W to drop General Hospital
It's been a bad week for General Hospital. Aussie actor Ingo Rademacher is fired after 10 years and Foxtel will pull the plug in June.
- Published by David Knox
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Long-running US soap General Hospital will vanish from Australian screens once again when it ends its run on the W channel on Friday, June 17.
From June 20, W has scheduled Canadian crime series The Border at 12.50pm weekdays, although the series ended in August.
Foxtel advises it has been screening the show since last July but its audience has not been building, despite having The Young and the Restless as its lead-in in the weekday afternoon schedule.
In a statement, Foxtel says, “Prior to its return in 2010, General Hospital had been off air in Australia for several years and during this time the show’s storylines were shifting away from the hospital base to focus more on the drama and intrigue of its crime families.
“Over the past year, W has also aired the show in additional timeslots to provide opportunities for sampling the program but viewers have not engaged with the series with anywhere near the same enthusiasm as they have for the channel’s other dramas.”
Meanwhile after more than 10 years, Australian actor Ingo Rademacher was let go from the soap ealier this week. He told ABC Soaps in Depth: “Yes, I know that’s sounds bad but sometimes little birds need a shove out of the nest to find their wings… better late then never? I’m trying to find some humor in all this. Even though this was not my call, I think my GH days were almost up anyway…. I would like to thank everyone at GH, the producers, directors, crew, my fellow actors and ABC/Disney for making my 15 years enjoyable and fun. It was always a great place for me to work and I will have fantastic memories. I would again like to thank my fans and especially my ‘Jax Angels’ who have been there for me, supporting me in every way, from Day One. Thank you!”
After ABC cancelled All My Children and One Life to Live, General Hospital will become its only daytime soap from January.
The Young and the Restless remains at 12pm weekdays on W.
56 Responses
Carmel,
it seems that you’re telling me that you want GH back on W, weekdays at 12:50pm!
Fortel & FTA Channels, kindly note!
Paul, I do not agree with you. By DOOL being on FTA, it is accessible to more people. It would not be good for people who cannot afford or do not wish to subscribe to Foxtel; whose programming content anyway is not concerned with what their subscribers want but of reruns which can be got cheaply. Soapies are not reruns so its audience is always there and once you’re hooked, your hooked!. Non-soapies even if good, once they are reruns, one turns off, boring, boring, boring! There goes the audience. I think General Hospital has become much more interesting now. My Mum used to watch it in days gone by!
Are ratings everything? Put it on at a later time, if needs be. Not a million repeats of Boston Legal, etc. “W” you need to do better than this!
If Foxtel sticks to its guns, then it would be good for any of the FTA channels to pick it up, soon! This would enhance their content for their wider audience!
Foxtel and Channel 9,
Channel 9, you should’ve dropped Days of Our Lives a year ago, so that it could air after The Young and the Restless, weekdays at 12:50 from Monday July 5 2010 and if not, Monday June 20 and Foxtel, (especially W), if you knew they were going to axe the show, they shouldn’t have aired it in the first place, but since you did, you should’ve ensured it was Days of Our Lives that was going to air, instead of The Border from series 1!
I am joining the army of very disgruntled General Hospital fans. If I had to choose one Soap, it would be GH. All those boring rerun repeats. Shame on you Foxtel. Don’t you respect your subsribers and what they want? Without us where will you be? If you had a heart you will bring it back, pronto!
Good on you “free-to-air” channels, should go for it. It wil be Foxtel’s loss!
I love General Hospital and can’t believe it has been taken off the air again. I don’t know how many of you catch the episodes but there is a site in America – it is not cheap (about $60USD) for a months episodes. I buy a months worth and at least I still get to see it. Not happy about it but what can you do.
Bring General Hospital back its a great show.Dont know where you get your ratings from.. Everyone I know loves it
I agree with all the disgruntled G.H. fans. This happened with G.H. when Austar/Foxtel put the show on, only to cancel it months later. The service we receive from Austar/Foxtel isn’t too good in general, let alone they take away your favourite programs, putting old re-runs or cancelled programs in it’s place. It has to be money orientated for sure, as it seems all the General Hospital fans are crying out for it’s return. I bet they don’t take any notice of us though.
I have just caught up with GH after many years 30 or more and Im shocked to find it’s been axed from today. Since getting a mystar box a few months ago I’ve come to enjoy the episodes and can’t understand why it’s finished. The W channel is so full of repeat episodes of old crime shows it has become too boring.
W should never have aired General Hospital from July 5 last year at 12:50pm, in the first place, if it wasn’t going to last, it should’ve aired Days of Our Lives from that time at 12:50pm instead!
they are losing it, used to watch it when at high school with my mum with great memories.Finally comes back after years and caught on the story lines and here we go again and i am furious.Wake up board of directors and do your own homework and replace your advisers they are not doing there job correctly.
i started a disscussion on facebook about GH getting canncelled so if anyone interested in trying to get it back on
Yeah Billy, you should tell Foxtel (preferably on facebook, as you’re more likely to get your message across) that Y&R and The Border shouldn’t be anywhere near each other!! It didn’t work when I tried to tell Channel 9 to drop DOOL, the only show that should air (screen) alongside Y&R (The Young and the Restless) weekdays from Noon on W is Days of Our Lives weekdays at 12:50pm from Monday June 20! I’ve even been recording and series linking GH (General Hospital) and DOOL (Days of Our Lives) hoping the show would move to W and screen alongside Y&R this Monday, after the weekend hiatus! Unfortunately The Border is going to screen alongside Y&R this Monday at 12:50pm. W’s schedule from Monday June 20 should be: 6:00am Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (PG) 6:55am The Nate Berkus Show (PG) (subject to change, Y&R will air at that time from tomorrow) 7:50am The Young and the Restless (PG) (subject to change, DOOL will air at that time from tomorrow) 8:40am Burn Notice (M) 9:30am Army Wives (M) 10:20am Law & Order (M) 11:10am The View (PG) 12:00pm The Young and the Restless (PG) (new episodes) 12:50pm Days of Our Lives (PG) (new episodes)!
yeah its a complete mood change . Y And R and The Border shouldnt be anywhere near each other !!
Shame that The Border from Series 1 is going to air from next Monday at 12:50pm, directly after The Young and the Restless, instead of Days of Our Lives. Days belongs directly after Y&R weekdays at 12:50pm, not The Border!
good timeslots Paul. I hate those weekend The View marathons !! Please contact Foxtel about a full soaps channel and give them a list and put whatever you want on it. Foxtel is so expensive and keeps getting higher, you should not just ask for DOOL you should ask for 20 more shows as well. If they wanna ask for more money , ask for more shows !! Everybody with Foxtel liking continuous drama , Ask them for more !!
Perfect Billy! How about Sundays at 8am (replacing The View on Sundays), with encores weekdays at 7:50am (after Y&R at 6:55am) and new eps weekdays at 12:50pm, from Monday June 20! Days doesn’t belong weekdays at 2pm on Channel 9 and neither did Y&R and even Wikipedia needs to fix up its Days of Our Lives page and MellyMoo, would you watch Days of Our Lives if it aired on W weekdays at 12:50pm, from Monday June 20?
Perfect Billy! How about Sundays at 8am (replacing The View on Sundays), with encores weekdays at 7:50am (after Y&R at 6:55am) and new eps weekdays at 12:50pm, from Monday June 20! Days doesn’t belong weekdays at 2pm on Channel 9 and neither did Y&R and even Wikipedia needs to fix up its Days of Our Lives page!
OMG, I am so over Foxtel/Austar repeating themselves all the time and saying it is a ratings problem that General Hospital is to be axed yet again. I read somewhere that in the entire Country there is just over 2000 of the so called boxes in TV’s… 2000 are ment to show the entire Country of Australia’s viewing?? I dont know of one person who has one of those boxes, how about they send them out to all us who are complaining about W’s treatment of GH? I myself I so over watching W, im fed up with all the repeats that ram down our throats. I only watch w now for Y&R and GH so it looks like I will be watching less of it soon. Plus why on earth would they replace a good show with a show that has been axed?? I gave up watching DOOL just over a year ago due to Cricket stoping it all the time over Summer. I talked my hubby into putting on PayTv so I could watch GH when it was moved there about 10 yrs ago, then just the last few months put on Mystar so I could record and series link GH..
I have one more statment to make, and that is this is supposed to be a service that we pay to watch. So why do we not get a say in what is put on? Why not put on a channel (and perhaps pay a bit extra) that is just for the SOAP’s? That way we would get all the good ones on plus the ones that are not on anymore but still have reruns of them???
I know that in Canada they have channels that runs repeats on the major soaps (eg DOOL is on one channel and shows about 3-4 times in a 24 hr period, plus another channel runs the same for GH) also they show the day before’s show and the new one all on the one day too. The US have special channels dedicated to Soaps as well, and they pay for the pleaser to watch what they want ..
There are more than 1 channel for Sport, Music and even the kids get a great choice of channels and show to watch (the children are not the ones who pay for the pleasure yet they seem to get the best out of it)..
How dare they treat us with such contempt we pay top dollar for the service to hell with ratings w bring back gh immediately! Or air it on sister channel
I wrote to Channel 9 many times about this . I know that Foxtel would treat it better if they had it . Not sure when its up for resale. Would be good if Foxtel could do the weekend marathon like they have for Y and R.
People,
Channel 9 needs to understand that it should do the same with Days of Our Lives, when W drops General Hospital on Friday June 17, since it dropped The Young and the Restless back in February 2007, so it won’t be interrupted anymore in the Summer by cricket and sports broadcasts, can air alongside and directly after The Young and the Restless, weekdays at 12:50pm on W, instead of it replaying the Canadian crime drama series, The Border from Series 1, The Young and the Restless hasn’t be off ever since it aired on W from April 2007, there will be no need for the show to air weekdays at 2pm and W will be way more reliable than Channel 9 ever was at airing Days and the TV Week soap planner can say: Days of Our Lives weekdays, 12:50pm (AEST) or (AEDT), W, instead of saying: Days of Our Lives weekdays, check guide for times, Nine Network! The interruptions for Days of Our Lives in the Summer by cricket and sports broadcasts need to stop and they need to stop now! The show needs to be aired on a channel where it won’t be interrupted by the Summer cricket and sports broadcasts and W is the channel to air it, weekdays at 12:50pm, alongside and directly after The Young and the Restless! Both it and Y&R never belonged in the 2pm weekdays timeslot on Channel 9 anyway!
You finally get it! You’re right, Channel 9 is who really needs to understand that. W will be way more reliable than Channel 9 ever was at airing Days, as it won’t be interrupted anymore when 9 screens its cricket and sports broadcasts, Y&R has never been off since it first started on the channel (W) back in April 2007 and there will be no need to have the show air at 2pm weekdays anymore, or for the TV Week soap planner to say: Days of Our Lives weekdays, check guide for times, Nine Network, cause instead it’ll say: Days of Our Lives weekdays, 12:50pm (AEST) or (AEDT), W!
and I agree its annoying to have the interuptions and only get 2 episodes on some weeks , its on one day off the next 2 days then its back on Friday and off Monday , back on Tuesday . I do agree that is annoying and you think W channel would be more reliable because Y and R has never been Off since it started on there and you just want the same thing for DOOL. I get it . Channel 9 is who really needs to understand that.
Billy, are you aware that Days of Our Lives gets interrupted by cricket and sports broadcasts every summer? I just want the show on a channel (preferably not on 9, GO! or GEM), where it won’t be interrupted by cricket and sports broadcasts every summer! Days should air directly after The Young and the Restless (like General Hospital did), weekdays at 12:50pm on W, as both it and Y&R don’t belong in the 2pm weekdays timeslot and besides it has more staying power than General Hospital ever did! 9 should be able to do their cricket and sports broadcasts in the future without having to interrupt Days of Our Lives!
I rest my case Billy.
Paul , we think differently . I’m not interested in multipyling how many disappointed soap fans there in Australia . I want to make the amount less.
Free to air viewers have had enough loss. If Days moved to W pensioners would still be pensioners. Who are you considering with that idea ?