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Ready for Another NIGHT SHIFT?

No one knows yet if there will be a third cycle of GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT this summer, but a decision will have to be made soon. I asked three key players — Kimberly McCullough, Jason Thompson and Tristan Rogers (Robin, Patrick and Robert) — for their thoughts on the subject.

Soap Opera Weekly: Has anyone broached the subject of doing another GH: NIGHT SHIFT series with you?
Kimberly McCullough: No, they have not. We never really know until a couple of weeks beforehand.
Tristan Rogers: No, everything’s on hold right now. It’s just such an uncertain time out there. Nobody knows where their budgets are, so it’s just been pushed to one side.
Jason Thompson: I think [the-powers-that-be] plan on doing it again. The most important thing is doing it as soon as possible, really. We have a good base for the show. It would be heartbreaking to take too long and have a big gap, with people losing interest or — God forbid — a couple of cast members try to do something else, and they’re not available. Then you’re asking the audience to get behind a whole other character once again. You can only ask the audience to do that so many times before they stop caring, because it’s someone different every time.

Weekly: NIGHT SHIFT did pretty well in the ratings, right?
Rogers: What we saw on NIGHT SHIFT was an across-the-board thing. Everyone’s looking for the 18-49 age group. In reality, the 18-49 age group is the most financially strapped group in the entire country. When assessing the ratings that NIGHT SHIFT had, right across the board, we did very well in all age groups except, of course, the 12-17 group. They’re not going to look at a show like this. But everywhere else, we did very well. That may have opened a few doors. Especially to lapsed viewers — [we] brought a few of them back. I think that could be built on.

Weekly: Creatively, the last series was a total success.
Rogers: Well, thank you. I had a great time doing it. The whole NIGHT SHIFT experience was wonderful. Nobody could wait to get to work. It was great. There are a lot of creative juices flowing around there. And we really proved that daytime still has got a lot of life left in it. It behooves [GH and NIGHT SHIFT] to bounce off one another. It would be beneficial to both shows if that could happen.

Weekly: Would you go back for another cycle?
Rogers: If it’s offered to me, yeah. If there is going to be one.

Weekly: Hopefully, there will be!
Rogers: I would hope so!
Thompson: I’d love to do it again. And I feel everyone is on the same page, as far as the actors I have spoken to. So we’ll see.

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