History Series / GeneralHospital

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Edward Quartermaine's disappearance and presumed death in 1989 came about because David Lewis was having health problems and had to scale back his acting. He still showed up for tapings to record Edward's voice for the scenes where Lila carried on conversations with his portrait, before returning onscreen in 1991.

* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: In 1983, Stavros Cassadine kidnapped Laura and manipulated her into marrying him by telling her that Luke was dead.

* CryingWolf: The pregnant Esme, held captive at Wyndermere by Nikolas, twice fakes pregnancy complications in a bid to get sent to the hospital, but is forced to confess when Liz skillfully plays along, then calls her bluff by proposing extreme treatments (an emergency C-section after fake cramping, then pumping Esme's stomach after she appeared to have swallowed a whole bottle of prenatal vitamins; she really just threw them away). Thus, when she comes down with a case of EasyAmnesia after escaping Wyndermere by jumping from the parapet into freezing water, there's suspicion that she's faking once again.

** Although Brenda did not really sleep with Michael, no one ever REALLY brought up that it would be rape since Michael was too drunk to consent.

** Sonny Corinthos is very obviously [[Franchise/TheGodfather Vito Corleone]] (powerful mob boss) meets [[Franchise/TheGodfather Michael Corleone]] (personal turmoil stemming from being deeply conflicted about his organized crime life) meets [[Series/TheSopranos Tony Soprano]] (juggling mob activities with being trying to be an attentive father to his children). He's even acknowledged many of these similarities on the show. Branching from that, you can also argue Kristina Corinthos-Davis for Meadow Soprano, as a rebellious young woman trying to assert her own identity under the shadow of her father, but also strongly tied to him.

* TheUnfavorite: AJ to Jason, Elizabeth to Sarah, Stefan to Stavros, etc.

* SpotlightStealingSquad: Currently, Sonny and Carly always seem to find some way to get involved in every single storyline.

The series has spawned two spinoffs: SupernaturalSoapOpera ''Series/PortCharles'' and ''Series/GeneralHospitalNightShift'', a weekly primetime summer series on Creator/SoapNet.

* TheOner: The celebrated 1979 scene where Alan weaves through the crowd at his son A.J.'s christening while racing against the clock to save his wife Monica and her lover Rick from a roof he'd rigged to collapse, after having second thoughts, alternates between a camera following an anxious Alan around as the guests congratulate him, and quick cutaway shots of clocks and the roof beams.

* MedicalDrama: The genre the show started out in.

* SeriesContinuityError: In 2023, Bobbie told Spencer Cassadine that he was named for Luke Spencer, but when the character was born in 2006 his father Nikolas specifically revealed that he chose the name to honor his half-siblings Lucky and Lulu Spencer (since they're Luke's kids, Bobbie's right that the name ultimately derives from Luke, but not directly).

* CelebrityStar:
** Most famously Creator/ElizabethTaylor as Helena Cassadine; most recently Creator/JamesFranco as Franco Baldwin. Also Music/RickyMartin as Miguel Morez and Music/RickSpringfield as both Noah Drake and Eli Love. Jack Wagner at the height of his singing career playing Frisco Jones might also qualify.
** Jennifer Smith (Luke's ex-fiancee and daughter of his old mob boss) was played by Creator/RoseanneBarr in 1994 and Creator/SallyStruthers in 2002. In connection with Barr's stint, Anthony Geary and Genie Francis made cameos on ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' as Luke and Laura.
** Creator/MorganFairchild as home shopping host Haven de Havilland in 2022 and 2023.
** From another branch of the ABC[=/=]Disney family, Creator/{{ESPN}} personality Stephen A. Smith plays RecurringCharacter Brick, a surveillance expert who shows up periodically to advise Sonny on various matters.
** Connecting ''GH'' and that ''other'' [[Series/GreysAnatomy long-running ABC show about a hospital]], Creator/ChandraWilson has popped in for [[YouLookFamiliar three different minor roles]] since 2014: a doctor, a patient, and a fashion journalist.

* RelationshipRevolvingDoor: Most prominently with Sonny and Carly, who have married and divorced each other '''four times''' since 2000.

** After her well-established stardom on ''Series/GreysAnatomy'', Creator/ChandraWilson has played [[YouLookFamiliar three different minor roles]] since 2014, as a doctor, a patient, and a fashion journalist.

** Nina delivered an emotional one to Carly after the latter reluctantly admitted that she had DNA test results proving that Nina was Willow's mother, but withheld them from her largely out of spite to punish Nina for similarly withholding the news that Sonny was in Nixon Falls back when he had his amnesia problems (and more generally Nina stealing Sonny from her). It climaxed with Nina telling Carly (in the hospital chapel, mind you) "Go to hell, you selfish bitch!"

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In the mid-90's, the show introduced the Ward family, whose matriarch, Mary Mae, ran a foster home for abandoned children, many of whom were also born addicted to drugs or with HIV. This was based on the work of a New York City woman named [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Hale Clara Hale]], known as Mother Hale, who ran such an institution out of her Harlem brownstone. Right down to Mary Mae's home being known as Ward House, just as Clara Hale's place was Hale House. In fact, given that the Wards were brought on two years after Ms. Hale's death, this could even be seen as a tribute.

** It was the basis of the show's most famous early story arc, when Nurse Audrey Hardy was the main suspect in the murder of her son's nanny in 1971, especially when it came to light that the nanny had threatened to blackmail Audrey; it was actually the nanny's ex-husband.

* {{Nephewism}}: In 1972, Jessie Brewer's widowed brother died and she suddenly became the guardian of his two teenage kids, Kent (played by Creator/MarkHamill) and Caroline.

** It was the basis of the show's most famous early story arc, when Nurse Audrey Hardy was the main suspect in the murder of her nanny in 1971, especially when it came to light that the nanny had threatened to blackmail Audrey; it was actually the nanny's ex-husband.

* NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters: Sonny easily counts for this, being a major donor to the hospital, plus his steadfast refusal to get involved in drug trafficking

* NeverTheObviousSuspect: A favorite soap trope, used often. In fact, the page image for this trope is when Nina was caught holding a bloody knife over the dead body of Silas in 2015, but the murderer ended up being her mother Madeline instead. Similarly, practically everyone in Port Charles assumed that Esme was the Hook during their 2022-23 killing spree, but it was actually her mother Heather Webber, targeting Esme's rivals.

** The utterly bizarre case of Jason Morgan and Drew Cain. It began as a simple recast, with Billy Miller replacing Steve Burton when TheBusCameBack with Jason in 2014. Then when Burton returned to the show as Jason in 2017, they handled it with TheReveal that the character everyone thought was Jason was his long-lost identical twin brother Drew (but no longer identical due to MagicPlasticSurgery), who'd had Jason's memories implanted into his mind so that even ''he'' thought he was Jason, a MindScrew PlotTwist that allowed Burton and Miller to appear on the show together. They even extended things by having Burton as the TimeShiftedActor for Drew's flashbacks. Miller left the show in 2019, but then Cameron Mathison was brought in as Drew in 2021.

** Some viewers regard Sonny's current right-hand man Dex Heller as a next-generation Jason Morgan, being a fellow stoic, handsome mob enforcer.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Nurse Amy Driscoll, who debuted in 2016, is for all intents and purposes an updated Nurse Amy Vining (who'd last appeared in 2002), both being nosy blonde gossipers named Amy.

** Willow shed her usual DelicateAndSickly look and was quite stunning at her wedding to Michael.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: In 1980, Edward Quartermaine informed his daughter Tracy that he was cutting her out of his will, then suddenly had a heart attack, begging Tracy to give him his heart medication to save his life, but Tracy refused, saying he'd need to agree to put her back in the will before she'd give him the meds. Then after she he thought he was dead, Edward jumped back up and revealed he was faking all along, and the whole meeting was a ruse to give her one final chance to prove her loyalty and scruples to him (of course, the whole thing also revealed quite a bit about Edward's own lack of scruples). Since she failed the Secret Test so miserably, Edward basically banished Tracy from the family for the next few years.

** Edward Quartermaine feigned senility to fight off lawsuits related to the Port Charles Hotel fire.