Writers’ Strike Is Officially Over, But General Hospital Fans Don’t Rush To Celebrate

When the news of the writers' strike first hit the headlines, audiences weren't really prepared for the fallout. Those who remembered 2008 had a little more of an idea of what to expect, but the majority of the general public was left in the dark about what was going to happen to their favorite shows.

While the majority of the networks had to postpone their upcoming premieres or even cancel the shows due to the strike, only a few remained on TV. And the genre that arguably benefited the most from the strike was the soap opera.

Although the production teams of all four major titles still running on the U.S. networks were morally supportive of the strikes and understood exactly where the need for them was coming from, the way soaps are produced made it impossible for them to join in.

Soaps are profitable as long as they can produce several episodes a day. Stopping production for a month would mean the sudden death of a whole bunch of beloved series. And that is exactly why the temporary writers, who were willing to give up their union membership in order to work, stepped in.

All of the soaps used temporary writers to help with production, and some of them have already confirmed that their main writers will return to work as soon as the strike is resolved. According to Deadline, both the General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful teams are happy to welcome their crew members back.

Fans, however, are not quite ready to share the excitement. In just a few months, the temporary writers have proven to bring a fresh perspective to the shows, which have stagnated in both storylines and ratings. Fans of General Hospital, in particular, have noticed a positive change in the show's pace and are afraid to lose it again.

“Great they have their contract, but the stories were actually moving forward at a much better pace, and we’re more interesting the last couple of months,” X (formerly known as Twitter) user KingBAV said.

Other users under the post agreed with the statement, also suggesting that the show's head writers find other hobbies or take some notes on how the audience reacted to the newer episodes compared to the ones before the strike.

To see what the future holds for General Hospital as the show's regular writers take over the writers' room once again, be sure to tune in to watch the upcoming episodes Monday through Friday on ABC.

Source: Deadline