ABC undecided on General Hospital’s future

ABC has yet to decide the future of its last remaining daytime soap General Hospital.

The long-running medical saga, based in the fictional city of Port Charles, faces an uncertain future following the cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live – which finishes its television run this week. Ratings for General Hospital have been lower than OLTL for some time now and the series is widely seen as being vulnerable to the axe. The fact that Katie Couric’s next chat-show is due to launch, later this year, in the soaps time-slot has also been seen as a sign that ABC isn’t all that committed to its future.

However, Paul Lee, speaking at the Television Critics Association winter tour, has stated that no decision has yet been taken on the soaps future. Lee is the entertainment president for ABC and on its future said ‘I’m a fan of General Hospital but we have not made a decision, and we do not have a time frame for making that call either’ Not exactly the reassuring news that GH fans may have been hoping for. It’s possible the broadcaster won’t make a decision until it’s new show-runner, Frank Valentini, has had time to stamp his mark on the soap – to see if ratings improve or not.