It's been a rough couple of months for soap fans. First 'One Life to Live' and 'All My Children' saw their plans to move online collapse, and now, according to a report from Vulture, Jill Farren Phelps, the longtime showrunner for 'General Hospital,' is leaving the series. Phelps is being replaced by 'One Life to Live' veteran Frank Valenti.

ABC confirmed the news. Valenti will be joined on the soap by Ron Carlivati as head writer, both appointments are effective Jan. 9, 2012.

"Frank and Ron's creativity, passion and outstanding leadership will be a welcome addition to the cast and crew, as well as viewers and longtime fans," Brian Frons, president of ABC Daytime, said in a statement. "As creative leaders in the industry, I am very excited for their arrival to 'General Hospital,' and their dedication to the genre will certainly invigorate the daytime drama that has been part of pop culture and the TV landscape for many years."

It's report card time. From time to time, the TV Squad Soap Report will take a look at a show and grade it accordingly. This week, we'll look at General Hospital -- you know, sort of take its temperature. To put it bluntly, General Hospital needs some intensive care. The show is suffering from post-dramatic stress disorder, not traumatic, dramatic. I'm speaking specifically of the shooting of Michael Corinthos, Jr.

Intellectually and from a writer's point of view, I understand why Robert Guza, Jr. -- the head writer -- decided to do this story. It's caused a major upheaval in the Jason-Carly-Sonny-Jax quadrangle. The situation he created, for those who haven't been watching, is this: Sonny's new love, Kate, urged Sonny to bring Michael to the coffee warehouse so he could see the legitimate side of his father's business interests and presumably be impressed enough to want to emulate him. Sonny had been worried that Michael was on the path to becoming a mini-mobster.
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Has it really been 45 years since General Hospital started broadcasting? Four decades + five years of medical machinations, legendary love stories, action and intrigue. Yes, yes, it's true, on April 1, ABC's General Hospital will celebrate 45 years on the air. Current executive producer, Jill Farren Phelps, will cut the cake and members of the cast will blow out the candles, but we're the ones that probably should be smiling. Memories of the great years gone by are inevitable with any show that's run as long as GH. But there's something special about this ABC soap.

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