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General Hospital

Rebecca Campbell To Now Oversee ABC Daytime!

By Michael Fairman

Published

11 years ago

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Courtesy/ABC

Courtesy/ABC

The executive shuffle continues at the ABC Television Network with some interesting news for ABC daytime series, General Hospital and The Chew. 

According to Broadcasting & Cable, Rebecca Campbell president of ABC’s owned TV stations, is adding daytime programming to her duties on the heels of ABC President programming Paul Lee’s ouster.

Campbell will overee GH, The Chew, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and FABLife until it ends its run since it has already been cancelled.

As previously announced, Channing Dungey was made the ABC Entertainment president taking over Lee’s duties as appointed by Ben Sherwood, president, Disney-ABC Television Group.

Sherwood noted of Campbell being the perfect choice to run the ABC day-part that she has deep daytime experience, including producing daytime shows while at WPVI Philadelphia and buying syndicated programs as station group chief.

As far as Vicki Dummer, ABC executive vice-president for current series, and her role moving forward with General Hospital that remains to be seen, since she had been in charge of the show for the past few years until the news on Wednesday.

What do you think of the appointment of Rebecca Campbell to oversee ABC Daytime?  Do you think its a good choice? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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This lady is going to pull the plug on General hospital. Is she related to Brian Frons? I hope not. Or she will be the most hated soap killer.

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Why would she be related to Brian Frons?

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Looks like abc is going to get even worse

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Yes, looks that way. Boy, are they changing gears frantically. Trouble ahead!

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I know noting about the woman..
She may like and respect the soap opera genre and she might not give two hoots about a 50yr old soap..
It is IMPOSSIBLE to have an opinion, as she has not shown us her hand, yet..
To say this or that about her at this point in time is rather ridiculous … LOL

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She’ll probably cast herself in a gh role lol

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The woman manages TV stations. She’s a salesman. Now she is in charge of daytime programming? Makes a lot of sense.

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Is it too much to ask that Ms. Campbell acknowledge the terrible mistake Frons and Sweeney made in canceling AMC & OLTL and promise GH will not be cancelled?

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Maybe she will be smart enough to bring back one life to live and all my children. It’s been almost 5 years since the worst decision made by this network ever. Get it right and bring back our soaps.

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The only way AMC & OLTL will return is to cancel The Chew and I don’t see that happening because the show is cheat to produce.

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Very well said Jp.

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I guess Rebecca’s “deep daytime experience” for local programming in Philly doesn’t leave me with a lot of confidence for how she will handle GH. On the other hand it’s not fair to judge at this stage. So let’s hope for the best.

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I get the feeling that over the next few months GH is really going to need to show Ms. Campbell that they have what it takes to maintain their audience while building their numbers. With the current writing team and the show’s return to a Sonny-centric focus I don’t think things look too promising…

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I agree, I don’t know what possessed them to hire Jean and Shelly as co-head writers, you only have to watch a few episodes of their tenure at Y&R to see how boring and untalented they are.

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Not promising at all. Who PROGRAMMED (pun intented) the writers to write only mob stories..a real “dead” (pun also intended) end.

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I think GH, with it’s renewed focus on Sonny, is nailing it’s own coffin.

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I think Jean and Shelly have done a pretty good so far trying to clean up the mess of a show Ron Carlivati left them. This past week was one of the best weeks GH has had quite a while, in my opinion. It had drama (including the hospital drama that everyone always says they want to see), action, great acting, what more could you want? The ratings are up approx 500,000 viewers from where it was when RC got canned. I’d say the show is in fine shape at the moment.

I’m curious, everyone complained about Bob Guza at the end, they complained about Carlivati, now you don’t like the job Jean and Shelly are doing, exactly who would you like to see writing this show?

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Everyone blames Ron for the state of the show but needs to consider that the head writer does not have total autonomy — everything that was on screen had to be run past Frank Valentini and ABC Daytime (and according to reports, some of the actors) before it was ever scripted. It’s easy to say Ron was the problem but the current state of the show tends to suggest the problems run much deeper than the headwriter.

I think Ron Carlivati should still be writing the show with perhaps Jean Passanante as a co-head writer to help balance things. Ron is capable of amazing storytelling as evidenced by his run on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, but if not Ron, then I would suggest someone who understands long term plotting, umbrella storytelling, and emotional payoffs like Lorraine Broderick or Kay Alden.

As for this week being one of the best — I’m going to have to disagree. For me this week’s writing was yet another example of why daytime often gets a bad rap for cheesy writing: Dixon escaping that shoebox-sized pier set by ducking between two crates; the gun toting Raj deciding to eliminate Lulu by throwing her into the harbor and hoping she couldn’t swim; Carly and Michael being allowed to crash a crime scene just because they are Corinthos; the ambulance that took nearly an entire episode to get to the pier for Kiki; the PCPD arresting Dixon’s men and then just leaving all the guns sitting on the dock for Carly to throw into the harbor (not only were they illegal weapons but they were evidence); Carly not washing Kiki’s blood off her hands until Friday’s episode (instead of seeing it as dramatic, I kept wondering why no one on the hospital staff had called her out on the fact she was running around like that in what should be a sterile environment); everyone’s continued disdain for Ava murdering Kate but no one — including Michael — daring to hold a grudge against Saint Sonny for murdering AJ.

And as for the hospital getting some airtime, it wouldn’t have been seen at all if not for the fact that folks got shot as a result of the mob story being front and center yet again.

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I can acknowledge the fact that Ron was frustrated by the direction he was getting from higher ups for stuff such as “having a wedding”, “upping the mob conflict”, etc. The problem was he responded with over the top ridiculousness such as having Nina marry Rick. When Tony Geary didn’t want his swan song to be Luke and Laura (which was disappointing to many of us, but that is another story) Ron responded with the campy and foolish story about Frank Smith rising from the dead at 100 years old and the stupid nonsense about being blackmailed to sleep with Jennifer Smith while Laura sat in the next room. I DO blame Ron for that. It was childish in the extreme and cost the show 100’s of thousands of viewers. It was completely classless IMO

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Thanks ben sherwood for making a change to ABC Daytime

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She prolly will bring Katie Couric back

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Lawd. Katie was a very expensive mistake that ABC can not afford, again!

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Campbell may be GH’s direct “boss.” But, if you read the article, all of ABC’s executives above her have changed, too. That means it’s nearly impossible to tell what will happen in the immediate future for any of ABC’s daytime shows. Also, the article doesn’t mention where Nathan Varni or Vickie Dummer are in all of this.

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Not much left to manage!

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With so many long running daytime staples now gone from its lineup (Oprah, longtime View co-hosts, AMC & OLTL, et al), and with so many recent brand new show failures that followed, it seems a no-brainer to keep and fortify a more than half-century old television institution like GH. Of course, that all depends on how much brainpower now exists at ABC Daytime.

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Here’s a video of Campbell speaking at great length about ABC, in particular her experience in local programming and news. It sounds like to me some more programming real estate could be handed over to local affiliates (expanding local news time/hours, making the daytime lineup more news oriented, etc). I’m not convinced by this that fictional programming such as soap operas is her forte or of any real interest vis-a-vis her future planning. The only thing I imagine her doing to try to save GH is to syndicate it throughout local markets rather than have it be a part of the official national ABC lineup. That is to say, it could be modeled like Kelly and Michael and sold in each market to the highest local TV network bidder instead of just the local ABC affiliate. For example, K&M airs on Fox in a lot of markets even though it’s ABC owned and produced. Same could happen with GH.

https://www.livetvla.com/vimeo-video/afternoon-one-on-one-rebecca-campbell-abc-owned-television-stations-group-president/

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thanks for the vid..
ABC news is a big money maker so can see her focus on it..

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Interesting. That sounds right. ESPN is dragging down Disney Stock and ABC isn’t tearing up the balance sheet either. These are corporate decisions. If a daytime show can deliver profit without being linked to ratings (ie sold to the highest bidder) that may be what transpires.

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It’s really hard to have an informed opinion based on so little information. I can only hope that she will recognize that only by promoting GH, the once great daytime network will retain any loyal viewers. ABC’s insipid replacement shows of AMC and OLTL have all tanked. And despite the lower-than-wanted-numbers for GH, it generates more buzz and viewers than the majority of anything else they shove at us. This woman would be wise to keep GH on the air and build it up rather than ignore it or, worse yet, get rid of it. That grave error would only cement the fleeing of myriad of fans from their already-challenged-daytime-lineup. Here’s to hoping they’ve hired a wise woman.

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it’s too soon to tell how she’ll do. i hope this means the end of Varni at GH

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Thank goodness they cancelled Fablife. Horrible show. Bring back Rachel Ray

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bring back amc and oltl

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If she really wants to get some attention for ABC Daytime, she’d bring back AMC and OLTL at least as 1/2 hour programs. I would think that would at least get more headlines than ______ (fill in the blank/yawn) to get a talk show on ABC.

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They should bring back One Life to Live or All My Children and combine them into one show and call it LANDVIEW – and introduce it as a 1/2 hour lead-in to General Hospital and I bet ANYTHING it does better than some of the crap they have on now.
But, not to worry, I don’t really see this happening but it should.

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I would love to see GH cleaned up. It’s too focused on mob stories again and is overdoing it with the Corinthos and Jerome families. Balance is necessary and focus on vets and core families is necessary. I would love to see the show be strong again, but it’s flailing story wise and is bringing on too many new characters. Who knows what this change in ABC daytime oversight means.

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Very recently, a tribute event was held for Lionel Richie. When it was Lionel’s turn to make a speech, he said he began his career during a time when artists were creative, not created. That can be said for much of entertainment these days. I miss the early days of soap when there was less corporate involvement. I miss the days when they were allowed to hire character actors and they didn’t have to look like models. But even with some of the soap trends of the last 15 years, I still say soaps need to hold their place in daytime. I personally would rather see a fictional story unfold any time over another squawky talk show. The format for most of the talk shows these days is clustered and no one is allowed to speak one at a time. I’m sick of so called talk shows where there is a table full of people competing to be heard. And there are enough news programs to depress anyone within an inch of their life. Unless they produce “happy news” news programs, I don’t see how filling the day with news is going to be any better. There are more news channels than we already know what to do with. Let what few soaps we have remain.

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Hey…as long as this Rebecca Campbell woman doesn’t turn out to be ‘another’ Brian Frons…then I’m good.

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GH died a long time ago – I’d say about a year ago or so during the height of the Fluke story that did no one any favors. Sure, the show hadn’t been quite right for some time, but I think we’ll look back and say that it was Fluke that sealed the shows fate. Too many of us left and have not returned. Yes, from what I can tell by just occasionally reading the boards, Sonny’s taking over the show (AGAIN) isn’t helping any and, to me, looks like the new writers going for the easiest fix rather than really reimagining the show from the ground up. It’s hard for me to take the show seriously when they don’t seem to care about it at all (or maybe that would be “at TALL” ).

Anyway, for me the show has been dead for a year and so I’ve already made my peace with it if it goes away forever. I’d like to hope for a major back from the dead revival of this show (and the form altogether – and I do think that there is lots to save both of the show and the genre), but, sadly, I’ve lost hope (or is that Hope?) that’ll happen.

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Until she makes a comment, this is all speculation.

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If I were on Twitter I would say this (but I am not…)

Dear Ms. Campbell:

As a first mandate, please convene the GH writing team and tell them they have a weekend assignment to watch four hours of shows from the 80’s and four hours of shows from the 90’s. Then meet with them on Monday morning for a robust discussion on what it is that made the writing so compelling then versus it’s lackluster and sporadic style of today. Yes, the budget is a fraction of what it was in the glory days… but the writing is like a cliff notes outline. That is a big part of the problem.

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Rebecca Campbell is the queen of secrets and lies. Having first hand experience working with her I can see here fingerprints all over the Kelly/Strahan debacle.

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As long as she gets rid off the Fablife and DO NOT TOUCH GENERAL HOSPITAL.

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Brook Lynn and Chase Hesitate to Sign Divorce Papers, Elizabeth Reveals Aiden’s Leaving For Paris, Willow Flashes Back to Her Crimes

Published

4 hours ago

on

October 24, 2026

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Brook Lynn and Chase

As the week came to a conclusion on the Friday, October 23 episode of General Hospital, Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) wrestled with becoming an empty-nester, while Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) and Monet (Blythe Howard) conspired to keep Lulu (Alexa Havins) and Ric (Rick Hearst) at legal bay, and Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase’s (Josh Swickard) frozen relationship thawed, but how much?

Let’s take a look! First, in a moment that was written to bring Liz and Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) closer, the GH head nurse is wistful over the fact that she just learned that her talented bakery chef son, Aiden, secretly earned his GED and got into a prestigious pastry school in France and to top it off received a scholarship to attend the school.

Liz is concerned that allowing him to go wasn’t the smartest move because of his young age. Dante suggested that maybe it’s her fear of being alone that is causing her to feel hesitant for Aiden to go abroad. He shared a story about the support her received from Olivia when he moved away from home for the first time; that he understood mothers and sons are close, but she needed to let him go build his own life.

Elizabeth

Courtesy/ABC

After coming to terms with it, she revealed that Aiden is leaving in four days and had to make cupcakes for the Halloween party, Dante offered to help her do the baking. They smile. So, what this means to GH fans? All of Liz sons: Cameron, Jake, Aiden are all now officially off the canvas!

WILLOW VS. LULU

At Miller & Davis, Willow strolls in to meet Monet to go over their strategy in their meeting with Ric and Lulu. While discussing their next move, Willow flashes back to the night she shot Drew (Cameron Mathison) twice in the back, and then later, how she first stuck a needle in his neck to use the paralytic drug that kept him in a locked-in state for months.

Willow

Courtesy/ABC

When Ric and Lulu arrive, the four end up in a stalemate. Willow refused to drop the lawsuit, and Lulu refused to retract the story on her. Willow’s stance is that Lulu had been manipulated by the Quartermaines, who wanted to take her children away, so Michael can have sole custody of them. Lulu fired back that she was doing her job as an investigative reporter to expose crimes perpetrated by a congresswoman.

Now at an impasse, Ric and Lulu tell Monet and Willow they will see them in court as now a judge will hear the case. Not what Ric wanted that to happen, but now he tells Lulu, they will figure out a way to bring Willow down.

DIVORCE BLUES?

Finally, Chase and Brook Lynn head to the Dominican Republic to get a quickie divorce after how their lawyers dredged up awful things about both of them in Port Charles. While on the plane, the two discuss that they still want each other to be happy.

Once in front of the judge in the Dominican Republic, he asked if the two were mutually consenting to this divorce, but instead, the two sang each others praises.

This left the judge to ask if the two wanted to go through with ending their marriage and he left the room. Later, when he returned with the divorce documents to sign, Chase and Brook Lynn stared at each other hesitating to sign on the dotted line.

So, what do you think will happen next? Will Brook Lynn and Chase end their marriage, or decide to try to make it a go? Is it upsetting to you that all of Elizabeth’s sons are off the canvas? Should the soap recast them all, like they did with Alexis’ daughters and restart the story of these young men? Do you think now will be the time that Willow’s crimes will be publicly exposed, and she will lose her kids and her seat in a congress? Weigh-in via the comment section.

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Breaking News

53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Presenters Announced

Published

2 days ago

on

October 22, 2026

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Daytime Emmy Presenters

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) revealed on Thursday, the lineup of presenters for 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards taking place on Friday, October 30, 2026, at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California.

The ceremony will stream live on the NATAS YouTube channel at YouTube.com/@theemmys and watch.TheEmmys.tv.

Scheduled to present from the current soaps are: Katelyn MacMullen (Willow, General Hospital), Delon de Metz (Zende, The Bold and the Beautiful), James Preston (Nick, The Bay), Paul Telfer (Xander, Days of our Lives), Tamara Tunie (Anita, Beyond the Gates) and Susan Walters (Diane, The Young and the Restless).

Genie Francis

Photo: NATAS

In addition soap alums, Crystal Chappell, Lesli Kay, Joe Lando, Eva LaRue, who is also a nominee this year,  A Martinez, Juliet Mills, and Alicia Leigh Willis, will also be on hand to present.

The ceremony which celebrates nominated lifestyle programs and dramas will also include presenters: Eva zu Beck (Superskilled with Eva zu Beck), Danielle Chang (Lucky Chow), Sunny Hostin (The View), Derek Hough (Extra), Pati Jinich (Pati’s Mexican Table), Star Jones (Divorce Court), Michael Jr. (Stand Up and Do Something), Judge Greg Mathis (Mathis Court with Judge Mathis), Keke Palmer (Glam Through the Ages), Nischelle Turner (Entertainment Tonight), and Andrew Zimmern (Andrew Zimmern’s Wild Game Kitchen).

The 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards will bring together an exciting mix of presenters representing the full spectrum of daytime television,” said Adam Sharp, President & CEO of NATAS. “From familiar faces in daytime drama to the personalities and creative voices behind talk shows and lifestyle programming, this year’s lineup reflects the breadth of talent that makes daytime so special. We look forward to celebrating the people who continue to shape the genre.”

Matthew Hoffman (Love Island USA, Cheap A$$ Beach Houses) will serve as the ceremony’s Voice of God, bringing his signature comedic narration to the evening’s celebrations. As previously announced, Lifetime Achievement honoree Genie Francis (Laura, General Hospital) will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by her husband, Jonathan Frakes.

So, what do you think about the list of presenters for the 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards? Let us know who you are looking forward to seeing via the comment section below.

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General Hospital

Could Kristen Vaganos and Josh Kelly Be Exiting ‘General Hospital?’

Published

3 days ago

on

October 21, 2026

By

Josh and Kristen

General Hospital fans took to social media following the airing of the Wednesday, October 21 episode of the ABC daytime drama series. In story, Molly (Kristen Vaganos) reveals to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) that she has received an offer to join the top law firm in Chicago that practices civil law. She says it’s her dream job.

The problem Molly says is relocating from Port Charles and uprooting her life and being away from her mother, Scout and boyfriend Cody Bell (Josh Kelly). Wistful that she may lose another daughter to a long-distance situation (Kristina left a few months back to go to medical school in California), Alexis urged Molly to get Cody to go with her.

Molly still seemed concerned and has trouble committing to the idea. Alexis tells her to talk it over with Cody. Meanwhile, Cody asked Tracy (Jane Elliot) is he can have Thanksgiving off because he and Molly planned to spend Thanksgiving together with their families. After initially balking, Tracy agrees.

Courtesy/ABC

WILL MOLLY AND CODY HEAD TO CHI-TOWN?

Later, Cody shows up at Miller & Davis and the conversation turned to Thanksgiving dinner that Alexis is hosting. Molly and Cody asked her not to cook anything. Cody hugged Molly reassuring Alexis that he and Molly would take care of whatever was needed on Turkey Day.

So, this raises the question, why out of nowhere are we learning that Molly received an amazing law offer in Chicago, if the character was not being written out? If Molly leaves the canvas, would the character of Cody make his exit too?

Kristen Vaganos joined GH as a recast Molly Lansing-Davis back in September of 2023 and went on contract in August of 2024. Josh Kelly began playing Cody Bell back in June of 2022. Initial reports were that Kelly joined the show on contract and then as of June 2025 went on recurring status with the show per his choice.

Do you see a world where GH is writing out Molly and Cody? Would you be sad to see Kristen and Josh exit the soap opera? If this is not what is going on, is this just a plot point for some other story that is upcoming? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section.

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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