Frank Valentini to replace Jill Phelps as producer on General Hospital

ABC has announced there will be some big behind-the-scenes changes on its struggling daytime soap General Hospital with Frank Valentini replacing Jill Farren Phelps as executive producer.

Phelps has served as an executive producer on General Hospital in 2001 having previously worked on four other daytime serials; Guiding Light, Santa Barbara, Another World and One Life to Live. During her tenure the medical soap has been nominated six times for Outstanding Drama Series at the Daytime Emmy awards; it was won the category three times. However, her tenure has also been marked by declining ratings – something all daytime soaps suffer from – and this year especially the future of General Hospital looked increasingly bleak. Fans will hope the big behind-the-scenes changes will mean ABC is securing its future despite reports of it facing the axe.

Frank Valentini will replace Phelps from January 2012. His most recent work has been as executive producer on One Life to Live. The soap was cancelled by ABC earlier this year but was picked up by Prospect Park, along with All My Children, to continue on the internet. Valentini was amongst the OLTL‘s cast and crew members to sign deals to remain with the soap when it moved to the internet. Last month though those plans fell through and Prospect Park officially abandoned them. Production on One Life to Live ended shortly before the announcement by Prospect Park it was scrapping the continuation plans.

The news of Valentini’s move to General Hospital was first broken by Soaps in Depth. In a statement the executive producer said ‘I look forward to this next exciting chapter working with the wonderful cast and crew of GH. This is an incredible opportunity for me to extend my passion and expertise for daytime television as I continue my relationship with Disney/ABC Television Group and become part of an extraordinary team in 2012’

Joining Valentini at General Hospital, from OLTL, will be Ron Carlivati as head writer. The Emmy winning writer will become the new head-writer for the soap putting the future of its current head-writer, Garin Wolf, in doubt. Wolf only took on the role of head-writer in May but with Carlivati  joining there are now rumours that Wolf could exit his role. However, it is also possible the two writers will share the role.

The changes behind-the-scenes at General Hospital comes just after the announcement that Brian Frons, the man who axed One Life to Live and All My Children, is stepping down from his role as ABC’s Daytime president.