General Hospital Kept Its Biggest Secret For A Whopping 13 Years
The legendary soap certainly knows how to keep us hooked.
General Hospital has kept us glued to our screens since the 1960s, and perhaps its ability to keep secrets is what helps it stay relevant for so long.
You may not know this (unless you've somehow kept up with General Hospital since its very first episode), but the show's episodes used to be only 30 minutes long.
This was the case for 13 years - and for the same amount of time, General Hospital managed to keep the location of the hospital itself a secret.
For more than a decade, not a single fan knew where the hospital was located, until ABC finally decided to extend the running time to 45 minutes in the 1970s. Only then did General Hospital finally decide to reveal that the hospital in question was Port Charles in New York.
Even though Port Charles is a fictional town, its revelation was a huge deal for General Hospital fans - after all, it's very important for viewers to know where the story takes place.
Imagine keeping a secret like that for 13 years? Some shows run for 13 years, but for General Hospital, that's just a small part of the journey. Recently, the iconic soap celebrated its 60th anniversary - a staggering milestone that only proves how relevant General Hospital remains.
Interestingly, Port Charles is also the title of General Hospital's spin-off (which didn't last as long as its parent). The soap aired on ABC from June 1, 1997 to October 3, 2003.
The reason for its demise was the sudden switch from medical drama to supernatural stories, which was not quite what General Hospital fans loved about the universe.