General Hospital: Truly Underwhelming Storylines

Daytime audiences love their favorite soap operas, which is why they are so dedicated to tuning in daily and weekly. The land of Port Charles is an intriguing one filled with mob action, suspense, drama, and lots of romance. While General Hospital (GH) has created some compelling storylines over the years, which have drawn in viewers, they have also slipped up now and again. Below are 12 truly underwhelming General Hospital storylines.

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12. Lulu Is Charlotte’s Mother

When Charlotte strolled into town with her mother Claudette, the child’s paternity became a huge over-arching storyline on GH. Was Nathan her biological dad? Griffin? Viewers also wondered how the child was linked to Valentin Cassadine. When it turned out that Lulu Spencer was, in fact, Charlotte’s mother, and Claudette acted as a surrogate with Cassadine as the biological father, fans were stunned. However, long-time GH fans questioned the unraveling storyline. If you look at Charlotte’s age and the timeline of conception, some things simply don’t add up.

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11. Nikolas Dies Twice Within Months

Tyler Christopher, the actor who played GH’s Nikolas Cassadine, was amid contract negotiations with GH when his character plummeted in May 2016. Turns out, Cassadine simply staged his own demise and actor Nick Stable temporarily filled in as Nikolas that summer until the contract negotiations fizzled and it became clear that Christopher was not going to return to the show. As such, that July, Nikolas was axed…again.

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10. Bringing Back The Vampires

GH’s spin-off soap Port Charles had a ridiculous storyline that revolved around vampires. In 2001, Lucy Coe battled Caleb (the vamp) and he was stabbed through the heart with a stake. Fast forward to 2013, and Caleb somehow returned to GH. It’s hard to do away with the undead and it’s actually hard for anyone to really perish on a soap; however, bringing back the vampires a decade later was a huge mess. The entire storyline was confusing for many reasons, but the main one was that one actor (Michael Easton) played Caleb the vampire, his twin brother Silas, as well as another GH character known as John McBain, all at the same time.

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9. OLTL Characters Invade GH

Speaking of Michael Easton, when ABC’s One Life to Life (OLTL) was canceled in 2012, it made sense to bring over some of the most popular characters from the show to another ABC soap, GH. Roger Howarth, Kristen Alderson, Kassie DePaiva, and Michael Easton made a new home in Port Chuckles, and GH viewers were excited about these new yet familiar faces. Sadly, Prospects Park filed a lawsuit against GH in 2013 as they had plans to re-launch the OTLT via a web network and GH was unable to use these characters in storylines. Meanwhile, the OTLT actors that were brought in were under contract. What’s a show to do? Well, everyone got a makeover. Michael Easton’s character of John McBain turned into Dr. Silas Clay; Roger Howarth’s Todd character turned into Franco; and Kristen Alderson’s Star Manning turned into Kiki Jerome. It was a big mess for a while until the new characters settled into their new storylines.

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8. Bringing Back Jake

Jake Spencer’s return in 2015 was messed up, to say the least. The child passed away due to a drunk driving accident and his kidney was donated to Josslyn Jacks at the time of his passing. GH writers had to do a ton of scrambling when Jake landed back in the land of Port Charles. The good news is that Jake is back with his family and Josslyn’s kidney mystery brought Nelle to town. Still, bringing Jake back from the afterlife seemed unreal and was a bit far-fetched.

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7. Luke’s Goodbye

Many fans and soap opera journalists alike believe that Luke’s final farewell in 2015 was missing something big. He had great goodbye scenes with Tracy and daughter Lulu before skipping out of Port Charles; however, he gave no official goodbye to Laura. Regardless of what their current relationship status was, Luke and Laura will always remain soap opera super-couple icons. No goodbye scene between the two was a massive mess-up.

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6. The Downfall Of Julexis

Julian and Alexis were one of the steamiest couples on daytime drama some years back. Their 2016 wedding was incredible, and many GH fans were ecstatic that these two were finally hitched. It was sad that some months into their honeymoon, things went downhill and fast for these two. Julian turned back to his mob ways and he almost ended up ending his new wife’s life. It was an awful way to end such an incredible love story.

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5. Emily’s Breast Cancer

Back in 2003, Emily Quartermaine had breast cancer and many were worried she wouldn’t make it through. In fact, a case of meningitis had the sweet Quartermaine daughter on her deathbed. However, miraculously, she recovered quite quickly after she had a dream where Nikolas Cassadine kissed her. In a storyline where GH could’ve shown the bravery and heart of Emily surmounting the odds, they placed some cheesy dream kiss as the source of all healing.

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4. Bottomless Pit

All the Cassadines seem to have nine lives, but Stavros takes the cake. He’s been resurrected three times over the years; however, his 2001 passing (and return) left most GH viewers scratching their heads. That’s because Stavros was thrown into a bottomless pit by Luke Spencer, but managed to return in 2013. How does one come back after being thrown into a hole that has no end? Stavros clearly did a lot of climbing to return to the land of the living.

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3. Robert’s Ghost

In 1992, it was revealed that Robert Scorpio had passed away in a boating accident along with the love of his life, Anna. Leaving their daughter Robin an orphan, Robert’s ghost re-appeared to Robin in 1995 when she was dealing with the passing of her first boyfriend, Stone. Was he a figment of Robin’s imagination? He had to have been, as it was revealed that Robert was very much alive in 2006.

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2. Emily’s Passing

Emily Quartermaine became a victim of the Text Message Killer in 2007, and many GH viewers thought that getting rid of a popular character like Em was a huge mistake. GH would try and rectify this by introducing Emily’s twin sister Rebecca Shaw to audiences in 2009, but the character was short-lived and didn’t connect with fans like Emily did.

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1. Recasting Jason Morgan

When Jason was shot and presumably offed by Faison in 2012, GH fans were shocked. Steven Burton played the iconic character for over twenty years and he was undeniably a fan-favorite. When Billy Miller was recast into the role in 2014, audiences were skeptical. Miller is a huge soap opera star with tons of talent, and while he did a great job carving the Morgan character into his own, he was no Stone Cold. Was the recast a mistake? Yes and no. Miller never truly owned the Jason Morgan role; however, Steve Burton’s return to the show has been fantastic and has launched an incredible Jason and Drew storyline. Plus, fans get to see both Burton and Miller daily.