Heidi Gutman/Disney-ABC Domestic TV

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of ABC’s “General Hospital,” Jason Thompson (Patrick Drake) and Finola Hughes (Anna Devanne) worked together and just missed taking home $500,000 for their charity, The Art of Elysium (http://www.theartofelysium.org), a non-profit organization that works closely with actors, artists and musicians, encouraging them to volunteer their time and talent to children battling serious medical conditions, on Disney/ABC Domestic Television’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” After appearing on the Monday, April 1 and Tuesday, April 2 episodes, the duo walked away with the guaranteed bank of $250,000.

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Rick Rowell/ABC

As “General Hospital‘s” 50th anniversary celebration kicks into high gear this week with a very special episode airing Tuesday, April 2 (episode was originally scheduled to air on Monday, April 1 as the 50th anniversary celebratory episode), fans will have no chance of avoiding the cast of the series as they grace your TV screens in more ways than one.

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Heidi Gutman/Disney-ABC Domestic TV

As first reported by Soap Opera Network on our Twitter page on Tuesday, March 19, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC’s “General Hospital” on Monday, April 1 and Tuesday, April 2. “GH” stars Finola Hughes (Anna Devanne) and Jason Thompson (Dr. Patrick Drake) served as contestants on the special episodes and will donate their BIG money winnings to The Art of Elysium (http://www.theartofelysium.org), a non-profit organization that works closely with actors, artists and musicians, encouraging them to volunteer their time and talent to children battling serious medical conditions.

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Nick Collins

Disney/ABC Domestic Television announced today that Cedric “The Entertainer” would be replacing Meredith Vieira as host of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” beginning with the shows 12th season scheduled to debut in national syndication this Fall.

“We are thrilled to announce that Cedric ‘The Entertainer’ will be at the helm as our new host of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,’” said Janice Marinelli, president, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, in a statement. “With his deep roots as a successful stand-up comedian and actor, Cedric will bring his fresh approach and unpredictable fun to the show.”

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According to a report by the New York Post, ABC is developing a real-life version of its popular daytime soap “General Hospital.” A network spokesperson confirmed the Post‘s report and said that the possible series, which recently began taping at UCLA Medical Center, is in its “earliest, pilot stages,” and is intended “either for syndication or maybe cable.” Of course, the news has put soap opera fans into a tizzy as they are now worried about the fate of “GH” when they really shouldn’t be – yet.

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Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) – Marc Berman of TV Media Insights has been doing an excellent job in reporting the overnight ratings data for ABC’s new daytime talk show “The Chew,” which replaced soap opera “All My Children” in the 1:00 PM ET/12:00 PM PT timeslot on Monday, September 26. Since the talker debuted it has lost ground compared to “AMC’s” performance at the same point last year in television households. Now more than a week since its debut, Berman has revealed that the show is also losing ground in the all important Women 18-49 sales demographic compared to how “All My Children” had performed as well.

Per TV Media Insights, “The Chew” is averaging a a 0.9 rating/6 share among women 18-49 out of a 0.8/6 from the average ratings of its lead-in programming from the ABC affiliated stations (ie. syndicated fare such as “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” or local news) after six days on the air (September 26 through October 3, 2011). “All My Children” by comparison averaged a 1.1/7 in the female demo (using October 2010 averages), which was 18% better than how “Chew” is performing so far. In the less important Women 25-54 demographic, “Chew” is averaging a 1.1/7 out of a 1.2/8 from its local lead-in averages. “AMC” averaged a 1.5/9 (again using October 2010 averages). Based on these numbers “Chew” is down 8 percent from its local ABC programming lead-in and 27 percent from how “AMC” performed one year earlier.

Final first week ratings data, including total viewers, for “The Chew” won’t be available until Thursday.