Max Gail of “Barney Miller” Is Giving the Performance of the Year on “General Hospital”

Sunday April 1 marked the 55th anniversary of General Hospital.  It is the second longest-running scripted drama in the history of television, surpassed only by Guiding Light, which began on NBC Radio in 1937, moved over to CBS Radio in 1947, then moved to CBS Television in 1952 and remained a staple of its daytime lineup until its cancellation in 2009 for a total of 57 TV years.  Surely ABC will see to it that GH in 2020 surpasses GL’s record and becomes the all-time television champion.  This GH milestone -- tagged on Twitter as #GH55 -- was celebrated on Friday March 30 with a special episode loaded with flashbacks and featuring many actors who have been on the show’s canvas for decades.  This appealed to viewers who have been with the show for decades, including me.  I first began watching GH way back in 1978 when it was on the verge of becoming a cultural phenomenon and a top moneymaker for ABC, which financed the development of its primetime programming with the money its sales team made off its soap operas.  Those were the days.