Bad news for soaps fans: One Live To Live and All My Children won’t be headed online. The announcement came from Prospect Park's Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinez today. After five months of negotiations, it turned out brokering the deal wouldn't be the financial windfall the company had initially hoped for.
This shouldn’t really be a shocker for anyone. After Prospect Park announced both shows would be headed to the Internet way back over the summer, problems started. At the beginning of November Prospect Park halted plans to continue All My Children, expressing they were still moving forward to begin One Life To Live as soon as its network commitment ended. Apparently, the goal of moving one soap online won’t work either. According to the joint statement from Frank and Kwatinez, there are multiple reasons neither show will not live on past its January 13, 2012 end date on ABC.
“While we narrowed in on a financial infrastructure, the contractual demands of the guilds, which regulate our industry, coupled with the program’s inherent economic challenges ultimately led to this final decision. In the end, the constraints of the current marketplace, including the evolution and impact of new media on our industry simply proved too great a match for even our passion."
In case anyone feels like pointing fingers, the outspoken Susan Lucci claims she is not responsible for the Prospect Park collapse. The above statement from Frank and Kwatinez seems to corroborate with Lucci, although, THR was quick to point out Cameron Mathison and Lindsay Hartley were the only two All My Children cast members to sign on for the online program. With so many unresolved issues involved with the Prospect Park deal, it’s probably for the best All My Children and One Live To Live have been officially and permanently canceled, even if it hits devoted fans particularly close to home.
