It is official, One Life to Live and All My Children will return from their brief hiatus to now air online. ABC’s April 2011 cancellation saw All My Children end its run in September of that year and One Life to Live end its run in January 2012 (though One Life to Live officially ended then, several characters from the show, along with its Executive Producer and Head Writer, moved to ABC’s General Hospital, to continue as their One Life to Live characters).
If this sounds familiar it is because the production company that will spearhead the online versions of these shows, Prospect Park, made headlines in July 2011 when they bought the rights to both shows and announced they would air on their online network immediately following their ABC swansong. Months later in November the company announced they had hit a snag with financing and the acting unions and that they would be “suspending” the online transition of the shows (which most took to mean it was completely over).
Last month (a little over a year later) news began leaking that the company had secured deals with the acting unions along with financing, to move forward. More details continued to come out though they remained unconfirmed. Then last week, the creator of One Life to Live and All My Children, Agnes Nixon seemed to confirm the relaunch, albeit a bit ambiguously.
There was no question about the news that broke Tuesday though, when the heads of Prospect Park, Jeff Kwatinez and Rich Frank said via press release, “We thank the loyal audience and new generation of fans of both shows who have demonstrated that passion and exciting story lines are not just reserved for traditional television.” They continued, “Their enduring support encouraged us to move forward each and every day. We look forward to sharing more details including our launch air date and additional specifics in the coming weeks.”
Debuting in 1968, One Life to Live aired on ABC Daytime for 44 years, while All My Children launched in 1970 and aired on the alphabet network for 41 years.
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