History YMMV / GeneralHospital

** It was pointed out in 2022 that Music/BritneySpears' ex Jason Alexander crashing her wedding to Sam Ashgari perfectly paralleled what Scotty had done at Luke and Laura's wedding (though Alexander got kicked out before he had a chance to catch the BouquetToss).

* FriendlyFandoms: With ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'', as the two oldest current US soaps, which have influenced one another greatly over the decades. It helps that there has been lots of cast crossover between the shows, with ''GH'' mainstays occasionally taking recurring roles on ''Days'' (Genie Francis, Lynn Herring, Creator/JohnIngle), ''Days'' mainstays doing the same on ''GH'' (Mary Beth Evans, Matthew Ashford, Creator/CharlesShaughnessy), and Wally Kurth as a regular on both shows (Ned Quartermaine on ''GH'', Justin Kiriakis on ''Days'').

* CrackPairing: A canon example, when Luke and Felicia having a one-night stand in 2000 left lots of heads shaking, with their decade-and-a-half age gap and many dissimilarities. Not helped by it being depicted as a long, steamy love scene.

* CrackPairing: Luke and Felicia having a one-night stand in 2000 left lots of heads shaking, with their decade-and-a-half age gap and many dissimilarities. Not helped by it being depicted as a long, steamy love scene.

* BrokenBase - Bob Guza's third and longest run as head writer from 2002 to 2011 (with at different points a couple of co-head writers), which is arguably the most controversial run by a head writer in American soap history besides James E. Reilly for ''Series/DaysOfOurLives''. It has its vocal defenders, especially among fans of Jason, Sam, and Sonny, but others - mostly longtime fans who at least started watching the show in the '90s - criticized it for shifting the focus of the show toward the mob, killing off (and violently, at that) members of the longtime Quartermaine and Jones families while ignoring or writing out well-established characters, and for more than a few blatant cases of CreatorsPet. Whether or not you defend Guza, it's really telling that with the radical regime change in showrunners in 2012 and with the fear of cancellation overhead, all the mob-oriented characters except Sonny have been [[PutontheBus killed or sent to prison]] (although more mob characters have appeared or returned since), ''many'' established characters written off years ago have returned, and the Quartermaines have been made a strong center of the show again.

* PortmanteauCoupleName: Most couples have been given a nickname of this sort. It's usually some form of smushing the character's names together or else calling the couple by their initials. Examples include "Liason" (Liz and Jason) and "Spixie" (Spinelli and Maxie). The revelation that villains Ryan Chamberlain and Heather Webber had a long-ago fling led the amusing, and very fitting, "Heathan" for their pairing.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After the incredibly unpopular decision to have Luke assert that Tracy is the love of his life and not Laura, as in the legendary love story of [[{{Supercouple}} Luke and Laura]]. However when Anthony Geary decided to end his contract, Luke leaves messages to all his loved ones, including Tracy, before leaving Port Charles. However, the final word he utters on the show is a quite wistful yet forlorn "Laura," as she stares off into the distance from her apartment, before Luke vanishes into the mist. Seems the writers wised up and ensured the fandom that the most famous pairing in daytime really were each others great loves. Also Tracy's last moments on GH end with her running into Luke and seeming to go to him. Although the ending is rather ambiguous.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The July 6, 2018 episode featured an appearance by ''Colonel Sanders'' - yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders - to celebrate "National Fried Chicken Day" with a storyline involving his "eleven herbs and spices".

* PortmanteauCoupleName: Most couples have a nickname of this sort. It's usually some form of smushing the character's names together or else calling the couple by their initials. Examples include "Liason," and "Spixie."

* RetroactiveRecognition: As is par for the course with soaps, many of the show's actors have gone on to fame in primetime or film. Of particular note are Creator/DemiMoore and Creator/JanineTurner as the Templeton sisters (Jackie and Laura) in TheEighties, and Creator/MeghanMarkle (in a bit part as a nurse in 2002). Some have even reappeared on the show despite their newfound success.

* RetroactiveRecognition: As is par for the course with soaps, many of the show's actors have gone on to fame in primetime or even in film--including Creator/MeghanMarkle[[note]] she had a bit part as a nurse in 2002[[/note]] --some of whom have even reappeared on the show despite their newfound success.

* HollywoodHomely: Sabrina Santiago is described as frumpy and undesirable by giving her huge red glasses and frizzy hair. Of course, she's following in the grand tradition of Lucy Coe, who was a mousy librarian type (despite being played by Miss USA finalist Lynn Herring) before she got her vamp makeover. Winnifred Leeds would be another character in the same vein (though she never got a makeover like Lucy and Sabrina did).

* HollywoodHomely: Sabrina Santiago is described as frumpy and undesirable by giving her huge red glasses and frizzy hair. Of course, she's following in the grand tradition of Lucy Coe, who was a mousy librarian type before she got her vamp makeover. Winnifred Leeds would be another character in the same vein (though she never got a makeover like Lucy and Sabrina did).

* AudienceAlienatingEra: After guiding the show through its most popular era (1978-87), Gloria Monty returned as executive producer in 1991 and quickly eroded all of her accumulated good will with the fans. She'd talked Anthony Geary into coming back to the show, but he didn't want to play Luke again, so Monty created a new character for him: Luke's blue-collar [[UncannyFamilyResemblance lookalike cousin]] Bill Eckert. What irked the fans was Monty's decision to then bring in a whole Eckert family along with him and spend most of the episodes developing them, pushing the legacy characters to the sidelines, including several actors getting fired. Ratings quickly slid downhill and Monty was dismissed after just a year. The one lasting legacy of Monty's second tenure was introducing the enduringly popular Mac Scorpio to the ensemble.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: After guiding the show through its most popular era (1978-87), Gloria Monty returned as executive producer in 1991 and quickly eroded all of her accumulated good will with the fans. She'd talked Anthony Geary into coming back to the show, but he didn't want to play Luke again, so Monty created a new character for him: Luke's blue-collar [[UncannyFamilyResemblance lookalike cousin]] Bill Eckert. What irked the fans was Monty's decision to then bring in a whole Eckert family along with him and spend most of the episodes developing them, pushing the legacy characters to the sidelines, including several actors getting fired. Ratings quickly slid downhill and Monty was dismissed after just a year.
* AuthorsSavingThrow: After the incredibly unpopular decision to have Luke assert that Tracy is the love of his life and not Laura, as in the legendary love story of [[{{Supercouple}} Luke and Laura]]. However when Anthony Geary decided to end his contract, Luke leaves messages to all his loved ones, including Tracy, before leaving Port Charles. However, the final word he utters on the show is a quite wistful yet forlorn "Laura," as she stares off into the distance from her apartment, before Luke vanishes into the mist. Seems the writers wised up and ensured the fandom that the most famous pairing in daytime really were each others great loves. Also Tracy's last moments on GH end with her running into Luke and seeming to go to him. Although the ending is rather ambigious.

** While the show had already won numerous Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series, it didn't win the best writing award until its ninth nomination in 1999.

* FanNickname: "Scrubs" for Patrick and Robin, the last couple where both actually worked at the hospital.