‘General Hospital’ Bombshell as Head Writers Are Replaced By Soap Veterans
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Bosses at General Hospital just dropped a huge bombshell. The show’s co-head writers, Chris Van Etten and Dan O’Connor, are leaving the long-running soap opera. It’s sure to have a massive impact on what viewers see at home and could mean dramatic new storylines and cast changes.
As first reported by Soap Opera Digest, Emmy-winning soap veterans, Patrick Mulcahey (The Bold and the Beautiful) and current General Hospital script editor Elizabeth Korte, will take over as head writers.
Van Etten and O’Connor’s previously written episodes are expected to air through March 2024, as per MichaelFairmanTV.
Korte and Mulcahey both have previous experience with General Hospital, especially the former, who has been a member of the writing team since 1995. Korte also served as co-head writer in 2001 and currently works as a script editor; overall, she has worked on 1156 episodes and counting.
Mulcahey has worked on and off with General Hospital over the years, starting out as a script writer and then an associate head writer and breakdown writer from 1998 to 1999. But he is better known for his work on fellow daytime soap, The Bold and the Beautiful, where he penned 940 episodes between 2005 and 2019.
In addition, Korte co-created the General Hospital spinoff GH: Night Shift with Bob Guza Jr.
Van Etten was promoted to head writer in 2017 and was joined by O’Connor in 2019 following Shelly Altman’s retirement. The pair helmed the show through the recent Daytime Emmys success, where it won the trophy for Oustanding Daytime Drama Series.
It also picked up an Outstanding Directing Team award and four acting Emmys for Robert Gossett, Eden McCoy, Alley Mills, and the late Sonya Eddy.
The previous head writer duo also led the show through its recent 60th anniversary special, which aired earlier this month. The special, which featured classic moments and cast members from years past, ended with a huge announcement, revealing that Steve Burton would be returning to the soap to reprise his iconic role as Jason Morgan.
Let us know what you think of the decision in the comments section below, and tell us what changes, if any, you’d like to see made to the soap.
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