Rumor: The Future Of GH

[Gina90]

an insider from DD (Daytime Dish) dropped this 2 days ago

The daytime line will be featured in two weeks at the Aflliates meetings. They are not keeping GH on the air until next April or May or whenever that 50th Ann is.

If the affliates don't want to air it in the fall it's gone in September and Frank and Ron have two months to wrap it up.

More likely is November or January but if the Affliates are as hot on GMA in the afternoon as some of them seem not likely

And if they features the Chew, The View, Katie and GMA GH is toast.

There are already affliates that are airing GH in the fall in Florida and Ohio. They are to be given a choice of GH and GMA in the afternoon. The minor ratings boost GH got from Soapnet losing markets isn't going to save GH in the long term and if the budget is getting slashed again GH is going out to fumes.

http://www.macombdaily.com/article/20120517/ENTERTAINMENT01/120519502/is-general-hospital-renewal-a-scam-

[Khan]

Now, more than ever, this [!@#$%^&*] with Kate's DID has to end.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Oh, well...

That's how the cookie crumbles.

[Khan]

IA. I just think GH needs to [Y&R's Katherine Chancellor] cut the crap [/Y&R's Katherine Chancellor] and make "going out on a good note" priority number-one.

[VirginiaHamilton]

It would be nothing short of miraculous if this were pulled off. Since I have next to zero expectations for this show, I'm not banking on it.

[Max]

I highly doubt that GH is going to end in September. (If that was the case, ABC would have announced GMA Afternoon as the permanent replacement for The Revolution.) It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Katie is scared shitless about being demonized as the person who killed GH; the last thing she wants is for the "save the [ABC] soaps" crowd to attempt to derail her show.

Given all the s#it ABC went through with the AMC/OLTL cancellations, I suspect that the plug won't be pulled on GH until it starts reaching 1.3s/1.4s (like what occurred with Passions and GL).

[R Sinclair]

How very Black Rabbit of you.

Anyway, the question "Is General Hospital Renewal a Scam?" is kind of a non-question, considering ABC doesn't renew GH since it's an in-house production. Speaking of which, wasn't the "renewal" also a rumor, based on the notion that The Revolution would be gone in the fall? I'm sincerely asking, because I don't recall any ABC statement saying GH would survive into 2013. I just read speculation that it would, but move into the 2:00pm timeslot to lead Katie in.

[JaneAusten]

There has never been an official stmt from ABC as it relates to GH or GH moving timeslots. I think the likely scenario is affiliates will be given a choice and the show will end up dying a natural death as the cost cutting would likely kill the show. Abc themselves nor Katie could be directly blamed then.

[frequentsoapfan]

It doesn't matter that its an in house production there are still contracts that have to be renewed every year that goes for every show on the network.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Forgive my cynicism, but I honestly can't see Katie Couric shaking in her Ferragamos over a scant group of soap fans. Not only because she's got bigger fish to fry as far as naysayers are concerned, but the whole AMC/OLTL backlash was hardly as earth-shattering as it's been made out to be via the soap press/soap internet.

[Ann_SS]

The GH cast was so hopped up over that Deadline article, tweeting that GH was saved, etc. I keep thinking that they must know something that we don't as insiders. Maybe GH has been given some type of significant reprieve.

[Max]

Virginia, it's quite possible that you're correct and I'm wrong on this matter. If one spends a lot of time on soap message boards and soap internet sites (like I do), it is easy to forget just how little power soap viewers have. This is especially true when one is bombarded with sentiments/comments to the effect of "ABC sucks," "we have to boycott ABC," "it was a huge mistake to cancel the mega-popular OLTL," "The Chew and The Revolution are the worst shows ever," etc.

I do recall reading articles that indicated Katie wanted a "strong" lead-in like GH (instead of The Revolution), but since many of these were written by the soap press, you do have to take it with a grain of salt. (However, I think that even the non-soap press has tried to suggest that "Katie" was made as a replacement for GH, which still makes me believe that she is at least partially scared of being demonized as the one who killed GH. And coming off her massive failure at the CBS Evening News, it is logical to believe that she wants her talk show to start off without any strikes against it.)

[Chris B]

ABC never make a big announcement about saving GH and still hasn't been promoting the show, so this isn't a surprise. The show was never 100% safe. And Ron Carlivati is doing what he often did at OLTL, just writing whatever he wants until things get dicey then he'll step it up and have an amazing month or two, then he gets lazy and starts with those pet projects.

I actually think his GH has a lot going for it, his problem is that he hasn't done ENOUGH and two of his key stories (Starr's arrival & Kate's DID) are huge duds. His duds get so much screentime that it takes away from what he's doing well. Kate should've been gone immediately and Starr should've been brought on in a lighter story to BRIGHTEN Michael's life up after being raped and dealing with his fricking girlfriend dying. That was such a stupid move.

[Eric83]

IMO this is just the same thing as what NBC did. They aired the third hour of Today while Sunset Beach was still on the air and the affiliates either kept it where it was, moved it to late night or dropped it altogether. GH's ratings will crash and ABC will have perfect justification to cancel.

[Max]

Chris, this nicely sums up why Ron sucks so much. I honestly don't know why ABC brought him to GH, other than an attempt to increase the soap's "hoopla." If ABC/GH wanted to get somebody good, they should have gone with Lorraine Broderick. Aside from the finale (which was ruined because of Prospect Park interference), she gave AMC a great last month. (This was an incredible turnaround in quality, given that AMC had previously been unwatchable for quite some time.)