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General Hospital (commonly abbreviated GH) is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns. It premiered on the ABC television network on April 1, 1963. Broadcast weekdays and currently repeated nightly on SOAPnet, it is the longest-running serial produced in Hollywood, and the longest-running entertainment program in ABC television history. General Hospital rose to the top of the ratings in the early 1980s in part thanks to the monumentally popular "supercouple" Luke and Laura, whose 1981 wedding brought in 30 million viewers and remains the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history. In 2003, TV Guide named General Hospital the ’Great Soap Opera of All Time.’ In 2007, General Hospital was listed as one of Time magazine’s "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME." General Hospital became the longest running American soap opera in production when As the World Turns ended its run on September 17, 2010. The show was created by husband-and-wife soap writers Frank and Doris Hursley, who originally set it in a general hospital (hence the title) in an the unnamed fictional city; this city was later named Port Charles, New York in the 1970s. General Hospital was only the second soap to air on ABC (after the short-lived Road to Reality, which aired for several months during the 1960-61 season). Currently taped at The Prospect Studios, General Hospital originally aired for a half-hour. The series was expanded from 30 minutes to 45 minutes on July 23, 1976, and then to a full hour on January 16, 1978. It holds the record for most Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, with 10 wins. In 1964, a sister soap was created for General Hospital, The Young Marrieds. It ran for only two years, and was cancelled due to low ratings in 1966. General Hospital also spawned a prime time spin-off with the same name in the United Kingdom from 1972 to 1979, as well as the daytime series Port Charles (1997–2003) and the prime time spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift (2007–2008) in the United States. In April 2009, CBS announced that it did not renew Guiding Light, which was canceled and aired its final episode on September 18, 2009. This left General Hospital as the second longest running American soap opera currently on air, after As the World Turns. On December 8, 2009, CBS announced that they were cancelling As the World Turns and its final episode aired on September 17, 2010. General Hospital then became the longest-running daytime soap opera still featured on American television, having aired continuously since April 1, 1963. Concurrently, the British soap opera Coronation Street became the world’s longest-running soap opera currently airing on television, having been on air since December 9, 1960.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : General hospitals |
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