General Hospital
Rebecca Campbell To Now Oversee ABC Daytime!
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!
General Hospital
‘General Hospital’s’ Jonathan Bennett Receives 3 ‘Critics Choice Real TV Awards’ Nominations for Hallmark Series, ‘Finding Mr. Christmas’
Many things are coming up roses for Jonathan Bennett! On the heels of the news that he is set to debut this month in the role of Joe Fitzpatrick on General Hospital, who is rumored to be a new love interest for Lucas Jones (Van Hansis), comes the news that Bennett’s reality series, Finding Mr. Christmas has received 3 nomination for the Critics Choice Real TV Awards.
Bennett’s Hallmark Channel series finds itself in tough competition alongside fellow nominees: RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV), Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix), Survivor 50 (CBS), Top Chef (Bravo) and The Traitors (Peacock). In addition, Jonathan himself is nominated for Best Show Host and the series participants as the Best Ensemble Cast in an Unscripted Series.
The Critics Choice Association (CCA) revealed the nominees for the eighth annual Critics Choice Real TV Awards on Thursday, which recognize excellence in nonfiction, unscripted and reality programming across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. Winners will be announced online at CriticsChoice.com on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at 9:00am PT/12:00pm ET.
Photo: Hallmark
Taking to his Instagram to celebrate the nominations, GH’s Bennett, enthused, “3 Critic Choice Nominations! I’m so proud of the FINDING MR CHRISTMAS and to be in the company of all the legends in all these categories is so surreal! Congrats to Hallmark Channel and to our nominated cast and nominated show and everyone who made this magical show possible. This is crazy! This gives FMC 6 Critics Choice nominations in 2 years. Not bad for a little show on Hallmark Channel. What are your thoughts on our show?” Jumping first into the comment thread was one of his new GH co-stars, Dominic Zamprogna (Dante) who expressed, “Yeah buddy!!!🔥🔥”
In the series, Bennett, the host and co-creator spends eight weeks guiding 10 aspiring actors through a series of “festive face-offs” and acting challenges alongside actors like soap opera notables, Hunter King (ex-Summer, Y&R) and Alison Sweeney (Sami, DAYS). Along the way, they develop their skills and a bond with one another. The show, which is available on Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Plus, highlights LGBTQ+ representation with openly gay contestants vying to be the next Hallmark star.
It should be noted that Traitors received the most Critics Choice Real TV Award nominations with 6 nods, followed by Dancing with the Stars with 4.
Bennett is very familiar to daytime fans having started his career as JR Chandler on All My Children in 2000-2001, before landing the part of Aaron Samuels in the motion picture, Mean Girls in 2004 starring Lindsay Lohan, which would become his breakout performance.
You can check out the full list of Critics Choice Real TV Award nominations here.
So, excited for Jonathan Bennett’s General Hospital debut this month? Have you ever watched Finding Mr. Christmas on Hallmark? Let us know via the comment section below.
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General Hospital
‘General Hospital’s’ Kelly Thiebaud on Britt and Cassius Sibling Drama, But Who Will Ultimately Blow His Cover?
On the April 30 episode of General Hospital, Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) had some choice words and warning for her brother Cassius Faison (Ryan Paevey) who has been masquerading as his twin, the very dead, Nathan West.
As the story has unfolded, viewers learned that Britt knew all along that when “Nathan” showed up in Port Charles seemingly resurrected with a missing 7 years of his life unexplained, that Cassius was taking his place.
Now in developments on today’s GH, Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy) is figuring out that this guy pretending to be Nathan is someone else, and Cassius learns from Britt, that Joss is not just a ditzy sorority girl as he claimed, but a WSB agent! The moment stuns Cassius. Are the walls about to close in on him and his charade?
Courtesy/ABC
Daytime Emmy winner, Kelly Thiebaud spoke to Soap Opera Digest, about the story point and getting the opportunity this time back at GH to work with Ryan Paevey, when she hadn’t had the chance to before.
BROTHERLY LOVE?
Thiebaud expressed on sharing scenes with Ryan Paevey, “It’s just been so wonderful to have him back and to actually work with him! When he first came onto the show (as Nathan at the end of 2013) I was kind of heading out — it was right towards the end of my contract, so we didn’t actually work together a ton. It’s been really refreshing and so much fun to really spend time together and get to know each other and work together. I think we have really great on-camera chemistry and banter with each other. I really enjoy working with him.”
With the stakes at an all-time, Thiebaud explained how she views her on-screen alter-ego’s involvement with her more hot-to-temper sibling and why Britt revealed the truth about Josslyn to him. “People finding out about Cassius would expose what she’s involved in and what she agreed to do,” explains Kelly “And now Josslyn is digging around, and she’s connected to Carly (Laura Wright) to Jason (Steve Burton) and that whole dynamic! It’s messy!”
BRITT’S MURKY FUTURE
Britt has currently also reached her breaking point with Jason being carted away by the WSB, Rocco (Finn Carr), the child she gave birth to, shooting Cullum (Andrew Hawkes) to protect her and Jason, Marco (Adrian Anchondo) being killed after trying to help her, and Cullum holding over her head getting her Huntington’s disease medication to control her symptoms, while blackmailing her into finishing the research on her father, Cesar Faison’s, final project. Thiebaud summed it up best for Britt right now, sharing, “It’s been a really tough time for her.”
So, who do you think will be the person to blow Cassius’ cover? Will it be Britt herself? Josslyn? Liesl? Brennan? Nina? Lulu? Rocco, Maxie, Cullum or someone else? Let us know your pick in the comment section.
General Hospital
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Michael Reveals His Plan to Set Up Chase and Willow to Have an Affair
After the Wednesday, April 29 episode of General Hospital, it’s clear outside interference and other circumstances are set to blow Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn’s (Amanda Setton) marriage sky high, as Michael (Rory Gibson) reveals his plans to entrap Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) and use her relationship with Chase to do it!
In story, Michael dropped by unexpectedly to Carly’s (Laura Wright). A plotting Michael reveals his plan to nudge Willow and Chase into having an affair. Michael hopes it would create both a political and personal scandal, where Willow would lose her seat in congress. In the scenario, she would be having an affair with her ex-husband, while taking care of her supposed disabled husband, Drew (Cameron Mathison), who cannot speak and is confined to a wheelchair, which in turn will look horrible for Willow’s character.
Carly asked does he really want to destroy his cousin, Brook Lynn’s life in the process? Michael goes in on Chase’s holier than thou attitude, and says he is going to set-up the circumstances that would lead Chase and Willow to betray their spouses, and hit the sheets together. Michael swears to Carly what the two of them do is up to them, but he’s going to go on the offense with this.
MICHAEL HAS BACK-UP
Later, Jacinda (Paige Herschell) is talking with Charlotte (Bluesy Burke) at Crimson and how much she dislikes Willow because of what she has done to Michael. Just then, Michael shows up and tells Jacinda privately, he’s figured out a way to fight Willow. Looks like Jacinda might work with Michael to bring down Willow and use Chase as the person to do it!
At the hospital, Lucas (Van Hansis) tells Josslyn (Eden McCoy) that Carly is cheating on Jack, but he doesn’t know with who. Josslyn suddenly flashes back to the moment she found her mother harboring a fugitive, Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart), in her attic, and as figured out that her mother is sleeping with him. She heads out.
Courtesy/ABC
BRENNAN IS ABOUT TO LEARN ABOUT CARLY
Next thing you know, Josslyn has showed up inside Jack’s (Chris McKenna) hotel room at the Metro Court and when he enters his room, he is shocked to find her there. He lays into her for not keeping his distance and that Cullum (Andrew Hawkes) will have no problem killing her if he knows she’s WSB. Josslyn fires back that he is only concerned about that because his relationship with her mother depends on her being safe. But then, she lays the boom, and tells Jack, Well, you’re too late. You already lost her.”
LULU GETS A GLIMPSE OF CASSIUS’ TEMPER
In addition, Lulu (Alexa Havins) sees a different side of “Nathan.” Since she is unaware that the man before her is his twin, Cassius Fasion (Ryan Paevey), he tells her that Rocco (Finn Carr) blabbed that he shot Cullum to Britt (Kelly Thiebaud), and now he thinks they should send him away to stop him from talking to everyone else. This concerns Lulu, who rails at Nathan for telling her what to do with her son and that she isn’t going to abandon him. With “Nathan’s” outburst at her on the matter, will she finally get a clue this is not the man she thinks it is?
So, what do you think of Michael’s plan to push Willow and Chase into an affair? Will it work or backfire? Do you think Joss will reveal that Valentin is the man sleeping with Carly to Brennan, which will send him in a rage? Will Lulu continue to be clueless about “Nathan?” Weigh-in via the comment section below. But first, take a look at the GH video tease for today’s April 30 episode.
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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.
Why would she be related to Brian Frons?
Looks like abc is going to get even worse
Yes, looks that way. Boy, are they changing gears frantically. Trouble ahead!
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
She’ll probably cast herself in a gh role lol
The woman manages TV stations. She’s a salesman. Now she is in charge of daytime programming? Makes a lot of sense.
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?
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.
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.
Very well said Jp.
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.
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…
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.
Not promising at all. Who PROGRAMMED (pun intented) the writers to write only mob stories..a real “dead” (pun also intended) end.
I think GH, with it’s renewed focus on Sonny, is nailing it’s own coffin.
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?
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.
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
Thanks ben sherwood for making a change to ABC Daytime
She prolly will bring Katie Couric back
Lawd. Katie was a very expensive mistake that ABC can not afford, again!
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.
Not much left to manage!
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.
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/
thanks for the vid..
ABC news is a big money maker so can see her focus on it..
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.
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.
it’s too soon to tell how she’ll do. i hope this means the end of Varni at GH
Thank goodness they cancelled Fablife. Horrible show. Bring back Rachel Ray
bring back amc and oltl
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hey…as long as this Rebecca Campbell woman doesn’t turn out to be ‘another’ Brian Frons…then I’m good.
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.
Until she makes a comment, this is all speculation.
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.
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.
As long as she gets rid off the Fablife and DO NOT TOUCH GENERAL HOSPITAL.