New Head Writer At The Helm On General Hospital

Wonder no more who’s going to be joining Shelly Altman as co-head writer of General Hospital (GH). One of the show’s writers shared on social media that he’s moving up the ladder to help oversee the stories featuring your favorite Port Charles characters.

Writer Chris Van Etten posted on his Facebook page that “Beginning 8/7 I’ll be taking on a new role at General Hospital as co-head writer. Shelly Altman remains our fearless leader and head writer. I’ll continue to write breakdowns but now in addition I get more time with Shelly to cajole her into making everything about Faision.”

Van Etten added, wryly, we suspect, “GH fans may look forward to more lobotomies, Anna’s sabbatical to the planet Lumina, and many more drag queens.”

Sincerely Yours
On a more serious note, Van Etten added, “I’m honored to have the opportunity and am grateful to Frank (Valentini, GH’s executive producer), Shelly and Nathan (Varni, Senior Manager, Current Series, Scripted) for taking a chance on me.

“Additionally I am indebted to (former OLTL bosses) Gary Tomlin, Michael Malone, Jean Passanate, and most of all to my forever guru Ron Carlivati.

By the way, a Google image search of Van Etten brings up a very different image from what the GH scribe looks like. He noted that “some crazy GH fans are mistaking my hot ex-Marine model doppelgänger Chris Van Etten for me.”

Jean Passanante wrote her last GH episode last week and embarked on retirement from the genre, but noted on Twitter she might get bored, so never say never.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. Share your thoughts, leave a comment in the section below. Win exclusive member-only GH spoilers, prizes, and more: sign up here! Also, join the conversation on our Facebook page.