As the Writers Guild Association (WGA) approaches nearly one month on strike, General Hospital viewers are curious about the future of the ABC soap.
This isn’t the first time the WGA has gone on strike. In 2007, the soap world saw what would happen when the regular writers walked away and others picked up where they left off.
Several programs have gone dark; the 2023 fall season is already a mess, and the strike only began on May 2, 2023.
Soaps are a different breed for filming as they typically shoot weeks, sometimes months, in advance. The Peacock soap Days of our Lives shoots months in advance, upwards of six months. General Hospital ranges from four to six weeks in the can, though sometimes it is less depending on the storylines.
There are several ways things could play out for the ABC soap, and as the one-month mark of the strike draws near, viewers are wondering what will happen to their summer daytime programming.
Here’s how things could play out for General Hospital if the WGA continues to strike.
How many new episodes of General Hospital are left?
Between four to six weeks of General Hospital episodes should have been in the can when the WGA called the strike on May 2.
Since its airs five days a week, the episodes tend to go fast. 18 episodes have aired, which is nearly three weeks’ worth of content, meaning three weeks mko9pnof episodes are left maximum.
One interesting tidbit of information is that the role of Molly was recast after Haley Pullos was involved in a wrong-way crash that happened at the end of April. Scenes with the recast have already aired.
What will happen in General Hospital runs out of episodes?
If the already filmed episodes run out, several things could happen with General Hospital.
Viewers will remember that when the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down, the network chose to air reruns until production was back in place. They did groupings and themes with some episodes, including a run of past Nurses Balls.
There is also the possibility the show will go on without interruption. Writers could go financial core, as The Young and the Restless writer Josh Griffith did in 2007.
Another possible outcome would be scabs coming in to write the new content. That happened with ABC’s now-defunct soap, One Life to Live. That was when Starr Manning (Kristen Alderson) fell pregnant as a teen. General Hospital viewers might remember that; if they don’t, they may remember the character coming to Port Charles when ABC canceled the soap.
How this will play out with the WGA strike remains to be seen.
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.
Show some old shows about the ice princess, Sloan & robin how Jason became Jason! Old Luke & Laura, sonny how his 1st wife got killed . Show some of general hospital’s history
Stone, not Sloan
Show the Mary obrien heather Webber episodes….she was the best heather
It would be a good opportunity to show some of the stories that featured Bobbie Spencer to prepare for Jackie Zeman’s memoriam. Bobbie was key to Luke coming to PC, BJ’s heart, her son Lucas coming out, finding out she’s Carly’s mother.
Not sure they can do that. I read once, during covid, when fans asked for the really old shows to be shown and something about only being able to show episodes so far back without paying for the rights to use them, and that the cost would be too high.
I’ve watched General Hospital since 77, the writers have altered the characters anyway, can we just get writers that know General Hospital and keep it moving???? JUST CURIOUS?
I found out recently through Deadline and Michael Fairman that GH hired fi-core writers to continue the storylines. So, after they take a month-long break, there will still be new material for the director and actors to act out.