ABC Renews General Hospital, Cancels The Revolution
Michael Easton
General Hospital will be able to celebrate its 50th anniversary after all.
After canceling the long-running All My Children and One Life to Live and replacing them with lifestyle shows The Chew and The Revolution, ABC has decided to renew its remaining daytime drama General Hospital and jettison The Revolution instead, Deadline reports.
Will Katie Couric save General Hospital?
In the meantime, an hourlong p.m. version of Good Morning America, tentatively titled GMA in the Afternoon, will fill in for nine weeks starting on July 9. Katie Couric's new syndicated talk show, Katie, will then take its place on Sept. 10.
Although General Hospital's ratings have been down in recent years, it still hasn't hit The Revolution's lows. For the week of March 26, General Hospital averaged in 2.26 million viewers and The Chew averaged 2.21 million, whereas The Revolution only got 1.33 million viewers.
General Hospital, which still draws in more women among the 18-49 demographic than The Revolution or One Life to Live before it, will celebrate its 50th anniversary on April 1, 2013. It's currently the longest-running U.S. soap opera in production.
Are you glad ABC stuck with General Hospital?