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PLANET 360: Celebrates GH 50! Who Is The Greatest EP Of All-Time? What Was Most Pivotal Moment?

By Michael Fairman

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Courtesy/HallmarkMovieChannel

Courtesy/HallmarkMovieChannel

Coming up this Friday on The Hallmark MOVIE Channel’s weekly entertainment news series, Planet 360, the popular “Soap Dish” segment this week is all about celebrating General Hospital’s 50th anniversary …  next week!  On-Air On-Soaps got the first look exclusive on the latest edition.

Taking a look back at the greatest executive producers of the series, and some of the greatest Port Charles moments of all-time are “Soap Dish” panel co-hosts and soap favorites, Lilly Melgar, Matthew Ashford, and Martha Madison!

Melgar, who appeared on GH as Lily Rivera Corinthos, weighed-in that Wendy Riche  was one of the top EP’s on the list stating: “As far as Ricky Martin (Ex-Miquel) and I were concerned, we were daytime’s first Latin couple which was pretty groundbreaking at the time.  I know the fans that we had referred to that time as the second golden era of General Hospital. ”

In terms of current GH wunderkind, Frank Valentini, Melgar says the man is truly delivering a very special golden anniversary for fans of the show noting, “Now he’s bringing back the core favorites: Luke and Laura, Tristan Rogers, Ian Buchanan. All of these people have this innate chemistry that worked so many years ago.  You put it back together with a good storyline, it’s going to work!”

As far as what were the Most Pivotal Moments in the history of General Hospital, the Planet360 panel weighed in with Luke and Laura’s wedding, and of course, the “clink/boom” heard around the world which refers in part to when Lilly Melgar’s character of Lily died in a car explosion!

Watch the GH Soap Dish segment after the jump, then let us know, who do you think is the greatest executive producer of GH of all-time? Gloria Monty? Wendy Riche? Frank Valentini? Someone else?  And, what do you feel was one of the Most Pivotal Moments in GH history?  Let us know as we move closer to the big 5-0!

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Jill Farren Phelps was the best EP. She did so many wonderful things with the show.. She brought on the Nurses Ball. There was Monica’s breast cancer and BJ’s heart. She reintroduced Luke and Laura as well as the Cassadines. There were so many… Oh, wait a minute. That was Wendy Riche.

Jill was the one who drove a bus through the Nurses Ball, brought the mob to the forefront, and fired Anna Lee, Braud Maule, Stuart Damon, Rachel Ames, Jackie Zeman, Shell Kepling, along with so many others.

Never mind.

Where’s my “like” button when I need it? LOL!

David you had me going there!

lol, you had me there for a moment.

Haha so true ..so very true

love it david…sound like me sometimes with that humor…or sarcasm…lol

Oh my gosh, I thought you were serious when I read your first sentence. lol. This was incredible!

nice delivery…

My answer to top EP would have to be Gloria Monty for turning the show around and making it the Action Adventure soap I loved. As for pivotal moment it has to be for me Robert Scorpio’s secret wife and the introduction of Anna Devane who I consider one of daytimes greatest heroines as played by the amazing Finola Hughes! Monty did a fantastic job writing Robert and Anna’s backstory, their romance, marriage and tragic breakup in flashback; to this day it is one of my favorite stories on GH. Happy 50th GH here is to 50 more!

I couldn’t agree more! Anna was such a groundbreaking character, in daytime OR nighttime!
Its just frustrating that so many soaps and primetime shows always have the man rescuing the woman, even in 2013! Anna could always hold her own. Now if they would just bring Robert Scorpio out of that coma…

And while Ms. Monty re-invented the soap opera genre, one must give props to Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati who have revitalized the show. A year ago I was saying I wished they would just cancel the show already because I was watching it out of loyalty, not enjoyment. Now, I rush home when I can on my lunch break to see it like I did when I was twelve years old!

Couldn’t agree more with your post, Jake, especially about Frank and Ron. Before they were brought on, I could barely get through one episode a week of GH and now I can’t wait to watch it every single day! They have me gasping and crying and laughing, all of the actions a soap opera should evoke in a fan. I could not be more impressed and I think Frank has rightly earned him name beingg thrown in with the likes of Gloria Monty and other amazing EPs for this show.

Love, love, LOVE…did I mention love Wendy Riche. Her vision of GH was a brilliant balance of heart, humor, action, mystery, and romance. Riche valued the vets and gave us iconic newbies like Brenda, Sonny, Jax, Lois, and Jagger. The BJ/Maxie storyline and Stone having AIDS were brilliantly done. I also applaud Riche’s first tenure with Bob Guza (!) who brought on Nikolas and Stefan (and i just read that Genie Francis had a hand in coming up with that whole idea). I was heartbroken when ABC fired her for Phelps, who totally put a knife in the heart of GH that beat so well under Riche. Phelps is my sole nominee and winner for the EP who made GH utterly unwatchable. Isnt it ironic that GH is having such an upsurge in popularity for trying to undo what Phelps (and her co partner in crime Guza) did to GH. Once GH killed off Alan, had Emily get raped (by a Nikolas lookalike no less) and later killed, killed off Georgie Jones (the other daughter of Frisco and Felicia), ruined the younger years of Maxie, and laughingly tried to make GH into the daytime version of The Soprano’s. Sorry, my mouth foams at the mention of Phelps.

Gloria Monty should be mentioned of course for her first tenure. Monty’s second coming in 1990 was a disaster…remember the Eckerts? I don’t remember much from the reign of Wes Kenney in the late 80’s.

Love Frank and Ron. How they are restoring GH to greatness again with such a drastically reduced budget is nothing short of brilliant. OK, you can nitpick over their stories but what a difference…and I FINALLY TUNED BACK IN AGAIN!

i never heard that Wendy Riche got fired, i thought she just quit, wow, and for JfF oh god, what a curse.

Gloria Monty, Frank Valenti Wendy Riche, and the first one(4got the name) when the show began who helped make it an instant hit.

Selig J. Seligman (1963) or James Young (1963–75)?

Thanks for reply…those names do sound familiar.

Has gh ever had an exec producer who was a racial minority? Has any day soap and “reality soap” ever had a racial minority exec producer? The only racial minority exec producer for night soaps is grey’s and scandal’s shonda rimes. Yet there’s obviously a lot of exec producers from day soaps and reality soaps and night soaps and night dramas who are openly gay white males of course. Most pivotal moment would be steve burton leaving and immediately jumping to farren phelps’ y&r. It was obvious that cbs stuck it to gh w/ the reception that was given on “the talk” to burton. Tolerant hollywood really lacks racial diversity from their writers as well. Only 1/3 of tv shows from 2011-2012 tv season had racial minority writers. A minority of hollywood’s tv shows had racial minority writers. Typical of hollywood’s kind of tolerance.

Gloria, Wendy and Frank ! Jill Phelps ruined the show !

Lily and Miguel had fans????? Riche’s era was wonderful, but Lily and Miguel wouldn’t even be in the top 20 reasons why that era was so great!

she also claims that lily and miguel were the first latin supercouple, really? what are Brenda and Sonny? they sure aint anglo.

i’m going for all three, Gloria Monty, Wendy Riche, and Frank Valentini. Gloria first because she made GH the legend that it is. Wendy made GH critically acclaim with multiple emmy wins and Frank because he’s now bringing the show back to life after The worst EP Jill FÅREN PHELPS DESTROYED IT

Primary credit should go to Gloria Monty for reviving a show that literally had 13 weeks to live before ABC was going to cancel it. She made many changes with the show’s production style and casting. that, and Doug Marland’s writing brought GH skyrocketing in the ratngs within a year. The greatest moment? Luke & Laura’s wedding- what else? Then, the “B.J’s Heart” story, followed by the “Click/Boom” episode from Feb. ’96 when Jax & Brenda got married, and toasted each other at the same moment Sonny’s car blew up with Lily inside- the ONLY good thing Bob Guza (or as I call him- LUZA) ever did for GH. OK, he also brought the Cassadines back, but he caused so much misery for longtime viewers, aided and abetted by Jill Farren Phelps and THE SERIAL KILLER, Brian Frons! He broke up Luke & Laura as well as Tony & Bobbie, killed off too many core and legacy characters (Tony and Georgie Jones, Alan Quartermaine, Justus Ward, Emily Quartermaine, Rick Webber, little Jake Spencer/Morgan, Stefan Cassadine), and made the PCPD look incomptent while the Manic Monster and his brain-damaged stooge in black (formerly known as Jason Quartermaine) ruled the show. Worst yet, he let a self-righteous slut like Carly on the show and made her the heroine! Thank God for Valentini and Carlivati- they have brought back classic storytelling, core families, and have a great reverence for the show’s history. I can’t believe that there are people online complaining about those two- obviously those people only joined GH AFTER 1996, and missed out on REAL quality storytelling from the first Monty era (1978-86) and the Riche/Labine era (1993-96).

I must also give tribute to the first era of GH (1973-72)- the days of Steve, Audrey, Jessie, Phil, Lucille, the Pinkhams, Taylors, Baldwins, and Dawsons under producer Jim Young. They started something wonderful that endured for half a century. I can’t wait to watch the Soapnet marathon to revisit old times of over 30 years. Here’s to 50 more years, GH!

Oops- I meant the first GH era of 1963-72- you get the idea!

Gloria Monty of course. Her vision brought the entire daytime genre into the modern era. She demonstrated that action/adventure stories work in daytime along with romance/relationship stories. Under her leadership they modernized the sets, did location shoots and improved the production value of daytime television. She, and Agnes Nixon with AMC and OLTL, created and led the daytime drama that resonated with the young people of that generation.

Hands down, the greatest GH EP in history is Gloria Monty. GH was under a cancellation notice when she saved it and brought it to #1. She kept the show #1 for almost a decade despite major actors leaving. She gave us adventure and love in the afternoon. She also created the Qs and 4 supercouples: Luke & Laura, Robert & Holly, Frisco & Felicia and Duke & Anna. I loved both Wendy and Frank as EPs, but no one can touch Gloria Monty.

My Favorite is Frank …Especially for saving it from cancelation and for the return of Lucy Coe!

Gloria Monty and her team of writers, hands down, the best ever. They knew how to find talent and write incredibly compelling adventure stories while at the same time show deep emotional character depth. No regime, including this one, comes even close to that level of talent.

Best moment ever for me : Carly and Tony in bed and Bobbie catches them! So soapy 😉
My favorite ep: Frank for the back to basics approach that has made it possible for us to wish for 50 more years. I will give a nod to Jill for one thing ; taking some risks. Im thinking of her decision to recast Carly with Tamara Braun ( the best Carly ever) and the risks she took with the mob… Most of tenure (ok like 90%) was terrible but she had a pair and that i wont deny.

It’s definitely Wendy Riche for me, she respected the iconic history of the 1980’s and blazed a new trail for GH with legendary stories like:

BJ/Maxie’s Heart transplant story
Robin and Stone Aids Story into the Jason and Robin love story
Monica’s Breast Cancer
The loss of Jason Quartermaine and creation of Jason Morgan
Turning Ned Ashton into a Rockstar and giving us Ned and Lois
Sonny and Brenda and the triangle with Jax which is IMO the best triangle in Daytime History
The return of Luke and Laura and the introduction of Lucky
Elizabeth Webber and the love story of Lucky and Elizabeth
The rebirth of the Cassadines
The adoption of Emily Quartermaine
The creation of Nikolas Cassadine
The creation of Carly Roberts

She created the best characters since the 1980’s in GH history with Lucky, Carly, Elizabeth, Nikolas, Jax, Brenda, Sonny, Emily, Lois, Stone, Jagger so much of what they reference and focus on today was created from two eras ~ the Gloria Monty and Wendy Riche eras on GH.

The whole 50th Anniversary is centered around the Nurses Ball which came to be under Wendy Riche and turned into a fan favorite event every year!!

The production was top notch with unforgettable locations like the Puerto Rico adventure, Ned and Lois in wedding attire on top the Brooklyn bridge, Luke and Laura return and almost go over the falls but a helicopter saves them, Jax’s malibu home….etc…

The last two GH primetime specials ~ Twist of Fate and the 35th Anniversary special which were both spectacular aired during Wendy Riche’s regime!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE This time in GH history and regard it as my personal favorite. I think Frank and Ron are doing a great job but everything that’s great about the work they are doing is directly related to their dabbling in the Veterans and pulling characters and love stories from two different times in GH history ~ Wendy’s time and Gloria’s time. Everything new that Frank and Ron have created on their own aside from Todd/Carly and John/Sam has been a complete miss with me. So, I wouldn’t consider them up there with Wendy or Gloria yet but give them time because I might reflect differently on it someday.

Great post!

General hospital best executive producer to me is frank valentini

I’m pretty sure we can all agree that the title of best GH executive producer goes to ANYONE but Jill Farren Phelps. lol.

I personally loved Wendy, Gloria, and now I am so proud of Frank Valentini that he makes the list as well. I believe these three truly understood the staples of not on General Hospital, but of this genre. These three are ones, if you read interviews and such, that are highly praised by actors and you can see why. They run a ship of success in both ratings and quality.

I’m going with Wendy Riche for the best because it was during her time with the show that I became a viewer with the Stone storyline, Jax, the Quartermaines, Carly, Jason, Robin, Sonny, Brenda, and of course the Spencer/Cassadine war. However, Frank Valentini is doing an amazing job with the show today and continues to surprise me with how General Hospital feels like a more balanced show with romance, comedy, drama, vets, and less mob violence (which is okay in smaller doses).

Matthew Ashford. ? Sexier… “darker”… Masculine… love the facial hair… a steamier edge to Jack.

to go along with his “acting” Talent. his comedic, and sensitive father portrayal…

DAYS ? bring him back.

this would be a rebirth…. of Jack…. instead of the bumbling… ??? i’ll get flack for this…

but… he’d generate a rebirth of JENN…. Oye! Jennifer and Daniel… are killing… DOOL.

Why are u writing about dool ? Who cares !!

Wendy Riche – I hated when they gave Robin Aids but over the course of the storyline it has been educational and very heart warming. Kudos to the aids story line.

What time will this be on?

Kudos to frank and RON for bringing back the old GH we know and love but they are ridding on the coat tails of someone else’s work. Wendy riche and Claire labine were the 2 best EP of all time. Gloria Monty was amazing yes but when she came back the second time she took away the history she built in her hay day and almost destroyed the show with the Eckertt family and back burning the vets. As for JFP and Guza they were a ticking time bomb to daytime . Claire Labine deserves a huge shout out due to she and her pbenomi a

Phenomenal writing team but the trophy belongs to Wendy riche. And a little shout out to Brian frons get us head out of our ass u have destroyed daytime TV I don’t understand how ABC cuts u a weekly paycheck the only club u r President in is the talentless hack club u rate right up there with the weather men wrong on so many levels but still have a job.

Without Gloria Monti the show would never have attracted the audience it did. And aside from Luke and Laura’s on-the-run/wedding story line, Rick Springfield was a MAJOR reason young people tuned in and turned onto GH in numbers never seen before. Richard Dean Anderson aka MacGyver was pretty hot as Dr Jeff Webber in mid-70’s!

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‘General Hospital’s’ Dominic Zamprogna Shares He Was ‘Happy to Hear’ of The Triangle Storyline Developing Between Dante/Elizabeth/Ric

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Dominic Zamprogna

General Hospital’s Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) opened up about the burgeoning love triangle forming between his Port Charles alter-go, Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) after recently aired scenes, plus his hopes for the future of a Dante and Liz pairing, during his appearance on the Sunday, April 23 edition of the That’s Awesome podcast with Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli).

On last week’s episodes of GH, Ric has made the decision that he wanted to propose to his ex-wife, only when he showed up at Elizabeth’s front door, he misread the scenario he walked in with Liz tending to Dante’s injured leg from the softball game. From there, the legal eagle’s jealous streak is reemerging which may cause him to act out and do something unforgivable, or will he take the high road? Stay tuned.

Speaking with Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson about where Elizabeth stands in the annals of the long-running soap, Zamprogna said, “She’s up there with Steve and Maurice (Maurice Benard) as one of the most legacy-filled people on the show.”

Courtesy/ABC

HOW DANTE AND ELIZABETH CAME ABOUT

Dominic jokes it’s a far cry for where Dante and Elizabeth previously, recalling, “We had some scenes together years ago and we were both laughing. Becky’s like, ‘Well, I guess we’re not going be paired up anytime soon.’ I remember we laughed immediately after they yelled ‘cut,”‘and said to each other, ‘Well, so much for that!'”

Fast-forward to early 2025 and as Zamprogna remembered it, “Elizabeth Korte (co-head writer, GH) came up to me at the General Hospital Christmas party, and I think it was a year and a half ago and she said, ‘We’re going to have you in scenes with Elizabeth,’ My internal monologue is going, ‘I’m not with Lulu (Alexa Havins) anymore and Sam’s (Kelly Monaco) gone, so maybe they want to see if this works.’ I didn’t want to get scenes with Becky and try to find the chemistry. I just wanted to play whatever honestly was written and came across for both of us and hope it was what people liked, and I don’t know if it is … or not.”

Knowing how beloved Elizabeth is to the GH faithfuls, Zamprogna added, “She got a big fan base with Ric … and a big fan base with with Jason … and you know, you’re going to piss somebody off. But, didn’t Ric drug Elizabeth and put Carly in a panic room?”

Dom and Liz

Photo: ABC

DANTE AND ELIZABETH PAIRING COULD STIR UP STORY FOR OTHERS IN PORT CHARLES

In closing, Dominic felt that the wide-reaching tentacles of a Dante and Elizabeth relationship is something he is 100% down for. “The triangle thing; I was happy to hear it was with Ric and her, because I felt it’s important to have her the top of it as opposed to Dante, Lulu and Elizabeth.”

Zamprogna added, “When you get into relationships on a soap, things seem to fizzle out a little bit, The buildup is what’s the fun part, and the getting to know each other, and the people who are affected by this coming together. When with this case it’s going to affect: Ric, Sonny, Lulu. There’s so much more story here. To me, it’s going to be a fun story to play.”

You can check out Dominic’s visit to That’s Awesome with Steve and Bradford below.

Now weigh-in: Are you rooting for Dante and Liz, or Dante and Ric at this juncture of the story, or neither guy  for Elizabeth? Let us know your thoughts and picks via the comment section.

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GH and OLTL Alum Patrick J. Gibbons Reveals the Story Behind Writing Trina’s Song on ‘General Hospital’ (Exclusive)

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Patrick J. Gibbons

At the conclusion of today’s August 21 episode of General Hospital, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) sings a lullaby to baby Dez, that went into a montage to close out the episode as her father Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) reports to Pentonville and winds up in his jail cell.

However, in a fun fact, the song entitled, “A Lonely Heart To Give” was actually written by none other than former One Life to Live and General Hospital actor, Patrick J. Gibbons.

Daytime fans first met Gibbons as Sam Manning on One Life to Live. At the time, when he started on the soap, he was just 5-years-old. Gibbons played the part from 2010-2013 on ABC and Prospect Park’s editions of the show. Fast-forward to 2018, Gibbons shows up on General Hospital as Wyatt Hoover, the scout who seemed always be injured, but in the thick of the drama. Patrick had appeared on GH multiple times as Wyatt including: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023.

Photo: ABC

FROM HIS GRANDMOTHER’S DEATH CAME THE INSPIRATION FOR HIS SONG

Now in 2026, General Hospital fans are getting to learn about another side of Gibbons’ talent as a songwriter and guitar player after “A Lonely Heart to Give” debuted today! Michael Fairman TV caught up with Patrick, who is now a senior at Penn State entering his final year as a finance major, to get the back-story of how his song wound up on GH!

Gibbons explained he wrote the song in honor of his grandmother who passed away a few years ago with whom he was, very, very close with. “Randomly, my grandmother had a downfall and passed away during the second semester of my sophomore year. I was in my dorm a lot and I was just playing with my guitar. And at the time, I was really into finger-style playing. I wrote the lyric and music to it (with a little help from my guitar teacher Lou), and my mom showed the rough demo to Frank Valentini (EP, General Hospital). He’s like an uncle to me. Frank loved it so much he said, “Finish that up. I want to hear the whole thing, and I want it on the show.”

MAKING MUSIC FOR GENERAL HOSPITAL

Gibbons and his parents took the next steps! “So now, all we needed was a female voice, because I thought that would fit the song well,” Patrick shared. “At the golf club we go to my parents were at a dinner. They liked the singer that was performing and spoke to her about the song, and she says she would like to bring it to her ‘boss’ who ended up being Eric Bazilian of the Hooters fame!” (Bazilian also wrote the smash hit song “One of Us” for Joan Osborne).

Next, “We went in the studio and recorded it and the song came together and it was beautiful. We loved it. They loved it at General Hospital and now they’re putting it the show and they are coming in with a piano, instead of a guitar. Paul Glass, the GH musical director, has been keeping us updated over the last six months of how it was coming along, and when it would air, and how GH put their own arrangement to it. I can’t wait to see and hear what they did with it.”

Photo: JPI

PATRICK’S ONE LIFE TO LIVE FAMILY

Everyone knows that the One Life to Live extended family share a very tight bond, and Patrick said he does stay in touch with a few of his former One Life to Live co-stars, especially those from the Manning family! “I stayed in touch with Kassie DePaiva (ex-Blair) and sent her little videos here and there. She was like my second mom for five years. We keep in contact with Kristen Alderson (ex-Starr) over X the most, and she can’t believe how big I’ve gotten. Like, none of them can! (laughs). I also loved working with Roger Howarth (ex-Todd) and Trevor St. John (ex-Todd and Victor Jr.), and to me since I was so young, they were just my friends, ‘Roger and Trevor,’ not Todd Manning or Victor Jr.”

It was a trip to California and a visit to Port Charles that ultimately led to Gibbons second soap role of Wyatt Hoover. Patrick explains, “In 2016, Frank Valentini invited us out to Los Angeles to visit the set of General Hospital. I think he heard me say, ‘This is so much fun. I miss being on the set.’ He goes, ‘You should come out. I’ll bring you on the show. We can make you a character.'”

A few years later, Patrick’s dream became a reality! “Then, by the summer of 2018, I was playing Wyatt, the scout, and shared scenes with Wes Ramsey (Peter August), and the best was when I shared a scene with Roger Howarth and Michael Easton (ex-John, OLTL and ex-Silas, Finn et al, GH), it was like chemistry from the old days.”

Photo: PGibbons

IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS

As to his future aspirations, it’s a career in the finance game that has piqued Gibbons’ real-life interest. But never say never to a return to acting. Patrick explained, “I’ve always enjoyed numbers. And on top of that, one of the biggest parts of finance is being personable and outgoing.”

He continued, “That’s one of the greatest skills I developed growing up. I really love the markets. I’m super interested. I’m never going to close the door to acting. I’m always open to that because I just love it so much. It’s such a great art.”

Take note! If there are any investment bankers or private equity folks among the GH faithful looking for a young analyst next year, Patrick’s DMs are open. You can find him on X at @PatrickJGibbons.

So, what did you think of the song sung by Trina on today’s GH that was written by Patrick J. Gibbons? Did you enjoy Patrick’s performances as One Life’s Sam and GH’s Wyatt? Would you like to see him back on GH at some point? Let us know via the comment section.

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‘General Hospital’ Alum Chad Duell Admits That He Didn’t Expect the Role of Michael Corinthos to be Recast, and Would Consider Working on Another Soap (Exclusive)

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Chad Duell, the Daytime Emmy-winning actor, who stepped away from the pivotal role of Michael Corinthos on General Hospital, opened up about: his previous decision to leave the series after nearly 15 years, where’s he’s at now after time away from the demands of a daytime soap opera, and took a stroll down memory lane with some of Michael’s most-acclaimed storyline during his run, during a livestream chat on August 19 on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel.

Viewers last saw Duell on-screen as Michael in January of 2025, and with his successor in the role, Rory Gibson making his debut at the GH Nurses’ Ball in episodes that aired later in May. It was clear that during the conversation, Chad was a bit surprised that the GH brass decided to recast him when he thought he was just taking some much needed time off.

Burn-out of the daily grind of being on a soap was definitely a part of Chad’s decision to take a break. Duell explained “People know when you’re doing something for so long or your character is kind of in the same place for so long or doing the same stuff over and over again, you do get a a little burnt out, you get a little stiff, stale, a little stiff at times. I didn’t want that to be any sort of lasting impression. I have 15 years of a body of work of I’ve done on that show, which is fantastic.”

Chad Duell

Photo: ABC

WHILE CHAD WAS AWAY GH RECAST MICHAEL CORINTHOS WITH RORY GIBSON

Chad shared, his mindset when leaving GH was, “I’m taking some time away, we’ll see what happens.” Then he added, “Obviously, they decided to go in a different direction with Michael when I was gone. I didn’t think they were going to bring somebody back in my place. But you know, it’s the business. You never know what can happen.”

Duell also shared he has not watched a single episode of General Hospital since he left the series, but now feels he reenergized following the loss of his father and stepping away from the GH, “I’m in a place now mentally, where I’m ready to sink my teeth into it again.”

Courtesy/ABC

Even though he is no longer Michael on GH, Chad was very happy with his final storyline where Michael was set on fire when a bomb exploded at Sonny’s (Maurice Benard) penthouse. “It was fun to put him in a dangerous situation, because I was wanting Michael to be in something scary instead of trying to be a hero character or just things happening around him, but to be the center point of tragedy happening to him. (I always saw) Michael as the heart of the (Corinthos) family.”

When Michael was badly burned the show chose not burn his face, which normally a soap does when they are recasting role and switching actors. Chad weighed-in, “They didn’t burn my face because I told Frank Valentini (EP, GH) I’m willing to come back. It was just a little bit of a break. So, I assumed that if they would have burned my face, they could have brought somebody back looking different than me… if that’s what their plan was.”

Courtesy/ABC

MEMORABLE MICHAEL STORYLINES

One of Chad’s most memorable performances was the in the storyline of Michael’s rape while he was sentenced to prison in 2010 and the confession of it in 2011. “It was so well-written and I was very nervous,” recalled Chad. “When I get really nervous about something, it ends up being really good when I do it, because it just means I care a lot about it”

“I have to put a lot of effort and work into it, and I really want it to be good.  I was working with Dominic  Zamprogna (Dante) and Steve Burton (Jason) a lot during those scenes, and Laura Wright (Carly). It was great working with Steve and Dominic, especially, during that storyline.

A NEW SOAP ROLE FOR CHAD?

As to a future soap opera role, Chad is open to the idea and would love to jump back in to a juicy role, “I know people over at The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless. They know that if they’re interested, I would love to come in for a screen test or something, and they can see what I’m doing.”

Meanwhile, Chad has been busy putting out new music under the moniker Duelly and during the interview he explains how he creates his EDM tracks and much more. You can stream his latest single, Static in the Quiet Room on Spotify, Apple Music and You Tube Music.

You can check out the full conversation with Chad Duell below.

Now let us know: what show would you like to see Chad cast on down the line? BTG, DAYS, B&B, Y&R, or a new role on GH? What did you think of his thoughts on the casting switch while he was away in the role of Michael? What was your favorite Michael storyline during Chad’s 15-year run on the ABC soap opera? Let us know via the comment section.

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