One Life to Live: Characters Move to General Hospital — But, For How Long?

Though One Life to Live is poised to sign off tomorrow, four of the characters from the cancelled soap will live on. They’re moving to General Hospital, the network’s sole-surviving soap opera.

Kristen Alderson (Starr), Michael Easton (John), Kassie DePaiva (Blair) and Roger Howarth (Todd) will begin shooting their first General Hospital scenes at the end of this month when production resumes. General Hospital kicks off its 49th season on April 1st. It’s the longest-running network soap still on the air.

Of the news, executive producer Frank Valenti said, “We have a very exciting story planned for the citizens of Port Charles, with Sonny Corinthos at the center of it… Incorporating characters from One Life to Live continues the legacy of the show as we weave them into General Hospital.” Valenti and head writer Ron Carlivati moved to General Hospital last month after One Life to Live wrapped. They replaced Jill Farren Phelps and Garin Wolf.

For the time being, General Hospital will continue on ABC. However, there’s no guarantee of how long it will keep going. General Hospital, like all of the network soaps, aren’t cheap to produce and have seen their viewer numbers dwindle.

This week, ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee noted, “I am a fan of General Hospital, but we have not made a decision on its future and don’t really have a time frame for it either.”

In the fall, Katie Couric starts her own daytime talk show on the network and there has been much speculation that her new series will end up taking General Hospital’s place on the schedule.

What do you think? Do you like that OLTL characters are coming to General Hospital? Do you think General Hospital will be cancelled before the end of the year?

Image courtesy ABC.

More about: General Hospital, General Hospital: canceled or renewed?, One Life to Live, One Life to Live: canceled or renewed?

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