‘Port Charles’ struggling to find audience as Saga No. 10 unfolds

Wedding bells are ringing today in “Port Charles,� the ratings-challenged ABC soap opera that has left virtually no plot device unexplored in an increasingly desperate struggle to find an audience.

Since spinning off from genre heavyweight “General Hospital� in 1997, the show has gone from dealing with some of the familiar soap-opera motifs, such as illicit affairs, evil twins and split personalities, into strange new realms inhabited by demons, angels and even vampires, but to little avail. The show’s ratings are routinely half that of “General Hospital,� which usually finds itself runner-up to “The Young and the Restless� for daytime dominance.

Two years ago, “Port Charles� even dumped the traditionally loose soap pattern of employing story lines that twist and turn but stretch into infinity. The show’s creators opted for a structure taken from the popular Spanish-language telenovelas, in which the stories unfold in 12-week arcs, or books, within which a number of plot points have their beginning and end.

So after today’s regularly scheduled “Port Charles� episode airing at 11:30 a.m., closing out the Book 9 “Naked Eyes� era, Book 10 gets launched with a special one-hour show at 1 p.m., following the old ABC warhorse “All My Children.�

The first installment of the new story arc, titled “Surrender,� was directed by Scott McKinsey from a script by Barbara Esensten, James Harman Brown and Barbara Bloom. The centerpiece is the scheduled wedding of Rafe Kovich (Brian Gaskill) and Alison Barrington (Erin Hershey), two of the nicest folks in town and a pair who who would seem to truly deserve each other.

But if there was ever a kiss of death in soap operas, that might be it, so fasten your seat belts.