What is General Hospital?
{{update}} {{Infobox television | first_aired = {{start date|1963|04|01}} | last_aired = present | network = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] | camera = [[Multiple-camera setup]] | runtime = 30 minutes (1963-1976)<br>45 minutes (1976-1978)<br>60 minutes (1978-present) | starring = [[Present cast]]<br>[[Past cast]] | theme_music_composer = [[Jack Urbont]]<br>[[Paul Glass]]<br>[[Steve Hopkins]] | country = United States | writer = Dan O'Connor<br>[[Chris Van Etten]] | genre = [[Soap opera]] | creator = [[Frank & Doris Hursley]] | num_seasons = 62 | num_episodes = 15,600<br>(as of August 19, 2024) | executive_producer = [[Frank Valentini]] (2012-present}<br>(and [[others]]) | location = [[The Prospect Studios]]<br>[[Los Angeles, California]] | company = Selmur Productions<br>(1963-1968)<br>[[ABC Signature]] (1968-present) | language = English }} '''''General Hospital''''' (commonly abbreviated '''''GH''''') is the longest-running [[ABC Daytime]] [[United States|American]] [[soap opera]] broadcast on the [[American Broadcasting Company]] television network. It is also the longest-running [[serial]] produced in [[Hollywood]] (having been taped at the Prospect Avenue ABC Television Center West and Sunset-Gower Studios). Set in the fictional city of Port Charles, [[New York (state)|New York]], ''General Hospital'' debuted on April 1, 1963, the same day that rival network [[NBC]] launched its own medical daytime drama, ''[[The Doctors]]''. The show originally aired for a half-hour until the network expanded it to the unusual length of 45 minutes in 1976, and then to a full hour in 1978. The serial was created by soap writers Frank and Doris Hursley, a husband-and-wife team. ''General Hospital'' is credited for starting several trends in the [[soap opera]] genre in the 1980s, most notably that of the fast-paced action-adventure plotline