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BURBANK, CA – July 7, 2011 – ABC has licensed its iconic soaps, “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” to Prospect Park, it was announced today by Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney/ABC Television Group & Janice Marinelli, President, Disney/ABC Domestic Television and Rich Frank & Jeff Kwatinetz of Prospect Park. The exclusive multi-year, multi-platform deal enables the soaps’ stories to continue beyond their
finale dates on ABC. ABC will broadcast its final episode of “All My Children” on Friday, September 23rd and will air the final episode of “One Life to Live” in January, 2012.
The licensing agreement, brokered by Disney/ABC Domestic Television Group, enables Prospect Park to continue production of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” beyond their life on ABC. Prospect Park will produce and deliver the two long-running programs to consumers via online formats and additional emerging platforms including internet enabled television sets. Under the terms of the arrangement, the programs will continue to be delivered with the same quality and in the same format and length. Additional details of the new productions and tune-in will be forthcoming from Prospect Park.
ABC Licenses ‘All My Children’ And ‘One Life To Live’ To Prospect Park; Shows Will Continue Production And Move Online
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SMART!
The only thing that bothers me about the move of AMC and OLTL….. Is that I have an 88 yr old Mother that has been watching these soaps from the start,
Guess what…. She has no computer has no ideal how to work one,
and all she can do is to watch her soaps!
Sorry but who ever thought of this is nuts!
She can’t do anything but sit in a chair, or lay in a bed.
So can someone tell me just what in the name of heaven is she going to watch now……Talk Shows! Cooking Shows!…Think not.
Oh well she is nothing to ABC, But everything to me…Thank you very much, for letting me vent…..
I totally agree. The only reason I became obsessed with AMC is because of my grandmother and she is about the same age as your grandmother and she has no idea how to use a computer. Of course i would help her soaps during the summer but i go away for school so she wouldnt be able to watch her soaps during the school year, which is a long time to not watch them.
I agree with you 100 percent. Same situation here with my Mother. PLUS there are still some of us out there that do not want to sit in front of a computer screen to watch something. This is certainly going BACK in time instead of going forward.
There are a TON of cable stations out there, wouldn’t one of them want to buy the TV rights to these shows? They both currently have an audience on par with AMC’s MAD MEN. Every single weekday!
I also agree with you too. ABC has had some very loyal viewers
watching the soaps that are70 years and older that do not have computers.
They could care less. They are just interested in making a fast buck.
Who needs more cooking shows anyhow. learn to cook the old fashoned way!
Goodbye ABC you have lost me soon as the last showing of oltl
airs
I have been a fan of amc & oltl fr over 40 years.
I agree 100% with all … I’ve been watching All My Children, One Live To Live and General Hospital for the past 34 years and will now boycott ABC daytime with the exception of watching General Hospital. What a ridiculous and stupid decision ABC has made to stop airing these long-standing shows. It was my favorite thing to do — get all my errands and housework done in the morning so I could tune into my ‘shows’ from 1 – 4 pm in the afternoon. How incredibly SAD! I will NOT be watching the new talk & cooking show to replace All My Children … I have tons of cook books and don’t need another show like that on TV.
Yeah, Hooray, Bravo, Yippee! I am soooooooo Happy. I have watched All My Children from the first day it aired!
Leslie
Yeah, I agree too. Online is not what we want! We want these beloved soaps to continue on ABC and we want our ATWT and GL back on CBS!!!
I agree 100% to leave All MY Children on ABC alive, not online, not everyone has access to computer. Whoever came up with this idea is crazy. This is a huge mistake. This is the one show that I enjoy. Watch it every night after I have taped it. Please contine this!!!!!
I’m happy that I will continue to see my 2 favorite soaps even if it is online…I just hope that it is a done deal & I am going to be there everyday…where my laptop at..where my laptop at..gonna get it gonna get it!!!
Thank you…
OMG THANK GOD!
Good deal. Two iconic shows get to continue in a format that should please viewers and make for a viable platform. Bravo ABC.
This is awesome news. I couldn’t be happier. LONG LIVE SOAPS.
Wow, I am shocked but ultimately proud and beyond excited. The future of soaps (and probably all serialized television in general) is on the internet, and to have two of the longest running serials in American history forging the path is AMAZING.
This sounds a little bit too good to be true, but I’m interested in how Prospect Park will make it work. Sounds a bit like they’re interested in setting up a competitor to Netflix streaming. Or, they’ll be a content provider and sell to services like Netflix. Anyway, as a long-time soap fan, I’m pleased to see there is continued interest in OLTL and AMC.
This is just another example of how shortsighted, if not stupid, SAG and AFTRA were during the last tv/theatrical negotiations. Those who knew better starting warning the unions back in 2008 that new media was going to be the go-to platform for traditional programming and this is proof of it. Those “militant, crazy, just say no-ers MembershipFirst” were right. Let’s see how AFTRA negotiates this in their upcoming Net Code talks. The actors are going to get completely hosed on this deal. It’ll be up to IATSE (just as weak as AFTRA) or the Teamsters to secure livable wages when these two soaps move over to new media. No way will actors be paid daily AFTRA minimum when these shows go to the internet because Prospect will claim that the add supported revenue won’t be enough to do so. You’ll see a whole new crop of inexperienced actors or desperate older actors, who’ll basically work for free and the producers know it. If this trend becomes profitable for the employer, you’ll see more and more of it. Forget about webisodes, we’ll begin to see fully produced, hour and 1/2 hour scripted series made for new media taking over for traditional, with the employer being the only “partner” making a living doing it. The unions completely missed the boat, will never be able to get back on the boat, and have completely f&%$#@ actors ability to make a decent living as actors.
Sadly, all true.
The only thing that might save actors in this case is that the shows are already under union contract and that contract should carry over to the new platform. What I fear, though, is what AFTRA gave away in the fine print of the contract, and not telling actors about it (like giving away the “under-5 upgrade” for BG actors).
Cheer up, “union advocate” – it may be your best chance to get into show business.
Then maybe the actors, writers, etc., can get together and do their own shows. Form a collective and beat the production companies at their own game. After all, technology today allows anyone to make broadcast quality material for the Internet.
What’s stopping them? The power is REALLY in the hands of the creators now. You just have to realize that and DO something about it.
seems kind of bizarre to me. how can they make money online with such an expensive production like this?
they’re like 10 years too early for the internet to really generate money off of expensive original content.
What’s even more scary is this claim that they wouldn’t even be changing the quality of the show. There’s no way these shows are going to be profitable without some sort of cutbacks.
at least it’s not Disney’s money that is being gambled at this point….
Thank you for this incredibly good news! I hope ABC realizes what they have done now, they’ve hastened their own demise — the irrelevancy of network television.
As a “legacy” AMC fan, the first thing I did after reading this is commence my search for an internet enabled TV, which, until today, I didn’t think I wanted to own. I will also make sure that I have the best internet connection possible by the time AMC goes online.
Although I have religiously watched All My Children on ABC since my teenage years, whether or not I watched it “live” or recorded it while I worked (as I do now,) I will no longer be watching much, if any, regular TV anymore, especially on ABC. Good Morning America has gone to the dogs, and the Bachelor has become predictable and sad.
On a positive note, this catapults me into viewing my favorite program online. I am finally excited about internet tv! ABC, you cooked your own goose.
So happy. This was like losing a family member and now we’ll still be able to follow the lives and times of our favorite characters. Kudos to ABC for allowing them to be shown somewhere else and Prospect Park for realizing their importance to so many people.
Great news for fans, the actors, and for less well known actors who’ve had the wonderful delight of being cast in an “under 5″, had featured work, or done background on one. Some of my friends used to laugh at me for working on soaps, but in actuality, the fast shooting pace of soaps gave me invaluable experience. Plus, many of your A-List actors started in soaps and got steady paychecks till they hit it big. My only hope is that post-television, these shows will add more of a variety of people. And…thank goodness Michael Bay never directed soaps! Just saying…ha ha.
This seems like a brilliant idea, actually. We’re talking about a franchise that already has a huge, built-in fan base. So, taking it online isn’t nearly as risky as other online ventures. It doesn’t have to work much differently than network television-you still have your sponsors, you still have commercials, so the money making potential is still the same. The risks only become greater because this is a relatively new platform, but I think they’re making the right move…as long as the fans move with them!
Is Kwatinetz the guy to pull this off? What’s the last thing he did that was really innovative? I mean it’s not like Cube really needs him anymore.
I wonder if they can say real cuss words and actually show Cameron Mathison tiny tight butt? If CamCam drops trou, I’m there! lol
Seems like ABC is avoiding fan outrage by saying the shows will be continued by Prospect Park. I don’t see Prospect Park coming out with a statement saying in what form or format. Are they going to be daily? Are they going to be an hour a day? Even with budget cuts, soaps cost about $35 million to $40 million a year. That’s a lot of subscriptions or Internet advertising you have to sell. There’s certainly a lot of missing information in this announcement.
If you look at the early years of these soaps they were very low budget, like a high school play. It won’t matter. What matters is the relationships, the continuity of the story, and yes the actors and the quality of the performances. I will not mind if the sets look cheap as long as all of the foregoing is intact.
People can discount the soaps, but I think what was underestimated was the fan base, who is a lot more sophisticated than you might guess. We do have purchasing power, as well. If all the sponsors like Macys, the cosmetic companies, the houseold product companies and all the other advertisers (the drug companies and the diaper companies, etc.) — the “soaps” — go online with the show, with the fans, then Prospect Park should prosper! Although I would like it to be free, I would subscribe if forced to.
The principles behind Prospect Park are the same who ran the Firm way back when. That came and went without providing any real value – buying AMG e.g. Hard to see this all happening with real budgets and pay.
It costs $40 to $50 million per year to produce these soaps. No one makes that kind of money in online content.
Also, how many current viewers of either program have Web ready TVs or even own high speed connections? Although lots of folks watch content online, there are a ton of soap viewers who don’t.
Also, the contracts for the actors are up in September. How many of them will re-sign? What’s All My Children w/o Erica Kane/Susan Lucci?
Prospect Park doesn’t have a website today. Correct? Will they have one to launch at the end of September? Will they stream it through Netflix, Hulu or Facebook?
I agree, the economics, as they now stand, won’t support this model. I have friends who work on web series and unless you are a creative who already has money (Lisa Kudrow), most have to have a second job to make a living. My big fear is that because of this development the writeres won’t wrap up the storylines and when this fails in 6 months to a year, you will have an abrupt cancellation without a proper send off. I would rather these shows end in style. Also, many of the actors who signed back on were short term only (old Todd, Zach, Dixie), they for sure won’t be sticking around for the long term. And like someone else said everyone is going to have to re-negotiate their contracts. I think this is a way for ABC to save face since now, technically, they are not the ones that are cancelling these shows. Sad.
That’s a great place for the soaps. Now, if we can get all the reality TV and talk shows to follow, that’d be terrific. Then, in my ideal little utopian TV world, everything on TV will be scripted and families will once again gather ’round in living rooms across the globe, sharing stories, culture and love.
This totally blows for actors. The contract for new media is pathetic. Content on the internet is the most measurable form for advertisers. It’s not a sample poll, it’s not a slice of the demographic. They can tell not only how many people watched the show, but who watched, for how long and who clicked on what add. Residuals and pay for new media SHOULD have been contracted per viewer. That’s how the adds are sold! It’s all so finite and countable … just like the days until their next strike when SAG and AFTRA team up to say “Hey, come on, guys! We didn’t realize Hulu, Netflix and projectfreetv were taking over the entire market, we were too busy playing Atari in grandma’s basement! Give us another shot at this contract thing. But be fair this time.” Should be fun.
Im definitely happy we still get to watch!!! What about the soap channel? shouldnt our soaps be on there so none get cancelled?
I wondered that too but I was told that the soap channel is a sister station to abc,SO I GUESS THAT SHOOTS THAT DOWN.
DL wrote: We’re talking about a franchise that already has a huge, built-in fan base….It doesn’t have to work much differently than network television-….I think they’re making the right move…as long as the fans move with them!
#1 It *had* a huge, built-in fan base or else the show wouldn’t have been in last place in the ratings and been cancelled.
#2 Uh, yes it absolutely does “have to work much differently than network television” because it could no longer turn a profit or have a viable future on network television and that is why it was cancelled. If the show doesn’t work much, much better than it did in the last few years on television, it will be cancelled.
#3 Didn’t Passions or Sunset Beach try this a few years ago and fail?
#4 “If the fans move with them” ???? LOL! Fat chance of that. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not these over-dramatic fans (who threatened to boycott ABC and purchase all their vacuum needs from Hoover exclusively) put their money where their mouth is and actually PAY for the content that they used to get for free for the past 40 years. WILL……..NOT…….WORK.
AMC 2.0 and OLTL 2.0 will last no more than 12 months and will be re-cancelled. EPIC FAIL!
Passions moved to DirecTV, not the internet; it lasted about a year.
Thank you. Yes, that was it. And I expect OLTL and AMC to fare as well as Passions did. The Internet has had *ZERO* success, that I can recall, in creating original entertainment content and getting people to pay for it and watch it on a regular basis. Admittedly, that may be starting to change as more people stream movies and shows from sources like Netflix or Hulu, but I will encourage people to “sell” on this idea of AMC and OLTL moving to the Internet until I see that it will work and is sustainable. I just have a hard time believing there’s a huge audience out there for two dinosaur shows with limited demographic appeal that could no longer cut it on a broadcast network.
I think it could work. There is some success in the online format, though obviously not as successful as being on a network.
There is a show called Venice that is from the mind of a soap actress, which has actually been doing very well. As far I know it’s had two seasons, and the entire second season was funded from subscriptions for the first season; if that isn’t a measurement of success I’m not sure what is.
When it comes to down it I think the continued existence of these serials will rely solely on the fanbase. If they don’t watch, or aren’t willing to pay to watch, then the shows will simply cease to exist.
They don’t have to create original content for the Internet. If they preserve as much of the content as possible and simple stream it to the net, and people who want to get larger monitors or web-enable TVs, the quality should be nearly the same. The viewers exist in larger numbers, they will just need to log on intstead of turn on. (And we middle-aged fans will be forced to upgrade our home electronics, big deal. I have been waiting for a good excuse.)
Anyway, thank you Prospect Park. This could prove to be one of those watershed deals, a breakthrough. Taking two legacy TV shows with lots of loyal (maybe slightly older) fans and migrating to the Internet for streaming to web-enabled TVs, laptops, home computers, handhelds, etc.
Please don’t skimp on the wardrobes though! Or the writers! And pay David Hayward whatever he wants!
Sounds like maybe you work at ABC in daytime programming and are having regrets(?) ABC should have done the Ask Before you Cut thing. I don’t like watching tv on a laptop but I will for sure get a large screen Internet-enabled tv now so I can continue to watch All My Children.
Passions and Sunset Beach fanbase didn’t compare to the legions of fans who do watch All My Children and OLTL.
ABC should have been proud to keep these shows on. I hope they negotiated a good licensing fee but they devalued these great shows so much that, on the other hand, I hope that Prospect Park got the best of it.
Anonymous wrote: Sounds like maybe you work at ABC in daytime programming and are having regrets(?)
I love how soap fans, unable to deal with reality, resort to suggesting that I am Brian Fromms or that I currently work in ABC’s daytime television department. The truth is that I have posted here regularly for over a year, and mostly on subjects that have nothing to do with All My Illegitimate Children or One Life To Take.
It’s personal now. Before I had no opinion on whether or not the soaps should be cancelled. Now I can’t wait for all the dejected housewives to stick their heads in their respective microwaves when they find out that their beloved soaps are going to be cancelled by Linkin Park in addition to ABC. How will 300lb Oprah-worshipping, bon-bon addicted housewives with allergic reactions to cleaning find the will to live when they are rejected TWICE? Once by ABC, the next by Gorky Park? Oh the humanity!!!!
OK, sorry for being catty! You voiced your point so strongly, when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, and I think this is the same mistake ABC made. Because we are not housewives, that’s just it. We are educated, working professionals who have been recording the show for years and we have more disposable income than a lot of people do. (I’ve worked in the entertainment industry since the early 1990′s.) I’ll just upgrade my home electronics — get internet-enabled TV — and keep watching. ABC did not have a good understanding of who the viewers actually are. Professional working women in their 30′s – 40′s (and beyond) are who watch All My Children. Remember the AMC viewing parties at noon on college campuses across America in the 1980′s? We are still watching. This is what ABC has underestimated.
Anyway, I predict that migrating to the Internet will actually add to the viewership because younger people will discover it as well, on their own schedules. Have you watched AMC and seen how attractive the men are on that show?
I voiced my opinion so strongly because I’ve had to. The soap community has not only not wanted to deal with the reality of their beloved genre, but they’ve gone out of their way to attack people who disagree with them on the state of soaps in general. I can’t count how many times I was accused of being Brian Fromms(I had never even heard of him till Nikki Finke’s article) a few weeks ago, and then you come along and question whether I work for ABC. Really? Is that honestly the level of rebuttal and discourse from the pro-soap contingent on these boards? Is that the best counter argument you all have left?
To answer your questions…no, I don’t remember soap opera viewing parties in the 80′s. I had elementary, middle, and high school to attend. I have a vague memory of Greg and Jenny from AMC when on summer break, and the Ice Princess and Luke and Laura hysteria, but was never a regular viewer of any particular soap. I just follow television news and trends. And I don’t give a rat’s ass about the attractiveness of any of the men on any of the shows.
Now for the bad news…there was very little hard data and confirmation in the press release as to exactly what format these two shows are going to take at their new home, much less which actors and actresses are going to be asked to stay on, and which ones would even be willing to take a massive pay cut. For some of the long-established actors and actresses, the pay cuts may be so steep as to be not worth their time. I could see a newcomer who is trying to get established in an acting career accept a wage that was barely above scale pay, but I can’t see Susan Lucci or Erica Slezak(?) taking a 75% pay cut, especially when both could be hired on for prime time television shows (in fact, I think Lucci has already signed on for PATHETIC HOUSEWIVES). Lucci is a *BRAND NAME*. I honestly can’t see her working for peanuts at this point when she can command top dollar for an actress in a prime-time drama (whatever top dollar is for an older actress in a recessionary economy).
By the way, I saw BLACK SWAN 2 weeks ago and was thinking that Natalie Portman could be Susan Lucci’s daughter. Very hot the both of them! Back to the soaps….
I just don’t buy it. I don’t believe for a split-second that these two shows, which had to be trimmed down and relocated to Los Angeles to try and break even, are now going to find a spectacularly profitable new life on the Internet, in a format where soap fans are going to have to pay to watch. These two shows were averaging roughly 2 million viewers a day/week when they were on for free. Do you really, honestly believe soap fans are going to spend 34.95 a month to watch AMC or OLTL? Prospect Park will need every single one of those viewers (and more) to subscribe to the online content for the shows to have a sliver of a chance of being profitable enough to sustain.
All good things have to come to an end. Maybe it’s just AMC and OLTL’s time. Maybe it’s time to let go.
I AM HAPPY THAT ALL MY CHILDREN AND ONE LIFE TO LIVE DISCOVER A WAY TO LIVES BEYOND ABC. I CAN’T WAIT TO DISCOVERED A WAY TO WATCH IT. I AM HOPPING THAT IT WILL GET A BIGGER RATING THAT THE TWO SHOW REPLACE IT. SO GOOD LUCK TO THE FUTURE. YOUR TRULY CHARLES DAVID HASKELL
Well I hope these shows do continue production. I don’t watch them but I think its a great place for new actors to train.
I am so thankful. I have grown up with Erica and Vicki since high school. I worry what would happen with out watching them and keeping up with what is going on in their lives. It is so nice to be able to take my mind off my problems even for a little while to see what is going on in Pine Valley and Llanview. Yes I will continue to watch them where ever they are. I can see it continuing on Soapnet, as Soapnet is the huge success it is because of the ABC soaps that it started with. And yes I will not watch ABC’s new shows I think ABC has made a bad choice in letting these shows go, would it not be justice to see them continue to be a hit and make more money only for ABC to lose. They had no problem upsetting the lives of people for what ever the reason would be justice to see them lose. GO Erica and Vicki
Diane in Florida
Soapnet is actually not a huge success and Disney is scrapping it in favor of a channel target at the toddler market.
SoapNet is going off the air early next year. Only place to watch will be online.
If you really a fan, you’d know the name is spelled Viki.
Too bad CBS/Proctor & Gamble couldn’t have done this with “Guiding Light” and “As The World Turns”.