General Hospital
RATINGS: ‘General Hospital’ Scores 15-Week High in Total Viewers and Crosses the 2 Million Mark for First Time in 9 Weeks

General Hospital had more people tuning-in than over the past three and a half months for the week of July 6-10. According to the latest ratings report from Soap Opera Network, GH’s storyline and the fallout from Cullum’s (Andrew Hawkes) death and the arrival of Z (John Oliver) had piqued fans interest enough, for the ABC soap to bring in its best total viewer overall average in the last 9 weeks.
In addition, GH attracted its largest audience in 15 weeks since the week of March 23-27, 2026. The last time the ABC soap opera clocked in at over 2 million total viewers for a particular week was the week of May 4-8, 2026.
For the July 6-1o ratings period, General Hospital averaged 2.052 million total viewers which was up p +72,000 week-to-week and +132,000 year-over-year. Let’s take a look at what was driving the numbers below for the ratings week:

Photo: ABC
Z REVEALS CASSIUS IS ALIVE
Carly (Laura Wright) confronted Z and demanded he pull Josslyn (Eden McCoy) from the WSB. Z refused, leading Carly to slap him across the face. Meanwhile, director Ross Cullum was exposed as a rogue double agent who had abducted individuals to finish Cesar’s final project.
At the end of the July 6 episode, John Oliver finished his 3 day guest-stint, but not before revealing to viewers that he had imprisoned Cassius Faison (Ryan Paevey) and he was actually alive. Z had then propositioned Cassius with work for the WSB or be sent away for Cullum’s crimes that they are pinning on him. The episode also marked the end of Ryan Paevey’s General Hospital run.
Elsewhere, Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) discovered the truth that this entire time she had been duped and never actually suffered from Huntington’s disease; having been manipulated by Cullum’s entire operation to finish the cold fusion project.
ANNA COMES HOME
Anna (Finola Hughes) finally returned home to Port Charles with her loved ones in tow. She was greeted later by her ex-flame, Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart), who was at her front door concerned for her mental well-being. Once alone, Anna is haunted by the ghost of Peter August (Wes Ramsey) telling her to take care of things.
Later in the week, Sidwell (Carlo Rota) and Jordan (Tanisha Harper) clashed. He wants her to get his money for him from some off shore accounts in exchange for hooking her up a the same German clinic Michael went to to recover from his burns. Jenz tells her she can jump the line and help restore her scarred face, if she follows his demands, which Jordan turns down.
It should also be noted that General Hospital remained as the #1 most-watched show on Hulu on July 7, 8 and 10 and remained in the top five for the rest of the week.
Source for the above ratings numbers are derived from Nielsen (Live+Same Day Big Data + Panel).
So, did the July 6-10 week of episodes have you glued to your set and tuning-in every day to watch General Hospital? Would you agree that the preceding week which featured the shootout where Josslyn saves the day and ends up killing Cullum, was one of the more exciting in a long time? Do you think based on the strength of its storylines and day-to-day episodes that you’d hope General Hospital would score even higher than it did against the other soaps? Let us know you thoughts via the comment section.
I get that Kirsten storms is having difficulties and I feel really bad for her and I hope she gets the help she needs but why not recast her she’s a great part of the show and it doesn’t feel fair for spineless and James and Bailey and Georgie all have to leave the show it would be better to just recast her very disappointed about this
YES! Enter NU Nikolas Cassadine! GH needs to be extremely smart who they bring in as the next Nikolas. I’ll say it, they need a brand name, if you will. Done effectively and with skill, GH could pull off a fantastic recast for Nick Cassadine. From what I’m reading on this site, fans would like a nu Maxie (at least temporary)… the role of Nick has been played by a handful of actors and Christopher Tyler was brilliant, yet, Nick should have been out of prison like two years ago, this is a soap after-all… Mark Tescher can do it, GH can do it… it’s time to bring Prince Cassadine back. We have new (and improved) Lulu…. so, Mark needs to put his thinking cap on, they need a brand name… no newbies. The right recast could get back into the Britt orbit. And, if Greg Vaughn is available, bring him back as Lucky. Bring Grandpa Nick back home to Cassadine Island, Spencer and Ace, too. We don’t need Esme, though! Unless she’s going to go toe to toe with Jossalyn, then I’m game.
Adam Huss was great doing the role of Nikolas. Why have to recast? He has always been open to a return.
Well said!
I love and miss the Jackle!!!!!
Spinelli, and other young actors – loosing their storyline and jobs
That’s ridiculous and poor planning on the production and writing staff at GH.
It ruined the clever and extensive storyline – that did drag on too long, yet ended in GREAT drama -well done – for GH staff and dramatic daytime – soap storyline fashion.
This is an “exit, stage left”, writer’s haste is very poorly designed – give us and those other actors & actress – their jobs back! James, a young child – expresses profound grief, loss and tragedy in his young life – presently well acted, as it is played by his sub. Give it back so that eventually the original young actor grows, as he manages and processes his storyline. His opportunity for growth from that experience as an actor and life lesson for all ages and audience in all stages of life – is a writers responsibility to the audience! This is daytime drama- continues touching lives of all ages in its audience!
Again, why loose these cast members, specifically James and the beloved Spinelli –
just re-cast her!!!!!!
GH was incredible for the Cullum demise and Josselyn as a heroine! I rewatched the week’s episodes multiple times as I recird the show each day. I have been a fan since day one, and look forward to each new episode.
Congratulations to GH on an amazing week. The way the storyline concluded was the best scenes the show has had in months. I wish there was a way to include Hulu ratings in the overall ratings. I believe GH would be the number one show.
Now this story is over, I am ready to get the Drew/Willow storyline moving. It is not entertainment to see Drew sit for months in a wheelchair unable to speak. In addition, Curtis’s vendetta against Isaiah is such a failure. The dialog is the same always every day. GH needs to mirror BTG and make their black storylines more believable and the characters more likable. Lastly, I would love to see GH stop bringing in so many new characters when popular actors (Ava, Michael, Ned, Olivia) are not getting sufficient airtime.
Hello R.P. I agree, I truly miss Ned’s presence and Leo’s, too. Olivia can get a bit whiney. Ava needs story STAT!
The big let down the past few years is the lack of story, or willingness to create story for Chief of Staff (or co) with Terry at the helm. GH had make a wrecking ball with this intrigal role. I don’t know how Elizabeth Webber runs the hospital, she’s always there, doing everything. Ishiah is on a “leave” due to injury… I think he pops in for consults and Britt is all over the place, unstable for this profession, Lucas is recurring so, we see him and then on an odd day day, we have Doctor Navarro.
Don’t get me started on Felicia working there as a Patient Advocate, but such a position is not needed from a supporting artist… she spends time with her family as she should and yes Felicia can work full-time but I’d rather Felicia maintain part of her past like the last time, whether you liked it or not, Felicia and Carly went on the search after Bobby’s passing to find a young woman who was a reporter or something and yeah, Felicia became intrigal the past month or so, heading to France to support Anna, etc.
As for Portia, she’s been pregnant for two years! Before the birth of her son, she was at the hospital, sure, but Elizabeth does everything there! I love Elizabeth, she’s dedicated, committment and a life-long GH employee. Stella serves as Patient Adocate (to Chief Administrator) well. I think Felicia may need to be seen very minimally at GH, she will have her hands full with James.
No Maxie on the horizon, which was huge misstep by GH, nevermind that… But Cody who does nothing on the show… had to break the news to James about “Nathan”…. that whole Maxie/Spinelli/Georgie outting to the Grand Canyon was the killer of the story.
We all know what GH should have done with the Maxie character and they chose not to recast, so Felicia and Max (when John York is able to make appearances)… is James everything at the moment. Lucas pops in and out (due to recurring), Britt, here today, gone tomorrow, we’ll see what Dr Tristan’s deal is, Portia is now going to be on maternial leave… Isahiah is only good for consulting work… and I think Elizabeth, Stella, Lucas, Dr Tristan, Britt and Portia … are all a mixed bag,
Again, god bless her, Elizabeth shows up at GH for anything… we NEED Terry BACK in a supporting capactity, GH! Too many loose ends with these characters and their “roles” at GH. Nix Felicia out of the staff, have Diona and maybe Amy, featured more with Liz and bring back BRAD!
I agree with all of your points. Utilize the characters who don’t get much screen time.
Precisely, Priscilla 🙂
Hey Scrappy!
Great post and I appreciate the paragraph breaks.
See how the ratings sky rocket when Carly is on every day? My girl IS General Hospital.
Love you GH
Been watch GH for 50 + years started watching with my step mom. It was a good run for GH real excitemenWsB agent t shot the bad guy ! Alway is a good thing we all wish GH to be the top rated Soap!!
Yessss, it was good for a week. Then Joss’s men both showed up for her and then disappeared just as quickly. Anna is a good character but stupid storyline is getting worse with the visions. Loved ‘Z’s surprise appearance. Now back to boring, long drawn out, same ol same ol. Got excited that summer might get to be more fun up through sweeps. Immediately let down after high hopes. ABC is the greediest company forcing too many commercials and forcing to rewatch commercials if you rewind to see something again. Commercials, many, through movies. I literally only pay for Hulu for this soap and none of it is worth the frustration. Zero action, just talking everything to death. Disappointing rip off when everything else is so expensive, I’ll let this go and keep Netflix, Paramount and Prime to at least have fewer movie interruptions
Hi! I tuned into Y&R today just to check its pulse after declaring the soap dead 2 years ago. I do that from time to time because I am fond of the actors. Well! Still dead. Nothing but the same old long conversations. Even the actors act bored. But today, GH had interesting and fresh conversations interspersed with action. For example, the crazy kook Nina rolled Drew in his wheelchair off the dock and into the lake! Can you believe it? I swear, ya can’t take that girl anywhere. My point is, I think your criticism of GH is a bit harsh and lacks perspective. There’s a few missteps, sure, but there’s rarely a dull moment.
The reason why GH got high ratings the week of July 6 through the 10th was because we were finally coming to the end of the storyline that has been dragging on FOREVER . Plus she brought in John Oliver as Z from the WSB and I think the ratings were high because of him which they need to bring him back occasionally. Your storylines are great sometimes but you keep dragging them too far that people lose interest you got too many new characters and you should bring back. Keep this older characters that you’ve had in the storyline forever. I agree you need Spencer you need Maxi you need Spinelli you need Nicholas Cassadine back your ratings would go up . Anyway, I’d like watching GH but I’ll tell you it gets old some of the storylines especially like Drew. That’s not going anywhere. Let’s do something about that storyline move it anyway. Hopefully these feedback from your viewers will inspire you guys to take a look and figure out your next move. Thank you.
General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Brennan is Found Dead in the Water as Suspects Mount and Cover-Ups Begin

The Tuesday, September 1 episode of General Hospital confirmed that the body floating in the Metro Court pool was indeed WSB Port Charles bureau chief, Jack Brennan, thus ending the run of Chris McKenna, who debuted on GH back in February of 2025.
In story, Charlotte (Bluesy Burke) screamed and Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) had a major freak out, when they were the ones to find Brennan’s body lifeless in the pool. Being in fear that Drew (Cameron Mathison) would use this against him, Danny told Charlotte they need to flee the scene.
Elsewhere in Jack’s hotel room, a panic-stricken Ava (Maura West) was trying to convince Drew to get out of Brennan’s room asap since she thinks the sleeping pill she spiked his drink with only made him head back to his room. Eventually, Ava was able to convince Drew to leave, and the two headed to the pool deck and were in for the shock of their lives when they saw Jack’s body floating face up in the pool!

Courtesy/ABC
THIS DOESN’T FLOAT AVA AND DREW’S BOAT
Ava went into cover-up mode in fear Jack’s death would be traced back to her since Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) saw her with Brennan at the Gardens. Next, Ava threatens to take down Drew with her if she goes down for a crime he put her up to in the first place.
Then, the pair decide to move Brennan’s body out of the pool and place him in a laundry cart. They are going to use the service elevator to bring the body down to the garage and dump Brennan somewhere.
At the Quartermaine boathouse, Charlotte and Danny arrive and Danny realizes he put a dent into Chase’s (Josh Swickard) truck that he “borrowed” without Chase’s permission. Suddenly, Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) and Rocco (Finn Carr) were on the scene and four got into heated words when Danny insulted Drew which brought Scout to tears that she doesn’t want to have to choose sides between her brother and her father.
SECURITY BREACH
After Rocco and Scout left, Charlotte had a new freak out when she realized the bracelet she had on is missing. Cut to: Jack’s wrist and sleeve in the laundry cart with Charlotte’s bracelet around it.
Jason (Steve Burton) helped Carly (Laura Wright) with figuring out how the hotel’s security system was disabled and the alarm was deactivated. Suspecting foul play to a VIP guest, Carly and Jason go up to to Jack’s room. However, once they were inside, Brennan was nowhere to be found. Just then, Jason looked around and realized someone was in the room doing a search.
So, it looks like plenty of people will need to cover their actions including: Danny, Charlotte, Ava and Drew. But if none of them caused the direct death of Brennan, who did? Chief among the suspects would have to be Willow Cain, then we had Nina leveling a threat against Jack overheard by Carly and others, or are they only red-herrings and the real killer is someone you wouldn’t expect? Also, what will Jack’s autopsy report reveal? Stay tuned, and share your theories via the comment section.
General Hospital
Chris McKenna Speaks Out on His Exit from ‘General Hospital’ and Thanks Fans for ‘The Support You’ve Shown Me and Jack’

On the Tuesday, September 1 episode of General Hospital, the body shown floating in the Metro Court pool was identified as Jack Brennan, ending the run of daytime veteran, Chris McKenna, in the role of the WSB Port Charles bureau chief.
McKenna began his time on the ABC soap opera back in February 2025, after replacing Charles Mesure who decided to leave the show. As it turned out, McKenna actually wrapped almost three months ago in June and has been keeping mum, even though reports surfaced that he was exiting the show come fall and Brennan would be killed-off.
Now as a murder mystery begins, McKenna took to his X account on Tuesday, and shared these heartfelt words and clarification, starting with, “Hey, everyone. Just want to say how moved I’ve been by the support you’ve shown me and Jack. As you now know, I left the show months ago, wrapped in June. I’ll say more once my exit interview runs. Until then, from the bottom of my heart- Thank You.”

Courtesy/ABC
THERE MUST BE SOMETHING IN THE WATER
Then, in said “exit interview” with TV Insider, Chris confirmed, I did my last episode in June, so I’ve had a few months to adjust.” He also added how bittersweet it was when he found out it was the end of the line for Jack.
“It’s disappointing how it’s ending right now, but this was a gift,” expressed McKenna. “Between my son being born and having this place to go to work for the past couple of years, this has been just a fantastic time, and it’s been so much fun. I got to be introduced to an entire new legion of soap fans who weren’t familiar with me, got back into the daytime world and did some powerful work I’m really proud of, so it’s been a great experience. I have no complaints.”
Previously, Chris played a young Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live where he got his first big break from 1990-1993. Decades later, he took on the role of Mark Harding on The Young and the Restless from 2014-2015.

Photo: CMcKennaIG
CHRIS MCKENNA AND PAIGE HERSCHELL LEARNED THE SAME DAY THEY WERE BEING WRITTEN OFF
While Chris did not get a major exit scene with lots of emotion or dialog, he still appreciated a departure by water! “I would have loved to have had a big, heroic martyrdom or a big grand speech. Unfortunately, I just played my dead body floating in a pool for two days,” joked Chris.
As it turned out, Chris wasn’t alone in finding out he was being pink-slipped from the soap. He learned the news the same day as Paige Herschell found out they were writing Jacinda out as well.
McKenna had one hope for the story in the months to come adding, “Though it’s not the end I woulda chosen for Jack, I hope this generates months of riveting television around ‘Who killed Brennan?’ And I hope that Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) killed him. It’s time she graduates to full-on murder.”
So, what do you think of the events that transpired of when and how Chris McKenna learned he was exiting General Hospital as Brennan? Who do you think murdered Jack? Are you sad to know that today marked his final episode (unless there may be flashbacks?) of Chris’s GH run? Weigh-in via the comment section below.
General Hospital
Genie Francis Exits ‘General Hospital’ For Her Annual Summer Hiatus

Monday’s, August 31 episode of General Hospital brought with it the the final appearance, for now, of the iconic Genie Francis as Mayor Laura Collins.
In story, it has been revealed that Laura is taking a leave of absence from her mayorship to go abroad and visit her husband, Kevin (Jon Lindstrom), and her grandson Ace in Ireland.
The timing of the story-dictated moved had to do with Genie’s annual summer hiatus from the long-running ABC soap opera. As per usual, GH fans can look forward to Laura’s return on-screen to come with an impact later this fall.

Courtesy/ABC
General Hospital fans have loved the legendary star since her debut back in 1977, when Francis was in her teens, and was later paired with the late Anthony Geary as soap opera super couple Luke and Laura.
Back in 2007, Genie won her first and only Daytime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series category. She has been nominated four times as a solo performer in either the Lead (1997, 2021) or Supporting Actress categories (2007, 2012). In addition, in 2002, Genie along with Tony Geary were nominated for America’s Favorite Couple.
LEAVING PORT CHARLES
Before Laura left town, she had a meeting with her friend Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and his arch enemy, Drew Cain (Cameron Marthison) while at the Metro Court Hotel. It was there, Laura announced to the rivals that she was leaving town soon and wanted them to call a ceasefire while she was gone.
Laura asked Drew to first bow out of the Pier 55 auction so Sonny could regain his property. However, that didn’t go over so well with Drew, who said nothing Sonny does is ever legitimate. However, Sonny informed Drew that he was also a legit businessman (and seemingly out of the mob).
So, will you miss Genie during her summer break? What do you hope Laura’s story will be when she returns? Do you think the series will pair Laura with Ezra Boyle (Daniel Cosgrove) or keep the Laura and Kevin relationship going long distance, since Jon Lindstrom is primarily a cast member on CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates? Let us know via the comment section below.
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