NO! I disagree and don't trust the source...being done by ABC. Has GH possibly been the all time best for ABC network that could definitely be true...but AMC or OLTL fans would probably disagree. In my heart the best soap ever is and will always be Guiding Light.

I already see all the people - especially the OLTL and AMC fans - disagreeing about it and going crazy.

However I as a soap fan can justify the list. GH brought in millions of people in the pictured Luke and Laura wedding. Something that no other soap has managed. The 80s of GH were one big adventure and great soap opera, followed by the 90s with a lot of social issues which made GH a complex drama. These two decades will never be forgotten and had impact not only in the soap opera world forever.

And I think every other soap that's one the list has it's right of being there.

Should soap operas like GL, ATWT or OLTL be on that list?
To answer that with another question: Did these shows ever had the mainstream attention like any other soap from that list or is/was as popular as them?
OLTL was always the ugly step-child while CBS always had Y&R front and center as their number one soap. On a Top 10 list, these shows would be on it along with AW.

But this list ... it's fair.

No, General Hospital is not the best soap of all time.

So disagree, I'm a fan Soap Opera over 45yrs, AW/GL/Days/before Gh, and yes I been watch Gh over 40yrs.

That is an impossible question for any long term soap fan. How many of us just watched one soap ever? I was invested at different times in many different soaps. GH for sure, but last yer it was OLTL. AMC during the CLiff and Nina years, Guiding Light for much of the 80's and early 90's, Edge of Night was an early fav.

It's like asking who your best friend is. Over the years the role changes to accomodate my own changing views and growing pains.

I don't think any soap qualifies as the best ever.

All soaps have had their down and out crappy periods...some lasted months...some lasted years.

Edge of Night always my favorite also.

I think its hard to say one soap is the best of all time.
You could say Guiding Light because it lasted 72 years, something no other should will probably ever do.
You could also say As The Worlds Turns, because in 60s it was the highest rated show and I believe I read at one point they had over a 60% share of the viewing audience, which will never happen.
You could also argue for The Young and The Restless because it has been the #1 soap for over 20 years.
You could argue for The Bold and The Beautiful as well because it has quite the international appeal.

Personally, my favorite is All My Children, to me they had the richest characters and very compelling stories, One Life to Live comes in at a close second.

No these polls are not scientific. Since the show was on ABC more publicity was done on that station. Also, just like anything they had a million voters. I just happened upon the show last night and watched a little of it. I didn't agree with all of the other results also.

It comes down to who votes. Just like political elections. There could be more Democrats but the Republicans are bigger voters. It is what it is.

Election results always come down to who can get the voters out to cast ballots.

General Hospital is not best soap of all time. I watched when Luke/Laura were on but I tend to think Guiding Light back in the day produced the best of the best. These questions are always subjective.

There used to be a people's choice show on primetime. Don't know if it is still on. It might be. Anyway, every year Days of Our Lives would be nominated and would win. Every year. They figured out that people who were unfamiliar with soaps would nominate that show because it was the only name they could come up with. So that particular category was dropped and they stuck to primetime favs. In other words, the outcome was known before the question would be poised.

I really dislike it when people deem OLTL with the stigma as "ugly stepchild" or "red headed stepchild". Why is that? Because once upon a time before the Buchanans took over the show dared to have a black family, dared to have a Jew married to a Catholic, had a bunch of working class people striving towards the American dream while the WASPy family WAS the "minority"? Look at Y&R, look at B&B, DAYS, whatever - it was, by today's standards, a bunch of boring ass white people and their elitist problems. I feel OLTL's initial message to break racial barriers, tensions, have though been it's original concept been it's albatross in a socially retarded world. But black, I mean back to the list, I agree with GH being on the list (soap about a bunch of horny medicos), DS (supernatural soap), and AMC (the literary soap), but after AMC - DAYS and Y&R are just homogonized forms of the genre, they just take place in a different part of the country.
Erik

I don't necessarily think GH is the best but I can live with that list. I'm a fan of 4 of the top 5 (never watched AMC). I'm thrilled they chose Dark Shadows. I ADORED that show....it was my first soap!

The short answer is: no.

The slightly longer answer is: there is a massive difference between what is "a favorite" or "popular" program and its "creative"/"dramatic" quality.

The just slightly longer-than-that answer is: in order to judge "the best of all time" includes (or should include) a laundry list of factors including but not limited to quality of writing, acting, production; awards; cultural impact; impact within the genre and industry at large; audience response; critical esteem; longevity & how well old shows hold up over time (can it be viewed freshly over time outside of a nostalgic lens); and clarity of the actual series in question themselves (can it be reviewed not simply in terms of its triumphs and accolades, but also its missteps and failures).

I kind of see where this list is coming from with popularity, money, etc. However,you really can't rank shows that have the tenure that soaps do like this becasue each has it's individual triumphs and specail things it brought to the table. I can't see how at least ATWT doesn't make the list, nor Guiding Light.

ATWT and GL will forever be in my heart the best soaps on television. I miss Oakdale and Springfield so much.

I don't think that terms has ever meant any of those things. I think the "step-child" came because of ABC's treatment of OLTL over the years.

For me it's Y&R, inspite of the last several years. But for over 30 years it was the most consistent in terms of storytelling and actors. Plus it's unbeaten streak at number 1 makes it the undeniable best, IMO.

General Hospital did a lot for soaps in the 80's but as the clip suggests it's still riding the Luke and Laura coat-tails. That's all people seem to address whenever GH is mentioned. However, I would say it's in the top 5 best. Here are my pics for top 5 shows.

1) Y&R
2) OLTL
3) GH
4) ATWT
5) DAYS

Personally I don't think so. For me the best dramatic moments are like when Bianca came out to Erica, or the Aids quilt during OLTL. But I will admit GH has had some wonderful moments Stone and Robin, BJ's death were amazing.

Llanview76 wrote:

I really dislike it when people deem OLTL with the stigma as "ugly stepchild" or "red headed stepchild". Why is that?

I think you sort of misunderstand (?) why OLTL is regularly called those names. Fans of ABC soaps generally always held OLTL in high esteem, often as high (and at times higher) than AMC and GH.

The actual reason is that after Capital Cities/ABC bought the rights to and ownership of AMC, OLTL and GH, the network originally budgeted, promoted and advertised all three shows with roughly the same level of attention (given that it had to make back its rather large investment). This was at a time when GH had ignited a ratings firestorm across the entire daytime soap genre and ABC was at the top of the heap.

Sometime after Disney bought ABC from Cap Cities and ratings began to fluctuate, OLTL slid from ABC's radar. It all became about GH (the once dominant ratings leader "marquee soap", especially after Brian Frons was named head of ABC Daytime later on) and AMC (mainly off the strength of its high public profile/"Erica Kane"/Susan Lucci media fetish) had a long history of neglecting to promote and advertise OLTL, along with cutting its budget. The soap press mainly followed suit in terms of attention to OLTL during this period. Thus OLTL became known as the "ugly/redheaded stepchild" of the ABC lineup.

As far as ABC is concerned, there is a quite a bit of history with this. After ABC acquired Proctor & Gamble's "The Edge of Night" from CBS (around the time of its AMC/OLTL/GH acquisitions), "Edge" was always regarded as the "ugly/redheaded stepchild" of the ABC lineup in terms of network treatment and publicity (althugh ABC had no control over "Edge's" budget). After EON's cancellation and before OLTL became "the ugly stepchild," "Loving" fell into that role. "The City" never really took off from the start and, to its credit, ABC did try to pump "Port Charles" (since it was the direct spinoff of GH) but to little effect in the end.

Perhaps the last true push by ABC in terms of promoting OLTL was around the Billy Douglas coming out story, featuring a then very young Ryan Phillipe. After that OLTL seemed to fall largely out of favor by ABC and the bulk of its publicity efforts centered on promoting GH (and to a certain extent, AMC). Toward the latter part of its run when OLTL was at a creative and critical high (and then-down ratings showed signs of life), many in the soap press did go out of their way to try to get interviews and stories from OLTL, but ABC's folks (including some staffers at OLTL) reportedly were almost apathetic to the very idea.

OLTL remained "the ugly/redheaded" stepchild in terms of network treatment for a good portion of its run from 90's until its cancellation.

J Bernard Jones: Well said! Bravo! I agree 100%!

Not to take anything away from GH. But "Edge Of Night", "Another World", "Dark Shadows", and how could anyone not mention "Search For Tomorrow".

I agree that this question is hard to answer if you're looking for "best" as each soap has had highs and lows creatively. There are years I think it was by far the best. If I were asked which daytime soap has had the biggest influence on pop culture or which soap is the most popular of all time I'd think it would be General Hospital. There's just always been something about GH that separated it from every other show for me. I've probably watched up to 10 others, but no other soap could ever reel me in and keep me consistently watching like GH. There's no right answer. To each their own of course

GH may not be the best but it was those Luke and Laura days that really brought soaps all the attention. Glad to see Dark Shadows, I LOVED that show as a kid and because of that I started watching GH and OLTL with my Mom.

GH may not be the best but it was those Luke and Laura days that really brought soaps all the attention. Glad to see Dark Shadows, I LOVED that show as a kid and because of that I started watching GH and OLTL with my Mom.

What is the criteria? GH has been must see for me at times. I loved Another World, Guiding Light, Days, The Doctors, and One life to live all at different times. GH was always my go to even when it was just down right stupid. I think they all have been the best and the worst at various times. It is true that GH has been the most prominant in pop culture but that never made it the best. If it did, the Kardashians would be the best of some list. I cannot think what list that would be but they certainly are well known. My answer is no.

Short answer from me: no!
Medium Answer: Hell no!
In the top 5: Could be argued as a yes.
In the top 10: Definitely.

For me I would take in a combination of writing, acting, characterization, impact of stories and social influences.

With that being said the list would go as follows:

5. Days Of Our Lives
4. General Hospital
3. Guiding Light
2. The Young and The Restless
1. All My Children

Agnes Nixon having had the greatest impact on daytime with her stories would be why AMC would be number one. From Erica's Abortion, Jesse's false rape charge, Jesse and Agnie (daytime's first black supercouple), Bianca comes out, and Susan Lucci's Erica Kane as the the most popular character in the history of daytime as just a few reasons why it would be number 1.

For Bill Bell, he is the reason why Y&R would be number two. And you know his history as well. So it would work more like that for me.

J Bernard-Thanks for the "history" lesson on OLTL....

What is the criteria?

Although the ABC headline says "best," the story copy and voting says "favorite"...which has nothing to do with whether or not any of the soaps listed were/are "the best."

"Is General Hospital the Best Soap of All-time?"

OK, with this question, someone's trying to start a fight.

david46208....That is six degrees to Irna...both Agnes & Bill are Irna's babies

General Hospital, through Luke and Laura, would definitely qualify as the most well known soap, even by non-soap watchers, but I don't think it's the best. As other's have pointed out, if you've watched more than one soap in your lifetime, each one probably had some stories that kept you glued to the set, so I guess you would have to decide which one had the most stories you loved.

For me it would go something like this.

1. As the World Turns
2. General Hospital
3. Guiding Light
4. One Life to Live
5. Ryan's Hope/All My Children(I had to pull a Luke and have one tie.)

I voted No for GH. As someone posted above, GH keeps riding off of Luke & Laura from the 1980's when the two have not been a long standing couple since early 555-5555.