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General Hospital (commonly abbreviated GH) is an American daytime television drama and is credited by the Guiness Book of World Records as being the second longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns. It premiered on the ABC television network on April 1, 1963. Broadcast weekdays and currently repeated nightly on SOAPnet, it is the longest-running serial produced in Hollywood, and the longest-running entertainment program in ABC television history. General Hospital rose to the top of the ratings in the early 1980s in part thanks to the monumentally popular "supercouple" Luke and Laura, whose 1981 wedding brought in 30 million viewers and remains the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history.Wolf, Buck. "Luke and Laura: Still the Ultimate TV Wedding." ABC.com November 16, 2006. In 2003, TV Guide named General Hospital the 'Great Soap Opera of All Time.'http://soap-operas.lovetoknow.com/General_Hospital_Soap_Opera In 2007, General Hospital was ranked #31 in Time magazine's 100 best TV shows of all-TIME.http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1651341_1659192_1652529,00.html

General Hospital was created by husband-and-wife soap writers Frank and Doris Hursley, and is set in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York. It was only the second soap to air on ABC (after the short-lived Road to Reality, which aired for several months during the 1960-61 season). Currently taped at The Prospect Studios, General Hospital originally aired for a half-hour. The series was expanded from 30 minutes to 45 minutes in 1976, and then to a full hour on November 7, 1977. It holds the record for most Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, with 10 wins. In 1964, a sister soap was created for General Hospital, The Young Marrieds. It ran for only two years, and was cancelled due to low ratings in 1966. General Hospital also spawned a prime time spin-off with the same name in the United Kingdom from 1972 to 1979, as well as the daytime series Port Charles (1997-2003) and the prime time spin-off Category: General Hospital: Night Shift - (2007-2008) in the United States.

On September 18, 2009, when Guiding Light aired its final episode on CBS Television, General Hospital became the second longest running American soap opera currently on air, after As the World Turns. On December 8, 2009, CBS Television announced that it will cancel As the World Turns and its final episode on the network will air on September 17, 2010. If the show is not picked up by another network, General Hospital would become the longest running daytime soap opera in production.