Port Charles

Port Charles
File:540TITLE555.jpg This Port Charles logo was seen from July 2002 to October 2003.
Created by	Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Wendy Riche
Starring	Lynn Herring Jon Robert Lindstrom Kin Shriner Julie Pinson Debbi Morgan Michael Dietz Rachel Ames Sarah Aldrich Marie-Alise Recasner Marie Wilson Kimberlin Brown Thorsten Kaye Kelly Monaco Michael Easton Brian Gaskill Erin Hershey Presley Ian Buchanan, et al
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	1633
Production
Running time	approx. 0:30
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	June 1, 1997 – October 3, 2003

Port Charles was a soap opera which aired on ABC from June 1, 1997 to October 3, 2003. The show aired 1633 episodes, which included a two-hour pilot which kicked off the series, aired in primetime.

The show was a spin-off of the popular General Hospital. It first featured seven interns in a competitive medical school program. In the first episode, tenured nurse Audrey Hardy (played first on General Hospital by Rachel Ames, who reprised the role on the new serial) was injured and an intern had to operate on her with a power drill to save her life. In the first few years, Port Charles got a reputation for focusing most of its energies on the medical school program, setting more of its main action in Port Charles General Hospital than was seen on the parent show, General Hospital.

Over the years, Port Charles became a soap opera with complex younger characters and ended up focusing on stories about forbidden love, vampires, and resurrection to life after death. The soap opera switched from the regular writing format, instead creating thirteen-week story arcs which are more commonly used on Spanish telenovelas. This allowed the cast, crew, and writing staff to only work six months out of the year.

The show was canceled in the summer of 2003; some fans speculated that it was due to the fact that the show was nominated for Best Daytime Drama and lost at the Daytime Emmy Awards to As the World Turns. In reality, the show, which was owned by ABC, was losing money with each week and was not aired in many parts of the country as stations like Pittsburgh's ABC affiliate WTAE-TV didn't carry the show. This, in turn, brought down ratings and reduced revenue.

Since the show only taped for six months out of the year, the remaining episodes were aired with the cast not allowed to return to tape resolutions to storylines. In fact, the final episode was a cliffhanger; heroine Alison (Erin Hershey Presley) didn't know who the father of her baby was.

After the show was cancelled, many former cast members went on to star on another soaps. Currently on different soaps are Julie Pinson (Days of our Lives as Billie Reed), Kelly Monaco (General Hospital as Sam McCall), Thorsten Kaye (All My Children as Zach Slater), Michael Easton (One Life to Live as John McBain), Ian Buchanan (All My Children as Greg Madden) and Marie Wilson (As the World Turns as Meg Snyder).

Cast of characters

• Susan Brown as Gail Baldwin
• Peter Hanson as Lee Baldwin
• Lynn Herring as Lucy Coe Collins
• Jon Lindstrom as Kevin Collins
• Kin Shriner as Scott Baldwin (1997-2000, 2001)
• Rachel Ames as Audrey Hardy (1997-2000)
• Jay Pickett as Frank Scanlon
• Nolan North as Chris Ramsey
• Julie Pinson as Eve Lambert Collins Thornhart (1997-2002)
• Lisa Ann Hadley as Julie Devlin Ramsey (1997-2000, 2001)
• Mitch Longley as Matt Harmon (1997-2000)
• Jennifer Hammon (1997-1999) and Marie Wilson (1999-2003) as Karen Wexler
• Rib Hillis as Jake Marshak (1997-1998)
• Michael Dietz (1997-1999), David Gail (1999-2000) and Alex Mendoza (2000-2001, 2002) as Joe Scanlon
• Debbi Morgan (1997-1998) and Marie-Alise Recasner (1998-1999) as Ellen Burgess
• Renee Griffin as Danielle Ashley (1997-1998)
• Carly Schroeder as Serena Baldwin (1997-2001)
• Sarah Aldrich as Courtney Kanelos (1998-2000)
• Kelly Monaco as Olivia "Livvie" Locke Morley (1999-2003)/Tess Ramsey (2002-2003)
• Kimberlin Brown as Rachel Locke (1999-2000, 2001)
• Kiko Ellsworth as Jamal Woods (2000-2003)
• Erin Hershey Presley as Alison Barrington Kovich (2000-2003)
• Thorsten Kaye as Ian Thornhart (2000-2003)
• Ion Overman as Gabriela Garza (2000-2002)
• Brian Presley as Jack Ramsey (2000-2003)
• Michael Easton as Caleb Morley (2001, 2002-2003)/Michael Morley (2001)
• Brian Gaskill as Rafe Kovich (2001-2003)
• Jed Allan as Ed Grant (2001-2003)
• Eddie Matos as Ricky Garza (2001-2003)
• Joy Bisco as Casey Leong (2002, 2003)/Marissa Leong (2002-2003)
• Rebecca Staab as Elizabeth Barrington (2002-2003)
• Ian Buchanan as Joshua Temple (2002-2003)
• Shannon Sturges as Kate Reynolds (2002-2003)

Ratings History

Port Charles, like Loving and The City before it, never attracted strong ratings. It generally remained a stable 10th and then 9th after the cancellation of Another World but plummeted to last place in the months prior to cancellation.

Connections to Other Soaps

All My Children

• Ian Buchanan played Dr. Greg Madden from 2005-2006.
• Thorsten Kaye currently plays Zach Slater since 2004.
• Brian Gaskill previously played Bobby Warner fromm 1995-1997.
• Debbi Morgan previously played Angie Baxter Hubbard from 1982-1990.

As the World Turns

• Marie Wilson currently portrays Meg Snyder since 2005.
• Brian Gaskill previously played B.J. Green briefly in 2005.
• Kin Shriner previously played Keith Morrissey from 2005-2006.

The Bold and the Beautiful

• Ian Buchanan previously played Dr. James Warwick from 1993-1998.
• Brian Gaskill previously played Oscar Marone from 2003-2004.
• Kimberlin Brown previously played Sheila Carter from 1992-1998.
• Michael Dietz previously played Mark MacClaine from 2002-2005.

Days of our Lives

• Julie Pinson currently portrays Billie Reed since 2004.
• Michael Easton previously played Tanner Scofield from 1991-1992.
• Shannon Sturges previously played Molly Brinker from 1991-1992.
• Jed Allan previously played Dr. Don Craig from 1971-1985.

General Hospital

• Kelly Monaco currently plays Sam McCall since 2003.
• Jed Allan previously portrayed Edward Quartermaine from 2004-2006.
• Ian Buchanan previously played Duke Lavery from 1986-1989.

One Life to Live

• Michael Easton currently plays John McBain since 2003.
• Kimberlin Brown previously played Dr. Paige Miller from 2004-2005.
• Thorsten Kaye previously played Patrick Thornhart from 1995-1997.

Passions

• Rib Hillis substituted for Eric Martsolf as Ethan Winthrop in 2006.
• Shannon Sturges substituted for McKenzie Westmore as Sheridan Crane in 2005.

The Young and the Restless

• Kimberlin Brown previously played Sheila Carter from 1990-1992 and from 2005-2006.
• Sarah Aldrich substituted for Heather Tom as Victoria Newman in 1997.

External links

• SOAPnet PC Page