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''Port Charles'' (commonly abbreviated as ''PC'') is an American television soap opera which aired on ABC from June 1, 1997 to October 3, 2003. It is a spin-off of the serial ''General Hospital'', which has been running since 1963 and takes place in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York. The new show features longtime ''General Hospital'' characters Lucy Coe, Kevin Collins, Scott Baldwin, and Karen Wexler, along with several new characters, most of whom were interns in a competitive medical school program. In the first episode, tenured nurse Audrey Hardy (''General Hospitals longest-running character, portrayed by Rachel Ames) 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 at Port Charles' General Hospital than was seen on the parent show, ''General Hospital''. As it evolved, it turned its focus to stories with gothic intrigue that included themes such as forbidden love, vampires, and life after death (somewhat similar to the earlier series ''Dark Shadows'', which also aired on ABC). It also abandoned the basic open-ended writing style used on all other daytime dramas in December 2000, instead creating thirteen-week story arcs (which were also referred to as "books"). This type of storytelling is a staple of Latin ''telenovelas''. It also allowed the cast, crew, and writing staff to only work six months out of the year. After ''Port Charles,'' the characters of Scott Baldwin and Audrey Hardy returned to ''General Hospital'', and many of the other actors from ''Port Charles'' moved on to play roles on other dramas, including a few who took on new roles on ''General Hospital'', such as actors Kelly Monaco, Kiko Ellsworth, Eddie Matos, Kent King, and Jay Pickett. In December 1999, Julie Hanan Carruthers was promoted to executive producer after Wendy Riche wanted to step down to focus on ''General Hospital''. Carruthers has been the senior supervising producer of ''Port Charles'', while servicing the same role on ''General Hospital'' since the inception of ''Port Charles''. ''Port Charles'' never attracted strong ratings. Since it taped for only six months out of the year, the remaining episodes were aired with the cast not allowed to return to tape resolutions to storylines. This left the final episode as a cliffhanger; Caleb told Olivia that Alison (Erin Hershey Presley) was pregnant with his baby because of the wish that she (Olivia) made on his ring and it was revealed that Imani was a werewolf. In 2013, the writers of ''General Hospital'' revisited the final storyline of ''Port Charles'' after actors Michael Easton and Lynn Herring joined the show, putting their own spin on the ''PC'' storyline. Easton was now playing John McBain, a role he originated on the cancelled ''One Life to Live'', while Herring would reprise her role as Lucy Coe. To work with the previous ''PC'' storyline, Easton started a dual role, playing both John and Caleb onscreen. At the conclusion of the story arc, it appeared the Caleb character had died; however, in the morgue after Lucy Coe left convinced he was dead, the true Caleb switched bodies with the Medical Examiner and walked out of the morgue. ==History== Plans to spin off ''General Hospital'' were announced in December, 1996. ABC had previously passed on the idea of a ''GH'' spin off proposed by former head writer, Claire Labine. Tentatively titled ''GH2'', the series was set to revolve around interns at the medical school across from General Hospital. Wendy Riche, executive producer of ''General Hospital'', was hired to fill the same role for the new series.〔(The Post and Courier - Google News Archive Search )〕 Riche said of the new show, "This will be a multigenerational show, which is the kind of drama we've always done at ''GH''".〔 It was later announced that the series would be titled ''Port Charles'', after the fictional city the series are set, and would star Jon Lindstrom and Lynn Herring, playing their roles from ''GH''.〔(Sun Journal - Google News Archive Search )〕 The series premiered with a two hour prime time special, that aired on June 1, 1997.〔(The Telegraph-Herald - Google News Archive Search )〕 It started in its regular timeslot, the following day, replacing the canceled ''The City''.〔(The Vindicator - Google News Archive Search )〕 The series also featured the return of ''General Hospital'' characters Scott Baldwin (Kin Shriner), and Karen Wexler (Jennifer Hammon). After the series premiered, it was unclear if Lindstrom, Herring, and Shriner would remain with the series. It was later confirmed the actors would stay on the show. Riche later recalled the creation process by saying, "We knew that ''The City'' was probably not going to last. I was having lunch with Pat () at some event. We were talking about ''The City'' and what to do with that timeslot. I said, 'If I were a programmer, I would start the ABC lineup with a half hour of the west wing of General Hospital with the interns in a learning hospital, and cap the day off with ''General Hospital''. I would interface the characters in Port Charles with both wings of General Hospital.' Pat thought that was a great idea. She thought about it for a few hours, ran it by upper management, and told me to write it up. I sat down, wrote down some characters and storylines, sent her back some pages, and created the show. That was a natural bridge as a programmer. I had worked as a programmer at ABC and FOX so my head also thinks in those terms. We wanted to bring continuity to the show, which was Lucy, Kevin, and Scotty." Despite low ratings, the series celebrated its first anniversary on June 1, 1998, as the series slowly continued to establish its own audience and improve in its time slot.〔(Star-News - Google News Archive Search )〕 In 2000, it was announced that ''Port Charles'' would abandon the traditional open-ended style of storytelling, in favor of 13-week story arcs, similar to Latin telenovelas. Each arc is referred to as a "book", and has its own plot line.〔(Eugene Register-Guard - Google News Archive Search )〕 The approach was designed to attract more younger viewers, with shorter format being easier for many viewers to keep up with.〔(Portsmouth Daily Times - Google News Archive Search )〕 ABC's head of daytime, Angela Shapiro said of format change, "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey, still, we need to come up with () stories that have a beginning, middle, and end." In June 2003, ''Port Charles'' was cancelled by ABC after six years due to low ratings.〔(The Vindicator - Google News Archive Search )〕 The final episode aired on October 3, 2003.〔(The Bryan Times - Google News Archive Search )〕 Brian Frons said of the decision to cancel the relatively young series, "This was an extremely difficult decision, we were very pleased with the creative execution of the show, but the 30 minute format in this time period posed significant financial challenges, which ultimately led to this decision."〔(Daily News - Google News Archive Search )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Port Charles」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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