General Hospital’s New Writer Brings Renewed Hope

With Jean Passanante retiring not just as co-head writer of General Hospital (GH), but from the genre entirely, GH has announced her replacement: Chris Van Etten.

Van Etten is moving up from breakdown writer on GH, a position he also once held on OLTL, along with Passanante, and Ron Carlivati, now head writer on Days Of Our Lives, under current GH executive producer Frank Valentini.

How do fans feel about Van Etten coming on-board alongside Shelly Altman? Over 3,000 of you were not shy about saying what you really think!

Onward! Upward! Forward!
On the theory that all change has to be good change, 45% of you are looking forward to a fresh voice in the big chair (even if he’s sharing).

Van Etten is familiar with Port Charles history, so he doesn’t need to be brought up to speed, but he’s never head-written before, which means his ideas might be fresh and exciting.

It’s hard to churn out five shows a week, 52 weeks a year. Head writers get burned out. New blood is exactly what the doctor ordered! Heck, we might even get more of those white-coat wearing guys in a show that used to be set in a hospital!

Hope-Full
You know what goes great with change? Hope! Hope that the change will be good, mostly. And 34% of the audience is certainly holding onto hope that what comes next will be better than what came before.

Same Old, Same Old
There’s an old Russian folks saying, “Never ask for a better Czar.” That applies to head writers, too, insist 20% of the fans. Van Etten is part of the same team that’s been writing for months, and they haven’t seen anything to excite them about the prospect of him getting more power.

He’ll either stay the old, boring course, or he’ll try to be new and never-before-seen. If that way lives devil possession and time travel, cloning and rubber mask lookalikes, you’ll pass.

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.