General Hospital
Mark Teschner Marks 35 Years as Casting Director for ‘General Hospital’
It’s a special day for one of the best casting directors in show business. Mark Teschner, the multi Emmy-winning casting director and one of this year’s Daytime Emmy Silver Circle honoree, is celebrating his 35th year at General Hospital.
Taking to his Instagram, Teschner shared these heartfelt remarks: “Today marks 35 years since I started casting General Hospital. Casting this iconic show (62 years and counting) has been a privilege and honor). I am so grateful to the people I work with, the amazing producers, terrific writers, a tireless crew and such talented actors. And of course, my wonderful associate and friend, Lisa Booth. Here’s to the next 35…”
Many of the actors who have been cast in shows and specifically GH, immediately sent congratulations and ‘thank you’s’ to his post: “Congratulations Mark Teschner, thank you for the opportunity to make my dreams come true,” shared Asher Antonyzyn (Danny). “Congratulations, Mark! Beyond this milestone, I can’t help but imagine all of the lives you changed by giving so many people some of the best jobs in the business,” expressed Mark Lawson (ex-Dustin). “Here’s to many more years Mark! Thank you for being an emissary for so many careers over the years. Mine included,” shared Rick Hearst (Ric).
Photo: JPI
Back in June, Teschner visited the Michael Fairman Channel to discuss his illustrious soap casting career. He recalled the castings of the late Johnny Wactor (ex-Brando), plus Giovanni Mazza (Gio), Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth), and Nicholas Chavez (ex-Spencer) to name but a few.
On Becky Herbst, he recalled, “She (originally) auditioned for the role of Sarah Webber. But the role of Elizabeth was created for Becky. While the character of Sarah did not last long, here we are with Becky 30 years later. I always tell actors when they come into audition, you lay it out, you put it all out there, you bring everything you have to that role. You may not get the role, but if you do good work, you get remembered. And it’s so true.”
Photos: ABC
Regarding Nicholas Chavez, who has gone on to fame following his performance in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” on Netflix, Teschner spoke on Nick’s humble beginnings in landing the role of Spencer Cassadine. “Nicholas sent his self tape in from Florida and the rest is history. He had a meteoric impact on the show. You always have an expectation and the hope that they’re (the actor) going to nail it and run with it,” says Teschner. “There are actors, you think, ‘They’re gonna be awesome,’ and then all of a sudden it goes to another level. With Nicholas Chavez, we knew he’d be amazing, but you know, who knew? Well, we did.”
Share your congrats to Mark Teschner for bringing us many of the stars of ‘General Hospital’ for 35 year via the comment section, and in case you missed it, check out our conversation with him below.
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I wish he would explain the parade of Mollys. One of the most bizarre sequences of actors I’ve ever seen.
I agree, but overall I think he does a fantastic job of finding outstanding actors.
The first replacement was an emergency hire so there’s an excuse there. The second one who was too old for the role didn’t even seem to fit the Davis girl aura. He hit pay dirt with Kristen Vaganos – the first Molly actress to event be on contract.
Seems to be definitely hit or miss with Teschner’s choices.
Nu Lulu is great so far. The last one? Not so much. Never thought she did the role justice. It took him three tries to get a Molly recast right. NuJagger was an absolute failure, and for the love of all that is unholy, could somebody please explain to this Devil why the fiddling pool boy is still around?? And no, there is ZERO justification to rewrite history to make that non-actor into both a Quartermaine and a Corinthos, if the current rumors are to be believed… as this idotic “summer camp fling” reference would seem to be implying is the case.
Disagree on the previous actor to play Jagger. He was a powerful performer with a presence that could hold his own with Sonny and Carly. Really liked him as a strong leading man. The writers threw all that away, though, for another “Sonny gets away with a crime” story.
The fiddling pool boy did have a great one episode with Tracy… way back. Sad nothing more became of their pairing came about.
Gonna have to say that he’s had a lot more hits than duds. The writing had a lot to do with the Jagger bust. Harrington is a solid actor.
The Gio thing is on Frank, who could’ve met someone in the parking lot. It’s also on Frank for letting the writers repeat the same soap trope 3 times in six months.
Over 35 years, Mark found Vanessa Marciil, Sarah Brown, Tamara Braun, Tyler Christopher, Julie Berman and Nicholas Chavez to name a few.
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.
‘Beyond the Gates’ Emmy Winner Ambyr Michelle Wants to Compete on ‘Dancing with the Stars’: ‘Pick Me’ (Exclusive)
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Katie Kicks Bill to the Curb … for Now
RATINGS: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Inches Closer to ‘General Hospital’ in Total Viewers
B&B’s Sydney Bullock Weighs In on Future of Dylan and Will: ‘I Think She Can Hold on to Him for Awhile’ (Exclusive)
Antonio Sabáto Jr. Breaks Silence on His Son’s Arrest for Fatal Hit-and-Run
Y&R’s New Head Writers Share Vision for Genoa City: Contemporary Homage to Bill Bell, Mixing Heightened Escapism and Grounded Reality
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS Preview: Episodes From New Co-Head Writers, Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor, Begin to Air
‘General Hospital’ Casts Ayla Bullington as the New Avery Jerome-Corinthos
‘Days of our Lives’ Celebrates 61st Anniversary: EP Ken Corday Teases New Character’s Arrival in Spring 2027
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