My Own 50th Anniversary Marathon

Today is General Hospital’s 50th anniversary. Just a year ago, no one thought the show would see this day. All My Children and One Life to Live had both been canceled, and General Hospital’s ratings were actually lower than OLTL’s. But then Bob Guza, who had spent a decade at the helm of GH, replacing hospital-based love stories with mob-centered psychopathology, was finally fired, and the Frank/Ron dream team put the mob on the back burner, put character and history first, and saved the show.

This past weekend, Soapnet celebrated the anniversary by airing a marathon of 50 of GH’s best episodes. I’m sure I speak for many fans when I saw I was disappointed with the selection. While many of the Luke and Laura episodes had aired in marathons past, there were also too many episodes from the Guza days that only served to showcase how the mighty show had fallen.

Understanding that most shows before 1979 were taped over, and not including the shows that were aired as part of the marathon, below is my list of the 50 episodes I wish the marathon had included. I have not included any shows later than 2000, as I stopped watching as Guza’s destruction took hold.

Please add your own episodes as part of the comments!

Scotty proposes to Laura on her 17th birthday.
Audrey tells Jeff that Steve is his father.
Laura finds Bobbie and Scotty together and gets into a car accident.
Rick and Monica spend the night together after he walks out of surgery.
On the day the cardiac wing opens, Rick and Monica are sued for malpractice.

Alan drops a roof on Rick and Monica.
Alan gets blown up trying to shoot Rick and Monica.
Alan announced to all of Port Charles that he is Alan, Jr.’s natural father

Heather over Diana’s body, writing “Anne” in her blood.
Robert ambushes Luke in his apartment, looking for the Ice Princess.
Ice Princess disappears at the Port Charles auction.

Joe Kelly catches Heather in bed with Scotty.
Robert and Luke rescue Holly from her evil relatives in Canada.

Jimmy Lee arrives at the Quartermaines on his motorcycle.
Jimmy Lee and Celia have sex for the first time.
Jimmy Lee kidnaps Celia the day of her wedding to Grant.
Luke and Robert rescue Bobbie and Monica, who are being held hostage in the GH cafeteria.
Robert and Grant rescue Celia and Holly, who are being held by the Russians at the International Fair.

Port Charles learns of Lesley Webber’s death.
Anna Devane arrives in Port Charles and Robert remembers their relationship.

Ginny Webber kills DL Brock.
Anna and Robert fake a relationship while investigating Donely on Jimmy Lee and Celia’s wedding train.
While battling Sean, Robert seemingly falls to his death.
Robert comes home to find Robin in his living room.
Anna and Robin are reunited in the Asian Quarter.

Lucy Coe transforms herself.
Terry O’Connor kills her husband Kevin while he’s fighting on the cliff with Jake Meyer.
Anna and Duke meet and dance at the Policeman’s Ball.
The Quartermaines move into Kelly’s/Alan walks in on Monica kissing Sean.

Burt Ramsey is revealed to be Mr. Big.

Tony sleeps with Lucy.
Grant Putnam kidnaps Anna.
Robert rescues Anna.

Colton realizes he’s the one who killed Frisco.
Monica realizes her one-night stand, Ward, is actually Alan’s nephew, Ned.
Duke fakes his death in a warehouse explosion.
Felicia gets amnesia and thinks she’s Phoebe.

Alan and Lucy dispose of Victor Jerome’s body.
Lucy marries Alan in a tacky red dress.

Anna and Robert make love during an earthquake.

Jason, Jagger and Karen fight with Cal while they’re stranded on an island.
Ryan thinks Audrey is his mother, attacks her.
Dominique dies in Scotty’s arms.
AJ and Julia make love in the Bahamas.
Sonny and Brenda meet at a car dealership.

Lois jumps out of Ned’s birthday cake.
Kevin, Mac and Felicia rescue baby Georgie from Ryan in a carousel.
Jason Morgan and Robin meet for the first time at Stone’s bridge.
Jason is shot while Sonny and Carly have hate sex.