There's a great article in the LA Times today about the return of Genie Francis. Some interesting quotes from Francis and Tony Geary. Additionally, the article also covers the decline of viewership of daytime soaps in general. It's a good read.

I am really looking forward to Laura's return. I've been looking at some old clips of GH on youtube and I saw a couple of recent interviews with Genie too. I wasn't watching during LL's original run, I started watching about a year before their return. I couldn't help but notice how much vulnerability and softness Genie brings to the role of Laura. She's completely different from the leading ladies GH has right now. Even the ones I like come across as so much harder and more cynical in comparison. I just wish GH had the sense to try to keep her around because Genie has a presence that can't be duplicated, imo..

Access Hollywood had a featured on Genie's return in last night's show...it continues tonight also. I'm really looking forward to her return...I haven't been watching GH lately but I'm going to start watching again this week

I wish that Genie could stay longer than a month.

I wonder how her return will affect the ratings.

I wonder how her return will affect the ratings.

I wouldnt be surprised if GH got bumped up to a 2.7 for Laura's return.

I'm so excited for Genie's first day. Did anyone notice it was her voice that said "on the next general hospital" before the preview. I wish she would stay longer too.

It's great to see Genie!

Too bad I can't watch the rest of GH

But I loved Skye, Alcazar, Diego and Lila on today's show (Friday). What a beautiful treat!

Genie is ONLY back for 1 month?? I thought she was back for good....SUCH a bummer!!

JFP cant't afford to keep her

I wouldnt be surprised if GH got bumped up to a 2.7 for Laura's return.

It'll be interesting to see how this not only affects GH but AMC Daytime's currently sagging ratings.

On the week of Luke & Laura's wedding in 1981, not only did GH get a 16.0 for the week but it also had a knock-on effect on the entire ABC Daytime lineup for that week...

Source

Ratings for November 16, 1981:

1.General Hospital 16.0

2.All My Children 10.2

2.One Life to Live 10.2

4.Guiding Light 7.9

5.Young & the Restless 7.3

6.Ryan's Hope 7.0

7.As The World Turns 6.9

8.Search for Tomorrow 6.3

9.The Edge of Night 5.0

10.Days of Our Lives 4.8

11.Another World 4.0

12.The Doctors 1.8

13.Texas 1.7

As you can see, AMC and OLTL got huge ratings for the week whereas Ryan's Hope also did well. Even the by then ailing Edge of Night benefitted, jumping above ALL of NBC's soaps. Now when you look at the value of one ratings point then and now, The Doctors and Texas that week got numbers which were absolutely abysmal even by today's standards. Days and AW pretty much hit a low point following the catastrophic collapse of 1980. The four CBS soaps all held their ground however.

Now fast forward to a year later and it was very different- Ryan's Hope began to slip and Search for Tomorrow lost half its audience after the network switch. Even though GH, AMC and OLTL were still up there, ABC's overall network rating would slip as a result of RH's decline and the introduction of Loving whose initial ratings weren't very good. However, in 1984 a change in timeslots effectively sealed the fate of Ryan's Hope whereas Loving's ratings improved.

However, the one big difference was that Days and AW were able to make a recovery by the middle of the decade even if they didn't scale the heights of the 70s.

Genie is ONLY back for 1 month?? I thought she was back for good....SUCH a bummer!!

In some ways I'm glad she's not back for good, cause Guza wouldn't hesitate to once again try and destroy Laura.

I read that Genie wanted to come back 2 years ago, but they said they didn't have it in the budget. Yeah if they got rid of some useless characters *coughSonnycough* on the show they'd have the money

The Doctors??? Texas??? Edge of the Night??? What channel were these soaps on? I have never heard of them before. I have heard of Ryan's Hope but not the other ones. I had no idea there were that many soaps on at one time.

I think that OLTL will get more of a boost just because of the time slot. It will be interesting to see if the fact she is only on for a month will hurt them though. Maybe people would be more excited if it was more of a long term return. I will be watching the ratings for the next few weeks though.

Soapnet is promoting the HELL out of this. I know I will be watching SOAPNET's specials. And I hate GH.

The Doctors??? Texas??? Edge of the Night??? What channel were these soaps on? I have never heard of them before. I have heard of Ryan's Hope but not the other ones. I had no idea there were that many soaps on at one time.

At one stage ABC had as many as six soaps on air in the early 80s. And in the early 70s there were even more soaps on the air.

The Doctors ran on NBC from 1963 to 1982 and as its name suggests was a medical-oriented soap. Its glory days were in the early 70s, where it was near the top in ratings as well as Emmy success. However, its ratings were steadily declining in the latter half of the decade and it also plummeted big time during the NBC collapse in 1980.

Texas was the second direct spin-off of Another World following Somerset and ran from 1980 to 1982. It starred Bevelee McKinsey, who had been hugely popular on Another World. When it debuted, Another World moved back to 60 minutes from 90 minutes- precisely at the time Days, AW and The Doctors were in freefall. As it turned Texas lasted little over 2 years and 4 months.

The Edge of Night ran from 1956 to 1975 on CBS and 1975 to 1984 on ABC. It was a powerhouse in the day, dominating its late-afternoon timeslot until CBS' decision to change its timeslot in 1972 that caused its ratings to drop. It was notable for its crime-oriented storylines and being the first soap along with ATWT to debut as a 30-minute show... and also one of the last soaps to change from live to recorded episodes. It moved to ABC in 1975 and the ratings decline continued to the end of the decade when it was at or near the bottom of the pack. (I suspect the above factors must have made its position look a little better then, but even that didn't last...)

Towards the end of their respective runs, The Doctors, Texas, EON and SFT were all dropped by many network affiliates.