General Hospital Spinoffs That Failed So Hard You May Not Even Know About Them
It’s just too hard to recreate the initial success.
Even though General Hospital has had 60 years of content to enjoy, the hardcore fanbase has always wanted more and pestered the creators to come up with new spinoffs.
As you may know, there was a fairly popular spinoff, Port Charles, which ran for 6 years before being canceled on a cliffhanger, but what many people don't know is that it wasn't the only attempt to create spinoffs for a widely popular medical soap.
General Hospital's executives gave their all to the idea of airing another sister show to the original, but almost all of their attempts, unfortunately, ended in hard failures.
What's interesting about Port Charles, which was eventually purchased by ABC and aired, is that the idea for it came about 15 years earlier, in 1982. Back then, the show about the lives of the hospital's student nurses and medical interns was ordered but never saw the light of day for some unknown reason.
Considering that the show was on top of its game with Luke and Laura's wedding in 1981, it's not surprising that executives wanted to make a fortune off of it and any possible stories based on it. Luckily, the idea wasn't completely scrapped and found its way back.
The second spinoff could've aired in the 90s, right after Gloria Monty's comeback to the series. The producer was hoping to sell another show she was working on to ABC, so she tested the waters on General Hospital by introducing the Eckert family.
As enthusiastic as she was, the audience didn't show much interest in the characters, so the whole blue-collar storyline was shelved.
Another spinoff, perhaps the most anticipated by the public, would have focused on the family life of Ned and Lois Quartermaine, set in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York. There they should have been joined by their respective mothers.
The good news is that Ned's mother, Tracy, and her young son, Dylan, later made an appearance on ABC's The City, so the original idea wasn't completely discarded. However, it couldn't compete with a full-fledged spinoff that would have shown these characters in much more detail.
Although there are no General Hospital spinoffs to enjoy, the original show is still here and going strong on ABC. Tune in Monday through Friday to never miss an episode.