A few months ago I wrote that “General Hospital” would kill off Robin Scorpio, played by Kimberly McCullough she since was a child. Well, they did it. There is a lot of mail on this subject. But last week, “GH” reached an all time low in ratings. This isn’t by happenstance. ABC is getting ready to say goodbye to its last soap in time to debut Katie Couric in September. McCullough says she left to become a director, which may be true. But “GH” and ABC are following the plan laid by Procter and Gamble a couple of years ago. They got rid of the young demographic actors on “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light.” It’s one thing to kill off old characters on a soap. But when you start killing the young female characters with big fan bases, that’s a sign the show is over.
ABC’s big problem is that the two shows they replaced “All My Children” and “One Life to Live”–“The Chew” and “The Revolution”–are unwatchable. So now what? The wheels are in motion to end “General Hospital,” on the air since Lyndon Johnson was president. There will be a lot of mail, but the network doesn’t care. This is cost cutting. Just as with the two other shows, they want “GH” off the air. Maybe they’ll go really retro and bring back The Afternoon Movie, in black and white. Or drag over programming from Lifetime. But Tuesday was the pivotal day for “GH.” Sorry, fans. (Ratings are from tvbythenumbers.com) PS McCullough has directed a new short film, listed on the Internet Movie Data Base, and has appeared in what looks like a direct to video film. But she’s talented, and there’s nowhere to go but up.
