General Hospital

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

History

1963-1989

The first stories were mainly set at a general hospital in Port Charles, a fictional New York town, and revolved around manly doctor Steve Hardy (John Beradino) and his nurse Jessie Brewer (Emily McLaughlin). Steve was chief of Internal Medicine on the hospital's seventh floor and dedicated his life to healing and caring for the sick, ably assisted by Nurse Jessie. Jessie's turbulent marriage to the much younger Dr. Phil Brewer (most notably played by Roy Thinnes) was the center of many early storylines. Over the years, Phil became renowned for his philandering, with Jessie constantly forgiving her errant husband for his affairs. The seemingly neverending cycle of separation and reconciliation between the two finally ended in 1974, when Dr. Phil Brewer was murdered.

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Another nurse, Lucille March (Lucille Wall), brought her sister, flight attendant Audrey (Rachel Ames) to town; slowly but surely, she romanced Dr. Hardy, eventually marrying him three times. While there was no overt tension, Jessie was disappointed as there had always been an air of sexual tension between her and Steve. It was never acted upon, as they remained close friends until Jessie (and actress Emily McLaughlin) died in 1991. Steve Hardy himself died five years later when his portrayer, John Beradino passed away in 1996.

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The show was glacially paced and low-rated in the earlier years, save for one relatively high-rated and fast-paced plot in 1971. In this storyline Audrey was accused of murdering her son's babysitter and General Hospital was briefly elevated to the number one position, beating long time ratings giant As the World Turns. However, the success was shortlived. Due to relatively easygoing choices in storyline, the show almost always lost out to rival medical soap The Doctors, which was considered by many to be more daring. Although TIME noted that the acting performances were decent, an article on the soap genre, in 1976, panned General Hospitals minimal budget for settings and props, calling it not unlike a high school production.

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Faced with cancellation threats in 1978, ABC brass brought on Gloria Monty as Executive Producer. Monty had much experience in the genre from directing The Secret Storm for years. Under her tutelage, and the headwriting stints of Douglas Marland (who created longtime staples the Quartermaine family and Bobbie and Luke Spencer) and Pat Falken Smith, General Hospital bounced back from the brink and subsequently became the highest-rated American soap opera, from 1979 to 1988. Monty stayed as Executive Producer until 1987, only to return briefly from 1991 to 1992, in a widely panned tenure during which she was accused of no longer being in touch with the daytime audience. Monty was replaced with the equally controversial Wendy Riche.

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Thanks to Monty, the show is perhaps most famous for the supercouple pairing of Luke Spencer and Laura Webber (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis). While the show had managed to be saved from cancellation thanks in part to a plot where Laura accidentally murdered her much older lover, David Hamilton, it wasn't until Laura was paired with Luke that General Hospital became the phenomenon that it was for most of the 1980s. Their wedding in November 1981 was the highest rated episode of any Daytime Soap Opera in the United States, with more than 30-million viewers. They were so popular even movie star Elizabeth Taylor wanted in on the action (she guest-starred as Helena Cassadine, and adorned People magazine with Geary). Their relationship was not without some controversy, as Luke raped Laura in 1979. Laura was traumatized and went to counseling, but after her popularity with Luke flourished she claimed the rape was a "seduction" (in 1998 the issue was revisited and Laura finally admitted to herself that Luke raped her). The show has also created other popular pairings in Holly Sutton and Robert Scorpio (Emma Samms and Tristan Rogers) as well as Duke Lavery and Anna Devane (Ian Buchanan and Finola Hughes), and the show's focus began to drift away from the original hospital setting onto a series of action-adventure plots, most of which were highly successful with the show's audience.

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1990-Present

In the 1990s, through the efforts of Riche and headwriter Claire Labine, the show gained critical acclaim for its sensitive handling of social issues, most notable of which were the heart transplant storyline which involved the death of eight year old BJ Jones (in a bus crash and the subsequent donation of her heart to her dying cousin Maxie), Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson)'s bout with breast cancer and the love story of Stone Cates (Michael Sutton) and Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), which was shortened by Stone's death from AIDS, and followed by storylines in which Robin had to deal with being HIV positive as a result of her and Stone's relationship. The show kept most of the popularity it held for most of the 1980s, and a long-rumored spin-off (which was tentatively titled GH2) materialized in 1997 in the half-hour soap Port Charles. Problems began to arise around 1994-1995 when the show lost more than a million viewers. All the soaps lost ground at this time, but particular scrutiny was placed upon GH for the succession of grim stories involving BJ, Monica, and Stone (as a result, they dropped plans to give Audrey Alzheimer's Disease).

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From 1993-1997 the show produced what many consider their last major supercouple in Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Brenda (Vanessa Marcil). The hot couple's passion and heart break kept viewers glued to every episode like Luke and Laura a decade before. With the departure of (Vanessa Marcil), the creative team at General Hospital have been unsuccessful in creating a couple like that of Luke and Laura. Labine left in 1995 and was replaced by Bob Guza, who zeroed in on the mob and the popularity of Maurice Benard. Guza came and went several times, returning for good in 2002. Riche left in late 2001 and was replaced by the controversial Jill Farren Phelps.

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General Hospital has also been known to feature plots that have been widely considered preposterous (i.e. the town of Port Charles was going to be placed under a deep freeze by maniacal Mikkos Cassadine; luckily, Luke and Laura saved the town just in time).

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In recent years the show has shied away from its veteran characters. After more than 35 years Rachel Ames was taken off-contract and removed from the opening credits, angering many longtime viewers. In 2004 Anna Lee was moved to recurring status after 25 years as Lila Quartermaine (Lee died soon after and some fans held the show responsible). Other characters, such as Bobbie Spencer (Jackie Zeman) and Felicia Scorpio (Kristina Wagner) became little more than extras, in spite of their years of popularity with fans. In May 2005 aside from being placed on a recurring role, though she was quite popular, Wagner was fired and replaced with former Another World star Sandra Ferguson. Maxie was also recast with former Days of our Lives star Kirsten Storms taking over for Danica Stewart. This raised conflict because of the revisit to a major storyline, "BJ's heart" with two new actresses trying to act like they were the old ones. The storyline ended in Maxie keeping BJ's heart and Georgie recovering from her brain hemorage.

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In the spring of 2005, popular actress Tamara Braun left the role of Carly Corinthos and the show began a storyline in which her son, Michael (Dylan Cash), supposedly killed his own father, AJ Quartermaine (Billy Warlock). The image of a nine year old murderer may have contributed to a decline in ratings, with the show falling behind As the World Turns and tying or barely beating the other less hyped ABC soaps. The storyline then quieted down and ended. The show then ran on to show a comedic storyline involving Luke duping Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) into marriage.

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After Braun left the series, the role of Carly was recast with former One Life to Live star Jennifer Bransford. Viewers and fans were disinterested in Bransford and the actress was let go after a few months with the soap. The show later hired Guiding Light star Laura Wright into the role of Carly that fall. This fall, the role of Robin Scorpio will be reprised with its former actress Kimberly_McCullough. She will help Jason regain his memory and will result in a relationship block between Jason and Sam. Also, Julie Marie Berman will join the cast this fall as Lulu Spencer on a recurring role.

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More storylines being aired this fall will consist of Carly turning insane, a test of Sonny's love for Carly while she loses touch with reality and falls more and more into her dream world. Another storyline is the mysterious drugger, someone who is drugging college girls, such as Maxie and Brook Lynn and taking picutres of them. Lucas Jones, Ben Hogestyn, will make a comeback with a surprising secret. Courtney will go on to discover she is pregnent.

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GH aired its 10,000th episode on April 17, 2002.

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The exterior shot of the hospital in the opening and ending credits is the General Hospital of the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, located just east of Downtown Los Angeles.

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ITV: :This article is about the British television network. ITV (or iTV) can also mean interactive television, whilst Independent Television may also be used in reference to the i television network in the United States....

1972: 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday....

1979: This page refers to the year 1979. For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see 1979 (song)....

General Hospital related Images and Photos (experimental)

General Hospital Scrub Pants	General Hospital Charm Bracelet	General Hospital: Night Shift - Complete First Season	General Hospital Sterling Silver Charm Bracelet
General External View of the Buildings Which Make up Guy's Hospital	A Leader Whose Wounded Sir Ian Hamilton Has Called a Calamity: General Gouraud in Hospital in Paris	General T.J. Jackson	General J.E. Johnston
General G.T. Beauregard	"General Slocum" Burns	General John B. Hood	General John A. Sutter