General Hospital premiered on ABC on April 1, 1963, created by Frank and Doris Hursley, and quickly became a television institution set in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York, with original stars John Beradino and Emily McLaughlin. Starting as a half-hour serial, it expanded to a full hour by 1978 and rose to dominate daytime ratings from 1979 to 1988, largely thanks to the legendary "supercouple" Luke and Laura, whose 1981 wedding drew 30 million viewers—still the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history. The show is also famous for high-profile celebrity guest stars, including Elizabeth Taylor, James Franco, and Roseanne Barr, and it made history again on April 23, 2009, as the first ABC soap to broadcast in high-definition. Recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-running American soap opera in production, it became the last remaining soap on ABC after All My Children and One Life to Live were canceled in 2011-2012. With a record 14 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013 and aired its 16,000th episode in July 2026, cementing its status as a cultural landmark listed among Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-Time."