General Hospital airs its 16,000th episode today on ABC.
In this episode, Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) returns to the series hometown of Port Charles, New York, and Anna (Finola Hughes) and Valentine (James Patrick) are reunited. Joining the team is new surgeon Dr. Tristan Roberts (Dean Geyer), named after longtime “General Hospital” actor Tristan Rogers, who died last August. Rogers played Robert Scorpio on the series from 1980 to 2025.
Currently in its 64th year, General Hospital is the longest-running American scripted drama and longest-running American soap opera currently in production.
General Hospital premiered in 1963, and the soap also earned the distinction of being the series that won the most outstanding Daytime Emmy Awards (18). Nominations for the 53rd Daytime Emmy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, July 14.
Over its long history, General Hospital has hosted many celebrity guests. Elizabeth Taylor appeared in the episode where Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Jean Francis) got married, with Scorpio serving as Luke’s best man. The 1981 episode attracted an audience of 30 million viewers. The series most recently introduced John Oliver as a helicopter-flying, gun-wielding character earlier this month.
The cast, crew and creative team celebrated the 16,000th episode with a cake cutting ceremony at Prospect Studios in Los Angeles on June 1.
The show was created by Frank and Doris Hursley. Frank Valentini serves as executive producer, with Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten serving as co-writers.
“General Hospital” airs weekdays on ABC and later on Hulu.