Dear ABC, It's Time To Make General Hospital The Priority You Say It Is
On February 12, Soap Hub posted an interview with the president of the Disney Television Group, Craig Erwich, who discussed the future of "General Hospital." Erwich said, "['GH' is] absolutely a tremendous pride for us. The show's been on for 60 years. That is a remarkable achievement." He explained that reaching audiences daily thrills ABC, with generations of families watching together. "You saw the way that we celebrated the 60th [anniversary with 'General Hospital: 60 Years of Stars and Storytelling']. We do that because it's a show we're very proud of. We remain deeply committed to 'General Hospital.'"
Well, ABC, if you're so "committed" to "GH," you should put your money where your mouth is. According to Television Stats, "GH" ranked as the 66th most popular show on February 2, 2024, and is ABC's 12th most popular series, with a ratings score of 3.63 as of February 12. Its X and Reddit followers have substantially increased since 2023, with 306,876 and 7,815 additions respectively. And "GH" also has a record number of Daytime Emmy wins, with 16 for Best Drama Series and 14 for Best Drama Directing Team. Variety also listed it as the 88th greatest TV show of all time.
With numbers like that, along with one of the most loyal fan bases ever, ABC, you should really consider giving the budget a raise. We've got some ideas of what you can do to not only maintain its following, but make "General Hospital" bigger and better than ever.
Locarion shoots would win more viewers
Genius executive producer Gloria Monty was brought aboard "General Hospital" in 1978 to save it from cancellation. She did just that by infusing intrigue, espionage, action and adventure into it, thereby completely altering the daytime serial landscape. Starting with Luke and Laura Spencer (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis) saving the world, the show used unique locations for several stories over the years. ABC, you need to revisit this period in the show's past to see how a winning formula works.
While the Greenland adventure was thoroughly enjoyable, it fell short of expectations and would have been better served with more emphasis on the action/adventure element of the story. Also, fans weren't fooled when Malibu was used as a substitute location for Jacksonville, Florida, for Carly Spencer's (Laura Wright) lackluster story in October 2022. Don't break the budget, but start being adventurous with some intriguing locations that aren't in your backyard. Changing up locales would make stories more interesting.
The 60th anniversary primetime special was fine and dandy, but have some special episodes air at night, like you did with "General Hospital: Twist of Fate" in 1996. You'll get the show more exposure that way. You've got a good start with the "General Hospital Spotlight" streaming channel, but that only covers a couple of years and has limited episodes. Making older episodes available on streaming or DVD would help people who want to get into it catch up on several stories.
World building and merchandising would help dramatically
ABC, we're all well aware that soap opera budgets have declined over the years, but if you do decide to increase the budget of "General Hospital," there's several ways you can supplement it. You've got a smattering of t-shirts and cups available, but the merchandising needs to be increased dramatically. Our favorite racketeer, Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard), uses "Corinthos Coffee" as his legitimate business cover. Fans would purchase it in droves if you made it available in real life. Or how about a "GH" game in which fans could play as their favorite character?
You've already established that "GH" takes place in the same universe as other ABC soaps, so with Marvel's intertwined movies and TV shows making world-building popular, why not try some streaming or primetime one-offs with stories and characters that we haven't seen for a while?
And, for crying out loud, would it kill you to throw a little money at Anthony Geary to get him to come back one last time so Luke Spencer could save the day and ride off into the sunset? You wouldn't even have to fly the Amsterdam resident to the States! Have an adventure set there, use the younger actors to do the action, and just have Luke come in at the last minute to save everyone. That would be the most satisfying ending for him, which would please the fans to no end and cement their continued loyalty.