<P> On Saturday, December 14, 1996, General Hospital aired its one of three primetime episodes, General Hospital: Twist of Fate, which picked up where that Friday's episode had left off . The special centered on Laura's supposed death at the hands of Stefan Cassadine . In 1997, the show's long - rumored spin - off materialized into the half - hour serial, Port Charles . The series' 11,000 th episode aired on February 20, 2006 . On April 23, 2009, General Hospital became ABC's first regular daytime drama to be taped and broadcast in high definition, though the 2008 season of its primetime spinoff General Hospital: Night Shift was in high definition . This is the second daytime drama to move to high definition after CBS's The Young and the Restless . On February 23, 2010, the series aired its 12,000 th episode . On December 1, 2011, ABC confirmed that former One Life to Live executive producer Frank Valentini and head writer Ron Carlivati would replace longtime executive producer Jill Farren - Phelps and Garin Wolf respectively, though Wolf would remain on as a regular writer . The change took effect on January 9, 2012 . The first episode under the direction of Valentini aired on February 1, 2012, and Carlivati's material started airing on February 21, 2012 . Several storylines reminiscent of iconic story arcs of the past were created and popular characters returned to the show in order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the series in 2013 . The series marked its 51st anniversary on April 1, 2014 . Also in January 2014, ABC renewed Carlivati's contract with the soap . The series marked its 52nd anniversary on April 1, 2015, with a special episode revolving around the Spencer family . </P> <P> In July 2015, it was revealed that Carlivati was fired as Head Writer, with Shelly Altman and Jean Passanante rehired as replacements . On September 16, 2016, Daytime Confidential reported that Valentini, Passanante and Altman re-signed with the show . On June 6, 2017, Passanante announced her decision to retire from the serial . On July 29, 2017, it was revealed through Passanante that breakdown writer Chris Van Etten will be promoted to co-head writer along with Altman as her replacement . </P> <P> General Hospital has aired on ABC Television and has been filmed in Hollywood since its inception . The show was filmed in the Sunset Gower Studios from 1963 to the mid-1980s . It relocated in the 1980s to The Prospect Studios, where it remains . </P> <P> General Hospital has had a number of different distributors throughout the show's history, From its beginning until 1968, it was a co-production of ABC - Paramount and Selmur Productions . ABC would later buy the series outright in 1968 and its owner passed from Selmur to American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., ABC's old separate conglomerate . Ownership of the soap was then passed when the original ABC, Inc. merged with Capital Cities Communications in 1985 and it became Capital Cities / ABC, Inc . The show would change hands again when The Walt Disney Company bought Capital Cities / ABC in 1996 and Disney began to program the network and the soap in September 1997 where it remains to this day . </P>

Where is the set of general hospital located