History of General Hospital (1990-1999)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is about the history of the long-running American daytime serial General Hospital.
[edit] The Transition Into The Second Golden Age
In the 1990s, General Hospital entered a transitional phase as the action/adventure storylines of the 1980s became less popular. During this period, the show lost major stars such as Finola Hughes (Anna Devane) and Tristan Rogers (Robert Scorpio), and the much-heralded return of Anthony Geary as Luke Spencer's identical cousin Bill Eckert in 1991 was seen as a failure.
Eventually, in 1993, Anthony Geary would reprise his famous role of Luke Spencer, along with Genie Francis who reprised her role as Luke's wife Laura Spencer. Along with the reprisal of Luke and Laura came the addition of their ten year old son, Lucky Spencer, played by newcomer Jonathan Jackson.
In 1994, Anthony Geary and Genie Francis were invited to appear on an episode of Roseanne, as Luke and Laura. The couple would race through her house 'on the run', as Roseanne was a huge fan of General Hospital. In return, (Roseanne Arnold) and her then husband, (Tom Arnold) were invited to a storyline on General Hospital. Roseanne portraying Jennifer Smith, Luke's ex-love interest and daughter of mob boss Frank Smith.
The return of Luke and Laura marked the beginning of a creative renaissance for the show. Through the efforts of executive producer Wendy Riche and Head Writer Claire Labine, the show gained critical acclaim for its sensitive handling of social issues, most notable of which were the heart transplant storyline which involved the death of eight-year-old BJ Jones (daughter of Dr. Tony Jones and R.N. Bobbie Spencer) in a bus crash and the subsequent donation of her heart to her dying cousin Maxie Jones. Shortly afterwards, Dr. Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson) began a long battle with breast cancer, which led to her adopting Emily Bowen, a young girl who had been orphaned when her mother died of breast cancer.
GH was also praised for yet another storyline in the form of the beautiful but tragic love story of teenagers Stone Cates (Michael Sutton) and Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough). After a struggle that lasted throughout most of 1995, Stone died from AIDS at the age of 19 and his death was followed by storylines in which 17 year old Robin had to deal with being HIV-positive as a result of her and Stone's relationship. The storyline got Sutton a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor and won MccCullogh an Outstanding Younger Actress award.
Problems began to arise again around 1995 and 1996, when the show lost more than a million viewers. All the soaps lost ground at this time, but particular scrutiny was placed upon GH for the succession of grim stories involving BJ, Monica, and Stone. As a result, they dropped plans to give Audrey Hardy Alzheimer's Disease. However, the show remained popular and a long-rumored spinoff (which was tentatively titled GH2) materialized in 1997 into the half-hour soap Port Charles.
From 1993 to 1997, the show produced what many consider the last major supercouple (in terms of popularity) on daytime television, in the form of mobster Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Brenda Barrett (Vanessa Marcil). The hot couple's passion and heartbreak kept viewers glued to every episode like Luke and Laura did a decade before. Later, Brenda's relationship with corporate raider Jasper/Jax Jacks (Ingo Rademacher) gave General Hospitalone of the hottest love triangle in the show's history. However, the departure of Vanessa Marcil in 1998 dealt the creative team at General Hospital a major blow.
The last major storyline of the 1990s occurred in 1998, with the revisit of Luke's (Anthony Geary) long ago rape of his now-wife Laura (Genie Francis). Head Writer Robert Guza Jr. decided that Luke and his son, Lucky Spencer (Jonathan Jackson), needed to have a major wedge driven between them, and out of this came the idea that Lucky would find out that his father had raped his mother. The storyline also featured what many consider the last great young love story on the show; in the form of Lucky Spencer and Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst). Lucky found Elizabeth, a victim of rape, in the park on February 14, 1998, and their close friendship eventually blossomed into a pure, powerful romance. Lucky wanted nothing to do with his parents when his half-brother, Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher), revealed the rape. The ensuing storyline won Daytime Emmys for Jackson, Geary, the writers, the directors, and the show. The nine-minute monologue Luke deliverers to Lucky telling him about the night of the rape, without commercial interruption, is considered one of the greatest moments in soap opera history.
Robert Guza Jr., a former GH script writer, returned and became Head Writer in 1996, and zeroed in on the mob and the popularity of Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). Guza came and went several times during December 1997 through December 2000, then returned for good on June 13, 2002. Riche left in early 2001 and was replaced by the controversial Jill Farren Phelps.
[edit] 1990-1999 Ratings
1989-1990 Season (HH Ratings) (1 HH rating = 921,000 Homes)
- 1. The Young and the Restless 8.0
- 2. General Hospital 7.4
1990-1991 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the Restless (**8.1**)
- 2. General Hospital (**6.7**)
1991-1992 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young And The Restless 8.2 (Averaged 10.3 million viewers)
- 3. General Hospital 5.8 (Averaged about 7 million viewers)
1992-1993 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young And The Restless 8.4
- 4. General Hospital 5.8
1993-1994 Season (HH Ratings) (1 HH rating = 942,000 Homes)
- 1. The Young And The Restless 8.6
- 3. General Hospital 6.2
1994-1995 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young And The Restless 7.5
- 3. General Hospital 5.6
1995-1996 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young And The Restless 7.7
- 5. General Hospital 4.7
1996-1997 Season
- 1. The Young And The Restless 7.1
- 4. General Hospital 4.8
1997-1998 Season
- 1. The Young And The Restless (**7.0**)
- 4. General Hospital (**4.6**)
1998-1999 Season HH Ratings
- 1. The Young And The Restless (**6.9**; Averaged about 8 million viewers)
- 4. General Hospital (**4.3**)
