‘General Hospital’: Surprising Rules The Cast Must Follow
General Hospital is one of the top-rated shows on ABC daytime today. Fans have been delighted by the trials and travails of the residents in Port Charles for more than 50 years. However, there are a series of rules that the cast and crew must follow if they wish to remain on the canvas. Let’s take a look behind the scenes and see what your favorites need to do to stay on camera.
‘General Hospital’ cast members have to abide by social distancing guidelines
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, General Hospital had to abide by social distancing guidelines. They aren’t the only soap that had to do so. Both Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful also had to abide by these rules. However, while The Bold and the Beautiful infamously used mannequins as stand-ins for the actors’ safety, GH took a very different approach.
According to Soaps @ SheKnows, the GH cast was subjected to frequent on-site COVID tests, physical distancing when not filming, and no love scenes. The cast was also required to wear face masks when they weren’t interacting on camera for their scenes.
This was a good move and was responsible for keeping COVID-19 off the set. However, this changed when Steve Burton (who plays Jason Morgan) revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19. And despite the real-life drama of the so-called “vaccine mandate” dividing the cast — with stars Nancy Lee Grahn and Ingo Rademacher on opposing sides of the debate — the General Hospital crew is back to work. But, according to one star, the cast doesn’t socialize as much as they used to.
Laura Wright says the cast doesn’t socialize as much as they used to
In an interview with TV Insider, Laura Wright — who plays Carly Corinthos — revealed that the once thick-as-thieves cast doesn’t socialize as much as they used to thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The hard part was that you wanted to just jump on people to hug them but you couldn’t touch them,” she said to the outlet. “These are people that I’ve been working with for over 15 years. They’re family, so not being able to hug people and really get close and say, “How are you?,” that was challenging. Everything through masks, everything.”
Wright’s sadness notwithstanding, General Hospital showrunner Frank Carlivati told Eyewitness News that the social distancing, masking, and vaccine mandates will continue into the foreseeable future. This is to ensure the safety of both the cast and the crew.
What else do ‘GH’ fans not know about their favorite soap?
According to Rare, General Hospital fans generally don’t keep up with the “newer” and younger characters on the soap. The younger characters were originally designed to appeal to a younger audience, but as the ratings for the show prove, the loyal legion of Port Charles acolytes tend to stick to the “old reliable” characters like Sonny Corinthos and Laura Collins.
“After more than half a century on the air, the ABC daytime series has aired more than 57 seasons and 14,000 episodes,” they report. “Over the years, we’ve seen countless cast members’ comings and goings, recasts, and exits.” This suggests that because the cast and crew tend to rotate so much, fans don’t have a chance to “bond” with the characters as they once did in the past.
With that said, General Hospital still ranks high amongst its devoted fanbase, no matter how stringent the rules behind the scenes are. Here’s to another 50 years on the air.
