Fans were ecstatic when it was announced that production company, Prospect Park had revived plans to re-launch ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘All My Children’, overcoming the issues with the unions and funding that collapsed their plans at the end of 2011. Now, in true Soap Opera form, there is a hitch of drama with the relaunch of the 44 year old One Life to Live - a licensing snag with the characters that transferred from ‘One Life to Live’ to ‘General Hospital’ following the Prospect Park's initial collapsed revival plans.
It breaks down like this: Prospect Park bought the total licensing rights to ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘All My Children’ from ABC in the wake of massive fan outcry at their cancellations. When the production company ran into a snag with the unions and financing and had to scrap their plan to launch the shows, ABC transferred the still popular 'One Life to Live's Executive Producer, Head Writer and three of its stars to contract roles on its last soap, 'General Hospital'.
Now with Prospect Park having overcome previous hurdles and ready to launch the shows, there is an issue with who has the rights to the ‘One Life to Live’ characters currently on ‘General Hospital’. The characters of Starr (Kristen Alderson), Todd (Roger Howarth) and John (Michael Easton) were very popular on ‘One Life to Live’ and have proven to be popular with fans of 'General Hospital' and are seen as a large part of the uptick in ratings for the nearly 50 year old daytime drama.
In an interview last week, former ‘One Life to Live’ and current ‘General Hospital’ Executive Producer said of the issue, “I can’t really talk about that because there’s a lot of legalese involved in that. But everything’s going to work out. I know it’s all going to be great.”
An ABC spokesperson also told TV Guide today, “We have various strategies in place depending on the outcome of these talks.”
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