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Is Dena Higley‘s reign as co-head writer of “Days of our Lives” over before it even hits the air? According to a report by Daytime Confidential last week, Higley asked for, and was granted, a leave of absence from the show citing personal reasons.

As previously reported, “General Hospital” will soon be saying goodbye to scribe Ron Carlivati and hello again to co-head writers Shelly Altman and Jean Passanante when the team officially takes over writing duties next month, with material not expected to fully hit the screen until mid-October, according to insiders. But what forced ABC to make a change in its writing regime? Ratings, of course! Thirteen consecutive weeks of ratings lows that is.

With 13 consecutive weeks of record low ratings in the key Women 18-49 sales demo, ABC announced today that it has decided to oust “General Hospital’s” current head writer, Ron Carlivati, and replace him with newly appointed co-head writers Shelly Altman and Jean Passanante. The duo, who will officially take over writing reins beginning Monday, August 10, previously served together in the same capacity at CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” up until January of this year. They won two consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team for their work on “Y&R” during their tenure.

After several months of disastrous ratings returns that has left many in the industry wondering if “Days of our Lives” would survive its next renewal talks between NBC, Sony Pictures Television and Corday Productions, producers of the soap, the daytime drama series will welcome back veteran writer Dena Higley, and former “One Life to Live” and “The Young and the Restless” head writer Josh Griffith, as its new head writers. The two replace outgoing head writers Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell.

We’ve been hearing a lot about the talented cast that Open Book Productions and Bella Productions have assembled for “Beacon Hill” (see above), but today we finally learned how we’ll be able to watch the show when it premieres Wednesday, March 5th!

“General Hospital’s” 50th Anniversary commemoration episodes have been bringing the sudser some of its highest ratings in months, and the numbers haven’t stopped soaring! According to a press release sent out by the network, the show’s recent baby and legal drama powered it to a five-month high of 2.78 million total viewers. In addition, the episodes propelled the show to its 2nd-most-watched week in five months in Women 18-49 (665,000/1.0 rating) and Women 25-54 (917,000/1.5 rating), respectively.

ABC has partnered with amfAR, The Foundation of AIDS Research, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “General Hospital.” In a press release issued today, the network said that as “GH” approaches its 50th year on the air (Monday, April 1), it will return the popular Nurses Ball event after a 12 year absence (not since 2001). amfAR’s participation includes storyline integration that will mark the first time that a real-life charity will be involved in the event.

On Monday, February 11, Paos Revolution, the team behind the upcoming “On Air” film starring “All My Children’s” Jordi Vilasuso (Dr. Griffin Castillo) and Alicia Minshew (ex-Kendall Hart) announced the launch of their official website. “The launch of paosrevolution.com is the first step of our plan to connect fans to the soap actors and insiders they love. Founding partners Jordi Vilasuso, Dock (Jeff Dockweiler) and John Homa are committed to creating an interactive actor friendly environment,” said a press release announcing the launch.