`GENERAL HOSPITAL' IN RECOVERY; AFTER TROUBLED TIMES IN THE PLOT DEPARTMENT, RETURN OF HEAD WRITER BOB GUZA HAS CAST - AND VIEWERS - HAPPY ABOUT DIRECTION OF 35-YEAR-OLD ABC DAYTIME DRAMA.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

Never before has a soap opera turned on a dime so publicly.

``From now on, every damn thing around here is gonna be different!'' proclaimed Luke Spencer as the Dec. 8 episode of ``General Hospital'' opened with a raucous party at his nightclub.

Before the smoke from Luke's cigar had wafted into the rafters, viewers saw a wild boogie contest, a drive-by shooting, a mobster's attempted murder, a supermodel's mental meltdown, and heroic lifesaving attempts - events that sent months of story line in motion.

``Bam! We were off and running,'' exulted ``GH'' head writer Bob Guza, who announced in that script his intent to shake things up after a year's hiatus. ``It felt good to watch.''

The venerable soap opera, which had limped through its 34th year, hitting fifth place in the ratings among the 11 daytime series last November, was suddenly back in business.

In the four months since Guza's new stories started airing, ``GH'' - which from 1979 to 1987 was the No. 1-rated daytime drama - has bounced between the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the ratings, picking up nearly 400,000 viewers along the way.

And Guza hopes ``GH'' will celebrate its 35th year on top once more.

``I love this show,'' the writer enthused, leaning back in a leather chair in his austere office overlooking the ABC-TV lot in Hollywood. ``This is like coming home for me. I couldn't wait to come back.''

Guza left for a year to develop NBC's new``Sunset Beach'' soap for Aaron Spelling.

During his absence, ratings dipped, many viewers wrote to complain about boring stories, and tales Guza had carefully plotted went awry under the manipulations of three other head writers in succession.

``They took characters in directions I wouldn't have taken them,'' Guza said. ``But there are other things that I'm eternally grateful for, that I can build on.''

Actors' ally

Whatever comes now, the ``GH'' cast is ready for it. When word of Guza's return became public, some actors who had reportedly been considering moving on when their contracts were up began to purr with content.

Steve Burton, who plays the pivotal role of young mob chieftain Jason Morgan, signed a new multiyear contract.

And Anthony Geary, who has played volatile Luke Spencer for 20 years, is a happy man again.

``Bob Guza is my hero,'' Geary said. ``I adore the man. He was with us 20 years ago, and he has always had a respect for the (Luke) character that nobody else had.''

On the set Dec. 8, as the writer hovered behind the cameras, Geary asked him how to deliver the crucial line. ``He said, `Just tell the truth. Every damn thing is going to change around here.' So when I said that, I was speaking for the writer, and I was speaking for the character, and I was speaking for the fans,'' Geary said.

But is Guza the reason for the show's renewed success?

``The show's gone up to No. 2 since he's been back. He had to have something to do with that,'' Kimberly McCullough, who's played Robin Scorpio for 12 of her 19 years, said matter-of-factly. ``That doesn't just miraculously happen.''

The early days

It took many near-miracles to get ``GH'' on the air in its early days.

The oldest soap produced on the West Coast, it debuted April 1, 1963, in black and white, with action centering around General Hospital in the fictional upstate New York waterfront town of Port Charles. Those first stories centered around three characters: dedicated Dr. Steve Hardy, loyal nurse Jessie Brewer and her philandering and much-younger husband, Dr. Phil Brewer.

``No one expected us to last very long,'' John Beradino, who played Steve Hardy until his death in 1996, told Seli Groves, author of ``The Ultimate Soap Opera Guide.''

``GH'' was the first soap to concentrate on making medical maladies seem real; they even hired a real doctor to coach the actors on their performances. And while other soaps centered around chats over the kitchen table, ``GH'' broke new ground with story lines on rape and infertility, and over the years, its characters dealt with the effects of breast cancer, AIDS, alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic abuse and other social issues.

But its popularity waned, and by 1976, it had sunk to No. 10 among the 15 soaps then on the air. The show was given six months to boost its ratings or be canceled.

Enter executive producer Gloria Monty, determined to put a younger face on Port Charles with a handful of teen-age actors - among them the young Genie Francis, who was hired to play Laura Webber.

The plots thicken 

The beautiful daughter of Dr. Leslie Weber was accused of a murder she didn't commit, married law student Scotty Baldwin (played by Kin Shriner) and went to work in the campus disco, where she met mob hit man Luke Spencer. Luke, lusting after the teen-ager and believing he would be murdered the next day, raped Laura.

Under the unwritten soap opera law that decrees that evil-doers must be punished, Luke should have ended up in jail or been murdered.

But viewers had fallen in love with the couple, so the writers quickly rewrote history, characterizing the sexual attack as a seduction. Laura fell in love with her rapist, and Luke and Laura became soapdom's first ``supercouple.''

As ``GH'' expanded from a half-hour to an hour in 1978, college students scheduled their classes around the show. Luke and Laura were pictured on the cover of Newsweek magazine, and their November 1981 wedding - which drew more than 30 million viewers - still ranks as daytime's most-watched episode.

Neither Francis nor Geary, who were busy in the studio taping four or five shows a day during Luke and Laura's heyday, had any idea their characters had made such an impression on America's consciousness.

``I think it was the cover of Newsweek when we went, `Wow, what's going on here?' '' Geary said. ``We never expected Luke and Laura to be that big.''

Supercouple, super problems

Once wed, the couple rode off into the sunset, but returned in 1993. Since then, Francis has left to give birth to two children, and is currently on extended maternity leave. Ostensibly, Laura is hiding from the Cassadines - her two-decades-ago kidnappers - but viewers are growing impatient for her return.

If Francis opts to remain a full-time mom, leaving Luke solo, maybe mobster Jason and sweet, HIV-positive Robin can make it as the next supercouple, Guza said. Or, perhaps, hunky mogul Jasper Jacks and supermodel Brenda Barrett. But you can't just wave a magic wand and declare two people a soap supercouple.

``It's the chemistry between two people that makes a supercouple, and it's not necessarily ignition at first sight,'' Guza said. ``Sometimes, it has to develop. It's largely the investment of the actors in their characters. But I'm not sure we'll ever duplicate Luke and Laura.''

And the winner is ...

In the 12 years daytime shows have competed for their own Emmys, the series and its cast members have won 26 statuettes, including Best Daytime Drama in 1981, '84, '95, '96 and '97. It's nominated for more than a dozen Emmys this year; awards will be handed out May 15.

It's Guza's longtime link with the show - he started as a scriptwriter in 1982 - that has everyone expecting that the awards will continue to roll in.

``I love the idea of tapping into the history of the show,'' Guza said. ``The audience is very savvy. They get the history. And when you dredge it up, it kind of rewards long-term viewership.''

But Guza is always mindful that a writer is just as good as his latest hit story line, an interlocking web of tales and intrigues and love affairs that he plans and plots as far in advance as two years.

``I think the fans want what I do,'' Guza said. ``Good, intriguing stories. Love stories. Fans always want their favorite couples together, but when everything's going fine, that makes a very dull story. You have to focus on their struggle to be together. That's what makes a good story that keeps people watching.''

But soap audiences have dwindled in the last 20 years, so can ``GH'' ever be No. 1 again? Can it overcome the CBS-TV powerhouse ``The Young and the Restless,'' the top-rated soap for more than nine years?

``I think we'll do it,'' Guza said confidently. ``But to do it, everybody who ever watched `General Hospital' will have to come back. And that's what we're aiming for.''

From the hearts and minds of `GH' stars

Here's what some of ``General Hospital's'' favorite stars have to say about their characters, their story lines and more:

Rachel Ames (Audrey Hardy, widow of former chief of staff Dr. Steve Hardy): ``For those early shows, we did our own hair, we did our own makeup, we even wore our own clothes. We did it all live on tape. I'd write my lines on a piece of paper and stick them on the side of the refrigerator in Audrey's apartment. I played a lot of scenes leaning against that refrigerator.''

Sarah Brown (bad-girl Carly Robertson): ``I knew my character was a little shady and a little manipulative, but when I found out how bad she was, I said, `This is not going to last long because she's a bitch and everybody's going to hate her and want to kill her.' So I made her vulnerable, like she's bad, but she's so needy, you want to educate her. But she's like a wild animal, and she's backed up against the wall. She'll do whatever she has to to survive.''

Leslie Charleson (cardiac surgeon Dr. Monica Quartermaine, wife of Dr. Alan Q.): ``The breast cancer story line (in 1994) was the most rewarding time for me. I'd get letters from kids saying, `Now I know what my mother was going through,' or from women saying, `You prompted me to get a mammogram.' The only downside was the makeup that made me look so sick during chemotherapy. For the first time, I had to wash my face to look better.''

Anthony Geary (unpredictable nightclub owner Luke Spencer): ``Luke was never a hero. I always played Luke like a weak, flawed man. He was invented to be an anti-hero, somebody who does good things for the wrong reasons. I still try to find the truth of the man who was created for me 20 years ago. I treasure his flaws. I don't want the audience to ever become comfortable with Luke Spencer.''

Brad Maule (Dr. Tony Jones, Bobbie's ex, now a wacko kidnapper): ``I don't think the old Tony's coming back.

I don't think he can, after all this. Tony's just a step away from a rifle on a rooftop right now. I don't know how we're getting out of this. But being bad is great fun. It's like I just got aboard a new ride at Disneyland.''

Kimberly McCullough (Robin Scorpio, who has been kidnapped, shot at, buddy to a space alien, gone catatonic, lost both parents, watched AIDS-infected first love Stone die, and contracted the HIV virus): ``I grew up in front of everyone's eyes ... At 14, they gave me a boyfriend. They wanted me to kiss him, and I couldn't do it ...

With Stone, the first time we did the bed scenes, I was like I was going to throw up for three days beforehand.''

CAPTION(S):

12 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) `General' Mayhem

Through murders, kidnappings and major surgeries, revitalized hospital soap marks its 35th year

(2) Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) and Laura Webber (Genie Francis) were one of soaps' biggest supercouples. Their wedding, which drew more than 30 million viewers, is still the most-watched soap episode ever.

(3) Dr. Tony Jones (Brad Maule) grieves over his brain-dead daughter, B.J. (Brighton Hertford), run over by a drunk driver. B.J.'s heart was transplanted into her dying cousin, and Tony's downward mental spiral began.

(4) Nurse Jessie Brewer (Emily McLaughlin) and Dr. Steve Hardy (John Beradino) were two of ``General Hospital's'' original cast members. Both actors are deceased.

(5) `I love this show.'

Bob Guza

head writer

(6) Rachel Ames

(7) Sarah Brown

(8) Leslie Charleson

(9) Anthony Geary

(10) Brad Maule

(11) Kimberly McCullough

(12) GENERAL HOSPITAL

Box: From the hearts and minds of `GH' stars (See Text)