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: Carly Fears Escalating Tensions Between Sonny and Josslyn: ‘I’ve Already Lost One Kid Because of That Man. I Won’t Lose Another’
On the Thursday, November 12 episode of General Hospital, as battles line are drawn by Carly’s (Laura Wright) ex-husband, Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and her daughter, Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy), she realizes things are about to get a whole lot worse, and she expressed her fears to Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart).
After Sonny came to see Carly to get her daughter to back off of him; especially when Josslyn lit into him in front of nuAvery (Ayla Bullington), Carly is terrified that Sonny could retaliate against Josslyn. Realizing, Josslyn is in danger, Carly won’t sit by and let anything happen to her. She tells Valentin, “I’ve already lost one kid because of that man. I won’t lose another.”
Viewers won’t soon forget the devastation Carly felt when Morgan (Bryan Craig) died in a car bomb explosion back in 2016 because of Sonny’s dealings in the mob in a complex story involving Julian (William deVry) and Olivia Jerome (Tonja Walker).
Courtesy/ABC
SONNY IS READY FOR WAR
Meanwhile in the aftermath of his visit with Carly, Sonny told his brother Ric what went down when Josslyn disrespected him in front of his own daughter and hurt Avery. Since Josslyn already make it known that she no longer considers herself part of Sonny’s family, he’s decided to treat her accordingly.
Sonnys first step in payback is to take away her support system at JJE by approaching Hudson Parker (Troy Lennon Appel) again, but this time in a much less-friendly way.
Ric points out that this would go against every move Sonny made as a legitimate businessman in Port Charles and would mean he’s back in the mob? Sonny doubles down, saying Josslyn changed the game when she involved Avery. While he showed concern of how bad Carly would feel over all this year, he said he is ready to finish what Josslyn started.
At the Metro Court, Ava (Maura West) is listening to Avery explain what happened between Sonny and Josslyn and how much she hates Josslyn right now, which Ava seems to be OK with.
WILL JOSSLYN’S WORLD BLOW UP ON HER?
Speaking of Josslyn, she is on the pier still after her talk with Hudson and still crying over her confrontation with Sonny and Avery overhearing it, and what she told her sister. Lucas comes across her at the pier while out for his run.
Explaining how badly she feels for what she said about Sonny to Avery, Lucas says that eventually Avery will discover the truth about Sonny. He explains to Josslyn that even though Avery hates her now, she will come to realize that what she said about her father was the truth, and that Josslyn was not lying to her at all.
So, what do you think about Sonny ready to play dirty to take down Josslyn? How will Carly ensure her daughter does not wind up dead? Who do you think is in the right here? Is Josslyn’s vendetta against Sonny justified, at the cost of the relationships with her family? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
General Hospital
‘General Hospital’s’ Cynthia Watros Honors Former ‘Titus’ Co-Star Stacy Keach Following His Passing
General Hospital star Cynthia Watros, who can currently be seen in on the ABC soap opera in the role of Nina Reeves, has had a enduring career in television. That included her time on the 2000-2002 Fox sitcom, Titus.
In Titus, Watros starred along with Stacy Keach as Erin Fitzpatrick and Ken Titus, respectively. After the November 10th news that Keach had passed away at 85 while living in Poland, Cynthia took to her Instagram on Thursday, November 12 to pay tribute to the great actor.
Watros expressed, “My first prime time show was along side Stacy. I loved him instantly. What an amazing talent and man.❤️”
Photo: ABC
In Titus, Stacy played stand up comedian Christopher Titus’ heavy-drinking, chain-smoking, five-times-divorced father who frequently pulled cruel pranks and tried to toughen his kids up. Cynthia played by Christopher’s level-headed, big-hearted girlfriend trying to build a normal life with him. In fact, Cynthia’s role on the sitcom was first series regular role after her Daytime Emmy run of Annie Dutton on Guiding Light which ran from 1994-1998.
STACY KEACH’S WIFE ON HIS PASSING
Keach’s wife, Malgosia shared the news of the actor’s death publicly in a statement with PEOPLE. Malgosia expressed, that Stacy had, “a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure.”
She added, “Stacy peacefully departed this world. He fought for so long, with extraordinary courage, determination and strength. He was a true warrior, facing his illness with the same remarkable spirit and resilience that defined his life.”
Małgosia continued, “Stacy was not only a legendary actor, admired and loved by audiences the world over, but also my beloved husband, my companion and the heart of our family. His passing leaves an immeasurable emptiness in our lives. But his extraordinary spirit, his unforgettable voice and the love he gave so generously will remain with us forever.”
Now, let us know do you remember when Cynthia made her sitcom debut in Titus? Share your thoughts via the comment section on Cynthia’s many TV roles and the passing of Stacy Keach in the comment section. But first, check out the very first episode of Titus with Cynthia Watros below!
The latest ratings are out for the week of October 26-30, 2026 and the big takeaways include: that CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates was separated by only 23,000 viewers behind third place (of the soaps) General Hospital! For the last several weeks, Beyond the Gates has been closing the gap on this year’s winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and continuing to best GH in the key demos.
According to the latest Nielsen ratings breakdown from Soap Opera Network, the final week of October brought Beyond the Gates 1.790 million on average tuning-in and the show set a season high in total viewers. Meanwhile, General Hospital hit a new season low! The long-running ABC soap had 1.813 million for the week, and once again the series did not go over the 2 million mark.
Meanwhile, in the key Women 18-49 demo, Beyond the Gates was firmly ahead of GH with a rating share of 0.21, while General Hospital had 0.17 rating share.Then, in the key Women 25-54 demo, Beyond the Gates was once again ahead of the ABC soap with a ratings share for that demo at 0.30 while GH came in with 0.26.
Photo: CBS
MORE BY THE NUMBERS
In addition and comparatively, Beyond the Gates +22,000 viewers week-to-week, and had the largest gains in viewership year-to-year in daytime TV with +267,000 from this in 2025.. However, General Hospital seems to be going in reverse. The show was down -56,000 viewers week-over-week and down -22,000 year-over-year .
BEYOND THE GATES
Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that had people tuning-in to Beyond the Gates during the ratings week:
Hayley (Marquita Goings) attempted a massive shocker regarding her pregnancy and tried to use it to extract money from Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett). Although, Bill saw right through her game, he demanded a paternity test, and made it clear he has no intention of raising the child—planning instead to pay her off to take the baby and leave. Meanwhile, Hayley confided her plan to her cousin Randy (Maurice P. Kerry).
Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit) clashed over Jacob’s ongoing investigation into The Impaler, causing significant strain in their marriage. At the same time, Smitty (Mike Manning) considered taking matters into his own hands—including potentially heading to Mexico for evidence—while Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) worried about what comes next.
Photo: ABC
GENERAL HOSPITAL
Over at General Hospital for the ratings period, the story served up included:
Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) teamed up to investigate what really happened to Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Later, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) leads them to Jack’s dead body.
Jude (Wil Traval) dropped a bombshell claim to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn); that he is Phoebe’s father, while Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase (Josh Swickard) signed their divorce papers.
Then, Danny caught Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) sharing a kiss, plus the shocking return of Heather Webber (Alley Mills) capped the week.
Now the questions become; without having much promotional synergy in the ABC day-part to draw more eyeballs it is not helping but hurting General Hospital. It seems Beyond the Gates is also a benefactor of a one-two-three punch of CBS soaps (Y&R, B&B and BTG) and promotion.
However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that Beyond the Gates is close to besting GH in all ratings category as they go head-to-head in some markets across the country.
So, are you excited to see Beyond the Gates climb in the ratings? Are you concerned for General Hospital? Do you think they can stave off Beyond the Gates in total viewers or will the upstart soap overtake them in the next ratings report? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
‘Beyond the Gates’ Star Tamara Tunie On Bittersweet Emmy Win Without Scott Bryce: ‘I Only Wish He Had Been Here a Little Longer to Share This With Me’
‘The Bachelor’ Names NFL Quarterback Sam Hartman as Lead for Season 30
‘One Life to Live’ and ‘General Hospital’ Actress Bree Williamson Mourns the Loss of Husband Michael John Roberts
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Carly Fears Escalating Tensions Between Sonny and Josslyn: ‘I’ve Already Lost One Kid Because of That Man. I Won’t Lose Another’
‘General Hospital’s’ Cynthia Watros Honors Former ‘Titus’ Co-Star Stacy Keach Following His Passing
Y&R’s New Head Writers Share Vision for Genoa City: Contemporary Homage to Bill Bell, Mixing Heightened Escapism and Grounded Reality
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS Preview: Episodes From New Co-Head Writers, Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor, Begin to Air
‘General Hospital’ Casts Ayla Bullington as the New Avery Jerome-Corinthos
‘Days of our Lives’ Kyle Pryor Debuts as Dominic Marino and Says of Alleged TV Mom, “Deidre Hall is the Absolute OG, Amazing” (Exclusive)
‘Days of our Lives’ Celebrates 61st Anniversary: EP Ken Corday Teases New Character’s Arrival in Spring 2027
‘Beyond the Gates’ Star Tamara Tunie On Bittersweet Emmy Win Without Scott Bryce: ‘I Only Wish He Had Been Here a Little Longer to Share This With Me’
‘General Hospital’s’ Cynthia Watros Honors Former ‘Titus’ Co-Star Stacy Keach Following His Passing
‘Beyond the Gates’ Emmy Winner Ambyr Michelle Wants to Compete on ‘Dancing with the Stars’: ‘Pick Me’ (Exclusive)
THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Katie Kicks Bill to the Curb … for Now
B&B’s Sydney Bullock Weighs In on Future of Dylan and Will: ‘I Think She Can Hold on to Him for Awhile’ (Exclusive)
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News4 days agoY&R’s New Head Writers Share Vision for Genoa City: Contemporary Homage to Bill Bell, Mixing Heightened Escapism and Grounded Reality
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Previews5 days agoTHE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS Preview: Episodes From New Co-Head Writers, Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor, Begin to Air
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General Hospital4 days ago‘General Hospital’ Casts Ayla Bullington as the New Avery Jerome-Corinthos
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Days Of Our Lives1 week ago‘Days of our Lives’ Kyle Pryor Debuts as Dominic Marino and Says of Alleged TV Mom, “Deidre Hall is the Absolute OG, Amazing” (Exclusive)
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Days Of Our Lives5 days ago‘Days of our Lives’ Celebrates 61st Anniversary: EP Ken Corday Teases New Character’s Arrival in Spring 2027
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General Hospital1 week agoGENERAL HOSPITAL: Tracy Leaves Port Charles to Help Dillon; Paving the Way for Jane Elliot’s Temporary Exit
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News1 week agoB&B’s Lawrence Saint-Victor to Guest Star on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
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Interviews2 days agoB&B’s Sydney Bullock Weighs In on Future of Dylan and Will: ‘I Think She Can Hold on to Him for Awhile’ (Exclusive)
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.