Fans of “General Hospital” will soon get a chance to re-live December 31, 1997 in Port Charles all over again. On Monday, December 31, 2018, the New Year’s Eve-themed episode will be rebroadcast exactly 21 years since it originally aired on ABC in the network’s ongoing effort to air classic episodes of the soap in place of repeats related to current story as had been the case over the last decade.
In the episode, Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) visits an unconscious Carly Roberts (then played by Sarah Brown) after making the life-threatening decision of allowing doctors to perform an uncommon operation on Carly’s baby. He did so after earlier seeking medical advice from Monica (Leslie Charleson) — a heart doctor herself. Meanwhile, Tony Jones (Brad Maule), continues his frustration over not being allowed near the child, and being denied rights he believes he has. He later demands Bobbie (Jacklyn Zeman) get the baby’s blood type so he can once and for all know the truth. The outcome, of course, isn’t to his liking when he learns he isn’t the father. He is distraught and devastated by this fact.
At the Quartermaine mansion, Edward (John Ingle) concocts a plan to buy Carly’s baby, which Luke (Anthony Geary) and Mike (then played by Ron Hale) tell him will never happen. Luke goes so far as to tell Edward he’ll give him a phone number to buy a baby off of the black market before he ever got his hands on Carly’s child. Keesha Ward (Senait Ashenafi) and A.J. (Billy Warlock) grow closer despite knowledge that A.J. might actually be the father of Carly’s baby.
Elsewhere, Mac Scorpio (John J. York) and Felicia Jones (Kristina Wagner) celebrate the New Year at the Outback. Dara Jenkins (Vanita Harbour) sings a song dedicated to Mary Mae Ward (Rosalind Cash) as Justus (Joseph C. Phillips) looks on. Also, Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher) returns to Wyndemere to recover from his accident the same night Stefan (Stephen Nichols) plans his future with Katherine Bell (Mary Beth Evans).
“General Hospital” will be pre-empted on Tuesday, January 1, 2019 (New Year’s Day) as ABC is scheduled to air sports programming. The series will return with originals on Wednesday, January 2.