General Hospital

:For the ITV soap opera which ran from 1972 to 1979, see General Hospital (British television).

Related Topics:
ITV - 1972 - 1979 - General Hospital (British television)

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General Hospital is the longest-running daytime soap opera on the American ABC television network, and is also the longest-running soap opera produced in Hollywood (having been taped at the Prospect Avenue ABC Television Center West since its inception).

Related Topics:
Soap opera - American - ABC - Television - Hollywood - Prospect Avenue

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The show debuted on April 1, 1963, the same day that rival network NBC launched its own medical soap opera, The Doctors. The show originally aired for a half-hour until the network expanded it to 45 minutes in 1976, and then to an hour in 1978. The serial was created by soap writers Frank and Doris Hursley, a husband-and-wife team.

Related Topics:
April 1 - 1963 - NBC - The Doctors - 1976 - 1978 - Frank and Doris Hursley

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The show is often credited for starting several trends in the soap opera genre in the 1980s, most notably that of the supercouple and fast paced action-adventure plotlines that were remarkably different from the more traditional domestic and social issues that had been the sole focus of most soap operas during the previous decades.

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