Six Important Characters on “General Hospital” That Should Return from the Dead

As “General Hospital” executive producer Frank Valentini, head writer Ron Carlivati and their team proved two weeks ago with their remarkable 52nd anniversary episode – arguably the most creatively ambitious hour of daytime drama ever produced – nothing is impossible in the soap opera arena. They somehow managed to expand the collective history of many of the show’s primary and secondary characters – dating all the way back to the very first episode in April 1963 – without actually rewriting any of it, something far too many reckless soap opera writers have been allowed to do over the years. I am still stunned (in a good way) by what I saw and the “new” story of Luke Spencer has continued to play out, including revelations made just a few episodes ago about Luke’s relationships with mobsters Frank Smith and Sonny Corinthos.

For any soap opera, the right writers can correct the egregious storytelling errors made by past creative regimes – particularly those that were unpopular with audiences and perhaps drove viewers away. This is something the showrunners and writers of the four remaining broadcast soaps must keep in mind if the genre is to survive. It’s all about giving the audience what it wants. Viewers must come first, above and beyond the desires and demands and preferences of actors, writers and everyone else involved.

Fans will accept just about anything if soap opera writers give them what they want, and if given what they want said fans are more likely to stick around. That brings me back to “General Hospital,” which since the beginning of this millennium has forced fans to endure too many punishing blows by killing off popular characters, most of them “good” people, while murderers and psychopaths survive and thrive. The 2000s in particular were an absolute mess, one that compromised the ratings of the show (especially among the young) and contributed to the overall deterioration of its genre. (As I have always said, “As goes ‘General Hospital’ so goes daytime drama.”)

I can think of no better way to keep the love alive and encourage from long-time fans of “General Hospital” the same kind of renewed enthusiasm that exploded on April 1 after that outstanding anniversary episode than to bring back some of the popular characters that have been killed off over the years seemingly without regard for the preferences of veteran viewers or for anyone who had been encouraged to follow the stories of those characters, sometimes for several decades. If these characters are brought back they need not stick around; they can always recur or move to Europe to join Laura, Rebecca, Faison, Britt and Robin, among other Port Charles transfers/exiles/kidnapping victims.

The point of bringing these characters back would in most cases be to correct past mistakes, some of them whoppers. Other returns simply make sense in terms of enhancing current story. (Recasts for any of them should be embraced if necessary.)

Six Important Characters on “General Hospital” That Should Return from the Dead

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Ed Martin