(EW.com) — Though “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” are history, “General Hospital” — for now — is firmly ensconced in ABC’s daytime lineup.

But since ratings aren’t as strong as they used to be — the show’s averaging a 1.1 rating among adults women 18-49, down 21 percent from last year — and given how Katie Couric’s syndicated talk show is coming to ABC stations this fall, it’s still possible that the good people of Port Charles may lose their home in daytime.

But it could have a future in primetime: EW has confirmed that ABC entertainment chief Paul Lee is pondering one scenario that would allow the soap to air as an evening summer series. Not a bad thought, right?

It’s Ba-a-a-ck!

The 11th season of “American Idol” arrives on Fox tonight, and host Ryan Seacrest says for some viewers, the return can’t come soon enough.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of ‘We can’t wait,’” Seacrest told ABC News Radio. “Actually, I’ve been hearing more ‘I can’t wait for ‘American Idol ‘to come back this next season’ than I’ve heard in two or three years.’”

Seacrest says he finds that interesting, because there’s so much more competition, from shows like NBC’s “The Voice,” but, he noted, “From what I hear, there’s just something about the original, and the Americana, that is ‘American Idol.’”

(CNN) — Christiane Amanpour will return to CNN with a weekday program on CNN International while continuing at ABC News as a global affairs anchor, the networks announced Tuesday.

Amanpour will begin hosting a program on CNN International in 2012 as part of a “unique arrangement” with ABC News, CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton said in an e-mail message to CNN staff.

“Christiane Amanpour has been synonymous with international reporting and with CNN for many years,” Walton said in a statement. “We could not be happier that through this unique arrangement with ABC News, her experience and global perspective are returning to a nightly news broadcast for our international audience.”

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were preparing to welcome their 20th child in April when a routine doctor’s appointment revealed that Michelle had miscarried during the second trimester.

“I feel like my heart broke, telling my children,” Michelle Duggar, 45, told People magazine today. “They have all been so excited about this baby and looking forward to April coming around and having a new little one in our arms. That was the most difficult. The Lord is the giver of life and he can choose when that life is ready to go on and be with Him.”

Duggar and her family currently star in the TLC show, “19 Kids and Counting.”

The family had planned to name the child and after finding out its sex.

Jim Bob Duggar told The Associated Press that his wife is “resting comfortably at home and asked for privacy.”

This is not the first time the couple has experienced a challenging pregnancy.

NEW YORK — After ending his run on ABC’s “Live! With Regis and Kelly,” Regis Philbin is aiming for a bigger primetime talent show geared to the whole family, he told the New York Post’s Page Six.

Philbin, who hosted the first season of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” has formed RAF Productions with former “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee” director Barry Glazer, “City Island” executive producer Edward Walson and Writers Guild Awards executive producer Cort Cassidy, it reported.

The Clicker: Regis Philbin leaves ‘Live’ after 28 years on air

And they’re off! Which TV horses look strongest out of the gate and which might need to be put down.

The winners
Comedy
As the U.S. teeters on the precipice of a double-dip recession, laughter truly might be the best medicine. Ashton Kutcher’s Sept. 19 debut on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men” generated a football-sized 29 million viewers, and the second week’s 20.5 million still topped last season’s average with Charlie Sheen. “How I Met Your Mother” debuted up double digits, and “2 Broke Girls,” which benefited from a monster “Men” lead-in, pulled in an astounding 7.1 rating in the 18-to-49 demo.

ABC’s “All My Children” stayed true to its soapy roots all the way up to its last on-air minute. Fans of the long-running series had this day marked on calendars since ABC announced they were giving the soap the boot in favor of a new food and lifestyle talk show, “The Chew,” earlier this year.

Before the final on-air hour began, fan favorite cast member Susan Lucci, series creator Agnes Nixon and executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers all stopped by “The View” for a special hour-long send-off.

All My Children” star Susan Lucci has found an outlet to speak on the cancellation of her long-running soap. According to the New York Post, the actress just added a scathing epilogue to the paperback edition of her book, “All My Life: A Memoir.”

Lucci, who has played Erica Kane on the ABC soap since 1970, spills on the behind-the-scenes action that she says caused the soap’s cancellation, and specifically sticks it to ABC Daytime head Brian Frons.

The ABC exec, she writes, “has what, for me, is that fatal combination of ignorance and arrogance.”

There won’t be much laughter tonight.

“It is with great sadness that the staff and crew of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ mourn the loss of ‘Uncle Frank’ Potenza,” ABC said in a statement.

“Thank you for your kind words about a very kind man — my Uncle Frank — who passed away this morning,” the late-night host tweeted.

Potenza, 77, was a security guard for the show, and made appearances numerous appearances during his nine years on the program, including in segments called “Guillermo’s Hollywood Round-Up” and “Uncle Frank and Aunt Chippy’s Adventures.” Prior to working on his nephew’s late-night program, Potenza was a New York City police officer, and security guard at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

How do you know a soap opera is winding down? The guest stars paying homage keep on a-comin’.

In the case of “All My Children,” which ends its run on ABC in September, Carol Burnett and Sarah Michelle Gellar are among the cast veterans who have booked return appearances.

Now, the show’s creator is also writing herself back in. Agnes Nixon, who has had a writing hand in most modern soap operas and created “All My Children,” “One Life to Live” and the long-defunct “Loving,” will reprise her role as Agnes Eckhart, a long-standing board member at Pine Valley Hospital. Her first episode will be on August 31 and will continue in an arc.