Daytime Drama Producer Gloria Monty has passed on

This was the woman who gave the ABC Daytime Drama "General Hosptial" a fighting chance back in the late 1970's...and now is no longer with us.

Never really got into GH, but my father watches the show. If not for Monty, my dad would not likely watch it and he would not get the chance to watch the ongoings in the city of Port Charles; the fictional city GH takes place in. When Monty became producer of GH she only had 13 weeks to turn the numbers around or it would be history. Man did she turn the show around. Monty went beyond the 'kitchen sink' when she ushered in storyline ranging from action-based to Science Fiction (know about the plot to put Port Charles in deep freeze???). Also Monty casted younger actors and actress and make them an important part of the GH cast. Oh and lets not forget Luke & Laura Spencer. In the 80's it was the number one daytime drama, and stayed at number one until CBS Daytime's 'Young & the Restless' took the top spot somewere in the late 80's and early 90's which by that time had the Newmans and the Abbott families assembled on that show's respected canvas.

I will not go into details of a certain GH storyline regarding Luke & Laura but a musical cue from it did help a certain Trumpet player get a number one hit (his second number one using his trumpet rather than his voice ala "This Guy is in Love With You.") and was able to shed off his Easy Listening Mexican Music stylings. The artist was Herb Alpert, and the piece was called "Rise." By the way 'Rise' was sample in another hit many moons later. That hit was called ‘Hypnotize' by late Hip-Hop artist Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Small a.k.a Chris Wallace.

Yes their was a short lived spin-off of GH called 'Port Charles.' It did introduce the 'telenovela' style of story writing to American audiences. Meaning that the storylines are resolved in 13 weeks. Port Charles may be gone, but soon Telenovels might become a new format of scripted TV here in the states. FOX will be getting into that with its new Netlet 'My Network TV' this fall. The major networks might give it a shot during the summer months, and ABC might purchase a show for the upcoming fall season based on the popular Colombia telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea. It would be likely along the lines of their hit show 'Desperate Housewives.'

Story on Gloria Monty's passing at Zap2it.com