GENERAL HOSPITAL today is marking its 45th anniversary. The daily drama about the residents of fictional Port Charles, New York isn’t the oldest soap opera on television, but it is still a vital and important show. GENERAL HOSPITAL Celebrates 45 Years On The Air
Luke and Laura's 1981 wedding on GENERAL HOSPITAL still holds the record for most-watched soap opera episode ever. As GH celebrates 45 years on the air today, many of those dedicated to the enduring love of Luke and Laura. Tony Geary, who has played the character Luke for 30 years, is now 60 years old. He began his run on the soap for what he thought would be 13 weeks. Instead, it has turned into a life-long career for half of the famed Luke and Laura duo.
During his GENERAL HOSPITAL career, Geary has won five Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor, the most for any actor on the show. Geary said for a time he wanted to go off and do other things and become a movie star, but in the end he is pleased with how his life has turned out and says he is blessed to have worked 30 straight years as an actor. Today, Geary only works 31-weeks a year on the ABC soap and when he isn't working he lives in Amsterdam. He says he enjoys the Amsterdam experience because GENERAL HOSPITAL has never been shown in Holland and the Dutch have no interest in celebrity.
Original GENERAL HOSPITAL theme song
Click here to listen.
TV Squad: Six things that keep me tuning in to GENERAL HOSPITAL
Allison Waldman writes: "Today, April 1st, is GENERAL HOSPITAL's anniversary -- 45 years on the air. The ABC soap has been very successful through most of that time, although it hasn't really followed the path that many daytime dramas take. In the late 1980's, GH changed from a romance-based, hospital drama to more of a crime/spy/action-oriented soap. It's continued that style, and I can tell you six things that keep me tuning in daily to GENERAL HOSPITAL (or checking it out on SoapNet).
1) The Mob
2) Big Events
3) Interesting Men
4) Remembering the Past
5) Feisty Women
6) Luke Spencer
Sabine Singh to Star in PS 122's "The Euthanasist"
Sabine Singh will star in Liza Lentini's solo drama The Euthanasist, to run May 29-June 15 at PS 122. The show, which will be directed by Alan Miller, focuses on a woman who questions her relationship to living and others' desire to die. The creative team will include Adam Dugas (sets), Diana Kesselschmidt (lighting), and Paul Cantelon (music). Singh is a co-founding member of the Flea Theatre. She is best known for playing the role of Greenlee Smythe on the ABC daytime drama ALL MY CHILDREN.
Jillian Michaels Guests on DAYS
THE BIGGEST LOSER trainer Jillian Michaels sees host's Alison Sweeney's (Sami) day job when she guest stars on DAYS OF OUR LIVES April 22. Appropriately, Michaels' scenes take place at the Salem Health Club with Sami — wink, wink — E.J., Nicole and Maggie.
Jay Leno Apologizes for Requesting Ryan Phillippe's Gayest Look
Jay Leno has apologized for remarks he made to Ryan Phillippe when Phillippe appeared on his show to promote the movie Stop-Loss. Leno mocked Phillippe's first role as a gay teen on ONE LIFE TO LIVE before pointing at the camera and asking a visibly disturbed Phillippe to give it his "gayest look."
Ex-Y&R and BEACH star Eddie Cibrian joins UGLY BETTY as Hilda's love interest
Somewhere Ana Ortiz is thanking God and/or doing cartwheels. Why? 'Cause the underrated UGLY BETTY costar will be getting a new love interest later this season, and he's going to look a lot like Eddie Cibrian. Actually, he is Eddie Cibrian! Multiple unnamed moles (all of 'em Ugly) confirm that Cibrian (SUNSET BEACH, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) has been cast as Justin's phys-ed teacher slash eventual boyfriend to Ortiz's Hilda. He'll appear in three episodes this season and could return in the fall.
DAYS' Martha Madison Interviewed
Soaps.com talked with DAYS OF OUR LIVES star Martha Madison about her exit from the show: "The only regret I have about the way the story ended was that we left on a boat. I think that is so incongruent with the history of the couple...you know the fact that we had near death on boats for the last two years, it didn't seem to make sense."
First Britney, now James Van Der Beek visits MOTHER
Former AS THE WORLD TURNS and DAWSON'S CREEK actor James Van Der Beek has agreed to guest star on the special "Robin Sparkles" episode, perhaps as Robin's crush.
Bianca barrells back on to EASTENDERS
Have you seen the trailer for dear Bianca's return to EastEnders (BBC One)? It is thrilling, and features the “Jackson Five” (Bianca and her now four children), with the ginger princess herself belting out, painfully flat, the Jackson 5's “I want you back” as she and her brood jive through Albert Square. Most of the characters seem happy to see her, bar Peggy who looks as if she has just stepped in something. Gillian Richmond, the writer of last night's episode, daringly segued Frank Butcher's funeral and Bianca's return, with the vicar at the crematorium about to eulogise Frank with a “He was a...” followed by Bianca, shouting “Dirty old man” as she barrelled out of a bloke's terraced house with binbags strewn around her.
ABC estimates its soaps reach about 57 million people in an average three-month period
Each day, large, loyal audiences tune in to ABC soap operas such as GENERAL HOSPITAL and ONE LIFE TO LIVE. Sounds like an easy sell, right? But with that audience splintering into groups that access the same program on different platforms and at different times, things get difficult.
By ABC's estimates, its soaps reach about 57 million people in an average three-month period via the Walt Disney broadcast network as well as its cable outlet, SoapNet, said Brian Frons, president-daytime, Disney ABC Television Group. But a stay-at-home viewer who watches GENERAL HOSPITAL at 3 p.m ET, its regularly scheduled time, might be quite different from a working person who watches it at 10 p.m. on cable (not to mention one who records it on a DVR to watch later). "We now have so many different bites at the apple," Mr. Frons said.
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