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44 March 14th, 2013 50 Classic Episodes Spanning 50 Years! SOAPnet Honors General Hospital With Super Marathon!

gh50

Courtesy/ABC

General Hospital fans lets all get our popcorn, our favorite beverage of choice, and our hankies, and plop down on the couch to watch the most amazing soap opera marathon of them all! That’s when SOAPnet offers up it’s extra special 50 hours of General Hospital marathon with episodes from every single decade of the long running ABC series starting with the first one back in 1963!

The fun kicks-off on Friday, March 29th at 10 p.m. ET/PT and runs through Monday, April 1 at 12:00am ET/PT (Sunday night/Monday morning).

The marathon will cover favorite characters, couples and storylines with such themes as romance (Luke & Laura’s wedding, Frisco & Felicia’s wedding, Luke & Laura’s dance at Wyndham’s, Lucky & Liz’s first kiss), heartbreak (Stone dies, Sonny leaves Brenda at the altar, BJ dies/Maxie’s heart transplant), action-adventure (Ice Princess, the Hostage Crisis, the Hotel Fire,) and shocking bombshells (Elizabeth finds Carly in the panic room, AJ discovers he’s Michael’s father, Jason’s car accident) plus many more surprises and appearances by fan favorites (Elizabeth Taylor as Helena Cassadine, John Stamos as Blackie, Ricky Martin as Miguel, Rick Springfield as Noah). It is an extraordinary marathon, 50 years in the making.

So GH fans get ready! What episode are you most looking forward to seeing again? Or, what episode are you hoping is included in the marathon! Let us know as we count down to the big event!

Tags: abc, General Hospital, GH 50th Anniversary, SOAPnet Marathon

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Christine says:

March 14, 2013 at 9:17 am

This is the one and only time I am unhappy that I do not have my satellite subscription only, but I will survive … somehow.

I only wish my local affiliates (ABC7) were as excited about GH’s 50th as everyone else. Since THE VIEW was interrupted by the news of the new Pope selection, they decided it was much more important to SCREW OVER the GH fans and put THE VIEW on instead.

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AJ replied March 14th, 2013 at 12:54 pm
That’s not accurate Christine. I’m assuming you’re on the West Coast. The episode was pre-empted on the east coast yesterday and was played in its entirety today. Since it was pre-empted in the east, it got pre-empted on the west. You’re not missing anything. They’ll just adjust the filming schedule. This is how they deal with pre-emptions nowadays. Much better than how they did it in the old days – just skipped over the episode.

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Christine replied March 14th, 2013 at 2:13 pm
Thanks, AJ, I am watching it now! I figured it out when it opened with Connie and Sonny (that it was where the last one left off).

But I am not sure ABC7, yes, west coast, has not reverted to “the old days” because a few weeks ago they had to take GH off the air because they were busy airing two funerals that day. I stated then that I thought having funerals, especially for a slain officer, to be kind of disgusting as it is a private thing. But they look for any excuse to not air GH these days.

Christine replied March 14th, 2013 at 2:14 pm
oh and just one more fact. They used to at least air them over night in the early hours, but they can’t be bothered to do that anymore. And CBS was no better. They chose to air Dr. Oz instead of Y&R and B&B.

David replied March 14th, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Christine,
ABC affiliates throughout the country will preempt for news or even worse here on the east coast weather. Here in Boston 3 times this winter they aired winter storm coverage instead of General Hospital. On one of those occasions they aired it in the wee hours of the morning but on other occasions the only option was online. It isn’t just ABC affiliates though all network affiliates are guilty of this. The networks need to crack down on these affiliates doing this but won’t. What always upsets me is they do this to daytime programming but rarely do it to prime time programming

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Christine replied March 14th, 2013 at 10:00 pm
David, I’m sorry to hear it happens to you too, but glad that I am not the only one.

I wish someone would crack down too. I don’t watch primetime anymore because the stupid networks always cancel the shows these days. I watch scripted shows on cable, but through DVD or Amazon or Netflix these days kind of like pay-per-view without all the hassle of Directv.

I kind of gave up going online to watch the episodes when I miss them because they make me watch like five cell phone commercials between 5 or 10-minute scenes. Sadly I have learned to live without them when that happens as I am sure I will learn to live without soaps when they are all online. I just don’t find it convenient for me, but maybe my feelings will change when my little ones get older.
Jim says:

March 14, 2013 at 9:29 am

Really wish my cable provider still carried Soapnet now. I love watching a lot of the classic episodes.

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Iakovos says:

March 14, 2013 at 9:30 am

Is there a schedule of episodes and original air dates? I am keen to see some installments from the 1970s and 1980s. LOVED that when OLTL had a marathon on SOAPNET once upon a time.

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SZima replied March 15th, 2013 at 6:27 am
I was wondering the same thing. There probably will be a schedule and hopefully it will get posted. Otherwise keep checking SoapNet to see what’s up

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Elyse says:

March 14, 2013 at 9:34 am

I’m pissed that in Massachusetts we don’t have soapnet. Now I’m wishing that I was still in Florida.

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Elyse replied March 14th, 2013 at 9:36 am
I would love to see the first episode. I’ve seen pieces of it. I would love to see stone again.

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ethel replied March 14th, 2013 at 10:33 am
i read today that they will be airing the very first episode…………

christy replied March 14th, 2013 at 1:47 pm
I’m sure most if not all of those episodes are still on youtube… and I’ve got more than 50 hours on VHS from late 80′s on…
jim says:

March 14, 2013 at 9:46 am

Glad i still got soapnet but its ashame many soap pre 1975 episodes are no longer available. There were many great stuff from that time period we’ll never see again unless someone somehow has copies. I do like watching the little that survives pre 1975 that is shown on utube.

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Ces replied March 14th, 2013 at 2:16 pm
I agree. Somewhere, somehow, they should make those available!

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Helen says:

March 14, 2013 at 10:01 am

I so hope we get to see Emily , Lucky and Sly and also Emily falling in love with Zander.

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Llanviewer717 says:

March 14, 2013 at 10:22 am

I would love to see some very early episodes featuring Steve (John Beradino) and Jessie (Emily McLaughlin), Audrey (Rachel Ames) and Phil Brewer (originally Roy Thinnes). They were the core characters when the show started.

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Anthony says:

March 14, 2013 at 11:12 am

Really great news – but I imagine, for those who can, there will be a lot of recording going on. I could not possibly stay up for 50 straight hours. And it’s really too bad for the folks who don’t get SoapNet. As much as ABC and Disney love money, maybe this is something someone should have thought about putting out on DVD. The way it is described up above, it doesn’t seem like the episodes will run sequentially which is too bad since I am especially interested in reliving the early years: 60s-80s.

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christy replied March 14th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
only vhs and dvd’s I know of are weddings…. altho I ran across a VHS video my mom had n her things… All My Children, behind the scenes….

They’d make a lot of money if they’d put out old soaps on DVD… All ABC soaps for that matter! They’ve got tons of Dark Shadow DVDs, why not AMC, OLTL, GH, Ryan’s Hope, Loving, The City, PC, Nightshift, etc, and The Edge of Night… used to watch that one too.

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christy replied March 14th, 2013 at 2:00 pm
reply to myself… I see Nightshift is available on DVD…. altho I see it got horrible reviews, but Amazon has it at a special price when you also get “the life of Damien Spinelli’ and ‘Love in Maine’ books. THey also have ‘Luke & Laura: Lovers on the Run’ video.

actually I’d prefer watching the Genie Francis, Marcy Walker and Leigh J. McCloskey “thriller” again… “Terror in the Night”. Or how about “Young Doctors in Love” that was fun too.

jim replied March 14th, 2013 at 3:45 pm
ABC should put all those episodes on ON Demand where we’d have a better chance to view all of them unless they couldnt do it with so many episodes at once .

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Christine replied March 14th, 2013 at 10:03 pm
I think a lot of these distributors are just sitting on goldmines. They don’t realize how there are those of us who would pay for these old shows.

I am sure it is just a matter of a [long] time. I see they continue to do seasons of old primetime soaps like FALCON CREST and wasn’t there a DVD for B&B recently or maybe it was another soap?
heidi says:

March 14, 2013 at 11:23 am

Too bad GH or ABC or Soapnet couldn’t put the episodes on a special 50th Anniversary YouTube site or on ABC.com or Hulu! I would love to watch all of them!

Michael… any chance you could ask someone if there is a chance they could put those episodes on line for those of us who do not have cable?

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Christine replied March 14th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
I think that would qualify as Copyright Infringement.

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heidi replied March 15th, 2013 at 4:27 am
I thought more about this and feel that GH and ABC missed a huge opportunity! I am not a marketing person. One thing we hear over and over is the record breaking number of viewers who watched the Luke and Laura wedding episode. We also are bombarded every week with ratings for the soaps. GH missed an opportunity with the 50th Anniversary by not playing this differently especially with the new convergence of on-line soaps and PP and all.

They could have advertised more… when Genie came back 50 days before the anniversay they could have had one of these past 50 shows air each day at a minimum on ABC.com with a past cast member or current cast member introducing and speaking about memories or the episode. They could have let the episode also air on Hulu and HuluPlus. They could have started a GH 50th Anniversay YouTube site too and posted each days episode there. Include Soapnet each day too on cable and on-line. Of course finding a way to capture views on-line like YouTube does. Then have the 50 episodes plus the week or day of the current aniversary on DVD. This would insure numbers, views and increase the base to capture new viewers to insure that a build-up to the current annversary show could deliver ratings/views that would beat the Luke and Laura numbers and gain more invested viewers for years 51 and beyond… while also dabbling in multi-media (ex. regular ABC, cable and on-line, international, possibly individual pay per view per epi on Amazon, IMDB and DVD sales). It could have been even bigger and better. Capitalize on all of the actors and acctresses that made their start or just came to play over the 50 years! I truly believe with views on-line you could beat the number of people who have ever watched any soap!

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Christine replied March 15th, 2013 at 2:14 pm
And therein lies the REAL story of how ABC feels about the long-time future of GH on their network. That is why they do not do more to promote it.
su0000 says:

March 14, 2013 at 1:23 pm

My g’ma is sad lol she doesn’t pay for higher subscription cable and SoapNet is only available in the high cable/the expensive line-up not in the standard cable .
I always found that odd that Disney put SoapNet in the most expensive line up ..

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Christine replied March 14th, 2013 at 10:05 pm
They really do need to come up with an a la carte system. They keep telling us the times have changed, but yet they fail to give us what we want.

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mary says:

March 14, 2013 at 2:00 pm

My soapnet is now Disney JR. Is there another way to watch these old episodes?

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David says:

March 14, 2013 at 2:02 pm

Michael Fairman-Surely you can get the scoop as to whether Denise Alexander is coming back for the 50th? And btw, thank you for this site. It is the best!

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Tracy replied March 14th, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Yes, Micael, I hope you can relay the fact that you’ve probably had more comments about her return or lack of return than anything else (or at least as many) about the 50th to RC and FV and perhaps get some answers about that! I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt and hoping she is a super surprise but the clock is ticking…..

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mary says:

March 14, 2013 at 2:02 pm

I think ABC should finally get smart and sell DVDs of the 50 episodes, or the nurses ball. I would buy them.

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Ces says:

March 14, 2013 at 2:15 pm

Really wish they wouldn’t start these episodes so late in the evening and start them midday maybe?? so I can catch them all.. for those that still don’t DVR

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jim replied March 14th, 2013 at 3:40 pm
I agree. I wish they would at least air five episodes a day for ten days leading up to GHs 50th. That would be easier for a lot of us to see all of them and could be a ratings winner for soapnet. There is no way i could watch all 50 in a row without me missing something and id hate that. And im dumb when it comes to recording anything on my dvr. Wish theyd make it possible to watch it ON DEMAND where they could leave all those episodes for at least a month so we’d have a better chance to watch all of them.

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Ces replied March 14th, 2013 at 4:03 pm
I so agree with you! Wouldn’t that be nice if they were ON DEMAND? I don’t even have DVR. lol.. hell, can’t even figure out how to use my VCR anymore.. sad, I know.. would be nice to catch all the episodes. Guess I’ll try my best to catch as many as I can!

Christine replied March 14th, 2013 at 10:07 pm
Oh you two really need a Tivo. That one piece of equipment has been a god-send, especially the ones that tape two channels at once. But I agree, they really need to offer it On Demand.
David says:

March 14, 2013 at 5:54 pm

Very disappointed that here in Massachusetts we no longer get Soapnet so we do not get to see any of these episodes. Wish ABC would stream the marathon online or something since so few have Soapnet.

Some say ABC itself will be airing the first episode but would love to be able to see the 50 hour marathon Glad for the few that do have Soapnet still hope you enjoy it

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Al says:

March 14, 2013 at 7:42 pm

Now would also be a good time for Soapnet to use that nightly (or rather, overnightly) 2-hour block of “Classic GH” to show episodes from earlier than 2009.

For example, the article lists the L&L “dance at Wyndham’s” episode. Soapnet’s shown it at least twice before (including last year), but they could use the overnight slots to perhaps run a week of shows following the Wyndham’s episode. I know I’ve never seen what happened next. Or they could show all of the Ice Princess episodes besides just the one that will be in the marathon.

Soapnet has the opportunity to show 10 old shows a week, and while 2009 had some good moments, I wish they’d take better advantage of the GH archive, esp. with this being the 50th anniversary year.

However, I still have Soapnet a year after some cable companies removed it. (My Comcast kept SN where it is and opened up a new channel number for Disney Jr.) So I can’t complain too much. Any chance to see even a few older shows now is still more than I would have expected this time last year when it seemed like SN was going away.

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janet says:

March 15, 2013 at 12:16 pm

I live outside Boston, verizon still has soapnet.. Fifty episodes?? If they are not before Sonny and the mob ate the show. I don’t care. I do watch soap-net,Disney Jr is on a different channel. This is one of the reasons I kept Verizon when it expired.
I don’t want to watch the show with the mob,I shut the show off then because of it.
Guess you can’t please everybody all the time.?

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susan M. says:

March 16, 2013 at 7:06 pm

Go buy the People Magazine Celebrates General Hospital Fifthy Years! A lot of good memories.. The cast of GH 1966!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And MORE!!!! I bought at Target today for $11.99…..It’s worth It !!!! Inside cover they have Port Charles map out . There’s the ELQ
building & more!!!!!!! Shawn & Tiffany!!!! Sonny & Brenda!!!!!! Jessie & Phil Brewer ….

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Michelle D. replied March 20th, 2013 at 11:54 am
I saw it! Unfortunately I don’t have $12 to give up at this time….I was grateful to be able to get the OLTL Tribute. I was born in 1963, and began watching GH in 1968 with my Grandma. If there’s any one family in Port Charles that takes the cake it’s the Quartermaines….that entire family is absolutely a trip! They are what the Buchanans are to Llanview, and what the Chandlers are to Pine Valley!

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Michelle D. says:

March 20, 2013 at 11:34 am

One of my very favorite episodes was in the early days when Laura found out that Nurse Amy Vining was her sister. I loved Rick & Lesley Webber. Also, I absolutely adored the time when Sean Donnely and Tiffany were together in the WSB…they had some amazing adventures. The other heartwarming episode was when Robert Scorpio found out he was a dad and we got to meet little Robin at just 7 years old…she was just so precious!

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Annie says:

March 21, 2013 at 7:37 pm

Its to bad that General Hospital Marathon is on SoapNet. I don’t get Soapnet and would love to watch it. Does anyone know of anyway to tape the 50 hour Marathon? Will it be for sale or would they be putting it on another channel where more people could watch it? I would love to see it, I been a GH fan since the early 70′s and when i first heard that they were going to show some scenes i got excited, then i heard it was on Soapnet which we don’t get, now i am feeling disappointed….

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Helen Cargill says:

March 29, 2013 at 5:15 pm

I want to buy a dvd of the 50 year marathon of General Hospital? Is one going to be available?

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