. Hmmm? One would think ABC would have kept an eye on such things with the KATIE show, which has never done well in the ratings. When, oh when, will they ever learn???
Katie and the majority of talk shows are repeats….. unlike daytime dramas.
Going live–a move of desperation. Good riddance!
A talk show going over budget!!!!!!! How can that be????????
now that Christmas is over – I dont feel as charitable to this woman anymore.
she – along with the past daytime boss – ruined the soap genre…. let her go to yahoo dot com… that way we dont ever have to see her again.
bring back the soaps…. you still own them ABC!
General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Sonny Tells Dante, “I Don’t Want a Son Like You,” While Michael Tells Brook Lynn to Bide Her Time Till Chase and Willow Have an Affair

On the Thursday, October 1 episode of General Hospital, both Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson) had some things to say and what they had to say didn’t go over well with whom they were talking to!
Sonny had a confrontation with his son, Dante (Dominic Zamprogna), while Michael leveled with Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) over Chase (Josh Swickard).
GH is setting up a scenario where everyone is going to make it look like Sonny was responsible for having Sidwell (Carlo Rota) beat up in Pentonville; while viewers already know Ava (Maura West) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) were behind it.

Courtesy/ABC
A VISIT WITH DAD
Now, Dante comes to Sonny’s house. He wants to know straight up from his dad if he ordered the attack at Pentonville. Sonny flatly denies any culpability or responsibility, but Dante refuses to believe him.
Dante informs Sonny he has video footage of Sully and Vito at the prison. Sonny explains to Dante he doesn’t know why Sully beat up both Curtis and Dante. Things escalated when Sonny was deeply hurt that Dante refused to believe him. Dante says he was disappointed that his father didn’t respect him enough to be truthful with him!
Sonny asks Dante to consider that he was being set up. He says all he did was to tell Vito to instruct Sully to keep a watchful eye on Sidwell, not to harm him. No matter what Sonny said, Dante continued hammering him with how he knew deep down, even though he said he left the mob, he had to finish off Sidwell for himself.
Next, Sonny explains everything he has ever done was to provide for and to protect his family. Dante fired back that he doesn’t want to deal anymore with Sonny’s half-baked truths. As the two men argue, Gio (Giovanni Mazza) shows up at Sonny’s front door and overhears Sonny losing his temper and shouting at Dante, “Get out of my house! I don’t want a son like you!” The scenes featured an excellent performance by Maurice Benard.

Courtesy/ABC
MICHAEL THE MANIPULATOR
While this is going down, outside the Quartermaine boathouse, Brook Lynn opens up to Michael about living at the Q’s with Chase being there, since he only came back due to legal advice from his lawyer, Monet Mitchell (Blythe Howard).
Brook Lynn questioned whether they should get legally separate. Michael insisted that would be a big mistake. When she asks why, Michael tells Brook Lynn to bide her time until Chase and Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) have an affair; then she’d have full custody of Phoebe.
An angered Brook Lynn pushed Michael into the water and accuses him of moving Willow back into the gatehouse with intent on putting Chase and Willow in closer proximity and sacrificing Brook Lynn’s family in the process. As the two cousins bicker, Chase shows up asking Brook Lynn if she is OK. Michael punctuates their talk with “You know, I’m right.”
CURTIS FIGURES OUT A WAY TO GET OUT OF THE SLAMMER
At GH, Willow visits Curtis (Donnell Turner) in his hospital room. Curtis wants Willow to get him pardoned and keep him out of jail, and in return, he will help her nail Sonny.
Next, Willow tells Dr. Tristan Roberts (Dean Geyer) she wants Curtis held for observation for three more days. He agrees to do so under one condition, that she understands that he may need to call in a favor from a congresswoman.
So, what did you think of how Dante accused his father and refused to believe Sonny’s answers? Is this the end of their father and son relationship for good? Is Michael the most manipulative person of all, except for Willow? Do the two deserve each other? Do you want Chase and Willow to have an affair? And what of Curtis? Does he have many redeeming qualities left? Share your thoughts via the comment section, but first check out the talk Michael had with Brook Lynn.
General Hospital
GH Alum Tajh Bellow and Y&R Alum Loren Lott Star in New Tiktok and Microdrama ‘Love Island’ Spoof

Two soap opera alums very familiar to fans of General Hospital and The Young and the Restless are paired together in a new short-form digital series from none other than Issa Rae’s production entity HOORAE Digital.
Look for Tajh Bellow (ex-TJ Ashford, GH)) and Loren Lott (ex-Ana Hamilton, Y&R) as part of the cast of The Compatibility Experiment, premiering on October 14, 2026, exclusively on TikTok and its companion microdrama platform, PineDrama.
In the video teaser, it appears that Bellow and Lott play a couple, Kelvin and Camila, set in a Love Island reality show-esque environment trying to win the one million dollar cash prize, only what could go wrong?

Photo: HOORAE
The Compatibility Experiment loglines share that it brings a fast-paced, relationship-focused reality check—much like Love Island with a twist. The show takes a participant’s current relationship, introduces them to a potentially more compatible partner, and forces them to navigate the differences with life-changing money on the line.
The new series is part of a groundbreaking content deal between HOORAE Digital and TikTok to develop premium short-form storytelling. The ensemble cast also features; Ayona, Reggie Luck, JaNa Craig, Tosin Morohunfola, Jessica Jacoby, Georgia Warner, and Nick Cassidy.
General Hospital fans know Tajh Bellow for his performances as TJ Ashford, and who earned two Daytime Emmy nominations along the way during his run. Bellow took over the role in 2018 and last appeared on the ABC daytime drama series in December of 2024.
Loren Lott first appeared as Devon’s (Bryton James) sister Ana Hamilton on The Young and the Restless from 2018 to 2019; making a brief return in 2024. She has continued to perform on the stage and screen with recent credits including: Bel-Air, Cherish the Day, and All American: Homecoming.
Check out the trailer for The Compatibility Experiment below and let us know what you think of its concept and if you are glad to see Tajh and Loren again? Hoping they might return to daytime in their GH and Y&R roles at some point in the future? Weigh-in via the comment section.
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General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Ava and Drew Revealed to be Behind Framing Sonny for Sidwell’s Prison Beatdown

If you thought that the person responsible for the Pentonville brawl that saw Sidwell (Carlo Rota) and Curtis (Donnell Turner) taken to General Hospital was Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) or even Sidwell himself, you were dead wrong! On the Wednesday, September 30 episode of GH, it turned out that the culprits were actually Ava (Maura West) and Drew (Cameron Mathison).
In story, Drew apparently bankrolled the attack on Sidwell and framing Sonny. He told Ava their planned worked (she came up with it!) but was horrified when Drew informed her that Curtis got caught in the crosshairs. Ava is visibly upset because of her longtime friendship with Curtis’ daughter, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali). Drew tried to make Ava see the bright side. Curtis was witness to it and his presence will cast doubt on Sonny’s claims to that he had gotten out of the mob and gone legit.
Later, Vito shows up at Drew’s. They informed him that his guy on the inside of the slammer made a big mistake by hurting their friend and ordered him to leave town.

Courtesy/ABC
BOATHOUSE BRAWL
In other major developments, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) and Rocco (Finn Carr) have a blow out fight as Danny blames his “brother” for the reason Charlotte was sent off to boarding school.
Rocco told off Danny for Charlotte’s (Bluesy Burke) reckless behavior and he explains he had to protect his sister. He went in on Danny saying that his mother Lulu (Alexa Havins) has been right to send Charlotte to boarding school and far away from Danny.
However, Rocco went a bit too far when he shouted, “And if your mom was alive, she would send you away too!” Next, Danny punched out Rocco, leading to a terrible brawl. An angered Danny yells at Rocco to, “Stay away from me and everyone in my family. And don’t you ever mention my mom again!” Danny storms off.

Courtesy/ABC
Now alone outside the boathouse, Rocco flashes back to his first kiss with Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarksi), hoping that his fight with Danny will not escalate and ruin their budding romance. Meanwhile, a bloodied-mouth Danny heads over to Sonny’s and Jason (Steve Burton) is there at the same time. He then admits that he has a bad fight with Rocco and they are both beaten up.
WILL SCOUT WISE UP?
At the end of the episode, Scout, who had a fight with Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) over Drew, and who keeps telling everyone how good a man her dad truly is, comes upon a suspicious scene.
Scout hides behind the wall outside Drew’s. She sees her dad, Ava and Vito talking. Next, Scout seems to overhear Vito assuring Drew and Ava that their business dealings are done, and he’ll be leaving Port Charles for good.
So, what did you think of the reveal that Ava and Drew were behind framing Sonny for the prison beatdown of Sidwell (and Curtis)? Do you think Danny and Rocco’s relationship can be repaired, or do you think the teenagers will continue to be at each other’s throats? Finally, do you hope Scout gets a clue and stops thinking her dad walks on air? Weigh-in via the comment section, but first check out how Ava and Drew conspired below.
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