Soap operas seem to have it more together than most productions that are gearing up to try and get back to work in the wake of the COVID-19 production halt. CBS’ The Bold & The Beautiful has already began shooting new episodes while their fellow CBS soap, The Young & The Restless, are eyeing a production restart by July 6. Not wanting to be left out, ABC’s General Hospital has now also announced that they are looking to shoot new episodes as well beginning mid-July.
ABC is tentatively planning to resume shooting its long-running soap in mid-July but it’s also contingent on the COVID-19 situation in Los Angeles, which has been fluid. The good news for the soap is that, like The Bold & The Beautiful and The Young & The Restless, General Hospital shoots in Los Angeles and so far those soaps have been on schedule. The Bold & The Beautiful started shooting the week before last but paused after the first day because of multiple false-positive test results on set. Its testing protocols were adjusted, the lab used to process tests were changed, and the series has been taping again since this Wednesday. The Young & The Restless shares a producer with The Bold & The Beautiful and they seem on track for their July 6 date as well.
General Hospital ran out originals more than a month ago and has been rerunning classic episodes. The soap had the benefit of being on the air the longest during COVID-19 because of their accelerated shooting schedule. They shut off production in mid-March and aired new episodes through mid-May. The fourth broadcast daytime drama, NBC’s Days of Our Lives, has not revealed production restart plans, but it has a lot more leeway with banked originals to last through September.
Soaps operas, while running new episodes during the pandemic and quarantine, actually saw significant ratings increases year-to-year and it really created an unexpected resurgence for them. I’m sure the four remaining soaps on air want to take advantage of the momentum and since they’re planned out way more in advance than most primetime shows, they can probably set up safer shooting scenarios because everything is carefully mapped out.
General Hospital is both the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the longest-running scripted television drama currently in production. The show has won the Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Drama a record 13 times and currently airs Monday-Friday on ABC.
